Conexxus In the News

The industry will spend $3.9 billion retooling the country’s 800,000 fuel pumps, according to Gray Taylor, executive director of Alexandria, Virginia-based Conexxus. Its title: “Defending the Island.” Gas pumps, especially those in remote locations, are attractive targets, as their remoteness gives thieves time and privacy to install skimming devices. The pumps most likely to get a skimmer: those off interstate highways, farthest from the cash register, says Taylor of Conexxus.

If only installing EMV at the pump were as easy as filling up the gas tank with a credit card. But in this industry, complexity is a given, thanks to a tangled web of elements that all need certification: payment servers; indoor versus outdoor payment terminals; fuel dispensers and an on-site, back-office systems. Any requirement to dig up concrete to lay new wires requires an environmental review.

It's vital for convenience store operators, especially those that offer fuel sales, to learn as much as they can about skimming and how to prevent it — because it isn't an issue of "if" but rather an issue of "when" they'll have to deal with it, according to a recent webinar "Skimming," presented by Conexxus.  This impacts retailers on multiple levels, because not only does skimming cost them actual money, it can result in future lost sales as consumers learn about skimming incidents.

NATIONAL REPORT — Over the past several years, there have been countless conversations around technology in the convenience channel. In fact, a record number of industry stakeholders converged in Nashville, Tenn., in late April for the 2019 Conexxus Annual Conference — lending even more proof to the growing importance of technology in the industry.  However, many of the conversations revolve around consumer-facing technology. How can convenience store retailers tap into innovation to reach their shoppers? Is it through digital signage? Messaging at the pump? Loyalty programs? A mobile app? .....

Acumera, SwiftIQ and Conexxus announced the launch of a cloud-native autonomous point-of-sale (POS) transaction log polling, ingestion and analytics infrastructure, initially configured for convenience stores running a Gilbarco Passport or VeriFone Commander.  The technology uses the Conexxus standard NAXML, which has been rolled out at Mass.-based Nouria Energy.....

“Getting solution providers and retailers on the same page, through Conexxus, will allow the industry to move faster to deliver improved experiences for our customers and employees,” said Jim Wenner, vice president, IT at Sheetz.  But notably absent were consumer packaged goods companies who could have rounded out many discussions and provided support to the work being done on initiatives such as digital offers, which retailers are ready to implement, “but we need them,” Taylor said.....

Embracing Conexxus technologies standards together empowers P97 and Bulloch to enable fast and easy indoor and outdoor mobile payments at gas stations and convenience stores around the U.S. and Canada.....

More than 230 retailer and vendor professionals participated in education sessions and committee meetings, showing that Conexxus is serving the industry’s data exchange and technology needs. A lot of ground was covered during the conference’s four days, from the aggressive initiative to move from XML to API standards, to the role of blockchain in revolutionizing supply chain, to insights of leading industry CIOs and, of course, the important committee meetings that set the standards and education agenda of the association programs.....

Six years ago, Lowes Foods recognized that disruptors were taking hold in its market. To meet the challenge, the North Carolina-based grocery retailer made the decision to go to places where other retailers were not. The company found those places through small data.  Speaking as the keynote presenter at the 2019 Conexxus Annual Conference, Lowes Foods President Tim Lowe pointed out that disruption is everywhere and the first step is to realize it is inevitable.....

It’s not as if the disruptors of the world are circling convenience stores specifically. They’re circling the idea of friction and a lack of convenience for consumers in every market. “Every business is in the convenience business,” said Taylor, executive director of Conexxus. Disruption comes in two phases, or loops, he said. During the first loop.....