Abstract:
Many fuel stations in Ghana have explored alternative sources of
income in order to remain profitable and it is a concern that there are too many
fuel stations, resulting in an overtraded market. The retail fuel outlet
businesses in the country incorporated the usage of various market mix
elements to improve their profitability, price positioning, and competitive
advantage to survive and grow (Johne & Davies, 2002). Achieving efficient
and effective product marketing strategy by an organization is difficult. This is
as a result of the ambiguity and instability of economic factors. Although
some research efforts have been undertaken to explain issues pertaining to the
impact of business structure and strategies on the performance of fuel
prospecting industries in developing economies (Chukwu, 2002). Many of
these research efforts do not provide answers to the variables that influences
profitability in retail fuel outlets within urban settings. The study is a single
case study of Shell Oil Company in Accra. The purpose of the study is to
investigate whether shell site and location variables influence profitability or
the average sales volume of fuel. The quantitative research approach adopted
enabled the researcher to compute profitability ratios from secondary data
