ALEXANDRIA, Va.
– The Petroleum and Convenience Alliance for Technology Standards (PCATS)
announced that is planning an open meeting to discuss the need and scope of
digital and mobile promotions standards for the convenience store
channel.
“Coupons have
never been a big part of our merchandising methods, as the traditional
paper-based promotions were best suited for planned shopping experiences typical
of other channels”, said Gray Taylor, PCATS executive director. “With the
advent of smart phones, promotion is finally mirroring our channel’s ‘in the
moment’ shopping experience, and is a perfect fit for our format.”
“Last year
almost $390 billion in coupons were created, and we only benefited from a small
percentage despite being channel leaders in beer, packaged beverage, tobacco
and other categories,” Taylor continued. “We believe that by accelerating
our adoption of digital coupon acceptance, we will add billions in new industry
sales dollars flowing to adjacent market competitors, and make a significant
impact to our retailers’ and supplier-partners’ profitability.”
PCATS already
started standards initiatives in mobile payments as part of its Retail
Financial Transaction Committee work, and recently initiated mobile promotions
work within the Loyalty Workgroup at its Annual Conference this past May.
Attend the Upcoming Meeting
The meeting will take place in Chicago on August 19 at 12:00 pm at the Intercontinental
Miracle Mile. It is open to digital marketing professionals from all
consumer packaged goods companies with significant sales in the convenience
store channel. Topics include:
- The
state of digital promotion
- Accepting
promotions at the point-of-sale
- Processing
of digital promotion tokens
- Data
security concerns
PCATS hopes to
incorporate the discussion points in its accelerated work to quickly put
standards in place to support of consumer package goods companies’ digital
promotion initiatives.
Space is
limited to one representative from each company on a first come basis, and
Taylor stated that the room is “60% full” as of today.
For more
information or reserve your seat, contact Ann Zecca, PCATS office manager, at azecca@pcats.org, or Gray Taylor at gtaylor@pcats.org.
PCATS is a
non-profit organization devoted to the development, maintenance and
implementation of standards, education and best practices for the convenience
store and petroleum retail segments. Members of PCATS collaborate and
focus on key industry challenges and initiatives. Our work efforts
influence the cost of ownership and interoperability within the industries we
serve. For more information and membership, visit www.PCATS.org.