Our industry has pioneered technology standards for three decades.

“Technology standards are necessary to maintain the industry’s competitive viability … by driving costs out of the supply chain, improving efficiencies and facilitating the execution of operational strategy,” said the late John Hervey, CEO of PCATS (which later rebranded as Conexxus) in the November 2003 issue of NACS Magazine.

The work that began in 1995 with the NACS Technology Standards project focused on four key areas:

• Electronic data interchange.
• Common data communications between the back office and the point-of-sale terminal.
• Electronic payment systems.
• Device interfaces with the point-of-sale terminal.

“Technology is the profit enabler … nothing is going to determine success or failure more quickly than how well a company integrates technology planning and implementation with its business plan,” said Hervey.

The rebranding from PCATS—the Petroleum Convenience Alliance for Technology Standards—to Conexxus signified an expansion of the group’s mission to address innovation and emerging challenges, such as data security, mobile commerce and payments.

Conexxus brings together industry stakeholders to create standards that benefit the convenience retail industry. These standards and specifications range from API development to loyalty to mobile payments to device integration specifications—all with the goal to improve retailer profitability by reducing the cost of IT ownership and enhancing the competitiveness of the entire channel.

The pace of change is fast, which is why each year at the Conexxus Annual Conference, the industry’s future comes into view.

Building a Digital Ecosystem

“Our stores need to reside wherever the consumer is and capitalize on our historical advantage of being on the way to where they are going,” said Gray Taylor, executive director of Conexxus.

Consider this scenario:

A customer, Matt, is heading out of town for the weekend. After some miles on the road, he wants to charge his electric car and buy a pack of cigarettes. He voice-activates his car’s digital assistant to find a store that has what he needs.

Technology is the profit enabler … nothing is going to determine success or failure more quickly than how well a company integrates technology planning and implementation with its business plan.”

The digital assistant finds a c-store within three miles that matches his mission and confirms his age for the age-restricted product. His license plate will be confirmed onsite for charging. He’s offered an 8112 coupon (more on these later) for the cigarettes, and the transactions are completed all from his car.

“This is where the shop is going to be,” said Taylor. “Our job does not stop at the store—it’s to make sure that the new digital commerce frontier is where you can connect with any other ecosystem that’s out there.”

The industry’s digital journey isn’t starting at ground zero. NACS, Conexxus and the Transportation Energy Institute (TEI) have been investing in separate digital projects that will evolve as one ecosystem and will bring Matt’s futuristic scenario to life. Together, they will help the convenience industry be more competitive as technology continues to shape (and reshape) the retail landscape.

These investments include:

• TruAge®: A digital age verification solution that protects consumers’ privacy and works across all points of sale in all retail channels.
• THRIVR: An all-in-one digital marketing solution that leverages the power of online searches.
• 8112: A technology platform that will be used for converting about 90% of paper coupons to digital coupons in the next few years.
• TEI’s EV Charging Analytics Program: A collection of tools that provide information on when, where and how EV chargers are being used.

When Matt hits the road, TruAge will verify his age for age-restricted purchases; a store that participates in THRIVR will show up first in a search for the products and services he’s looking for; an 8112 coupon can be applied to his purchase; and TEI’s program will locate an available charger.

Does Matt have to leave his vehicle? Only if he wants to. And if it’s to use the restroom, the store better have the cleanest restrooms known to mankind.

The Emergence of Artificial Intelligence

Matt can make his purchases by voice-activating a digital assistant within his vehicle because computers can now hear, learn, understand and relay information.

“[AI is] a series of techniques with many applications that have been developed over the past 70 years,” said Alan Lockett, an AI consultant and presenter at the Conexxus Annual Conference alongside David Ezell, director of new initiatives at Conexxus.

In the 1960s and 1970s, he explained, AI was comprised of rule-based systems, in the 1980s came the earliest neural networks, and the 1990s saw a group of techniques that became statistical machine learning used by companies like Google in the early 2000s. By 2010, we saw a return of neural networks doing something called deep learning.

Today, computers can see, hear and speak. They use voice technologies and computer vision to understand what we’re doing, predictive technologies to figure out a plan of action and generative technologies to turn that plan into instructions we can use.

You could have a security camera that not only records information for you to review but can analyze and process that data as events are happening and be set up to send alerts when something significant occurs.”

The ability to speak to a machine—to speak to data—is a profound capability from the last decade, Lockett continued. Computers can identify objects, observe events in the real world and see and assign labels to objects that we see.

“Typically, when people talk about AI now, what they mean is deep learning specifically in its applications to computer vision and large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT,” said Lockett.

“These are revolutionary new technologies that are distinct from other things that we’ve called AI in the past,” said Lockett.

While it’s easy to get caught up in the hype around AI, what it’s not is “a set of static computer programs that don’t adapt,” said Ezell, who explained that in order to be truly effective, systems should have a planned process of improvement.

If you’re implementing AI, there is potential for your system to improve over time—but it has to be set up to do so. “You must have processes in place. If you are contracting with a company to do an AI package, there should be an integrated plan for keeping your core system updated,” suggested Ezell.

“Are you creating a static one-off, fire it up and forget it type of AI program, or does the program take advantage of the fact that it can improve?” Ezell said.

In terms of monitoring stores, “You could have a security camera that not only records information for you to review but can analyze and process that data as events are happening and be set up to send alerts when something significant occurs,” said Lockett.

Without an AI capability, c-store security systems are simply microphones, cameras and speakers that just record and relay information. “Now these systems can understand what’s happening—what’s being heard and spoken,” Lockett added.

Yes, Robots Are Coming

Let’s get this out of the way: We’re not talking about Hollywood’s version of psycho robots taking over the planet.

“Why would we even build that?” said Lockett. “I tend to take a more pragmatic view. Granted, AI and robotics are and will be disruptive with social and cultural change, and not all change will be positive or useful,” said Lockett.

He predicted that domestic robots, integrated with LLMs, vision systems and speech and audio processing to obey instructions like “wash and dry the dishes,” could be on the market in the next decade.

“We’ll figure out a way to work with these new technologies, just like we figured out ways to work with new technologies like the automobile or nuclear power,” he continued.

There could also be a future where robots and AI systems do many of the mundane work and tasks at a convenience store, while the employees provide the human touchpoints and relationships.

When Matt pulls into the site to charge his car, the new AI-enabled system, which already received his license plate information, determines the make and model and initiates a fast charge appropriate for the vehicle. The human element is an employee bringing him his cigarettes and whatever items he’d like to purchase. Rather than a place for Matt to complete tasks, the store becomes a place for Matt to relax on his journey.

“We are going to see a lot of change and a lot of new technologies that are going to be quite amazing over the next 10 years,” said Lockett.