NACS 2023: Technology Ascendant

This year’s NACS attendees continued to show a healthy appetite for technology, which permeates the industry in more ways than ever.

NACS 2023 wrapped up last week in Atlanta, Georgia. SSCS always looks forward to the event, the culmination of the trade show season, and the perfect chance to get a finger on the pulse of what’s happening now in the convenience store industry.

Our sales team wasn’t disappointed by the high expectations they had going in. Our booth proved ideal for mingling; a relaxed space for product demos, and a comfortable place to meet up with our customers and reacquaint ourselves in person with the host of other industry professionals that we know. There was a lot of congregating in our space; that’s always a sign of a good show.

C-Store Dive and other industry periodicals have compiled summaries of the trends, or indications of trends their reporters witnessed at NACS. From our perspective, what stood out the most was how technology has permeated almost all aspects of the industry, and that the industry is looking for it—even if they aren’t quite sure what they’re looking for.

“It’s like the entire industry knows that tech is good and they’ve seen it working for their competitors,” one of our attending sales team noted, “but they’re unclear on the details. We can step in and help identify the tech that’s right for them. After we chat a bit about their business and the issues that concern them, we can focus on how a good back office and the right scanning technology would work for them, specifically.”

Attendees that already understand the business advantages of a back office system, attendant software, and data analysis come to a technology provider like SSCS with a different need. “The first goal of experienced users is to get the information delivered to them in the simplest, most complete way possible,” adds the SSCS Sales Rep. “How to boil down robust analytics into a simple readout seemed to be on the minds of power users.”

Of course, continuous improvement of our software, including ease of use, incorporates feedback from our customers. It’s a keystone SSCS development, and another value-added of the NACS Show. There’s nothing better than having one of our current customers meet a prospect and in their own words describe the possibilities offered by SSCS software. That’s a unique experience, and a big reason we’re already looking forward to NACS 2024 and seeing you!