Data-driven site planning: Kalibrate’s Rich Wilcox and Simon Martin on future-proofing fuel networks
In this episode of the Future of Convenience podcast, hosts Carolyn Schnare and Dan Munford explore the critical discipline of network planning with Rich Wilcox, vice president of solution consulting and EV and Simon Martin, VP of international sales, both with Kalibrate. With over 50 years of experience helping fuel and convenience retailers optimize their locations, Kalibrate brings a uniquely data-driven perspective to one of the industry’s most complex challenges.
Network planning has evolved far beyond simple gut instincts about promising locations. “I’ve met businesses who still go by traffic count, assumed turning ratio and average fill-up, and that will be their volume projection for a site,” Martin explains. “That’s still quite rudimentary when you’re thinking about an investment that’s multi-million dollars.” The best retailers, he notes, view their networks as having distinct life cycles, with each phase requiring equal analytical rigor and strategic focus.
The conversation reveals how location strategy has become increasingly multifaceted. Today’s successful fuel retailers must consider not just traditional fueling needs, but convenience stores, food service offerings, car washes, and emerging EV charging infrastructure. Wilcox emphasizes the importance of understanding trade areas through mobility data rather than simple drive-time calculations: “It allows you to understand whether a site is transient, pulling people off major highways or thoroughfares, or whether it’s more residential, catering for the people that live around the site.”
The EV transition presents both challenges and opportunities for network planning. Rather than relying solely on current EV adoption rates, Kalibrate has developed an adoption curve based on primary research and customer segmentation data to predict how vehicle electrification will evolve over time. The key insight: location matters tremendously. Sites surrounded by affluent families with driveways are unlikely to see high public charging utilization, while densely populated areas with limited home charging access represent prime opportunities.
Martin describes the strategic evolution happening across the industry, with some retailers transitioning from oil companies to mobility service providers. This shift requires balancing declining fuel demand in some markets against growing non-fuel revenue streams. “What we really encourage is to start looking at these things more holistically,” he says, noting how successful retailers are integrating multiple quick service restaurant brands and comprehensive convenience offerings at single locations.
For listeners interested in learning more about data-driven network planning, Kalibrate will be exhibiting at the upcoming NACS show in Chicago this October, featuring interactive demonstrations of their network planning solutions.
