Over the past week or so, some states began announcing plans to ease COVID-related restrictions on movement and commerce.
South Carolina (April 20), Georgia (April 24), and Oklahoma (April 24) have all lifted at least some of the restrictions put in place over the past 6 weeks, and we are starting to see the impact of these policy changes.
To get a better understanding of how these changes may be impacting fuel sales, we took a look at fuel transaction volume in markets within each of these three states - Columbia, SC; Atlanta, GA; and Oklahoma City, OK.
As the charts below illustrate, fuel sales volume is ticking up in all three markets; in fact, April 24 represented the best day for fuel sales in each of these markets since at least March 20. In Columbia, fuel sales on April 24 were within 10% of pre-COVID levels. Week-on-week improvements were significant across all three of these markets: for the seven days ending April 24, transaction volume was up ~45% in Columbia, ~25% in Atlanta, and ~15% in Oklahoma City versus the prior seven days.
As more data becomes available in markets where restrictions have been lifted, we will be watching for signs of a rebound.
At a national level, for the first time since late March, it appears that some markets are beginning to experience meaningful recoveries in fuel sales volumes.
In the chart below, we can see that a number of markets (those shaded in pale yellow or green) are returning to, or even exceeding, their pre-COVID volumes. For now, these data points appear to be largely scattered across smaller markets in a number of states (such as South Dakota, Iowa, and the region encompassing eastern Ohio, West Virginia, and western Pennsylvania), many of which still have stay-at-home orders in place.
We will continue to monitor and report on these trends as we get more data from states that are reopening; in the meantime, continue to check our COVID response page for the latest on what’s happening in your market. You can also find additional GetUpside educational materials in our Knowledge Center at getupside.zendesk.com.