NOTES FROM NRF: FOUR TRENDS FOR C-STORES

AI, customer loyalty, ordering platforms and employee feedback took center stage.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) held its annual conference and expo at the Javits Convention Center in New York City, January 12-14.

1: AI Everywhere

AI, of course, was extremely present—like Toshiba’s MxP Vision Kiosk. Toshiba described it as an “innovative self-checkout kiosk that utilizes computer vision and AI to automatically identify items at checkout for a faster, more efficient and seamless shopping experience. Part of the new MxP portfolio, this solution offers simplified and accurate checkout for shoppers and opt-in biometric payment options to expedite the checkout experience.”

During the “Retailers moving from vision to value with AI” education session, Carrie Tharp, VP of global solutions and industries at Google Cloud, discussed how AI is constantly evolving and changing how retailers can utilize it to connect with customers, enhance customer service and personalize shopping. “Generative AI will be creating new services for retailers to have media interactions they can monetize. Something for all retailers to think about is what are those new intersection points? What are the new experiences of the future?” Tharp said.

2: Creating Loyalty Engagement

Michael Verdesca, chief information officer at Murphy USA, spoke during one of the show’s education sessions about the success the retailer is having with its loyalty program and how Murphy is adapting the program to benefit those who may not even have registered.

“We have our Murphy Driver Rewards, and we have four or five million members. [When Murphy USA does] a survey, you get close to a million consumer responses. The kind of car they drive, how many miles they drive, how many cigarettes they smoke. They really trust us,” Verdesca said. “But we only get a certain percentage of consumers opting in [to loyalty programs]. So, this year, we’re rolling out a new payment gateway, so on the backend, if you use the same payment method, we can treat you and talk to you, and we can offer coupons based on what consumers buy.”

3: Enhanced Ordering Platforms

With AI evolving, so are ordering platforms. During “From Appetites to Insights: How AI is mapping the entire customer journey” session, Bryce Boothby, global director of product at McDonald’s, discussed how McDonald’s has created more ways for customers to place orders.

“It’s no longer about just having brick and mortar physical locations. Customers now seek out seamless digital experiences to be able to place and receive their orders whenever and wherever they want,” said Boothby. “McDonald’s has gone from having just two different ways for customers to place orders and pick up food to now having 10 different ways that customers can place an order. Right now, we’re on track to hit our target for 2027 to have 250 million 90-day active users on our platform.”

Boothby also stated that McDonald’s is working to use technology to streamline customer service speed. “Technology that allows us to identify customers in the restaurant can allow us to bring the food proactively to that table, do check-ins when needed and also creates an opportunity to clean up areas where we know customers have been sitting,” Boothby said.

4: Tech to Connect

Jennifer Karras, director of operations excellence for North America Circle K (pictured above), spoke during the session “Leadership in the Digital Age: How Circle K is transforming feedback into strategic success at the frontline.” Circle K uses a software called WorkJam to deliver task management, communication, shift management and training to frontline employees.

“We had to get standardized communication to the frontline. We have over 51,000 active users in North America [on WorkJam], and we are leveraging communications where even our CEO will post messages and that gets to the frontline. It allows them to feel a part of the larger 149,000 employees [worldwide],” Karras said. “We can also use it to celebrate employees, anniversaries or birthdays. It’s almost become like a Facebook and is a big deal.”

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