Since Walmart apparently doesn’t think it has enough shoppers already, it is taking extra steps in 21 states to woo in anybody who is annoyed with the high price of gas by chopping the price of gasoline at its pumps by 15 cents, Reuters reports.

High gas prices are keeping consumers off the road and out of stores, the wire service notes, so Walmart is aiming to bring those consumers back in by giving the 15-cent discount to those paying with a Walmart MoneyCard or credit card until July 7. For those who have Walmart gift cards laying about, this could be the time to use them. Those cards will be worth a 10 cent per gallon discount.

"I am constantly hearing that gas prices are making it tough for our customers to balance their budgets," Gisel Ruiz, COO for Walmart US, told Reuters. "For every cent gas prices climb, consumers have $1 billion less to spend."Continue reading...

The latest move in Greenpeace’s Save the Arctic campaign saw British eco-activists shutting down 74 of 119 Shell petrol stations in Edinburgh and London against the brand's plans to drill for oil in the Arctic, leading to the arrests of 24 campaigners on Monday, according to the Guardian.

The campaign is targeting Shell as prepares to begin drilling in the Arctic with Russian oil company Gazprom, a plan that U.S. activists rallied to sue and spoof campaigns to pop up. Protesters scaled the roofs of Shell stations and deployed emergency shut-off switches to stop petrol going to the pumps, removing a fuse that delays it being switched on again, while posting a message on Twitter that, "We're being careful not to destroy property. Even the carefully removed components will go back to Shell."

Greenpeace UK website elaborated, "It's part of the global week of action against Shell that kicked off with the occupation of the head office in the Hague – as well as our live TV channel, follow #tellshell on Twitter for all the latest from around the world."Continue reading...

It's not exactly Coke vs. Pepsi, or Chevy vs. Ford, but the intensifying battle of the gas-pump TV networks just got a little more interesting.

Outcast just signed an exclusive deal with Fox News Channel to distribute its programming to more than 13,000 screens at gas station in 130 U.S. markets via its PumpTop TV network. Its rival, Gas Station TV (GSTV), has been adding branded content as well, including news reports from Bloomberg TV.

In the distribution battle to win valuable eyeball-level distribution via gas stations, expect more exclusive programming deals with big media brands as the duelling "networks" spread across America. It's also good news for brand marketers, expanding the quality of "place-based" or out-of-home opportunities to reach drivers.Continue reading...

In April, it will be two years since the BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill that dumped nearly five million barrels of the black stuff into the Gulf of Mexico. The folks at BP would like everybody to move along now.

To help ease that transition, the company — the second largest gasoline marketer in the US — plans to invest $500 million over the next two years for an American marketing push, according to Convenience Store News.

According to the report, the plan is centered around “a distinctive fuel offer, improved customer experience, and a more compelling loyalty rewards program” with the hope that the company can become the “No. 1 fuels marketer east of the Rockies” again.

“In 2012 and beyond, BP’s commitment to its branded marketers will be second to none in our industry,” said Doug Sparkman, president of BP’s East of Rockies Fuels Value Chain, at this week’s 2012 BP Amoco Marketers Association (BPAMA) Convention and Business Expo, an annual gathering of BP marketers taking place in Florida.Continue reading...

After a relatively rosy first couple of months of the year, US economic reports are more mixed in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and the resulting disruption in manufacturing and supply networks, as well as with rising oil prices amid war in the Middle East.

While domestic auto sales appear to have continued their recovery in March, for instance, American consumer confidence has dipped again lately. New Conference Board data shows that consumer confidence dipped 8.6% in March, "pulled down by gloomy expectations about the economy and labor markets." 

Even so, with calamity and strife causing global jitters from Japan to Libya and everywhere in between, IHS Global Insight has been telling its clients worried about the US economy: "Relax."Continue reading...

Lurking like a thief on the fringes of a new year’s party, higher gasoline prices could yet steal the momentum that the US auto industry has built heading into 2011. 

Industry executives this week said they’re much better prepared for any surge in gas prices this year than they were in the summer of 2008, when a spike past $4 a gallon became the first body blow in a series of hits that sent the U.S. auto market to depths not seen in a half-century.

But that may be whistling through the graveyard.Continue reading...