The Pinnacle Blog

 Several years ago, Lynch Oil deployed Pinnacle's fully integrated Palm POS and Loyalty Rewards suite of products. As their loyalty program grew more and more successful, Lynch looked for ways to extend offers and promotions to their consumers via mobile -driving traffic, increasing spend, and communicating with them in the most effective way possible. With their Mr. Gas mobile app, built on the Pinnacle Affiniti mobile platform, Lynch Oil is able to influence their consumers' behavior and drive store traffic in ways they had not been able before.

Bluefin Payment Systems and Pinnacle Corporation have announced a partnership to provide Bluefin’s PCI-validated Point-to-Point Encryption (P2PE) solution through Pinnacle’s Palm POS platform.

Continuing our committment to payment speed, security and innovation, Pinnacle recently announced the launch of its Mobile Payment solution on the Affiniti™ Consumer Mobile app. This feature works in concert with Zipline (formerly NPC/NPCA), to process mobile payments as an ACH transaction.

Pinnacle’s approach to inventory solutions can be drilled down to the path of a candy bar. Convenience store retailers are constantly looking for ways to get the most from their merchandise, even to the last chocolate. In today’s competitive market, it’s not enough to just buy and resell for a profit. Retailers must stay ahead of the hurdles and headwinds of changing consumer tastes, market saturation, product staleness and shrink.

The lines between amobile phone app experience, non-phone (tablet) app experience, and the desktop internet browser experience have blurred so much there really is no difference in this day and age.   

The evolution of any leading edge technology is a learning experience for all, but how it evolves and the challenges created for the convenience retail space can truly affect your profit margins and standing with competitors. In few catagories is it more true than in smartphone technology- particularly mobile apps. Below we chart the evolution of the app experience for retailers- and the challenges and opportunities they create.

You are likely to hear about new and innovative mobile payment options. Mobile payments are all over the news, and are now being advertised at many national retail stores. Loyalty programs are adding mobile options, and you may start to wonder: Should you jump on the bandwagon? That depends on how mobile fits into your overall strategy. At the very least, you need some facts to make an informed decision. With so many options, and such a diverse landscape of mobile platforms, the choices can be inundating.  All of these may be appealing to you for different reasons, and you may want to consider implementing one or more of them in your business.

Millennials – Who Are They? If you are like most retailers, you invest a lot of time and money in building a loyal customer base, and as part of that effort you are trying to understand and target the up and coming Millennial generation. Millennials are typically defined as those born between 1980 and 2000, although some studies make them a bit older or younger. This means they range in age from teenagers to early 30-somethings. This group is subject of many studies and are on pace to be the most studied demographic in history, behind the Boomers who have been studied for decades. Everyone is trying to figure them out. Why? According to a 2012 study this group already represents $200 billion of direct purchasing power and has influence over $500 billion of indirect spending, primarily because teens and young adults who are living at home influence the purchasing habits of their Baby Boomer parents (source: U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation). Since the youngest members of the group are yet to enter the workforce, the prime earning timeframe for this group is still years away, which means collectively the group represents an important part of our future economy and cannot be ignored. Millennials’ annual spending is expected to reach $2.45 trillion by 2015 (source: Deloitte). Clearly understanding and finding ways to appeal to this important demographic deserves a closer look.

As summer comes to a close and the frenetic holiday season draws near, convenience store retailers don’t have any time to lose. Keeping up with ever increasing store traffic, maximizing profits on promotions and loyalty, and capitalizing on featured inventory can be overwhelming. As your business grows and evolves, you want solutions designed with your business in mind- particularly in a POS system. With Palm POS, designed specifically for the convenience store industry, you have the flexibility and control you need to keep operations running fast and efficiently.

Retail, or the process of selling consumers goods, is a relatively simple concept; buy goods, sell at a profit, and put the money in the bank. Every convenience store, however, brings a unique set of location-specific challenges, market demands, and workflows; and when you have a ‘chain’ of c-stores the complexity can become overwhelming.