7-Eleven, Inc.

With an eye on customer engagement, 7-Eleven is upgrading its point-of-sale fleet chainwide.   7-Eleven entered into an agreement with NEC, making the technology company its exclusive POS provider. Overall, 8,600 7-Eleven stores throughout the United States and Canada will be outfitted with the TwinPOS G5100, a POS system that also features a sleek, durable customer display to run promotions, share information, and create a personalized shopping experience.  

As the retail industry settles into 2017, CIOs industry-wide are dusting off their To-Do lists, and creating a game-plan on how to implement this year’s top priorities.   While these projects will run the gamut, retail is facing an inflection point — one that is influenced by new, “smarter” solutions that will not only change the trajectory of how businesses operate, but how chains will communicate with employees and customers.   

Lowes Foods knows the key to success is retaining your best, most profitable shoppers.   By extending its partnership with ProLogic, the engine behind the grocer’s Fresh Rewards loyalty program, the chain will continue to award customers with instant rewards for merchandise throughout its 100 stores, and gas at participating Speedway and Lowes Foods gas stations.   

Logistics and supply chain executives from such retail powerhouses as Walmart, Target, Hudson’s Bay Company,  7-Eleven, Neiman Marcus, and The Home Depot will be among the speakers at the Retail Industry Leaders Association’s annual Retail Supply Chain Conference.

Five grocery tech experts chimed in on the recent report that Amazon is planning a major move into the brick-and-mortar grocery store space, and see the potential for up to 2,000 branded grocery stores over the next 10 years.   

As brick-and-mortar stores race to transform themselves amid the increasing importance and influence of e-commerce, many retailers are looking to in-store digital media displays to attract and engage potential customers.      What’s more, new startups are bringing down the high cost of traffic-counting technology; making mobile marketing offers as painless as possible; and looking to virtual reality to create experiences that wow, immerse and educate consumers. Take a look at these:   

Driving your car on the beach and the Daytona International Speedway. Those are the things that have long defined Daytona Beach. Those and the legendary Bill France, Sr.   

Watch out, 7-Eleven and other c-store retailers. Amazon is thinking about entering your turf.   Having opened bookstores and with a planned entry into the drive-up grocery store space under construction in Seattle, the Internet giant is now considering opening convenience stores,  reported the Wall Street Journal.   The c-stores, with an internal code name of “Project Como,” would be available only to AmazonFresh subscribers, according to the report.  

The parent company of 7-Eleven wants to more than double its store portfolio in the United States.   Seven-Eleven Japan Co. is looking to open thousands of new stores in the U.S., increasing its current total of approximately 8,500 locations to 20,000, The Japan Times reported.    

Petco appointed retail veteran John Zavada as senior VP and CIO.   In his new position, Zavada will lead Petco's information technology strategies, teams and projects, including the company's business process optimization and enterprise program management office.    Prior to joining Petco, Zavada served as senior VP and CIO at Restoration Hardware. He also held CIO positions at Guitar Center, Big Lots, Limited Inc., and Victoria's Secret Stores.