Lula Commerce, a digital commerce provider for convenience-store retailers, has partnered with two convenience-store chains: DFW Oil & Energy, a Circle K franchisee, and United Pacific's Rocket and Alta Convenience stores. The tech provider offers digital services, such as real-time inventory management, integration with delivery platforms and customer engagement tools.
- United Pacific/Rocket is No. 14 on CSP’s 2025 Top 202 ranking of U.S. convenience-store chains by store count.
Lula has also launched Lula Direct, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered ordering platform. The AI operators replace manual tasks across operations, finance, marketing and support.
Specifically, Lula Direct handles menu digitalization, compliance, delivery setup and branding across sites. It also features product recommendations based on consumer behavior, which can increase basket size by an average of 22%, according to Lula.
"Consumers expect retailers to provide an online ordering experience in a digital-first world, but most convenience stores struggle to find the time and resources as labor costs rise," said Tom Falzani, co-founder and chief product officer at Lula Commerce, Philadelphia. "Lula Direct changes that with features that save time, cut costs and drive revenue."
In addition, it handles tax registration, calculation and filing.
Alcohol and tobacco compliance is also built in with ID verification and geo-fencing.
Lula Direct connects with more than 30 systems, from loyalty platforms to point of sale (POS) and app providers, enabling retailers to build a connected commerce stack.
"The industry is changing fast, and Lula Direct has features built hand-in-hand with top retailers," said Adit Gupta, co-founder and CEO at Lula Commerce. "As labor costs rise, retailers need outcomes, not just software. Lula Direct delivers the needed tools and takes the work off their plate."
The company also launched Lula Operators, a suite of AI agents in four categories. The operational uptime agent can help with real-time anomaly detection, hardware monitoring, proactive alerts; the ratings and feedback agent can automate customer review management; the refunds and disputes agent can manage customer needs; and the financial auditing and reconciliation agent can automate financial reconciliation, payout tracking and more.
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