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TULSA, Okla. -- September 20, 2010 -- MPSI, a leading provider of fuels pricing and site evaluation solutions, today announced the release of its LocationXpert online retail network planning system for North American petroleum and convenience store retailers. This new online application delivers the company’s highly accepted network planning model and functionality to help clients determine the optimal strategic plan for their network of retail outlets, allowing them to meet their market objectives and maximize profitability. The LocationXpert system has an easy-to-use, intuitive interface providing global access from wherever the user has Internet connectivity. The application requires zero-download and is run entirely from secure servers that are hosted and supported by the MPSI IT and Software Development team at the company headquarters located in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Building on its 40-year history of developing strategic network planning applications, the MPSI LocationXpert online application replaces its predecessor, the Retail Explorer desktop system. The application provides volume predictions and access to a wealth of market intelligence about the supply (e.g., fueling positions, store size, volumes) and demand (e.g., households, traffic counts) characteristics and contains analytics that help users identify capital and operational improvement opportunities. Detailed information about all of the retail outlets selling petroleum and convenience store products within a specified geography can be accessed online and the data exported into a variety of file formats.
The LocationXpert application helps retailers manage risk by predicting the outcome of introducing changes to their outlets, to competitor outlets and to the market environment before investing any capital. Retail outlet changes that can be simulated include the introduction of new outlets, facility upgrades at existing outlets, brand changes, increases/decreases in hours of operation and more. Changes that can be simulated to the market environment include items such as an increase or decrease in households, employee counts or changes to traffic conditions. The application predicts the gasoline and convenience store volumes that can be expected as a result of these simulated changes, allowing users to understand the outcome of their network planning strategy and make adjustments until market objectives are realized.
The LocationXpert application offers significant improvements in the mapping component versus the desktop application by providing access to Microsoft Bing maps. These maps contain more detailed street networks and points-of-interest than the TIGER maps used in the desktop application. They also allow users to access satellite imagery for a more detailed view of rooftops, vacant land and street networks.
A major advantage of offering this solution online is to provide users with immediate access to new features as they are released. Because the data is stored on secure MPSI database servers with daily, recoverable backups, users no longer need to be concerned about hard drive failures. With no installation and no internal maintenance or IT support required from users’ organization, this new platform can be implemented as soon as a login ID and password are obtained from MPSI.
“The desktop Retail Explorer and Retail Explorer Plus systems are still being used by some customers and we will continue to support those solutions for a period of time,” said Bryan Porto, Executive Vice President of MPSI. “We are excited to share our LocationXpert technology with new and existing customers. We believe they will appreciate the ease-of-use and new features that can improve their decision making process for evaluating existing and new sites. As an added benefit, we’ve found that clients who embrace our tools can position their networks to sustain the peaks and valleys of their volatile retail environment.”
Pricing and Availability
For pricing or other information about the LocationXpert system, please contact an MPSI representative, or send an email to info@mpsisolutions.com.
About MPSI
MPSI is a leading provider of fuels pricing and site evaluation solutions. Since 1970, its products and services have helped customers with fuels price management, price optimization, volume projections, retail asset management and retail outlet data. MPSI is also a principal provider of traffic data, demographics and online mapping. The company has support offices around the world and serves over 400 customers in 80 countries.