Key results
- Fast rollout of unattended fuel sites
- No need to run multiple systems across channels
- Easily repurpose existing systems and infrastructure
When Z Energy (Z) launched the U-GO fuel station brand in New Zealand earlier this year, it was looking to meet the needs of customers who want to match great value with fast and convenient self-service. It was also building on its reputation as a leading fuel retailer in the New Zealand market.
With a nationwide network of retail service stations, Z offers customers a range of full-service amenities, including hot food, snacks and coffee, car washes, EV charging and trailer hire, as well as the Z Rewards loyalty programme.
By converting select existing stations into U-GO sites that offer only pay-at-the-pump fuel delivery, the company was able to keep serving its customers in a way that best suited them but without incurring the cost of building new locations from the ground up.
As Z’s Customer General Manager Tim Bailey said, “We've identified a small number of locations in our current network where a self-service fuel station would better meet customer needs. We're working to convert these into U-GO branded sites now. Z and U-GO have different offers and are designed to appeal to different customers.”
In making the transition, Z turned to its long-term partner Triquestra to provide the retail solution that would underpin the new offering, via the Infinity retail management system.
Triquestra has worked alongside Z to deliver a range of services and offers at its attended sites, including the Pumped and Z Rewards loyalty schemes, virtual fuel solution Sharetank, as well as comprehensive wet stock and dry stock POS functionality. Infinity’s flexibility meant that U-GO could use the same underlying retail solution, stripped back to suit the needs of unattended sites.
It also meant that U-GO sites could be up and running quickly. Implementing a single, modular platform across all retail channels allowed Z to scale efficiently and avoid the usual complexity that comes with managing multiple systems. The result has been a quick and seamless rollout at unattended sites.
“We’ve been able to roll out technology quickly by configuring existing tools instead of building custom solutions. This has allowed us to tailor the solution to the market in just a few days.”
By leveraging the power of Infinity, U-GO has brought greater competition into the self-service fuel retail market in New Zealand, offering competitive local fuel pricing for all U-GO customers.
For Z, partnering with Triquestra and Infinity has allowed them to build on an existing relationship to deliver for all their customers, wherever they are and whatever they need, in a seamless, cost-effective way.
APFI Forum 2025: A Story of Synergy and Success
Last week, along with our CTO Mike Baxter and BDM Haymon Keeler, I attended the annual APFI Forum for fuel retailers, which this year was held on the Gold Coast. It’s a great opportunity to connect with those in the industry, and I wanted to share some of the key insights we took away with us.
The theme of the event, Success through Synergy, set the tone. In a sector as dynamic as the fuel industry, this gathering was a powerful reminder of the value of connection, collaboration and shared insight.
Starting at the macro level, economist Saul Eslake delivered an interesting keynote on the broader economic context. With geopolitical and policy uncertainty clouding the horizon, his words resonated: “In the face of uncertainty, businesses put off big decisions and workers put off decisions about big ticket items.”
Although productivity remains a challenge, especially in retail, Saul had a cautiously optimistic outlook, signalling that Australia has managed the uncertainty better than similar countries and is comparatively well placed. However, the future remains uncertain. Businesses need to make investments to drive steady improvement, and leaders need to be bold, forward-looking and ready to adapt.
Haymon Keeler and Mike Baxter in front of the Infinity booth at the APFI Forum.
Adaptation and synergies were the dual focus of a presentation by Fiona Hayes, CEO and Managing Director at 7-Eleven. She spoke about how declining fuel and tobacco sales at service stations must be met head-on through a convergence of convenience, grocery and quick-service restaurants.
Fuel retailers need to make use of digital channels to reach customers beyond the forecourt by delivering food and other convenience offerings; those who do can reap huge opportunities. You can read more about these shifts in fuel convenience and the ways retailers can best respond in our recent blog post.
Change management and productivity were also central themes tackled by Stephen Scheeler, CEO of Omniscient and former CEO of Facebook ANZ, who spoke about AI, leadership and digital disruption. Stephen made the point that AI is now embedded in everyday life. It can best be used to get to where you want to go faster, and its interaction with the physical world is already having a day-to-day impact through robotics and self-driving cars such as Waymo.
Stephen believes that AI will augment human capabilities rather than replace jobs, using the example of the farmer who used to plough fields behind a horse but now uses a tractor to dramatically increase productivity. It was fascinating to hear his insights on this fast-moving technology.
We were also thrilled to get the rare chance to listen to David Goldberger, a pioneer in the Australian fuel industry and a leading reason why the country has such a strong independent fuel presence. In founding Solo in the 1970s and Liberty Oil in the 1990s, David, along with his long-time business partner David Wieland, created a situation where the big players had to work with him, and he's created space for others to follow. From introducing discount fuel in Victoria and New South Wales to establishing a wholesale and fuel distribution business, David truly is a founding father of the independent fuel business.
David treated us to a wide-ranging conversation that covered the history and future of independent fuel retailing which the audience thoroughly enjoyed.
The event ended with a gala dinner where the Australian Convenience and Fuel Awards were presented. Congratulations to the winners from the different awards categories, and thanks to the Australian Convenience and Petroleum Marketers Association (ACAPMA) for a very successful event!
Keeping ahead of the c-store transformation
The fuel and convenience sector is undergoing a dramatic transformation as consumer buying patterns shift. Retailers on both sides of the Tasman have faced faltering foot traffic, lower fuel sales, increased price consciousness among shoppers focused on the cost of living and a drop in income from traditional core items in the wake of health concerns and government regulation.
Basket sizes have shrunk, operational costs have increased and margins have tightened in an increasingly competitive landscape. At the same time, consumer expectations have risen — they demand speed, convenience, variety and seamless experiences across both physical and digital channels.
But change also brings opportunity. Retailers who understand their customers and can quickly adapt to changing preferences are gaining a competitive edge.
Here we look at some of the fundamental shifts taking place in fuel and convenience and at how retailers can create the differentiated, data-driven experiences that build loyalty and drive profitability.
Drainers and gainers
Convenience stores in Australia and New Zealand are seeing similar changes in consumers’ buying habits, and these changes are impacting products that have traditionally underpinned c-stores’ profits.
According to a 2024 study of the state of the convenience industry in New Zealand, tobacco experienced the largest drop in value of any category, while growth in vaping did not offset the declines for cigarettes and roll-your-own tobacco. Meanwhile, AACS’s State of the Industry 2025* report found that in Australia tobacco’s share of total store sales has fallen below 20%, down from 25.4% at the end of 2024.
C-stores have also seen a drop in sales from staples such as bread and milk, as well as from telecommunications products and printed materials such as magazines. In Australia, for example, the value of milk sales dropped 6.6% in value from 2024 to 2025.
On the other hand, some categories are showing the way with growth. In Australia, packaged beverages, and especially energy drinks, represented almost 70% of the value growth excluding tobacco from 2024 to 2025. A comparable situation exists in New Zealand, where sales from sport and energy drinks, along with fresh coffee, increased in value last year.
Foodservice also performed well in Australia during the first half of 2025, with prepared food leading the way, up 8.9% in value from 2024, while in New Zealand grab-and-go items such as cereal and biscuits remained essential parts of the c-store offering.
The trends driving customer behaviour
While a range of factors, including health concerns, are driving customers’ purchasing decisions, value for money is crucial, with price-conscious shoppers looking for deals.
Cost of living considerations are clearly evident in the fuel and convenience space. Thirty-two percent of New Zealand consumer are shopping less often instore at fuel stations, with 49% citing pressures on the household budget as a reason.
Changes in how fuel stations operate are also having an impact, especially the advent of pay-at-the-pump. While 38% of customers shop instore when they stop for fuel, being able to pay at the pump means fewer shoppers are going into the store to make impulsive purchases of snack items. Those who do go inside the store are more likely to make planned purchases of hot food and coffee.
At the same time, shoppers with more disposable income and those who prioritise value over price are open to loyalty card offerings.
Reshaping the c-store offering
The authors of the New Zealand study offer fuel and convenience retailers five tips to increase foot traffic instore and drive profitability:
Offer on-pump promotions to drive customers into the store, so that they get discounts on products even if they pay for their fuel at the pump.
Offer cross-promotions between planned and impulse categories.
Become a preferred supplier of on-the-go meal and snacking options.
Allow shoppers to make in-app purchases for instore pick-up across a range of products.
Leverage loyalty cards to offer instore deals.
How can Infinity help?
Delivering on these recommendations means having the right inventory and customer data at your fingertips. You’ll need a solution that lets you understand customer preferences, plan effective promotions and effectively manage inventory.
Infinity empowers you to transform your operations and customer engagement strategies, giving you a future-ready retail solution.
Customer-centric engagement: Leverage real-time data to personalise offers, promotions and communications, allowing you to build loyalty programs that delight customers and build connection.
Optimised inventory management: Respond quickly to category shifts with real-time performance insights so that high-demand items like food and beverages are always available.
Data-driven decision-making: Use advanced analytics to predict trends, optimise pricing and enhance store layouts, empowering you to make faster, smarter decisions that align with evolving consumer behaviour.
Unified cross-channel retailing: Deliver frictionless, consistent experiences across instore, mobile and online channels through click and collect, self-checkout and mobile ordering.
Operational efficiency: Streamline processes across locations with centralised control and automation.
*AACS State of the Industry Mid-year Report 2025, Commissioned by the Australian Association of Convenience Stores Limited and prepared by Convenience Measures Australia (CMA).
Want help to deliver compelling c-store experiences?
If you’re looking to build a winning c-store offering, get in touch. We’d love to show you how Infinity can help you offer seamless, unified, profitable customer experiences.
How the move to ‘phygital’ is disrupting point of sale technology
Retailers are shifting focus from ecommerce to their stores to better serve omnichannel customers. Here's how changing consumer expectations are transforming in-store technology and disrupting legacy point of sale (POS).
For most omnichannel retailers, the growth of ecommerce has meant boosting their investments in physical retail.
That’s because the store is essential to creating and satisfying customer demand - even if the customer ultimately transacts online. Consumers now see both the online and offline shopping experience as part of the same buying journey and not as one versus the other.
With the ability to see, touch and feel products and assess alternatives, stores are important for marketing and customer acquisition. Store conversion rates are typically 20-40% - around ten times more than ecommerce channels (only 2.5-3%). The store remains the dominant sales channel, still generating more than 70% of sales. and continuing to grow at 4% year on year.
And with pressure on consumer spending plus inventory, pricing and interest rate uncertainty, retailers want to leverage their existing investments in stores and staff - 71% cite store operations as top-three driver for their tech investment strategy.
As the store shifts to become the hub of the omnichannel customer journey, the point of sale must shift as well.
But many retailers have hit a wall because their POS technology can’t support their customers’ current omnichannel demands, let alone the ‘phygital’ shopping journeys now expected by digitally savvy consumers.
They’ve been focussed on ecommerce initiatives, delaying important POS hardware upgrades and the shift to modern operating systems. Some retailers have POS systems that are end of life and about to be sunset, and others are hamstrung by legacy in-house solutions that require custom integrations with modern technologies or are no longer supported.
And at a time when 75% of retailers can’t connect their online and in-store transaction data, they struggle to deliver the cohesive, consistent unified experiences customers now expect.
If you’re upgrading your point of sale to modernise your customer experience, here are the important shifts in functionality to consider:
EX aligns with CX
Today, any store innovation must reduce friction for the store teams, which in turn will drive a great customer experience. Speed and simplicity are now the priority to help people be as productive as possible, wherever they are in the store.
However, many retailers run multiple systems within stores, forcing their teams to juggle between different apps and screens as they serve customers.
Retailers are consolidating store technology onto a single POS-based retail system that lets their teams do everything, from sales transactions, customer loyalty, pricing, product and promotions through to virtual appointments and endless aisle access to stock.
Clienteling gets personal
Clienteling is becoming more sophisticated as consumer expectations for a frictionless ‘one brand’ experience rise. However, many retailers still have channel silos that mean any interaction or activity that the customer had with them online is not available to the customer or staff within the store.
Leading retailers are helping their in-store teams deliver more personalised experiences by using AI and data from across online and offline channels to create timely and relevant communications, recommendations, offers and rewards.
Initially provided for customers visiting stores during click-and-collect pickups, retailers like Cue Clothing are extending customised recommendations into other communications with customers, such as e-receipts and shipping notifications.
They’re taking advantage of the unparalleled knowledge of their store staff to boost digital sales and service by giving in-store teams the tools to connect with shoppers virtually. By integrating video commerce platforms with POS solutions (like Infinity) they’re automating the end-to-end process, from customer communications and data insights to seamless sales transactions and fast delivery.
Store experiences go digital
Retailers know that consumers now expect more from stores and are working to match those expectations with new experiences – such as events, service offerings, customisation, resale, repairs and so much more.
That also means extending digital experiences into stores, such as the ability to look up loyalty points, explore product information or browse and order from the entire inventory.
Mobility is a high priority and retailers are providing fast and flexible self-service checkouts, mobile point of sale and contactless payments everywhere the customer is - in the store, out in the yard, at trade shows and pop-up stores.
They’re using multichannel wishlists to let customers add items to wishlists in stores. By capturing both in-store and online shopper interactions they’re able to retarget customers with personalised marketing campaigns that build engagement and grow sales.
Fulfilment a competitive advantage
Today consumers make their purchasing decisions based on shipping costs and timings. They expect options – from slow to fast, and everything in between – plus visibility, communication and tracking, no matter the fulfilment solution.
However, most retailers struggle to quickly deliver new fulfilment experiences via their POS.
With modern point of sale systems, retailers are using their stores to support the fulfilment options consumers now expect and positioning inventory closer to customers – the source of demand.
Endless aisle access to all inventory via the POS lets them offer the fulfilment options consumers expect – such as click-and-collect, store-to-door and scheduled delivery, plus innovative new delivery solutions, such as 1-hour delivery via Uber and Shippit.
Future proofing an imperative
In the past, retailers who got behind on their store tech investments frequently focused on catching up to current standards.
Now, the focus is on future proofing – choosing platforms that speed up innovation, with the flexibility to change direction as opportunities develop, competitors act and customer expectations evolve.
When it comes to POS solutions that can support omnichannel experiences, look for a platform that provides a unified hub for all your channels – reducing integration, complexity and overheads, and increasing efficiency and accuracy.
With agile methodologies and APIs to easily plug-in new apps and systems, your new POS will be your platform for innovation – a springboard for adding new channels and services at a speed and scale that would be unachievable within a traditional omnichannel model.
This blog was originally published on 28 Feb 2023 and updated 7 August 2024
Want help to modernise your point of sale?
As you transform your customer experience to deliver the seamless and personalised buying journeys your customers crave, your point of sale system must transform as well. If you’re looking for help to shape your strategy and extend your omnichannel capabilities, get in touch. We’d love to help you develop the solutions you need now and guide you to where you’re headed next.
For more on how a move to a unified commerce strategy gives you the flexibility and agility you need to keep in step with consumers’ changing needs, download our new ebook:
New in Infinity – August 2024
Here’s new functionality across the Infinity platform that will help you and your team unify physical and digital channels to provide the convenience, speed and variety customers now demand.
Infinity is a modular platform and you may need additional components or licencing to access some functionality.
INFINITY API
Expand purchasing options using Products API
The Products API now lets you retrieve information relating to alternate suppliers. This is useful if you ordinarily buy a product from one supplier but there are alternatives. So, for example, if you are a convenience retailer who ordinarily purchases Coke 355ml cans from Coca-Cola, you can use this new functionality to purchase them from a local supermarket or wholesale distributor.
Filter product search results by purchasing rules
The Products Search API now lets you restrict the scope of your search based on the product's purchasing rules, ensuring that products that should not be purchased are not returned in search results.
INVENTORY
Streamline reporting and ordering with custom item searching
You can now use additional custom fields to search for items, meaning you can search the inventory using criteria that make the most sense for your business and allowing you to better target item searching. Taking full advantage of this change will reduce the need for more complex reporting and allow you to make more informed stock ordering decisions.
Protect profits with enhanced PO receipting details
We’ve enhanced the information you see when receipting purchase orders by optionally adding the target gross profit margin (TGPM) and the current gross profit margin (CGPM) to the receipting screen. Having these details front and centre allows you to make timely updates to retail pricing and to protect against an unexpected reduction in profit.
Manage refunds efficiently by restricting open department returns
If you use Infinity’s extended returns function, you can now optionally block the return of open department items. This means you won’t have to accept the return of products that you can’t easily on-sell to other customers. It’s also useful if you manage the refunds for those items outside Infinity, such as direct from supplier.
ORDER MANAGEMENT
Expand printing options for Pacific region’s TaxCore documents
Businesses in the Pacific that use Infinity’s TaxCore registration module now have more flexibility in choosing how to print relevant documents. The latest enhancement allows you to print traditional order and quote documents to A4, while still using a thermal printer for all other documentation.
CUSTOMERS & LOYALTY
Speed up sales transaction reviews with customer names displayed
We’ve streamlined how you can use the Sales and Credits function to monitor customer transactions by adding customers’ first and last names to the information displayed. This saves you having to manually search by customer code if you want to identify the person involved in a transaction, improving the time it takes to investigate a range of sales activity.
Customise CPL discounts at branch and sale levels
Fuel businesses with cents-per-litre (CPL) discounting programmes now have even more flexibility in shaping the offerings. You can allow customers to redeem their discount even if a transaction is below the minimum spend. You can also operate save and spend options on a branch-by-branch basis, so that one branch might allow customers to save or spend their discounts, while another might allow them to spend and not save.
Additionally, you can choose to discount only the first fuel line in the sale up to the maximum volume regardless how many fuel lines are in the sale, or to discount all fuel lines in the sale up to the maximum volume. Where multiple lines are discounted, the discounts are applied based on the line volume in the order they are added to the sale.
PRICING & PROMOTIONS
Quickly calculate profits for single product promotions
If you use rules based pricing to run single product promotions, you can now quickly and easily identify an item’s gross profit based on those promotions. Note that this excludes items offered as part of an active multi-product, multi-buy product set, such as buy-two-get-one-free.
POINT OF SALE
IStreamline cash handling with recycler dispensing capability
Businesses that use Infinity’s cash recycler integration can now dispense notes and/or coins from the cash recycler machine, further streamlining your cash-handling tasks and giving you the ability to use the recycler in the same way as a cash drawer for things such as petty cash.
Accelerate item searches for faster sales
If you use our advanced item search function with a large number of items and pricing rules, you’ll find we’ve enhanced the speed at which search results are returned, allowing you to complete sales more quickly and offer a more seamless customer experience.
Provide unique customer booking numbers with agency module
If your business sells products on behalf of a principal, you can now use Infinity’s agency module to provide a compact, unique and incrementing booking number to customers.
TECHNOLOGY
Improve resilience of Infinity environment with new endpoint additions
Two new health endpoints have been added to the Infinity API suite to enable you to monitor issues. Calling the Orchestration Service endpoint gives you detailed information of any issues with the API services running on the API server, while calling the Sync Service endpoint allows you to get the status of the service and the underlying processors to assist with monitoring the Infinity environment.
Simplify back office rebuilds using new command line tool
A new command line tool lets your ICE trained engineers resolve table linking issues following a Back Office rebuild without having to do a re-synchronisation of each POS terminal. Contact us to find out more about the minimum requirements you need to have installed in order to use this tool.
Streamline web pricing service with automated DLL Loading
The Web Pricing Service upgrade has been streamlined by automatically loading the latest DLL that matches the installed Core major database version. This removes the need for manual intervention in renaming the latest DLL and reduces the risk of failure if this step is missed.
Support extended email address lengths
Infinity Messaging now supports email address lengths that comply with RFC1035.
To find out more about any of these enhancements and add them to your Infinity platform, contact us.
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Fuel retail: How to capture the EV charging opportunity
Are you looking at how to transform your fuel & convenience retail business into a preferred destination for electric vehicle (EV) charging?
Fuel retailers launched their energy transition strategies following predictions of a rapid expansion in EV adoption, with estimates that EVs could make up 30% of all vehicles on the road globally by 2030.
They recognised that while EV charging was a significant threat to their core business by reducing fuel sales, it was also a massive opportunity to add a new, stable revenue stream.
By building on their existing infrastructure in prime locations, access to capital and customer knowledge, they could diversify income streams and future-proof their business.
It’s an essential element for growth by keeping a strong stream of customers at fuel forecourts and convenience stores. With customers spending more time at sites charging their cars, the extended dwell time provides opportunities to increase revenue.
It’s also critical for achieving their goals of net zero emissions and meeting regulatory commitments.
Today, the majority (70%) of fuel retailers are either already offering or planning to offer EV services, and retailers not investing in this area may miss out on capturing a share of this growing market.
However, as car manufacturers worldwide grapple with slower than expected sales of EVs amid intensifying price wars, fuel retailers have been forced to revise how they execute their EV strategies.
While most have not changed their EV ambitions, they are now executing their goals with more precision by focussing on the key opportunities for growth.
They also recognise that the move to EV charging is a major business disruption and risk:
Fuel retailers face formidable competition from other entrants, including OEMs, power companies and pure-play charge point operators (CPOs).
Any large-scale investment in EV charging points must not only earn back the capital expenditures invested, but also operate profitably.
With the large electricity demands from fast chargers and extremely high power prices, many EV charging businesses still operate at a loss.
Despite these hurdles, the future is clear. Without significant changes to their business models, at least a quarter of service stations worldwide are at risk of closure by 2035.
So what are the key factors for success?
To become a preferred destination for EV charging, retailers are exploring three areas:
Offer on-the-go charging
While EV drivers can charge at home or at work, these charging stations are likely to be slow, low voltage points. On-the-go stations use higher power, DC charging points that let EVs fully charge their batteries in under an hour.
With their existing infrastructure in prime locations and established fuel retail operations, fuel retailers can fill in a gap in the EV charging infrastructure and capture a convenience premium.
As more people transition to EVs and not all have access to home charging facilities, there’s a growing dependence on public charging infrastructure. For example, in the UK about 36% of EV drivers regularly charge their vehicles at service stations.
However, it will require significant investments to develop an attractive, competitive and profitable EV offering. With recharging taking far longer than refuelling, operators need to adjust their station formats to provide expanded services and facilities. And ideal EV charging locations won’t necessarily correspond with the best fuel locations.
Capture commercial fleets
EV charging for large business-to-business fleets is a growing opportunity as governments and businesses move to decarbonise their vehicles. Electric vehicles are already being deployed en masse in short-haul transport, last-mile logistics and commercial business fleets.
While likely to become highly competitive, fuel retailers can secure first-mover advantage with an end-to-end offer, combining “on-the-go” and “at-depot” charging.
Create a compelling CX
Innovative fuel retailers are investing early to learn about customer needs and experiment with new propositions and formats.
They’re creating a compelling mix of convenience, speed, reliability and affordability:
Mobile apps will cement customer loyalty and increase return visits
Reliability is a focus - drivers with a low battery charge will prioritise sites where chargers consistently work properly
Clean and safe locations, with expanded seating and decent restrooms will increase dwell time
Reservation systems will remove the frustration of waiting for a charger
Barista-made coffee, fresh food options and other premium services (such as high-end car washes) will provide customers with more reasons to visit and generate additional revenue
Cluster- or even site-specific offers tailored for local buying opportunities will increase sell-through without compromising margin
Customised product bundles, pricing and promotions based on customer transaction histories will attract and retain loyal customers
This blog was originally published on 28 March 2023 and updated 6 June 2024.
Want help to differentiate your EV charging offering?
If you’re looking for help to innovate to serve customers, not vehicles, get in touch. We’d love to help you develop the distinctive and frictionless c-store experiences consumers now expect.
For more on how to deliver every c-store customer a personalised, fast and seamless experience, download our ebook:
The perfect blend: Four capabilities to look for in a liquor retail tech partner
Can your liquor retail business keep up with customer demand for new digital experiences?
Brick-and-mortar sales still dominate the liquor retail sector, with online sales languishing at single-digit percentages of total sales.
However, the move to online is real, with liquor online sales globally estimated to grow 4.5% between 2022 and 2027, reaching nearly US$40 billion by 2027.
This growth in online sales is introducing more complexity into the business, with channels becoming less physical and more digital. And that’s why everyone’s focussed on finding the right systems to rebuild their businesses from the bottom up for omnichannel retail.
But at a time when 2 in 5 retailers (40%) lack in-house expertise to make the most of new technologies, and only 25% of retailers can connect online and store data, they know that working with the right people and the right technologies will make the roll-out of new customer experiences much easier, and deliver results much faster.
So, how do you evaluate a new retail platform provider?
There are four important capabilities they will need to provide:
1. Expertise across all retail, not just liquor
You’ll want a mature retail platform that supports liquor and convenience, rather than a narrow, liquor-specific POS system.
A partner with experience in highly competitive retail industries - like fashion and big-box retail - will have expertise in disrupting the customer experience, with APIs and a retail ecosystem few can match.
They’ll bring best practice ideas and capabilities from other retail sectors - not just liquor retail - and have POS omnichannel expertise distilled into all the essential modules you need to deliver seamless and differentiating experiences in stores, online and on mobile apps.
And with all the core liquor features you need out-of-the-box - plus localised functionality and the ability to customise – you’ll achieve a faster return on investment.
More than 2 in 5 retailers (45%) demand retail industry expertise from their technology partners.
2. Real-world customer experience
A strong track record and referenceable customer base means less risk.
You’ll want a partner with recent and proven success in liquor and convenience retail, with a track record of complex, large-scale deployments across multiple stores, multiple formats and multiple geographies.
They’ll need to understand your environment where fast service is non-negotiable, staff require specialist knowledge and transaction volumes are highly variable. Make sure they have people who can help you plan and implement your projects, so that they deliver now and well into the future.
Their experience in the liquor sector will give them a deep understanding of the trends changing mobility and convenience, and bring you the best of consumer, retail and CX applications and technologies.
42% of retailers demand use cases for technology solutions.
3. Broad product capability and innovation mindset
Choose a partner that can give you a holistic portfolio and expansive retail ecosystem.
Offering a unified customer experience means unifying all the front- and back-end systems that run POS, inventory, ordering, customers and loyalty, pricing and promotions, analytics and fulfilment. You don’t want to be tied to a point player that can only provide segments.
When you choose a partner with a mature platform, they can focus on delivering innovation because the critical functionality you need already exists.
An open architecture and APIs will let you cultivate a modern retail and CX ecosystem that reduces risk and increases flexibility.
And with agile methodologies plus experience working with agile retailers, they’ll have the ability to move to fast and change direction as opportunities develop, competitors act and customer needs evolve.
‘Cutting edge’ technology is expected by 46% of retailers.
4. Local and committed to your success
A local partner means you can have more influence on the product roadmap and expect faster turnaround.
Liquor retailers are creating distinctive omnichannel customer experiences by developing strong brands, offering tailored convenience, expanding the breadth of their product offerings (or moving into specialist categories) and generating new revenue streams.
They recognise the risk that comes with global vendors that have a narrow focus on liquor POS or an indirect model of engagement and support.
A local business means you can enjoy direct engagement with on-the-ground people focussed on your needs, and not distracted by offshore business activity. With direct access to second and third level support and simple processes, you’ll enjoy leaner, faster support services.
Biggest isn’t always best. A mid-sized company will have fewer layers of bureaucracy, giving them more agility and responsiveness.
It also means that you’ll be an important customer of influence to your partner - they will value your business and work hard for it.
48% of retailers want the ability to build long-term partnerships and 50% want accessible solutions.
Want help to deliver a personalised, fast and seamless CX?
Our product and people are supporting award-winning retailers delivering disruptive, world-first customer experiences that build loyalty and grow sales. If you’re experiencing technology challenges that prevent you from unifying your physical and digital channels, get in touch. We’d love to help you digitise your business to create the unified experiences your customers now expect.
For more on how to deliver every customer a personalised, fast and seamless experience, download our ebook:
6 omnichannel retail painpoints unified commerce solves
With rising customer expectations for a cohesive and consistent shopping experience, many retailers have hit a wall because their omnichannel efforts can’t meet today’s retail demands. Here Kelly Brown describes six major challenges you will face in omnichannel retail, and how to solve them.
Customers today are delightfully unreasonable, and expect to transact when, where and however they want. They don’t care how you achieve it and will reward you if you have it - or shop elsewhere if you don’t.
Retailers are responding by building a customer-centric approach to retail, using technology and experiences to enhance the brand, drive sales and grow loyalty.
However, it’s complicated.
Many omnichannel retail solutions can look smooth on the surface but have rough patches underneath. They include legacy solutions that are no longer fit for purpose, and channels operating in functional silos. Things can easily unravel.
And when 75% of retailers are unable to connect their online and in-store transaction data, most struggle to create a unified user experience that traverses easily between online and offline channels.
If you’re looking at how to keep pace with changing customer expectations, here are the most common challenges retailers face as they build their omnichannel systems, and how they can be remedied with a unified commerce approach.
Inventory that isn’t real time
Managing inventory is a retailer’s biggest challenge — no matter their size. It’s also the biggest cost. Many retailers launched digital commerce channels without getting their inventory right and can only access rudimentary sales and inventory positions. That prevents them from offering the ‘buy anywhere, fulfil anywhere’ options that are best for customers and most profitable for them.
The solution: Optimise inventory and availability
One of the most compelling benefits of unified commerce is a single view of stock across all stores and DCs. This means you can quickly see where inventory is and therefore the fastest place to fulfil from. You’ll improve inventory accuracy, reduce stock requirements, minimise fulfilment costs and get products to customers faster. And you’ll increase sales by using ranging and fulfilment capabilities that enable you to sell products across channels (and even sell products not normally stocked within any channels).
Blending physical and digital experiences
Services such as click-and-collect, ship-from-store, find-in-store and returns anywhere are all just table stakes today. Many retailers implemented quick-fixes to swiftly get new capabilities up-and-running, but now need a long-term unified solution to connect backend systems and deliver the omnichannel experiences customers expect.
The solution: Create relevant and agile experiences
With a unified inventory you can increase your purchasing, ordering and fulfilment options to provide customers with frictionless experiences and access to your entire range from any location. A single platform gives everyone across channels and stores the ability to view all customer touchpoints in real time. And you can extend your range across more sales channels such as in-store kiosks, shoppable screens, pop-up stores, concessions and mobile devices.
Obtaining a single view of the customer
Today consumers don’t think in terms of channels. They now expect a “one-brand” experience that lets them shop at any time, using any channel, from any device, at the best price. But if you’ve got siloed backend systems and processes that mean your customers must deal with inconsistencies and gaps, you simply cannot offer a seamless customer experience.
The solution: Personalise your customer experience
The ability to see each customer’s shopping preferences and purchase history across all channels is critical for building personalised shopping experiences. With a unified commerce platform providing a holistic view of your customers, you can better plan your pricing and promotion strategies and get the right offer or message to the right customer, at the right time and right place. By creating remarkable customer experiences that meet or even exceed consumer expectations, you can ensure customers return, again and again.
Integrating data silos
Retailers use multiple customer-facing and back-office systems, spanning POS, mobile apps, inventory management, ecommerce, CRM, fulfilment, finance, marketing and more. Often loosely connected with manual processes and custom integrations, these omnichannel solutions are fragile, inefficient and costly to maintain.
The solution: Lower cost of ownership
A single commerce platform gives you a leaner and more flexible architecture that reduces the need for reconciliation and manual processes to maintain and manage data and functions, and there is only one system to secure. Exposing data and functions (rather than moving and replicating them) makes integration faster and standards-based, improving efficiency, decreasing errors and increasing accuracy. Third parties can easily plug in, building the ecosystem of retail software, tools, resources and devices you can add and change to match your business needs.
Adding modern technologies and capabilities
To keep pace with consumer demands for omnichannel services, retailers need to create and deploy new apps, services and channels. However, connecting legacy systems with modern technologies requires custom integrations, and creating new brand experiences is complex, costly, time consuming and risky.
The solution: Accelerate speed to market
With a single platform, there’s less work required to plug in and implement new functions across channels, test cycles are reduced, and you’ll use development capacity more effectively. You can run experiments to test new customer experience innovations and easily move the successful experiments into enterprise-wide operations. These improvements in IT efficiency and flexibility let you launch new tools and services to meet business demands and start seeing revenue benefits faster.
Unifying employee experiences
After years of underinvestment, many retailers are playing catch-up with the employee experience. Their stores often lack the tools and systems that enable their people to deliver the relevant and personalised customer experiences that match online shopping’s price, speed and convenience.
The solution: Boost in-store productivity and sales
By arming your store staff with the right customer data and tools, combined with AI-driven recommendations, they can more easily make decisions, provide personalised upselling advice, sell inventory at any location and serve customers faster, anywhere in the store. You’ll enhance customer interactions, improve the employee experience and increase conversions.
This blog was originally published on 13 December 2022 and updated 20 May 2024
Can you keep up with your customers’ expectations?
Retailers are unifying their backend systems to create the seamless and convenient experiences customers now expect. If you’re experiencing technology challenges that prevent you from unifying your physical and digital experiences, get in touch. We’d love to help you develop the ability to create a compelling in-store experience harmonised with a digital offering for competitive advantage.
For more on how a move to a unified commerce strategy gives you the flexibility and agility you need to keep in step with consumers’ changing needs, download our ebook:
Delivering a unified CX: liquor retail's new priority
Can you keep up with consumer demands for an omnichannel retail experience that doesn’t stop when they enter a store? Kelly Brown explains why liquor retailers are overhauling how they plan, build and deliver their CX, and shares three steps to take to remain relevant.
Customers today expect retailers to offer convenience, speed and value throughout the end-to-end shopping journey. They are more discerning and impatient, and don’t care that it can be hard to deliver – they only care about a great experience.
That is driving a massive shift in how liquor retailers plan, build and deliver their customer experience.
The retailers making the first move know that a compelling bricks-and-mortar presence blended with an improved digital offering can be leveraged for competitive advantage. And that means seamlessly integrating all back-end systems and channels to deliver experiences that align with customer expectations.
However, it’s complicated.
While liquor retail has always been challenging – fast service is non-negotiable, staff require specialised knowledge and transaction volumes are highly variable – this requires a fundamental transformation of the standard business model.
Liquor retail has been a laggard in creating new digital experiences and investing in technology to improve front- and back-end operations. Many liquor retailers have legacy solutions that are no longer fit for purpose and have bolted on solutions for the digital space that don’t easily integrate.
Brick-and-mortar sales still dominate, with online sales growing but still languishing at single-digit percentages of total sales-digit percentages of total sales. Change is difficult in a sector with regulatory restrictions on alcohol delivery, age verification requirements and the more ‘sensory’ experience a store can offer.
And at a time when 75% of retailers can’t connect their online and in-store transaction data, many struggle to deliver the cohesive, consistent unified experiences customers now expect.
So what steps can you take to differentiate your liquor retail business?
Here’s a three-pronged strategy that will help create the distinctive omnichannel experiences customers now expect:
1. Deliver a unified customer experience
Focus on the end-to-end needs of your customers and revamp the customer journey to expand your relationship beyond quick visits to stock up on beverages.
That means making purchasing online and in stores seamless and convenient through digital payments, endless aisle and ‘buy anywhere, fulfil anywhere’ services coupled with fast and flexible on-demand delivery options. In-store pickup can drive foot traffic to physical locations. And leveraging data from online interactions can help in upselling and cross-selling.
Take advantage of the shift in preference for neighbourhood shopping, with local product ranges tailored to each location and community, supported by bespoke promotional programmes.
Use apps and your website to provide customers with personalised recommendations, invites to virtual tastings or opportunities to reserve products for in-store pickup, increasing their engagement and loyalty.
The solution: Create a distinctive omnichannel customer experience by developing a strong brand, offering tailored convenience, expanding the breadth of product offerings (or moving into specialist categories) and generating new revenue streams.
2. Unlock the value in your inventory
As you work towards delivering a compelling in-store experience blended with a digital offering, you’ll need to see a real-time view of all your inventory. If you don’t know the quantity of an item, where it is located, its current price nor status, you can’t offer the ‘buy anywhere, fulfil anywhere’ options that are best for customers and most profitable for you.
However, the average inventory accuracy rate for retailers is estimated at 63%, meaning around one third of inventory records are inaccurate due to discrepancies between physical stock and what's recorded in inventory management systems. And liquor retailers face additional challenges, such as strict regulations, varying product availability and high SKU diversity, that compound these difficulties.
Inaccurate inventory stems from both systemic and operational challenges. Retailers often rely on traditional ERP systems or custom-built software that can’t provide the real-time updates needed for online sales and instant stock checks. On top of that, legacy systems not designed for real-time data exchange struggle to keep up with the demands of new sales channels, resulting in delayed or inaccurate product availability and pricing information.
The use of multiple, often disconnected systems for various retail operations further compounds the problem, creating data silos that hinder the development of a unified view of inventory, sales and customer interactions. And when things go wrong, many resort to a quick fix rather than real, lasting solution, which means missing out on chances to really improve the shopping experience and operational efficiency.
The solution: You’ll want a unified commerce platform that provides an accurate, real-time view of all your inventory and customer data across stores, DCs and digital channels. You’ll improve inventory accuracy, reduce stock requirements, minimise fulfilment costs and increase ranging capabilities.
3. Pivot into retail media services
To remain relevant and competitive in the future, you’ll want to venture beyond traditional retailing and enter new service categories with a higher level of profitability.
Retail media networks are emerging as one example in retail. A retail media network is a retailer’s advertising platform where they can sell ad space across all their digital assets, such as their website, apps, social channels and in-store digital screens.
With the demise of revenue from third-party cookies, retail media helps alcohol brands to advertise to the right audience - people who want to purchase alcohol and are legally entitled to do so - and drive higher conversions that increase sales. And as online alcohol sales grow – 15.2% growth is expected between 2022 to 2030 - so will advertising revenues for retailers.
The solution: With the alcohol industry’s advertising spend expected to reach $6bn in 2023, create a retail media division (or subsidiary) to capitalise on the advertising revenue opportunity and drive additional new growth.
This blog was originally published on 30 May 2023 and updated 30 April 2024
Want help to differentiate your liquor business?
If you want to create distinctive and frictionless customer experiences across all physical and digital channels, get in touch. We’d love to help you develop a unified customer journey.
For more on how to deliver every customer a personalised, fast and seamless experience, download our new ebook:
New in Infinity – April 2024
Here’s new functionality across the Infinity platform that will help you and your team reduce operational complexity and create a differentiated omnichannel customer experience.
Infinity is a modular platform and you may need additional components or licencing to access some functionality.
PRODUCT INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
Simplify item data updates to Wedderburn Scales at POS
Businesses using supported Wedderburn scales at the Point of Sale can now send updated item data to the scales via the Atria Wedge software automatically using Windows Task Scheduler, saving you the time and effort involved in updating pricing and other data manually. If you run the Wedderburn integration at the Head Office, price updates made using the Batch Updates function will also be sent to the scales.
INVENTORY
Enhance efficiency of EDI purchase orders
We’ve improved purchase ordering using EDI files by allowing you to identify suppliers that can be sent purchase orders plus items that can be ordered using this method, so you won’t waste time and risk stock shortages by sending EDI orders to the wrong supplier or by ordering products not on EDI.
ORDER MANAGEMENT
Streamline order documents for debtor customer accounts
You now have the option of customising your A4 customer order documents by suppressing the payment section. This feature reduces visual clutter on the documents when you process orders for debtor customers who pay on account.
CUSTOMERS & LOYALTY
Meet privacy law obligations by anonymising inactive customer data
As part of our programme of giving you options for managing your Personal Identifiable Information (PII) risk, we’ve developed a Windows service that anonymises information for inactive loyalty customers. The Infinity Loyalty Anonymisation Service allows you to anonymise inactive customers’ personal details held in the Loyalty database, as well as details of their order deliveries. It will also delete any messages that were sent to inactive loyalty customers using Infinity Messaging.
Simplify management of fuel discount programmes
If your fuel business operates a cents-per-litre discount (CPL) programme, you can now require that customers spend their CPL balance when they buy fuel, instead of allowing them to choose whether to save or spend it. You can also set a minimum amount a customer has to spend before the CPL discount applies. This simplified offering has the advantage of lowering the overhead involved in managing stored balances while still giving your customers the benefit of fuel savings.
Reduce fuel sales leakage with secure refund options
Fuel businesses wanting to support their commercial customers in reducing fuel sales leakages can now require that refunds be made to a credit card or fuel card instead of to cash or another media. Note that this feature requires the Vault payment and extended returns modules in order to work.
Improve auditing of manual fuel discounting
Your Head Office staff can now add a note when manually adjusting a cent-per-litre fuel balance, allowing you to view and audit the reasons why balances are being adjusted in your business.
POINT OF SALE
Improve customer experience with faster age validation checks
If you use Infinity’s advanced age check function to make sure you’re complying with legal age requirements when serving customers, you’ll find we’ve made age validation quicker and easier, improving the customer experience and speeding up sales processing at busy times.
Improve permissions for manual fuel price changes at POS
We’ve made some enhancements to the way fuel price changes can be made at the Point of Sale to minimise the chance of the wrong price being applied. You can now use permissions to determine who can make manual price changes, and you can set a maximum amount in cents by which a fuel grade can be manually adjusted.
REPORTS & ANALYTICS
Identify irregularities in fuel prepay sales and refunds
Fuel businesses can use the new Fuel Prepay Refund Report to spot irregularities in the payment medias used in prepay sales and refunds. So, for example, you can see if a prepay fuel card was used to purchase fuel but the refund was processed as cash. It complements the new functionality that requires refunds to be made to credit or fuel cards (see above), but it applies only to prepay sales made using those cards.
Improve financial compensation for stores running fuel discounts
The CPL Redemptions Report gives your stores and head office staff an understanding of cents-per-litre discounts that have been paid out as a way of supporting financial processes tied to discounts and financial compensation. Stores can use it to see what they have paid out in CPL discounts, while head office can use it to audit store activity, and make sure that stores are being adequately compensated for those payouts.
MOBILE
Infinity quotes and orders app
The Infinity Quotes and Orders mobile app (iOS and Android) has been retired from the product suite as at end of May, 2024.
To find out more about any of these enhancements and add them to your Infinity platform, contact us.
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