NACS Knowledge:

The ability to responsibly sell legal, age-restricted products—today and in the future—is important to the convenience retailing industry. For frontline teams, checking a customer’s ID should be simple, safe, reliable and protect that customer’s privacy.

Enter TruAge®.

Developed by NACS and Conexxus, TruAge is the most heavily researched and tested initiative in the history of NACS. The technology makes the traditional carding experience more reliable and accurate. It’s the most secure way to verify age, not only ensuring that age-restricted products stay out of underage hands, but also protecting your consumer’s privacy better than other solutions available.

“Society is demanding more accountability from business,” said Henry Armour, NACS President and CEO. “Age verification for the purchase of alcohol, tobacco, vape and in the future, cannabis, is more important than ever. It’s something that our customers and communities care deeply about, and we can do it better than ever.”

TruAge combines the 50-year history of age-verification advances developed and supported by NACS, with cutting-edge technology developed by Conexxus, its standards-setting partner. The NACS-Conexxus partnership ensures nationwide availability so retailers can sell legal products to verified customers, responsibly.

Former NACS Chairman Kevin Smartt, CEO of TXB Stores Inc., agrees that TruAge is an important step on our industry’s path to sell age-restricted products responsibly. “As I look at this initiative, I think about my own family and when my daughters go into a store. They have to hand over their driver’s license to somebody they don’t know, who can then see their personal information. TruAge stops that.”

TruAge was launched in limited tests late in 2021, followed by a robust round of pilot tests at c-store locations in California, Texas and Virginia. TruAge will officially launch in mid-2023 and is free to retailers, consumers and point-of-sale (POS) providers.

Visit www.mytruage.org.

The growth of digital in our industry is a catalyst for the future of winning trips and building bigger baskets. It’s also how many believe our industry will compete for the convenience-minded customer in an increasingly digital world.

Today, the path to purchase is increasingly digital, and convenience is evolving to an outcome or a state of mind—not just a physical location. All this makes it super important that your customers can find you, and how they find you.

Convenience stores need a strong presence in the digital world—including via social media channels—and must respond to the conversations consumers are having about their brands. Online ordering, voice searches and last-mile delivery are all changing how people search and shop.

NACS developed a new solution called THRIVR™, powered by marketing platform SOCi, that can help convenience retailers build and manage a localized marketing strategy that maximizes their stores’ online presence and meets customers when and wherever they are searching.

“Online is how customers define convenience,” Stillman said. “They use their smart phones and digital devices to discover what’s out there. What they want. And who has it. THRIVR gives you more control of your brand—and it tells everyone who you are and what you have, when and wherever people are searching.”

THRIVR is available to all convenience stores, regardless of size. “It gives you more control of your brand. With accurate data, compelling content and an ability to keep a pulse on customer feedback and reviews, you can thrive in the digital retail landscape,” Stillman said.

“If you have only one or two stores, you tell yourself you don’t have the resources to do this. If you have hundreds of stores, you know coordinating all of this is an immense challenge. But without it, you are missing the opportunity to grow trips, to grow baskets, to thrive,” Stillman said, adding:

“NACS can help you thrive. That’s why we’ve launched THRIVR.”

NACS offers free demos to any retailer who wants to closer look at how THRIVR operates. Contact Jen Johnson, NACS director of business development, localized marketing solutions, at (703) 518-4254 or jjohnson@convenience.org to set up a demo for you and your team.