Designing the Industry's Digital Ecosystem

As vice president of strategic initiatives at NACS and CEO of TruAge, Stephanie Sikorski is zeroed in on initiatives and technologies to advance the industry. From age verification to payments, loyalty, and the future of retail commerce, Sikorski and her team are focused on helping convenience retailers navigate emerging technologies and prepare for the future.

What technology shifts are having the biggest impact on convenience retail today?

Retailers are really trying to meet consumers where they are and engage with consumers on their terms. That can mean everything from a loyalty app that lets you pay and order ahead to interactions through a phone, a smart dashboard or another connected device. It could also mean they want to use their mobile driver’s license for age verification of an age-restricted item at checkout or pay with a digital wallet. Consumers increasingly expect experiences to be seamless.

The future of technology is also that everything is moving toward your digital device. Your device isn’t necessarily always in your hand—it could be the dashboard of your car, which many think will be the future of ordering for pick up. What’s great about NACS is that we are looking ahead to those future possibilities and designing solutions for them with programs like THRIVR.

The challenge is that retail technology is often fragmented. Different retailers have different systems, different loyalty platforms and different technology providers. Our goal is to help create more connectivity and more common standards so those digital experiences and interactions become easier for both retailers and customers.

How does the NACS digital ecosystem fit into that vision?

We think about convenience as making things easy. That’s the name of our game.

Not every retailer needs the same solution. The vision is twofold. One, the ecosystem is portable and modular. Retailers should be able to choose the tools that work best for them while still benefiting from common standards and connectivity. That’s why we have designed products like TruAge to be compatible, not competitive. You could use all of our solutions individually or together, but the goal is that they integrate with your existing system. Two, we are creating a technology standard so that these technologies can evolve in the future and evolve outside of the industry. Whether it’s a restaurant, a sports stadium or a c-store, you’re able to leverage standardized technology.

The larger vision is creating an ecosystem where technologies can work together. Whether that’s loyalty, digital coupons, age verification, payments or other future capabilities, retailers should be able to leverage those tools without having to completely rebuild their technology stack every time something new comes along. The goal of the NACS ecosystem is to level the playing field for small, medium and large retailers and standardize the technology needed for the activities that they perform.

TruAge has been one of the most visible initiatives. Where does it stand now?

We’ve reached a really exciting point with TruAge. One of the biggest developments is that we’ve established integration pathways with all major point-of-sale providers and have ramped up our activations this year. This is creating a consistent experience across much of the industry. That’s important because it allows retailers to implement TruAge without being tied to a single system or vendor. We now have a pathway for a retailer, no matter which system they are using, to use TruAge and the experience is consistent for them, their teams and employees. And if they decide to switch vendors, TruAge is not tied to that system.

We’re also seeing strong momentum from consumers around wanting a privacy-forward digital identity. Consumers are increasingly concerned about where their data goes and how it’s used. TruAge was designed with that in mind from the beginning and we have always been privacy-forward. TruAge only uses four pieces of data to age-verify a consumer without revealing their personal details.

The way we think about it is simple: If a retailer only needs to know whether someone is of legal age, they shouldn’t need access to every other piece of information contained in an ID. Our goal is to share only the information necessary for that specific transaction. The platform allows consumers to remain anonymous throughout the transaction while still providing retailers with the protections they need.

We talk about clean bathrooms being a baseline in the convenience industry. I think TruAge is that baseline for age verification. You have to age-verify and you have to do it right. TruAge ensures you do that.

What are your biggest priorities over the next year?

A major priority is adoption. We’re at a point where we can support a significant portion of the industry, and now it’s about helping retailers onboard and benefit from these capabilities. The faster retailers can take advantage of modern software and connected technologies, the more value they’ll be able to realize and that will be a huge win for everyone.

Our goal is to try to make it as frictionless as possible, and we are working with both the industry-known POS vendors as well as cloud-enabled POS environments to create that.

We’re also focused on extending compatibility. That includes things like mobile driver’s licenses, digital wallets, passports and other trusted credentials. We want to meet consumers wherever they already are, rather than requiring them to adopt an entirely new flow.

What does long-term success look like?

Success is when these technologies become so easy that people stop thinking about them. Whether someone is using a loyalty app, a digital wallet, a mobile driver’s license or another platform that hasn’t been invented yet, the experience should feel seamless. It should simply work. That’s really what we’re trying to accomplish across all of our strategic initiatives: Reduce friction, create interoperability and help retailers provide a better experience for consumers, no matter what platform, app, POS, device or environment it’s being used in.

For me, I want TruAge to become synonymous with age verification, the way you say Kleenex instead of a tissue or ask for a Band-Aid for a cut. I want it to be so adopted and seamless that customers are asking “Do you accept TruAge?” as that step.

What do you want retailers to know about the strategic initiative work NACS is doing for the industry?

Our NACS brand tagline is “advancing convenience and fuel retailing.” It doesn’t just say “advance” and then we are done. These initiatives are always in motion. We’re always looking for that next thing. Our goal is to help retailers provide today’s convenience and tomorrow’s convenience.

When we look at the areas where we can make the biggest impact and consider what’s going to enable retailers to move faster, provide more value to their communities or their customers, and reduce the cost of doing things, each of our digital ecosystem components is intended to do that. They don’t pick winners and losers—a tool isn’t just good for a 500-plus chain or a single site. They don’t favor one POS or one loyalty app.

Yes, NACS has the greatest trade show in convenience. Yes, we have industry data and advocacy. But we’re also working to innovate on behalf of the industry and remove roadblocks that make it harder for retailers to operate and grow. The goal is to help retailers move faster, create value for customers and prepare for what’s next. We’re constantly looking around corners and asking where NACS can help make the biggest difference for the industry.

You can see the NACS digital ecosystem in action and meet with the leadership team in the Future of Convenience booth at the 2026 NACS Show in Las Vegas. In addition, Education Sessions will be held in the booth on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Check out NACSShow.com for a full schedule.