Operational AI for Convenience Retail

This article is brought to you by PAR Technology.

Early pushes for retailers to adopt AI focused on labor efficiencies, reducing operational friction and streamlining day-to-day operations, said Spencer Bean, director of platform solutions and insights, PAR Technology. “But really, that’s just the tip of the iceberg in terms of AI’s ability to impact an organization.”

AI is now headed for customer experience, he said. By deploying AI-enabled technologies, retailers can personalize customer experience at-scale with things like predictive engagement, for example, offering discounts on products the customer is more likely to buy. AI can also ease employee workloads through store-level automation that leverages real-time sales and inventory signals. For example, loyalty systems can automatically deploy targeted offers on food items nearing expiration, encouraging purchases before products go to waste.

For AI to deliver meaningful value, however, it needs to have a measurable day-to-day impact for operators, Bean said. That requires more than a standalone tool. AI needs an orchestrator underneath it—one that can act across multiple systems, from creating loyalty offers to generating support tickets and triggering downstream workflows.

To build that kind of practical AI foundation, Bean advised retailers to select tools with deep vertical expertise that are purpose-built for fuel and convenience retail, ensuring insights, actions and recommendations are relevant to the realities of the industry.

Retailers also need to evaluate their data environment. “AI is only as good as the systems and data it has access to,” Bean said. “Is your data immediately extendable to AI solutions, or does it need to be consolidated into a single database system?”

Beyond technology, preparation also includes governance and people. Retailers should establish clear AI policies, validate data security and compliance, and ensure their tech stack is ready to support AI-driven capabilities.

“The second part is preparing your employees,” Bean said, noting that teams need to understand AI should handle the heavy lifting and execution across systems. “What we’re seeing now is that retailers are gaining access to AI tools without fully understanding how to use or leverage them. They’re getting some benefit—but not nearly as much as they could.”

This is part two of a two-part series brought to you by PAR Technology. Learn more about modernizing your tech stack in part one.

Artificial Intelligence