New technologies are making their way from the forecourt and store into the back office, affecting the entire retail loop, from consumer to chain executive.
And with each new development, operators must decide if each is more about hype or if it can really pull in more traffic, cut energy costs or sell more doughnuts.
The types of automation are varied and diverse. The 34-store Rotten Robbie chain in the San Francisco Bay area recently announced the expansion of its mobile app to include a California lottery feed, allowing customers to see winning numbers as soon as the state reports them.
“We want to make it as easy as possible for our customers to get the winning lottery numbers efficiently,” says Kris Kingsbury, marketing and merchandising manager for Robinson Oil, Santa Clara, Calif. “And adding the daily updated winning numbers to our app makes sense as customers demand more mobile.”
In South Lake Tahoe, Calif., the Raley’s chain of 128 stores has initiated a plan to cut companywide energy use by 10%, prompting officials there to install a line of LED interior and exterior lighting. “[We’re] becoming a mode of energy efficiency,” says Randy Walthers, energy and utility manager for the chain. “Raley’s has incorporated numerous, and often groundbreaking, energy-savings techniques into [our] business plan.”
Whether the goal is to make an app more compelling or to cut a lighting bill, a common thread through each advancement is sophistication in the capacity of devices and networks to work faster and cleaner.
Nancy Mathes, owner of Paper Lite, Carmel, Ind., said retailers 15 years ago were simply “scanning and retrieving” documents, using technology to turn paperwork into a digital format.
Today, “we focus on automating the digital process,” she says, in which a scanned invoice is digitally turned into data that’s identified and routed to the right individual in the blink of an eye. “And with mobile, now you can take pictures of an invoice, expense report or receipt, file it from a phone, and it’ll already have a general ledger coding when it hits the office and goes to an [accounts payable] clerk.”
That’s not to say all retailers have caught up to the advances. “In this industry, you can still walk into offices where filing cabinets are used as office dividers,” Mathes said. “The store has so much paper delivered, either with mailing or pickups, large envelopes of paper. … You see it all the time.”
Variety of Advances
Despite pockets of the Stone Age, advances across retailing provide the opportunity to create efficiencies, improve operations and delight the customer.
Some are hidden from the eye, relegated to the inner workings of high-speed computers or even individual smartphones. Others are more tangible, in the form of devices to hook up and plug in or as products to shelve and face.
Some can be grouped into categories, while others fall into general themes. Here are a few of those groupings:
▶ Product improvement or innovation: E-cigs make up much of the technology innovation in terms of actual product, but foodservice equipment can make the cooking and heating process faster and more consistent, affecting products such as sandwiches and coffee.
▶ Store efficiency and operational improvement: Devices that can monitor food safety or alert staff when a cooler door is open can result in cost savings and improved safety.
▶ Marketing, customer communications: Video displays, food kiosks and fuel dispenser TVs can act in multiple capacities, enticing a sale and also starting a transaction.
▶ Data flow: Including card swipes, back-office software, home-office accounting and big data number crunching, the transmission of data from the store to corporate and back makes for a vast segment of today’s retail automation.
Of course, most devices achieve their optimal use when the information they contain is pooled and assessed. Using software from Arlington, Texas-based The Pinnacle Corp., Jenny Bullard, CIO of Flash Foods, Waycross, Ga., says in one instance, alerts tied to point-of-sale (POS) transactions notified staff of potentially fraudulent sales, and via its video surveillance tapes, staff members were able to provide footage of a pickup truck equipped with a compartment made to store stolen gasoline.
CONTINUED: Culling Data
Culling Data
Like Bullard, Donna Perkins, pricebook manager for Calloway Oil, Maryville, Tenn., is able to track item-level movement and develop comprehensive reports. An open-architecture platform with a system provided by Temple, Texas-based PDI allows for the creation of reports specific to the needs of her 22-store chain.
Creating such reports is a goal many retailers find out of reach, but suppliers are responding to these concerns. “It’s about using tools to understand the data they already have” in their POS registers and other sources, says Chris Kiernan, director of retail applications for ADD Systems, Flanders, N.J. “It’s the old saying: You don’t know what you don’t know.”
Retailers using ADD Systems products have configured reports from a basic software platform, Kiernan says. Some of the reports compare vendor profitability, while others line up products by category year over year, month over month.
Yet another route is moving ease of use from IT to the executive level. Eros Fleming, global account executive for DataMax Group Inc., Round Rock, Texas, says his company’s product makes it easy to customize reports and create dashboards. “You can drag and drop, so it’s easy to build,” he says. “You can create your own reports, mix and match basket-analysis models—essentially build your own system.”
Store-Level Innovation
Certainly some of the more visible developments occur within the store. Technology advances are creating new products to sell and making life in the store faster, more efficient and cheaper.
One of the fastest-evolving product categories is electronic cigarettes. And many companies are entering the vaping and e-liquid space.
Major manufacturers including Republic Tobacco, Glenview, Ill.; Kretek, Moorpark, Calif.; CB Distributors, Beloit, Wis.; and Mistic, Charlotte, N.C., have all launched their own vaporizer and e-liquid lines. NJOY, Scottsdale, Ariz., recently made waves by announcing it too would enter the market this summer.
“It makes sense from a vantage point that consumers are migrating to different subsets of the [e-cig] category,” says Nik Modi, managing director of RB Capital Markets, New York, of the NJOY announcement. “I would expect more companies to follow their lead.”
The success of the vapor industry hinges on FDA regulations. But as it stands now, Modi predicts that any manufacturer wanting to be in the e-cig business will ultimately need to enter this space.
Another alternative technology in e-cigs has been a product that essentially “bakes” loose tobacco. One such handheld device comes from Ploom, San Francisco. It warms proprietary tobacco pods for the user, who then inhales the vapors. The Ploom modelTwo combines non-combustible vaporization technology with real tobacco, officials say. Users are able to go through four to five pods on each charge.
“The company was started around the idea of pods. …The coffee space has been around for a very long time and Nespresso [pods] had found a way to shake that up,” says James Monsees, CEO and co-founder of Ploom. “[It’s] about identifying a real pain point in the industry, applying a technical solution and creating a seamless … experience around an old product.”
Still other technologies at the store level focus on efficiency. Over the past year, Dallas-based Alon Brands has been equipping its stations with a new “ring” technology, which allows fleet drivers the ability to quickly initiate transactions at the pump.
Affixed into the opening of the vehicle’s fuel tank, the AVii ring, which stands for automatic vehicle identification, uses radio frequency technology to identify the car, van or truck and initiates the transaction with the station POS. So far, about 200 Alon-branded locations are equipped to accept the technology.
Also at the pump, new TV displays both in the pump and on separate, tablet-style monitors visually attract people’s attention. Earlier this year, Roanoke Rapids, N.C.-based New Dixie Oil Corp. installed Austin, Texas-based Wayne’s Ovation fuel dispensers, complete with the in-pump TV option and content provided by Gas Station TV, Birmingham, Mich., at sites in Rocky Mount, N.C.
“The overall lack of differentiation in the marketplace makes the distinction of our sites on the basis of staff and state-of-the-art facilities more important than ever,” says Scott Aman, president of New Dixie. “My father taught me that everything stems from the customer’s experience at the pump.”
As a Subway franchisee, New Dixie Oil will promote its quick-service restaurant (QSR) business and other in-store offerings at the dispenser, as part of site-specific promotions within the inOvationTV media program.
Similarly, in Lawrence, Kan., Scott Zaremba of Zarco USA partnered with technology guru Peter Tawil to develop a rugged tablet and Web-based ordering app called Siris that a retailer can install on existing dispensers. The devices, now installed at two of Zaremba’s sites, allow customers to make an in-store purchase at the pump.
But just as technology can aid in marketing, it can also cut operating costs. In the way Raley’s Petroleum used lighting from Durham, N.C.-based Cree, John Scali, owner of Grand & Pulaski CITGO in Chicago, has installed LED lighting from Miami-based Energy Savings Solutions USA, to save what officials say will be 77% in interior and exterior lighting costs.
CONTINUED: Drawing Customers Inside
Outside In
In the store, devices are helping staff heat more menu items, make more consistent brews of coffee and maintain proper temperatures in coolers and freezers.
Considered an alternative to a convection oven, kettle, steamer, fryer, smoker and dehydrator, a new line of ovens from Menomonee Falls, Wis.-based Alto-Shaam features a PROpower setting. While in turbo mode, the CT PROformance operates up to 20% faster than other combi ovens and up to 80% faster than conventional technology, according to the company. And, given the oven’s ability to preheat up to 575 degrees, recovery times are shortened considerably, further increasing speed and performance, the company says.
Another innovation comes from Milwaukee- based Ovention Inc. Its Ovention Shuttle product has two oven technologies built into one oven, combining faster throughput with an improved conveyor to the cook-setting control of the new Precision Impingement technology. During peak periods, when employees are cooking a high volume of a similar item, the Shuttle can operate like a traditional conveyor for maximum throughput. The oven can also switch into Shuttle mode, customizing the oven temperature, time, and top and bottom independent blower speeds for each item.
As with other in-store innovations, touch screens are popping up everywhere. Lake Zurich, Ill.-based FETCO has a line of brewing equipment that uses touch screens to help employees set up, program and brew coffee. The Extractor Touchscreen Series helps operators customize the screen to brew popular blends, the company says.
Going from hot to cold, coolers, display cases, walk-in and storage freezers all rely on condensing units, many of which have advanced to greater efficiencies, energy savings, more compact footprints and quieter operation. Cleveland-based Emerson Climate Technologies says its Copeland Scroll Outdoor Condensing Unit (XJ Series) offers a high efficiency that can translate into 20% annual energy savings.
Technology is also moving into areas of customer convenience. “Shoppers are ... seeing retailers with self-checkout as providing a higher level of customer service by giving them the option to quickly pick and pay for their items,” says Mark Self, vice president of marketing for NCR Retail, Duluth. Ga.
More Mobile
While ovens and condenser units represent breakthroughs for productivity and cost cutting, mobile technologies such as the Robinson Oil app, which is based on technology from Open Store by GasBuddy, Brooklyn Park, Minn., tend to steal the spotlight.
A mobile advancement now attracting attention is known as “beacon” technology. Short-wave transmissions can speak to a customer’s phone directly, providing messaging while the customer is fueling.
Los Angeles-based SkuRun, a start-up firm, recently launched its flagship product, EnaBLE, which is an “end-to-end mobile marketing platform that will help convenience retailers engage customers where and when it matters most: at the gas pump and in the store.”
Designed as cloud-based “middleware,” the product is said to work with any beacon manufacturer and any mobile-device operating system, according to SkuRun officials.
Dublin, Ireland-based start-up Pulsate is also touting its beacon technology, which sits behind a retailer’s mobile app and provides similar messaging to customers.
But mobile technology permeates throughout the c-store environment, covering marketing objectives all the way up to payments. For instance, Atlanta-based InComm, a prepaid product and transaction services company, recently launched its InComm Mobile Platform (IMP) for mobile-wallet providers and merchants. The service integrates with multiple platforms to provide capabilities required to process mobile payments made using prepaid cards at retail POS.
IMP supports consumer payments based on near field communication (NFC) at the retail POS, as well as account top-ups through traditional credit and debit cards, says Frank Monaco, InComm’s executive vice president and general manager for international.
CONTINUED: Making Connections
Making Connections
Part of the “magic” of technology is creating a data-secure environment and the interworkings needed to transfer information between the store and corporate.
With its Passport version 10 product, Greensboro, N.C.-based Gilbarco Veeder-Root says it offers features including payment card industry (PCI) compliance, age verification, mobile payment, remote management and lottery sales from the dispenser. It can also link to related business-management tools at corporate headquarters.
San Jose, Calif.-based VeriFone Systems, along with partner Atlanta-based First Data, announced the launch of the VeriFone edition of the First Data TransArmor solution for U.S. multi-lane and petroleum merchants. It’s an end-to-end encryption and tokenization solution designed to enhance payment security.
“Data breaches are a widespread problem with over 1.1 billion records compromised in the last 10 years and the average organizational cost estimated at $5.4 million,” says Paul Kleinschnitz, senior vice president of cyber security solutions for First Data. “This partnership with VeriFone … illustrates our commitment to collaborate with industry experts to bring best-in-class security solutions to new markets such as [petroleum].”
Cool, But Is It Relevant?
Tons of neat stuff will invade the consumer front in the next year, but how relevant is it to c-stores?
For instance, U.K. company Vuzix Corp., a supplier of smart eyeglasses, along with a partner firm in Belgium are developing glasses that can scan QR codes and bar codes. Will the cashier of the future never touch a terminal again? Will all they need to do is look at a bar code?
A recently released study says wearable technology—everything from smart glasses to watches—will sell about 10 million units in 2014, generating $3 billion.
New York-based technology communications and research firm Deloitte predicted the wearable trend is continuing, even for the in-field workforce. In its “Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) Predictions 2014” report, it said, “Our predictions for 2014 touch on a wide variety of topics, but there is some commonality among them.”
The stronger trends involve mobile devices including tablets, “wearables, phablets and also rugged devices,” said Eric Openshaw, vice chairman of Deloitte LLP. “These newer technologies allow enterprises and consumers to become more connected, while opening a wealth of new business and communication opportunities.”
Restroom Tech: No Time to Sit
Technological advances are occurring in every corner of the c-store, including the restroom.
Menomonee Falls, Wis.-based Bradley Corp., recently launched its new Advocate AV Series Lavatory System. It’s a touch-free hand-washing system that combines a faucet, soap dispenser and hand dryer in one unit.
Officials say the unit has been a favorite with environmentally conscious architects because it reduces water and energy consumption, cuts paper towel waste and stops water from dripping on counters and floors.
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