Energy, Ideas and Innovation at the Convenience and Impulse Retailing Expo 2026

What a couple of days! Last week’s Convenience and Impulse Retailing Expo in Auckland didn’t disappoint, with great energy on the floor, plenty of worthwhile conversations and a few surprises along the way.

It was fantastic to see so many familiar faces and teams showing up strongly across the event. A number of our partners and industry players were out in force, each bringing their own energy to the floor and contributing to a really vibrant atmosphere.

First up, it was wonderful to see Infinity reseller BridgedIT looking fresh and ready to go. They were clearly energised and the booth reflected that. Looked awesome!

I also spoke with Clarksons and Tanda, both of whom were doing what they do well. It was great to catch up with the teams in person rather than via a screen.

One of the highlights was being shown how 2D barcodes work at the GS1 NZ booth. As someone who spends a lot of time thinking about retail technology, seeing how much data can be packed into a single barcode and what that means for supply chain traceability and the checkout experience was genuinely eye-opening. The industry shift toward 2D is coming faster than most people realise.

There was strong interest across multiple booths throughout the event, with plenty of teams kept busy by a steady flow of conversations. It was inspiring to see that level of engagement across the board — always a good sign of a healthy, active market.

ECL had one of the busiest booths on the floor, and their team was consistently working flat out. If you were waiting to chat to them and ran out of time, it’s worth following up with them directly.

The attendee mix was where things really came alive. I enjoyed catching up with familiar faces from BP, Mobil, Z Energy and Caltex, some of the biggest names in fuel and convenience retail in New Zealand, all under one roof. Conversations with those teams are always valuable, as they’re operating at scale and know exactly what they need from their technology partners. Alongside them, it was brilliant to see teams from Heartland Fuels and Metro Mart, two businesses doing really interesting things in their respective spaces.

The vibe across the whole event felt genuinely energised, and a lot of credit goes to the keynote speakers. The discussions that spilled out after the keynotes were some of the best of the two days. They were the kind of frank, forward-looking conversations you really only get when everyone’s in the same room thinking about the same challenges, and they make events like this one worthwhile.

Beyond the booths, I also met some new faces who could shape up to be great partners down the track. Watch this space!

All in all, a really valuable two days. I’m already looking forward to the next one!

The biggest threat to convenience retail is standing still

Reflections from the NZACS Convenience and Impulse Retailing Expo.

Getting together with people on the frontline of retail is the best way to see the future unfold. Last week I got that opportunity thanks to the morning symposium at the Convenience and Impulse Retailing Expo in Auckland, hosted by NZACS.

Two presentations stood out to me: Lance Dobson from Nielsen IQ New Zealand and Theo Foukkare, CEO of the Australian Association of Convenience Stores (AACS). Together, they painted a picture of an industry under real pressure but also one brimming with opportunity for those willing to move.

The common theme running through both talks? Convenience retail is no longer about proximity. What struck me most, listening to both Lance and Theo, is how clearly their insights map to the conversation we have every day with convenience retailers about frictionless commerce — a single view of customer and inventory data across every channel.

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Store sales are holding, but the mix is shifting

First up, we looked at the current landscape. Lance made an encouraging point: when you strip out fuel site closures and look at like-for-like shop sales, the convenience channel is holding up reasonably well. Non-fuel convenience stores have maintained positive same store growth into Q1 2026. Fuel-attached stores were tracking fine until the fuel price spike hit in late February.

The categories driving growth tell a clear story. Those leading the way include fresh barista coffee, sports and energy drinks, chilled beverages, snack foods, confectionery and food2go. The channel is concentrating around food and beverage, especially when delivering on quality, freshness and the in-store experience.

For retailers, this means your POS, your inventory management, your loyalty program and your food service operations all need to speak to each other in real time. A coffee loyalty card must connect to your customer data, a food2go offer must be reflected in your app. Promotions that run at the forecourt also need to be available in-store.

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The blue dot customer and frictionless commerce

Lance introduced a concept that has stuck with me: the blue dot consumer. That little blue dot on your phone map, that’s you. Increasingly, consumers expect the world to come to them, not the other way around.

Survey responders described convenience as "everything in one place”, "close to me”, with "minimal effort”, and growing fast off a small base "deliver to me when I want it”. Lance shared that in the UK, quick commerce now accounts for nearly one pound in every ten spent on grocery retail. ANZ is behind that curve, but intention data suggests the gap will close quickly.

The implication for retailers is significant. If the customer is the fixed point and everything else has to move, then your ability to serve them across multiple channels in-store, at the pump, via app, through delivery from a single, consistent platform isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s the game.

That's what frictionless commerce looks like. It’s not multichannel or omnichannel as a buzzword. It’s a single, real-time view of the customer, the basket, the inventory and the transaction wherever that transaction happens to take place.

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Lead in quick service retail

Theo was emphatic: the world’s best convenience retailers are no longer chasing fuel volume. They are chasing lifetime customer value, and the vehicle for that is quick service retail (QSR).

He pointed to Japan’s 7Eleven, where lunchtime queues form outside standalone convenience stores because customers trust the offer completely, and OTR in Australia, which is building destination stores with cafes, fresh food prep and community amenities.

Getting your food offering right is fundamental, especially as revenue from tobacco sales continues to decline. The question Theo posed to the room was sharp: “Is food a category you sell, or is it your business?”

Lance echoed this from a category data perspective: barista coffee is the number one food or drink item bought in convenience. Hot cabinet food is close behind. Quality and freshness are the decision drivers, and the retailers winning here are investing in the back-end systems that make consistency possible not just upgrading to the latest coffee machine.

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“If you don’t own the customer digitally, you’re just renting them"

Both Lance and Theo emphasised the importance of loyalty. Lance noted that 60% of convenience shoppers want tangible value for their repeat visits, such as a coffee cards, linked apps. They’re less interested in traditional loyalty and more focused on personalised reward. Consumers want to feel seen and not just accumulated.

Theo took this thought further. He described retailers using technology to analyse customers as they arrive, what they’re wearing, what they’re driving, whether they’re a known customer and serving a personalised offer on-screen before they have walked through the door. The retailers building real digital ecosystems are seeing the payoff in basket size, frequency and margin.

The underlying principle is data equals margin. Better data means better ranging. Better ranging means less waste, more relevance and stronger customer retention.

This is where frictionless commerce delivers its most tangible value. When your POS, your loyalty platform, your app and your inventory system all share a single view of the customer and stock position, you truly give customers what they seek. When they are siloed with different vendors, different data sets, no common customer identifier then you are left guessing.

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The five forces shaping what comes next

Theo framed the future around five forces: margin pressure, transition uncertainty, changing customer expectations, digital acceleration and survival. The retailers who will thrive are those who respond across all five, not by chasing each trend but by building the operational platform to adapt quickly.

Lance’s framing was similar and focused on speed, health, innovation, flavour and technology. The winners will be those that move fast, test more, stay culturally connected and use technology to stay close to the changing rhythms of consumer life.

Both speakers landed in the same place: ”standing still is not an option”.

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What frictionless commerce means for you

The convenience channel in 2026 is a food and beverage business with a fuel forecourt attached, not the other way around. Consumer missions are diversifying. The tobacco anchor is eroding. The digital expectation is rising. And the competitive set now includes QSRs, quick-commerce apps and destination food retailers.

In that environment, the retailers who win will be the ones who know their customers best, execute their offer most consistently and can adapt their ranging, pricing and promotions in near real-time.

That requires a technology foundation built for frictionless commerce with one platform that delivers a single view of customer and inventory data, tying together the forecourt, the shop floor, the kitchen, the app and everything in between — not a patchwork of systems held together with spreadsheets and goodwill.

The NZACS symposium reinforced that the shift is already happening. The question is whether your technology is positioned to move with it or whether it’s holding you back.

Interested in how frictionless commerce can support your convenience retail operation? We'd love to talk.

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The retail investments you can’t afford to skip in 2026

Retailers are facing a whole range of challenges right now, from rising costs and economic headwinds to cautious customers and offshore competition, even as consumers’ expectations for seamless shopping continue to rise.

Those pressures are having real impacts on retailers’ investment decisions, as they try to control costs and make productivity gains while still protecting the moments that matter in building customer relationships.

Resilience is key. Deciding where to invest is challenging, but those retailers willing to adapt to change can still find room to succeed. And those ready to go beyond the status quo and imagine new ways of engaging customers won’t just survive – they’ll thrive.

Here we look at where the smart money is going this year and at how getting investment right means focusing on your people and customers, as well as tech.

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1. Lay the groundwork for AI discoverability

AI has gone from being a novelty to an everyday piece of technology infrastructure. However, a recent KPMG study found that while most leading brands in Australia and New Zealand were experimenting with AI, 17% had no plans to do so. This comes at a time when 85% of surveyed retailer websites did not meet basic standards for AI-driven discovery, leaving those brands invisible to shopping agents. And, crucially, poor discoverability often goes hand-in-hand with duplicated or badly maintained inventory data. As the National Retail Federation (NRF) put it, “if your data isn’t in order, your business isn’t ready for AI.”

Smart investments would include improving website structure and data consistency so that products are discoverable and you can keep pace with AI search engines.

KPMG also found that while more than 80% of Australian retailers are testing AI, only a small number are implementing it fully across core functions. They recommend that “retailers should focus on ‘boring but big’ applications – such as inventory visibility, demand forecasting, and dynamic fulfilment – that directly meet consumer needs for value, speed and reliability.”

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2. Know your customer, grow your business

Accurate, comprehensive data is as vital for understanding your customers as it is for online product discovery. When you capture the right information you can create wishlists, link intent to transactions and create personalised offers that drive engagement and growth.

Without a deep view of customers you’ll struggle to anticipate demand and respond quickly when categories shrink, and you’ll risk spending money in areas where it’s no longer needed. Investing in a robust CRM and a retail management system that can give you a 360-degree view of the customer has the potential to pay dividends.

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3. Make every channel feel like one

Customers don’t think in terms of channels – they expect everything to “just work”, and they’ll judge you on how quickly and seamlessly you deliver on that expectation.

When it comes to offering a truly channel agnostic, unified shopping experience, the most durable investments are the unglamorous ones: order orchestration, accurate availability and return-to-stock speed. If you can improve accuracy and reduce rework, you’ll be on the way to boosting margin as well as growth.

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4. Make the showroom pay

For many retailers, the store is still the differentiator as it becomes a centre for fulfilment, but only if teams can serve customers quickly and confidently. Retailers are investing in self-checkout systems, digital signage and contactless payment solutions, as well as simpler processes that give time back to staff. The best ROI is typically found where the investment reduces handoffs and improves speed-to-yes.

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5. Back your people

At a time of almost unprecedented technological upheaval, it turns out that one of the best things you can do is invest in your people. KPMG found that “While there has been a lot of talk about adopting advanced technologies or enacting better supply-chain processes to boost productivity, a common avenue for productivity gains … is through customer-service improvements.”

In-store product demonstrations, consultations and workshops give customers the kind of one-on-one experiences and even a feeling of community they simply can’t get from your offshore online competitors, and they have the potential to be game-changing when it comes to conversions.

But face-to-face service is only as good as the people delivering it. Investing in and nurturing high performers who understand your business and its customers can give you an edge at a time when the human touch is set to become a vital point of difference.

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Want help to prepare for the future of retail?

We’d love to help you implement the solutions you need today and in the future. 

Email us at sales@triquestra.com about unifying your inventory and customer data or book a 20-minute discovery call today. 

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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.

Seven things to look for in a retail technology partner

So, you’ve decided to upgrade your retail system. Now what?

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Over recent blog posts, we’ve looked at why your POS platform and retail system need to keep pace with customers’ expectations for ‘phygital’ shopping experiences, laid out the questions to ask before changing your POS and given you strategies to use to unlock the money needed to make that vital investment.

Convincing your business to move to more modern technology is a huge win, but it’s just the start of the journey towards implementation. The next step is perhaps even more important — choosing the right implementation partner.

No matter the scale of what you want to accomplish — extending POS functionality, creating a single view of inventory, or starting your unified commerce journey to connect POS, inventory, fulfilment, order and customer data — you need a partner with the right people, processes and technology.  

You’ll need someone who can provide you with the systems to innovate quickly, optimise inventory, maximise margin and deploy frictionless customer experiences, efficiently and profitably. 

You’ll also need someone who understands the 24x7 demands of retail and the budgetary pressures that retailers face, while having technical insight into the solutions you need now and how those solutions will help you meet the challenges of the future.

Here are the important indicators of a good technology partner, plus questions to ask: 

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1. Maturity and market responsiveness

Look for a partner who’s been around retail for a while, with a platform built on a modern architecture and a sound business model and proposition. They’ll need to understand your fast-paced, data-intensive environment where any significant level of downtime is unacceptable. 

Their people will have the capability to help you plan and implement your projects so that they work for you now and into the future. When you choose a partner with a mature platform, they can focus on delivering innovation because the core functionality you need already exists. 

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2. Real-world customer experience

Make sure your partner has a recent and proven success record for planning, implementing and managing complex, large-scale deployments across multiple stores, multiple formats and multiple geographies.  

Ask for evidence of the relationships, products and services that help their clients to be successful, including the consultancy, customisation, integration, training and support services you’ll need. 

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3. Flexible and innovative mindset

You want a partner who’s got the people and processes to move quickly, while cultivating an environment where innovation flourishes.  

Check that they have a history of responsiveness and the ability to assess and correct any unforeseen issues. Can they change direction, be flexible and achieve competitive success as opportunities develop, competitors act and customer needs evolve?

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4. Broad product capability

Choose a partner that can give you a broad and holistic portfolio, perspective and experience. You’ll need all your core requirements out-of-the-box, plus the ability to customise and easily add new functionality. 

If you’re looking to implement a unified commerce approach, they’ll need to be able to unify all the backend systems that run POS, inventory, customers and loyalty, pricing and promotions, analytics and fulfilment. You don’t want to commit to a one-dimensional provider who can only cover some of your requirements.   

Your partner should let third parties connect via APIs and cultivate a vendor ecosystem to reduce risk and increase flexibility.  

Also check that they have a strategic roadmap and investment committed for new capabilities. 

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5. Consulting and market understanding

Find a partner that will guide you in the right direction and tune technologies to fit your individual business needs. Do they have consultancy skills that span business and technical knowledge? Can they advise you on business processes as well as on how the software works? Make sure they understand your wants and needs (as well as those of your customers) and can translate them into products and services.  

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6. Exceptional operations

Check that your partner can meet their goals and commitments, and that they have the organisational structure, skills, experiences, programmes and systems to operate effectively and efficiently. That includes agile. They should be able to demonstrate proven, repeatable ways of working that consistently deliver outcomes, and show that they really understand agile principles, methods and practices.  

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7. Local and committed to your success

Look for a partner that is a local business, focused on your region’s potential to succeed. A local partner means you can have more influence on the product roadmap and enjoy direct engagement with people on the ground committed to your success (and not distracted by offshore business activity). And a mid-size partner is more likely to view you as an important customer of influence.  

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How Triquestra can help

Triquestra has been delivering retail management systems in multiple industries and geographies for more than 25 years.

Our Infinity unified commerce platform combines point of sale, inventory, ordering and fulfilment, loyalty, pricing and business intelligence on one open platform. That means you’ve got a hub that centralises all customer and inventory data in near real-time.

You’ll get the innovation, optimised inventory and frictionless customer experiences you need — efficiently and profitably.

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Want help to innovate and scale new services, faster?

If you’re looking to upgrade and extend your POS functionality, get a clearer view of your inventory or unify your physical and digital channels, get in touch. We’d love to help you implement the solutions you need today and in the future. 

 This blog was originally published on 21 January 2019 and updated 7 October 2024 and 17 March 2026. 

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:

Winning in 2026: The four forces reshaping retail

Change has been a regular part of retailers’ lives for years now, beginning with the shift to ecommerce that accelerated during the pandemic. This year, the pace of change looks set to intensify and has the potential to set 2026 apart from even the most disruptive of recent years.

The widespread adoption of AI, together with customers’ escalating demand for seamless, speedy buying experiences, means retailers face almost unprecedented pressure to keep up.

Here we take a look at four trends that we think will shape retail in 2026 and that retailers will need to navigate in order to maintain currency and profitability.

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1. AI adoption will take off

Any commercial forecast for 2026 has to start with the potentially revolutionary impact of AI. As Deloitte put it, “AI’s journey from pilot initiative to the heart of retail operations is accelerating, with an overwhelming majority of retailers either already using, or set to use, AI in the next 12 months for core operational capabilities.” They found that 48% of retailers are currently using generative AI for pricing and promotion optimisation, while 33% are using it for personalised recommendations and product search, with most others planning to use it for these tasks within a year. Other common use cases include demand forecasting and supply chain visibility.

If 2025 was the year when generative AI began to bed in, 2026 is shaping up as the year of agentic AI. Deloitte found that 68% of surveyed retailers were planning to deploy AI agents within one to two years. Most commonly, this will mean using a “proactive digital concierge” to curate and purchase products in response to customer prompts without human intervention at each stage of the process.

But the move to pervasive AI recommendations comes with warning signs as well. As shoppers begin to rely more heavily on AI agents to identify brands, traditional advertising spend could become less effective for retailers. As the National Retail Federation (NRF) in the US points out, “Whether or not a retailer’s brand shows up will depend on AI optimization — not just SEO or paid ads — flattening long-standing competitive advantages.”

Retailers also need to be mindful of trust and legal compliance implications. Privacy concerns around the information that agents gather and how that data will be used and stored need to be resolved, while the potential for malicious actors to exploit agentic commerce flows might curb the enthusiasm some shoppers feel for this new technology.

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2. The need for speed accelerates

Customers’ expectations for speedy service and real-time engagement have been rising for a number of years now. In 2026, those expectations will be central to how shoppers judge their experience.  

 As Australia Post says, speed is now everything, with consumers expecting faster and faster deliveries and speed becoming a key driver of customer satisfaction. “Retailers who optimise fulfilment and embrace express options will win loyalty in 2026.”

Timeliness is making itself felt in other ways too. According to Inside Retail, “Customers are increasingly judging experiences by timing and context. A message that arrives too late, or ignores what they are doing right now, quickly feels irrelevant. Whether someone is browsing, comparing products, or waiting for an order update, they expect brands to respond in the moment, not hours or days later.”

Triquestra’s CEO, Greg Cantlon, agrees that meeting customers’ speed expectations will be a defining factor in retailers’ success this year, and the onus will be on them to anticipate and respond quickly to demand. “The consumer demand for speed will see retail cycles compress, meaning that retailers will have to adjust their offering on a daily or weekly basis. Speed won’t just be about how fast you process a sale; it will be about how fast you change a price, launch a promotion, replenish stock or identify a problem before it impacts your margins.”

All of this means that retailers need to understand their customers and what motivates them on a granular level so they can engage with them in near real-time.

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3. Bricks and mortar rebounds

If there’s one thing that can be said about consumers in 2026 it’s that they are full of contradictions. They’ll prioritise price and value for money for one purchase and then splurge on another.  And while they demand speedy deliveries and convenience, they are apparently also returning to the more leisurely shopping experience offered by malls and bricks-and-mortar stores in growing numbers.

In the US, for example, shopping mall traffic increased during 2025 and is set to grow further this year.

While on the face of it these trends seem to be at odds with each other, understanding consumer preferences explains this seemingly conflicting behaviour. Shoppers are willing to choose the channel that suits them best on any given day or for any given purchase. And at a time when traditional retail shopping centres are transforming themselves into destinations for entertainment and socialisation, customers are seeking out not only tactile product experiences but interaction.

As NRF says, “In a world increasingly starved for connection, human interaction and new experiences, shopping malls can bring together people and create spaces that are an antidote to screen time.”

For retailers, the secret to success will be understanding and catering to these preferences across all channels.

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4. Data lays the foundation

As has been the case for a number of years now, understanding customers and offering them the experiences that meet their needs and expectations will require sound, accurate, real-time data.

That’s as true for understanding how to build a compelling in-store experience as it is for implementing AI agents and delivering timely personal engagement.

In fact, having high-quality data has never been more important than it will be this year. Without it, you can’t deliver the right message at the right time and curate a personalised shopping experience. In 2026, it could be the thing that sets you apart and makes your brand discoverable at a time when search methods are rapidly evolving.

And as Greg Cantlon says, the uncomfortable truth about AI is that it can only amplify the data you already have – good or bad. “If you want smarter ordering, better demand forecasting and personalised loyalty offers but you’re feeding AI with incomplete POS data, siloed systems and manual stock adjustments, then you won’t get the competitive advantage you’re looking for.

“Retail trends come and go. What lasts is the foundation you build beneath you.”

— Greg Cantlon, CEO Triquestra NZ Ltd

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Want help to prepare for the future of retail? 

If you’re looking for help to prepare for the data-intensive, speed-focused future that will shape customer interactions and meet their expectations, get in touch. We’d love to help you develop the solutions you need now and guide you to where you’re headed next.

Changing your POS? 7 questions to ask before taking the leap

In a recent blog, we talked about how the retail store is and will likely remain vital for customers who value trusted advice, social engagement and tactile product discovery. And those customers will continue to have high expectations of the instore experience, including the expectation that it will be harmonised with the shopping they do online.  

As your store evolves to meet a future where it can serve as an experiential hub and as mission control for customer fulfilment, you need to ensure that your retail platform is keeping pace rather than holding you back.  

Here we look at the challenges retailers experience when making the shift to a new POS, and the important questions you need to ask before choosing a new platform.

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 The POS upgrade challenge 

Preparing the point of sale for a future where tech-savvy consumers expect ‘phygital’ omnichannel experiences can be daunting.  

Retailers need to keep up with shoppers’ demand for a unified, cross-channel buying journey, but many have outdated point of sale systems that aren’t suited to the task. 

Making the shift to a new point of sale comes with challenges, though, especially when margins are tight. Fear of losing revenue through potential disruption to current operations and having to invest in staff training while perhaps not achieving anticipated returns can deter retailers from taking the leap.  

You don’t want a project that fails to deliver the desired returns because the wrong product was selected. 

So how do you select the right system for your business requirements? 

Here are the 7 questions to ask when looking for a new POS.  

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1. Can it be implemented and deployed rapidly?

The number one priority for most of the retailers we speak with is speed of deployment.

To minimise the operational disruption, you’ll need a platform built on a modern architecture. All your core requirements need to come out-of-the-box, along with the ability to customise and easily add new functionality.  

When you choose a partner with a mature platform, they can focus on delivering innovation because the core functionality you need already exists. 

Check the provider has recent and proven success planning, implementing and managing complex, large-scale deployments across multiple stores, formats and geographies. They’ll need to understand your fast-paced, data-intensive environment where any significant level of downtime is unacceptable. And their people will need to be skilled in helping you plan and implement your projects so that they work for you now and into the future.

Our client Z Energy was able to quickly and seamlessly convert some of its existing fuel locations into unattended self-service U-GO sites.    

“By using a modular platform, 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.”

— Callan McLaughlin, Retail Platform Manager at Z Energy

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2. Will it support your unified commerce business model?

Today, the store is the epicentre for all your unified commerce activity. 

That means you’ll want a point of sale system that supports endless aisle, click and collect, store fulfilment, pricing and promotions, clienteling and loyalty, as well as functions that allow customers to search, transact, acquire and consume products across all your channels.  

You don’t want to be tied to a point player that can only provide parts of a total solution.  

“The reason unified commerce resonated with me is that it would give us one core platform to do the heavy lifting and a single source of truth to manage the customer data, inventory and order orchestration, rather than relying on too many systems to push and pull data everywhere.”

— Shane Lenton, previously Cue’s Chief Information and Digital Officer

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3. Does it allow your store team to deliver exceptional service?

The new solution needs to empower store teams to deliver a superior, frictionless customer experience that maximises their productivity, no matter where they are in the store.

An easy-to-use UX and straightforward setup will enable new employees to quickly learn the system and begin selling almost right away. By removing the frustrations caused by complex technology, you'll also help lower staff turnover. 

In addition, by consolidating store technology onto a single POS-based retail system, your teams can do everything in a single view, from sales transactions, customer loyalty, pricing, product and promotions through to virtual appointments and endless aisle access to stock.

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4. Will the system work offline?

Delivering exceptional customer service is irrelevant if your staff can’t complete sales. 

When inevitable network outages happen, you need to know that your POS will keep all your stores operational without any disruption.  

When implemented correctly, the offline POS experience should be so seamless that your staff may not even realise the system is offline. 

Though some features may be limited, it's essential to know what transactions can still be processed during the loss of connectivity. For example, the system should handle card and cash payments, process returns, capture customer data and link it to profiles, and continue scanning products for smooth checkouts. 

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5. Can it grow with you, and adapt to change?

Whether you're expanding into new locations or launching pop-up stores, your POS system must be scalable and adaptable to change. While it might seem obvious, scalability can easily be overlooked in the excitement of cutting-edge technology. 

Your growth plans should account for how your physical stores can complement your online presence, so that your POS solution can function across channels in the same way as your ecommerce platform. 

It should operate seamlessly across tablets, phones and fixed tills, allowing transactions to flow between devices effortlessly. This flexibility not only opens up possibilities for innovative store layouts but also provides the practical benefit of better backup strategies for your devices. 

Your partner should let third-party solutions connect via APIs so that you are free to focus your development efforts on the front-end. You can be more agile and create a community of third-party apps and systems that work together in an ecosystem. As a result, you’ll reduce integration and maintenance overheads, increase real-time accuracy and enjoy virtually limitless scalability and agility. 

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6. Will it make complex sales simple?

Enterprise retailers with multiple brands, B2B operations or franchises will need a POS system that makes complex sales simple. 

You’ll want the power to set pricing and promotion rules, permissions, return and refund validation, discounting and cash management from either head office or at store level. 

And you’ll want to ensure the solution supports complex sales like charge-to-account, quote management by channel, debtor management, loyalty and all types of pricing, including retail, trade, contract, promotional, project, customer-specific and rules based.  

“Infinity is one of the few platforms able to accommodate our diverse business model, with both retail and wholesale customers requiring multiple volume breaks and bulk purchasing. And Infinity’s New Zealand presence gives us an out-of-the box solution with local capabilities that can be customised to our requirements.”

— Amanda Thompson, General Manager of Moore Wilson’s

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7. Can you rely on the vendor for new functionality and ongoing support?

Working with the right people and processes will make the rollout of your new point of sale much easier and deliver results much faster. 

A partner located in the Australia-New Zealand market means you’ll have direct access to second- and third-level support, as well as direct contact with people committed to your success. 

You’ll also have more influence on the product roadmap and have to deal with less bureaucracy to get things done. And a mid-size partner is more likely to view you as an important customer of influence.

This blog was originally published in September 2024 and updated November 2025.

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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. 

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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:

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!  

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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*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.

Unleashing the Power of the Point of Sale

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The past few years have brought unique challenges to offline shopping, as the Covid-19 pandemic closed stores and shoppers turned to their screens like never before.

But as the world re-opened, physical stores bounced back, and they will continue to hold their own even in the face of growing demand for online offerings. While global online retail sales are expected to grow to US$6.8 trillion by 2028, offline will still be the dominant channel, accounting for 78% of global sales.

Shoppers, though, don’t see online and in-store as separate channels but as part of a unified buying journey. They might research a product online before buying it in-store, or vice versa. So it makes sense to think about how to best integrate your stores into the overall customer experience. By speeding up delivery, personalising the offering and providing hands-on interaction, you can use your stores to help deliver the cohesive, consistent omnichannel journey customers now expect.  

Here, we look at how integrating stores involves considering customer preferences and behaviours, improving employee performance and choosing a POS system that changes as you do and allows you to unleash the power of unified commerce.

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Personalised and tactile customer experiences

For customers, shopping in-store brings a range of tangible benefits — instant gratification, personalised assistance, product comparison and social interaction. And meeting customers face-to-face gives retailers the chance to offer a tailored, tactile experience that builds loyalty, drives repeat business and enhances profitability, even when the final purchase happens online.

Elevating these personal encounters so that they give you a competitive advantage can take a variety of forms, from speedy fulfilment of click-and-collect orders, to staff making recommendations based on wish lists and order histories, to providing accurate stock information by store (including out of stock, in stock and on order).

But transforming your stores to be the driver of customer loyalty and retention means that your store retail systems must transform as well. A modern point of sale is now the anchor for a unified commerce platform that unifies online and store data with back-end systems, so that you can offer customers the best possible all-round experience.

Personalising in-store offerings needs a nuanced understanding of shopper profiles and a unified platform that gives you a single source of truth for all inventory, order and customer data. With all your customer details captured and stored in a single unified commerce hub, you can recognise customers consistently, wherever they shop with you.

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Empowered employees  

After years of underinvestment, many retailers are playing catch-up with their employees. Their stores often lack the tools and systems that enable their people to deliver the relevant and personalised customer interactions that match online shopping’s price, speed and convenience. Some stores find themselves running multiple systems, forcing their teams to juggle between different apps and screens as they serve customers and slowing down the overall sales process.

Armed with the right customer data and tools, your store staff can more easily make decisions, provide personalised upselling advice, sell inventory at any location and serve customers faster, anywhere in the store. Lifting your employees’ performance leads to enhanced customer interactions and increased conversions.

Making tools easy to use and intuitive also enables new employees to quickly get up to speed and begin selling almost right away. By consolidating store technology onto a single POS-based retail system, your teams can do everything in a single view, from sales transactions, customer loyalty, pricing, product and promotions through to virtual appointments and endless aisle access to stock. And by removing the frustrations caused by complex technology, you'll also help lower staff turnover.

Best of all, empowering your people to offer an exceptional customer service allows you to strengthen relationships with happier, more loyal customers.

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A scalable and adaptable POS

Today, the store is mission control for a seamless omnichannel customer experience, making the POS the hub for unified commerce. The POS needs to span endless aisle, click and collect, store fulfilment, pricing and promotions, and loyalty, as well as functions that allow customers to search, transact, acquire and consume products across all your channels.

It's also crucial that your POS solution is scalable and adaptable to suit your business’s changing needs. Whether you're expanding into new locations or launching pop-up stores, your POS system must be able to scale quickly and adapt to changes in customer expectations. While it might seem obvious, scalability can easily be overlooked in the excitement of cutting-edge technology.

POS adaptability means having a system that can quickly adjust to evolving customer preferences. It should operate seamlessly across tablets, phones and fixed tills, allowing transactions to flow between devices effortlessly. This flexibility opens possibilities for innovative store layouts and experiences, and allows you to think creatively about how and where to personally interact with customers.

And as you grow, your POS solution must be able to function anywhere your ecommerce platform can. Your growth plans should also account for how your physical stores can complement your online presence — not just to drive online sales but also to strengthen customer loyalty.

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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.

Seven things to look for in a retail technology partner

Can your retail system keep up with customer demand for omnichannel experiences?

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Consumers now see both the online and offline shopping experience as part of the same buying journey and not one versus the other.

This is introducing more complexity into the business, with channels becoming less physical and more digital. And that’s why unified commerce is now retail’s top priority, with 88% of retailers investing in unified commerce or considering doing so to build a customer-centric approach to 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, many retailers are looking at how to rebuild their businesses from the bottom up for their unified commerce business model.

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.

If you’re developing the roadmap or requirements for your next point of sale or retail platform, start here.

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There are seven important indicators of a good technology partner:

1

Maturity and market responsiveness

With a mature platform you can focus on delivering innovation because the critical functionality you need already exists.

Look for a partner who’s been around retail for a while, with a platform built on a modern architecture and sound business model and proposition. They’ll need to understand your fast-paced, data-intensive environment where any significant level of downtime is unacceptable.

Their people will have the capability to help you plan and implement your projects so that they work for you now and into the future. When you choose a partner with a mature platform, they can focus on delivering innovation because the core functionality you need already exists.

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2

Real-world customer experience

A strong track record and referenceable customer base means less risk.

Make sure your partner has a recent and proven success record for planning, implementing and managing complex, large-scale deployments across multiple stores, multiple formats and multiple geographies.

Have they implemented unified commerce systems or are they just unifying digital commerce channels? Ask for evidence of the relationships, products and services that help their clients to be successful, including the consultancy, customisation, integration, training and support services you’ll need.

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3

Flexible and innovative mindset

Seek a partner that can pivot quickly as markets change.

You want a partner who’s got the people and processes to move fast, while cultivating an environment where innovation flourishes.

Check that they have a history of responsiveness and the ability to assess and quickly correct any unforeseen issues. Can they change direction, be flexible and achieve competitive success as opportunities develop, competitors act and customer needs evolve.

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4

Broad product capability

Choose a partner that can give you a holistic portfolio and expansive retail ecosystem.

Offering a unified experience means unifying all the backend systems that run POS, inventory, customers and loyalty, pricing and promotions, analytics and fulfilment. You don’t want to be tied to a point player that can only provide portions. You’ll need all your core requirements out-of-the-box plus the ability to customise and easily add new functionality.

Your partner should let third parties connect via APIs and cultivate a vendor ecosystem to reduce risk and increase flexibility. You also need to know that your partner has a strategic roadmap and investment committed for new capabilities. 

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5

Consulting and market understanding

Ensure your partner can translate your business needs into functional solutions.

Find a partner that will guide you in the right direction and tune technologies to fit your individual business needs. Do they have consultancy skills that span business and technical knowledge? Can they advise you on business processes as well as how the software works? Make sure they understand your wants and needs (as well as those of your customers) and can translate them into products and services.  

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6

Exceptional operations

Make sure they combine experience, processes and systems for faster ROI.

Check that your partner can meet their goals and commitments, and that they have the organisational structure, skills, experiences, programmes and systems to operate effectively and efficiently. That includes agile — make sure they’ve done the training and really understand agile principles, methods and practices.  

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7

Local and committed to your success

A local partner means you can have more influence on the product roadmap and expect faster turnaround.

Retailers are developing a customer-centric mindset and building new skills and capabilities to compete with new competitors. They recognise the risk that comes with global vendors with 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.

This blog was originally published on 21 January 2019 and updated 07 October 2024.

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Want help to innovate and scale new services, faster?

Triquestra has been delivering retail management systems in multiple industries and geographies for more than 25 years. 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.

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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:

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