NACS 2026: Highlighting the New Retail Connectivity

Talk on the showroom floor indicated that, for the industry, digital isolation has become less than ideal for a c-store’s profit potential.

“No one is an island,” folks like to say, and those attending this year’s NACS[1] probably came away feeling the same way about a c-store and its technology. The new retail connectivity was a hot topic of discussion, something that was apparent from the conversations on the floor, as well those that took place within SSCS’s own crowded booth.

The digital retail network is nothing new. SSCS’s back office system, the Computerized Daily Book (CDB), has long been designed to incorporate data from diverse sources, some of them familiar: POS data, EDI files, direct store deliveries. We’ve been doing it for decades, and as discussed last week, continue to seek out new channels compatible with the CDB that our customers can leverage for sales and profit. There are more of them than ever. Hence the emphasis at this year’s NACS.

There were other notable trends, too. The expansion of foodservice continued, with some rather interestingly designed kitchen booths serving up some pretty tasty, fresh food. And speaking of food, you couldn’t wander far without running into some protein-infused selections, anything from protein mac and cheese to protein popcorn. It’s an offshoot of the more general trend to capture healthy food enthusiasts, another overriding emphasis of the show.

Still, it was hard to stay away from the connectivity talk, and SSCS was in the thick of it, which makes perfect sense since our back office system has functioned for decades as the heart of our customers’ stores, processing and extracting valuable insights to make the business better, without complicating an operator’s work.

If you’ve got the right technology, like the CDB, expanding your retail reach can be a painless process. And though the fabric of the industry has been woven out of the efforts of independent entrepreneurs, the new model of building business relationships through data connectivity is an exciting development in its own right. Call us at (800) 972-7727. We can talk more about what this might do for your store’s bottom line.

[1] It was a banner year for the show with 25, 572 attendees, up 400 from last year. The expo covered 442,600 net square feet and included 1,090 exhibitors (Source: NACS Online)

[1] A feed of rebate, discount, and buydown information from tobacco manufacturers, which we covered a couple of weeks ago, are an example.