Digital Commerce for Refined Fuels: What Fuel Suppliers and Marketers Need to Know

A wholesale fuel buyer may be able to see a rack price online, but that does not necessarily mean the buyer can place an order against it.

The executable price may depend on the customer’s agreement, product, terminal, volume, and timing. The transaction may also need to reflect contract gallons, account permissions, or other commercial rules before the supplier can accept it. When that information resides in different systems, even a routine digital order could require someone behind the scenes to confirm the details.

Digital commerce brings the customer-facing transaction together with the pricing, commercial terms, and workflows required to execute it. For fuel suppliers and marketers evaluating this approach, six questions help clarify what it involves and where it can create value.

1. What is digital commerce in refined fuels?

Digital fuel commerce gives suppliers and their customers an online way to manage some or all of their commercial transactions. Depending on the business model, customers may be able to view account-specific information, access approved prices, place orders, receive confirmation, and review order history.

The supplier determines what each customer can see and do. Those decisions may reflect customer agreements, approved products, terminal access, purchasing permissions, and the types of transactions the supplier is prepared to handle online.

A complete digital transaction carries the appropriate customer and commercial information from the point of access into the supplier’s order and fulfillment processes. This lets eligible transactions proceed through self-service while directing exceptions to the people responsible for reviewing them.

2. What do fuel buyers expect from the purchasing process?

Fuel retailers make purchasing decisions within a larger set of operational pressures. Price remains central, but buyers also want to maintain access to supply and respond when conditions change.

According to the Titan Cloud 2025 Downstream Fuel Report, one-third of surveyed enterprise and mid-market fuel retailers identified procurement optimization as a major challenge. Price or cost efficiency was the leading procurement priority, cited by 54% of respondents, while 29% prioritized uninterrupted fuel availability.

These findings help explain why a digital fuel-buying experience can’t be judged by convenience alone. Buyers need access to the commercial information required to make informed purchasing decisions while maintaining confidence that they can obtain the fuel their operations require.

A useful digital experience should help a buyer answer practical questions:

• Which products and terminals are available to the account?
• Which price applies?
• Can the transaction proceed under the existing agreement?
• What happens if the buyer needs to change the volume, location, or timing?

“The digital channel must reflect the same commercial reality that the supplier and customer would work through directly.”

The answers will vary by supplier and transaction. The important point is that the digital channel must reflect the same commercial reality that the supplier and customer would work through directly.

3. How does a digital fuel transaction work?

Consider a buyer that regularly lifts diesel at more than one terminal. The buyer may purchase some gallons under contract and others at an available market price. Changing the terminal, volume, or timing could affect which price applies and whether the order can proceed under the same terms.

On the phone, an experienced salesperson can work through those questions with the customer. A digital transaction must apply the same commercial logic. It must present information that is accurate for the account, recognize when a change affects the transaction, and route an exception to the appropriate person.

Although the specific process varies, a digital fuel transaction generally needs to establish:

• Who the customer is and what the user is authorized to do
• Which products, terminals, and fulfillment options are available
• Which price and commercial terms apply
• Whether the transaction can proceed or requires review
• Where the confirmed order needs to go next
• How the customer will know the order has been accepted

In a connected workflow, the customer signs in and sees the information relevant to the account. The buyer selects an eligible product, volume, and location. The applicable pricing and commercial rules are applied, and the order either proceeds or is routed for review.

The confirmed information then moves into the systems and workflows responsible for fulfillment, account management, and other downstream processes.

4. How is digital commerce different from a customer portal?

A customer portal is the interface through which a customer interacts with the supplier. Digital commerce includes the commercial rules, information, and system connections that allow the customer to conduct business through that interface.

The difference becomes visible after an order is submitted. If an employee has to look up the customer’s price, confirm contract information, re-enter the order, and send a separate confirmation, the portal functions primarily as an intake channel. It may be more accessible to the customer, but the work behind the transaction remains largely manual.

A connected commerce platform applies approved information during the transaction. The customer sees the terms available to that account, and the supplier controls which transactions can proceed. The confirmed order moves into the appropriate internal workflow without employees reconstructing it from the beginning.

Shell Deutschland clearly illustrates the advantages of a digital commerce platform. The company wanted to digitize part of Germany’s traditional spot-fuels business but recognized that separate supplier portals could leave buyers navigating a fragmented process.

Shell worked with DTN to establish OnlineFuels Deutschland, a B2B marketplace where buyers could purchase fuel from multiple suppliers. The marketplace connected transactions with back-office systems and allowed customers to purchase fuel outside traditional office hours.

Shell reported gaining efficiencies and customer satisfaction with increasing marketplace use.

5. Where should self-service end and personal involvement begin?

Customers increasingly expect to complete routine buying activities independently, but that preference does not remove the need for experienced account teams.

A Gartner survey of 632 B2B buyers found that 61% preferred an overall buying experience without a sales representative. When a decision requires context, such as determining whether an option fits the buyer’s needs, respondents preferred seller involvement.

For fuel suppliers, that distinction matters. A customer may be comfortable completing an established transaction online but want direct support when the product, volume, terminal, supply situation, or commercial requirements change.

This suggests that self-service should be designed around the transaction rather than applied uniformly to every customer. Routine orders that follow established rules may be good candidates for digital execution. Transactions involving an exception, uncertain supply, or a change in commercial terms may benefit from direct involvement.

“The strongest experience gives customers a clear way to move between self-service and personal support.”

The strongest experience gives customers a clear way to move between those channels. A buyer should be able to begin online and obtain help without repeating the entire transaction or discovering that the information provided through one channel conflicts with another.

6. What should suppliers consider before making a change?

Readiness begins with examining current transactions. Suppliers can map how a representative phone or email order moves from the initial request through confirmation and fulfillment.

That exercise should identify which systems employees consult, what information they enter more than once, and where an order waits for review. It should also distinguish routine verification from decisions that require experience or customer discussion.

Useful questions include:

• Which customers regularly place similar orders?
• Which transactions follow consistent pricing and commercial rules?
• What information must a customer see before acting?
• Which changes require employee review?
• Where are pricing, contract, and account information maintained?
• Which systems need to receive the confirmed transaction?
• How will customers obtain help when self-service is insufficient?
• What would make the digital channel easier for the customer than the current process?

Suppliers should also decide how success will be measured. Registration alone does not show whether customers find the platform useful. More meaningful indicators may include the percentage of eligible transactions completed online, repeat use, the number of orders that require re-entry, and the points at which customers leave the digital process to seek assistance.

The decision starts with the transaction

Many fuel suppliers and marketers still rely on manual steps to manage orders. A digital commerce platform can reduce that work when customers can act on accurate pricing and terms, place an order, and have it move into the supplier’s existing operations without someone reentering the information. The place to start is the transaction itself: What must be checked, approved, or resolved before it can proceed?

Some steps follow established rules and are well suited to self-service. Others require judgment, particularly when an order falls outside agreed terms or a customer needs help working through an exception. Looking at those points in the current process shows which system connections matter and where people should remain involved.

Ready to explore how a digital commerce platform for wholesale fuels can improve your business? Visit DTN Fuel Operations Hub: Sales and Marketing.