Technology can help convenience retailers adapt to rapid changes in the industry. This can also help solve problems, but is not a solution in itself.
“Technological evolution is now driven by customer needs rather than store needs. Customers expect technology to support the way they do things,” said Gray Taylor, executive director of Conexxus, “on the Convenience Matter podcast,”Technology is essential: here’s why.”
Conexxus brings together convenience and fuel retail stakeholders to create standards that benefit the convenience industry. THE purpose of these standards and specifications— from API development to digital payments loyalty to device integration specifications — is about reducing the cost of IT ownership and improving the competitiveness of the entire industry.
Taylor shared a top-down perspective on what retailers can watch in tech today, as well as the top topics headlining the upcoming Conexxus Annual Conference in January.
Artificial intelligence is a valuable tool, although some applications are more accessible to larger organizations.
“Here’s the thing: always remember that if it’s free, you are the product. You need to invest in the tools. You have to get the membership and you have to pay for the license,” Taylor advised.
In the future, large language models (LLMs) will also have a significant impact, as they can leverage deep learning and large amounts of data to improve business processes. Conexxus recently developed an LLM for its industrial data dictionary.
“We define all the data that flows inside and outside the store. We have around 800 definitions with code examples and implementation guides. If you printed all of this out, it would be a stack of paper the size of Duke Street, where NACS is headquartered,” Taylor said, adding, “Internal LLMs are like your own internal ChatGPT.
Contactless payments and loyalty programs are an asset for small operators.
“For me the main thing is how to plan for mobile payments and mobile loyalty, because from a consumer point of view there are many solutions and POS companies support them through our Conexxus loyalty standards,” Taylor said. .
Contactless payments, for example, solved a problem at the fuel island by removing “moving parts down to the card readers.” It’s much more reliable: it’s a beneficial technology,” Taylor said.
Loyalty is also now more accessible, even for single store operators. “Lonnie McQuirter at 36 Lyn in Minneapolis has a loyalty program and he’s one of thousands of small operators who have their own loyalty program,” Taylor said.
To stay competitive, Taylor suggested that retailers say they are up to date with new technological tools and innovations. One way to do this is to attend industry events like the annual Conexxus conference that focus specifically on solutions for the convenience store channel.
“You’ll make a lot of contacts that can help you make good decisions later, whether you implement something or decide not to implement something that you don’t quite understand. It’s a meeting worth having…January 26-30 in Tucson, Arizona” Taylor said.
Hear more about Taylor and what the future holds for technology and the dynamic convenience store environment on Convenience matters.