The adage that patience is a virtue is hitting home these days in ways that I hadn’t fathomed in years’ past, and I suspect that’s the case for most of us. As I write this column in July, my family is waiting to see if my daughter’s middle school will open for full-time in-person instruction in August, and my college freshman son is waiting to hear if he’ll be on campus or attending online classes in our basement. COVID-19 cases are climbing across the U.S.—and the world—putting a big question mark over the sorely needed economic recovery, not to mention pent-up demand for everything from dinners with friends to haircuts to road trips. Needless to say, we are all playing waiting games these days.

The entrepreneurial spirit of the convenience retailing industry is still powering on. At NACS, we’ve talked a lot during the past few months about how the industry has quickly pivoted in response to the pandemic. “Times like these breed innovation,” Melanie Isbill, chief marketing officer at RaceTrac, told NACS Magazine in “Last Mile Demands.” RaceTrac accelerated plans to launch an online ordering platform in response to pandemic challenges—just one of many c-store chains that are innovating to meet consumers’ demands for low-touch, safe options.

The pandemic has forced a reckoning among retailers when it comes to technology.

When it comes to in-store shopping, traditional means of checking out involve face-to-face contact and high touchpoints. Retailers have taken steps to safeguard the process to reduce risks—think plexiglass barriers, queuing indicators and contactless payments—but there’s still friction. A future network of AI-minded c-stores and retail shops where customers just walk in, grab what they want and leave while payment is instantly processed may be closer than we imagined just a few years ago. Our cover story examines the “Vision of Future Checkout” and the companies working to make it happen.

In the June 2020 NACS Retailer Member Survey, 40% of respondents said they’d increased contactless payments, 33% said they’d increased curbside pickup, 29% increased drive-thru service and 21% increased delivery. When asked what was the most important issue to address, responses included preparing for a second outbreak of COVID-19, developing and rewarding their teams, thanking customers for their loyalty, rebuilding sales and fuel volume and understanding future customer buying habits.

Reaching customers where they are is a challenge–and so is figuring out what they want and how best to serve them. The pandemic has forced a reckoning among retailers when it comes to technology, and many are realizing they’re saddled with outdated systems that aren’t flexible enough—or data rich enough—to support a business model that’s fast evolving.

Technology considerations aside, perhaps the answer to the puzzle of doing commerce in the COVID age lies not in removing all human interaction but in getting to know customers even better than before, so they’ll feel safe, no matter how they patronize their local c-stores.