Q&A with Frodi Hammer (A2i Systems): “We want to expand our pricing solution to the U.S.”

PetrolPlaza travelled to beautiful Denmark to visit the headquarters of A2i Systems, developers of the world’s leading AI-driven fuel pricing management solution. We spoke to founder Frodi Hammer about fuel pricing, volatility in the markets, expanding into the U.S. and what makes the Danish market interesting.

A2i Systems was founded fifteen years ago when two PhD students were able to apply their research on artificial intelligence to the fuel retail industry. Frodi Hammer and Alireza Derakhshan developed a customer-centric AI-driven fuel price optimisation software for OK, one of Denmark’s leading service stations brands. The company’s pricing solution is now being used at 10,000 stations in over ten countries.

Retailers today are facing tight fuel margins and increasingly volatile markets. Many still use competitor prices, market knowledge and gut feeling to set their fuel prices. Companies such as A2i Systems are now using AI to predict the customer’s price sensitivity, and set prices based on their behaviour.

“The AI has been condensed in PriceCast Fuel as a product that allows you to do whatever you want in fuel pricing. When you bring something as advanced as AI to the retail fuel industry, change management is key. It’s a mindset shift we need to incorporate to organizations – migrating from rule-based pricing to restricted AI, and then to full AI. Instead of competitor prices you can focus on important KPIs like volumes, yearly index, budgets, etc.” explains Frodi Hammer, Founder and CTO of A2i Systems, from the headquarters in Odense.

Today, A2i is the world’s leading AI-driven fuel pricing management solution operating across thousands of sites worldwide. The Danish company is now looking to expand into markets such as the United States. A changing industry characterized by declining fuel sales, the rise of electric vehicles and a bigger focus on the convenience store means that A2i will also shift from the forecourt to the c-store. The AI model can help understand customer behaviour in all areas.

OK station using A2i's price system. Denmark

Clever charging station collocated with a Circle K in Denmark — OK station using A2i's price system. Denmark

“Whether pricing fuel, food or electricity, we are there to help customers understand their data. We bring you the models that you need to leverage any business objectives. It doesn’t matter if it's fuel or electricity,” adds Hammer.

In their ambition to expand across the U.S., A2i feels like they have a learned a lot from the Danish experience. The Scandinavian country has the highest density of fuel sites in Europe as well as a great variety – from remote unmanned sites to large multi-brand stations collocated with EV stations such as Tesla and Clever. The range of sites and business models makes it an ideal playground to develop innovative products.

“Our goal is to figure out the needs of the user across the whole ecosystem. Are they there to wash their car, fuel up, shop, or charge their vehicle? We want to help our customers understand their customers through AI,” concludes Hammer.

*A2i Systems will be present at the NACS Show 2022 in Las Vegas this week (booth #6237).