Greetings!  2017 has arrived and with it, many exciting new challenges and opportunities for the convenience store industry. We witnessed the inauguration of a new President of the United States and a new administration that through regulation and legislation, will shape the nature of our business and how we operate. We have seen OPEC and other oil rich countries work to stem the sharp decline in oil prices by slowing production- which in turn stimulates our domestic oil production and renewed shale development. Labor issues and a push for more manufacturing stateside has ushered in a modern ‘Made In America’ rebirth.

We witnessed advances in technology and communication that change the way we interact with each other, retailers and the outside world. Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home have brought personal  AI into our homes as assistants, schedulers, encyclopedias and more. Uber, Lyft and other ride-sharing apps have not only made commuting cash-less and with the ease of a swipe of the finger; but have also incorporated food delivery, errand-running and now self-driving cars. Following the mobile trend, mobile apps and their integration into our daily lives continues to expand: direction app Waze can navigate through traffic snarls, streaming music apps like Spotify and Pandora have eliminated cd libraries while also using listener algorithms to determine which playlists you would prefer, Netflix and Amazon have gone beyond streaming video and original content to provide saved downloads and honed suggestions for niche audiences based on user behavior. Technology is relentlessly marching on! And Pinnacle must also.

At the start of 2017, we streamlined our product line through a partnership with PDI to allow us to focus all our energies on our Point of Sale, Loyalty and our new Affiniti Mobile solutions – ensuring we can bring you cutting edge technology and software that responds to these ever changing trends in the marketplace. We were the first to market with a complete EMV certification and we’re still out front, helping our clients meet their regulatory requirements. Our Palm POS still leads the pack for integrations to loyalty programs, payment processing and back-office solutions- while our own Loyalty suite gives our clients the flexibility and branding needed to drive traffic from competitors.  With the release of our Affiniti Mobile App platform, Pinnacle is providing retailers with an evolving platform to easily build out a branded consumer facing app- and related back office corporate app- we have kept our clients competitive and ready for the next stages in the evolution of convenience store marketing and loyalty.

We are continuously looking to new ways we can help our clients grow and profit.  Our commitment to our clients success has never been stronger than today. We have and will continue to meet with our client Advisory Council, attend industry events and trade shows, and participate in leadership organizations to refine our view of how best to serve our clients and be responsive to their needs. We hope to see you at an upcoming event but if you can’t wait until then to improve your business please give me a call!

All the Best,

Bob Johnson
Pinnacle Corp., President & CEO