IMPACT INSIGHTS
We’ve walked in your shoes, served in your roles, and been a part of the industry for over 21 years.
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While we’re proud to be a US company, Impact 21 has served retailers across the US and around the globe, even as far as Kuwait.
Remote Work Strategy – Part 2: Environment & Approach
Now that we’ve addressed the need for a strategy and workplan in positioning your company to keep systems and operations up and running, let’s look at the approach and tools that will enable success in Part 2 of this three-part series. If you do not already have...
NACS Daily – Retailers Plan for Tomorrow
Modeling tools can help c-stores gauge their business now and in a post-coronavirus future. ~Courtesy of NACS Daily MagazineImpact 21's Liza Salaria shares her insights with NACS Daily Magazine. Convenience retailers across the country are all hands-on deck in support...
Business During COVID-19
To our Clients, Partners and Industry Colleagues: First and foremost, we want to offer our sincere gratitude and thanks to all the healthcare, retail and other essential frontline people, who are working tirelessly to support all our communities. We are humbled by...
Remote Work Strategy – Part 1: Leadership & Governance
Remote work environments have become more and more a part of our fabric. As a growing trend over the past few years, companies and individuals have become more adaptable to remote meetings or inclusion of team members from other geographic locations. However, a true...
NACS Daily – Advice for Hiring Furloughed Workers
Convenience retailers can tap into a wider talent pool by partnering with other sectors on short-term hires ~Courtesy of NACS Daily MagazineImpact 21's Rob Gallo shares his insights with NACS Daily Magazine. For convenience retailers looking to hire additional...
In Loving Memory of Patti Safford
It is with deep sorrow that we announce the loss of our beloved friend and colleague Patti Safford. Patti passed away unexpectedly on Monday afternoon, January 13, 2020. It is such a difficult loss, not only because Patti was such a highly valued team member and titan...
The Simple Reasons Customers Avoid Loyalty Programs
By Matthew Stern Source: Forbes Despite all the offers and perks, a significant number of customers turn their noses up at loyalty programs. A full 38 percent of consumers are not interested in joining due to their lack of perceived value, according to a study...
Impact 21 Adds Scott Burchfield and Mirek Kula as Principal Consultants
Burchfield and Kula bring deep expertise in Store Operations, Store Systems, Strategic Planning, Organizational Leadership, Project Management, Payments, and Loyalty. Impact 21, a retail consulting, analytics and services company, announced the appointment of Scott...
What We’ve Learned in 21 Years – Part 3
After learning more about Impact 21’s greatest success stories and most challenging projects over the last 21 years, let’s talk about some industry-wide topics. Q: What was a common concern for c-stores twenty years ago? What is a big issue today, and what concerns...
NACS Show Reinforces Focus on the Future of POS
Technology continues to shift power to the consumer. The National Association of Convenience Stores held its annual conference in Atlanta this year. The NACS Show gives the industry a chance to showcase the latest and greatest in thought leadership, products,...
Mobilizing Your Customer Loyalty Strategy
Source: CSNews With today's consumers spending more time engaged with their mobile devices than ever before, mobile marketing and customer loyalty are increasingly taking center stage in convenience store retailers’ quest to connect with shoppers. During the "Taking...
Common Misconceptions in Convenience Store Loyalty
Does Your C-Store Loyalty Program Need an Energy Drink? Customer engagement and loyalty programs are terms that are often used synonymously. While they are closely related concepts, they are not necessarily interchangeable terms. Loyalty programs can be an important...
Impact 21 is Heading to NACS Show 2019
This year marks the 21st time that Impact 21 will join other convenience store professionals at the NACS Show. The NACS Show is being held at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. Bill Hanifin from Impact 21 will moderate an educational session on mobile...
Workforce Management: Be an Enabler
Mobile-enabled, app-based solutions can engage today’s more tech-advanced employment pool. Source: CStore Decisions Retailers across all channels are continually looking for better ways to attract, onboard, train and engage new talent in a way that improves our...
Preparing for the POS Systems of the Future
A wave of consumer-driven innovation is leading retailers to refresh POS and technology infrastructure. To Enable Innovation While point-of-sale (POS) systems are primarily used to accept payments and record sales in a secure manner, many now provide additional...
What We’ve Learned in 21 Years – Part 2
Now that we have some background information about the company and its beginnings, let’s talk about some of your work. Q: What is one of the greatest success stories or most challenging projects you’ve worked on in the last 21 years? Lesley: Over the years, we have...
How Centralizing Retail Fuel Pricing Can Impact Company Profits
Fuel retailers generally utilize one of two fuel pricing methods to determine new fuel prices and execute price changes: decentralized or centralized pricing.Based on information provided by fuel retailers who have shifted from a decentralized to a centralized pricing...
Impact 21 Celebrates its 21st Year in Business Serving Convenience, Fuel and Specialty Retailers Across the Globe
Impact 21 reached a significant milestone in 2019, celebrating its 21st year in business. The company was founded in 1998 by industry experts and former retailers, Lesley Saitta and Lisa Biggs Stewart. Impact 21, a global retail consulting, analytics, and services...
What We’ve Learned in 21 Years – Part 1
After serving the convenience and fuel retail industries for 21 years, Impact 21 founders Lesley Saitta and Lisa Biggs Stewart have gained valuable insight into how businesses can achieve greater success. Over the years, they have helped hundreds of clients grow and...
How Centralizing Retail Fuel Pricing Can Impact Company Profits
If you, or someone from your company, is attending the 2019 Spring SIGMA conference next week, don't miss the Wednesday morning educational session: How Centralizing Retail Fuel Pricing Can Impact Company Profits. Impact 21's CIO, Gabe Olives, will be one of four...
Bill Hanifin to Present at Upcoming Customer Engagement Forum
Join Impact 21 Practice Leader of Customer Engagement and Loyalty, Bill Hanifin, at the CSP 2019 Customer Engagement Forum. The event will take place at Sheraton Suites Chicago O’Hare, Rosemont, IL on March 26-28, 2019.Catch Bill on Wednesday, March 27th at 3:00pm as...
Implementing Seamless Checkout and Increasing Fulfillment Speed for Footwear & Accessories Retailer
Client: A Premium, Multi-Channel Footwear and Accessories Retailer with Over 150 US and International Stores Client ChallengesIT • Security • Operations • Customer ExperienceThe retailer was migrating its stores in the US and Canada from an integrated POS to a...
Congratulations, Calin Stewart!
We are extremely pleased to announce our very own Cal Stewart has successfully completed Officer Candidate School among the November 2018 graduating class at Quantico, VA. Cal grew up playing as a child at Impact 21 and later joined the staff as he got older. He...
Lesley Saitta to Speak at CSN Conference
Lesley Saitta will present the role diversity plays in shaping future leaders in the retail and convenience industry. Impact 21, a retail consulting, analytics and services company, announced its CEO, Lesley Saitta, will be presenting at the inaugural Convenience...
Impact 21’s Bill Hanifin and Casey McKenzie Speak at NACS Show 2018
Impact 21, a retail consulting, analytics and services company, announced its participation at NACS Show 2018 in Las Vegas. NACS (National Association of Convenience Stores) serves the convenience and fuel retailing industry by providing industry knowledge,...
Casey’s General Stores Selects PriceAdvantage Fuel Price Software
PriceAdvantage will enable Casey’s to implement a centralized pricing strategy that utilizes data-driven pricing rules and price optimization capabilities.Source: PriceAdvantage.comPriceAdvantage, a fuel price management and price execution software company and...
Lesley Saitta sees the future
The Wise Marketer sat down with Lesley Saitta, founder & CEO of Impact 21 to talk about the state and future of C-Store loyalty. Source: The Wise Marketer TWM – To get our readers grounded, tell us a little bit about Impact 21 and how you became so involved...
Transform Your Loyalty Program by Using Analytics – Part 2
How can c-stores and retailers know if the data they are using truly affects the bottom line? Creating and maintaining a measurement plan for a loyalty program is an important part of pre-launch planning activities. Read more about the future of loyalty...
Impact 21 Promotes Gabe Olives to Vice President of Emerging Technologies
Olives has recently been promoted at Impact 21 from his previous role. He brings deep expertise and skills in project management, IT organization, retail automation, process management, fuel management, convenience retail leadership, technical standards and...
How to Achieve Success in the Next Generation of Customer Loyalty – Part 1
Loyalty programs have existed from the beginning of modern retail. Yet, there are new and different ways companies are changing loyalty and customer engagement programs. Read more about the next generation of loyalty programs in part 1 of this two-part series....
Impact 21 Welcomes Liza Salaria and Michael Taylor as New Senior Principal Consultants
Salaria and Taylor fill new roles in Impact 21 and bring deep expertise in Fresh Food Program Development and Food Service Strategy.Impact 21, a retail consulting, analytics and services company, announced the appointment of Liza Salaria and Michael Taylor as its...
NACS: 5 Questions with Lesley Saitta
NACS featured an interview with Impact 21's CEO, Lesley Saitta, in their Convenience Corner monthly web series designed for convenience store operators or those considering opening a store. Impact 21 has been providing c-store retailers with cost effective,...
Lisa Stewart to be Inducted in Conexxus 2018 Hall of Fame
Impact 21’s President Lisa Stewart to be Inducted to the Conexxus Hall of Fame Stewart will be honored during the Conexxus Annual Conference later this month, Stewart will be honored for many years of commitment to industry standards and process improvements....
Are Cashierless Convenience Stores the Future?
Rob Gallo weighs in on whether the new Amazon Go cashierless convenience stores will set a new, successful trend. Source: Convenience Store News NATIONAL REPORT — Amazon made headlines recently with the opening of its Amazon Go store, featuring a grab-and-go...
Lesley Saitta on Women in Convenience *Video*
Convenience Store News shares their 2017 Top Women In Convenience Spotlight On Women of the Year Video. Listen for great insights from Impact 21's Lesley Saitta.
Inspiring Women Take the Stage at CSNews’ TWIC Awards Ceremony
Source: Convenience Store News The convenience store industry’s top female leaders and rising stars were honored Wednesday evening at Convenience Store News’ 2017 Top Women in Convenience (TWIC) awards reception, following the NACS Show, at the Hyatt...
Impact 21 Adds Hanifin Loyalty to Create Best-in-Class Customer Engagement and Loyalty Practice
LEXINGTON, KY (PRWEB) OCTOBER 16, 2017 Impact 21, a global retail consulting, analytics, and services company, announced its merger with Hanifin Loyalty a global customer growth agency specializing in customer engagement, loyalty and payments across multiple...
CS News Article: Meet TWIC Woman of the Year: Lesley Saitta
We are proud to present CS News' article featuring Lesley Saitta. “Lesley has spent over twenty years leading retailers and solution providers through strategic planning to align loyalty programs and brand marketing. Her leadership has transformed our industry...
Rethinking the Value of the Store
The list of retailers that are either closing stores or shuttering completely is long and getting longer by the day—Limited Stores, JC Penney, Macy’s, Radio Shack, Sears, Staples. Even after accounting for these plans there remains a “store...
Hungry for Improvement in Your Foodservice Business? Part 2 of 2
Jerald Barrett takes us deeper into understanding foodservice assessments and how they can help improve your foodservice performance. What roles are most interested in foodservice assessments? Foodservice assessments include components that touch every area of...
Hungry for Improvement in Your Foodservice Business? Part 1 of 2
Learn how C-Store foodservice is adapting to our changing culture. Jerald Barrett, Principal Consultant with Impact 21, shares his insights on the evolving foodservice role within the convenience store channel. In what ways is the foodservice landscape is changing...
Restaurant Show Reveals Sweet Opportunities for C-Stores
As always, the annual National Restaurant Association (NRA) Show serves as a great forum to see the latest and greatest. This year did not disappoint. There were numerous new products that I saw that could easily be utilized within the convenience store channel. These...
Foodservice & Financial Services – How Customers Engage Part 2 of 2
We continue Impact 21's Steve Patterson look at how customers are engaging in Foodservice and Financial Services. Steve serves as a Principal Consultant with expertise in Payment Methods, Point of Sale Implementation, Technology Infrastructure, Enterprise Integration,...
Impact 21 CEO, Lesley Saitta – Top 5 Women in Convenience Honoree
We are so pleased to announce that our CEO, Lesley Saitta, has been voted one of the Top Women in Convenience. Lesley has led and championed many efforts driving this industry forward and is so deserving of this award. We could not be more proud of her! Lesley has...
Foodservice & Financial Services – How Customers Engage Part 1 of 2
Impact 21's Steve Patterson reveals how customers are now engaging in Foodservice and Financial Services. Steve serves as a Principal Consultant with expertise in Payment Methods, Point of Sale Implementation, Technology Infrastructure, Enterprise Integration,...
All Signs Point (Again) to Foodservice
Rob Gallo authors article for Kentucky Grocers and Convenience Store Association Magazine Check Us Out! Spring 2017 Edition. Source: Kentucky Grocers and Convenience Store Association Big name-brand retail stores are closing. Names like The Limited and Sports...
Dos and Don’ts of the EMV Delay (Part 2 of 2)
Petroleum retailers can protect their budgets by understanding requirements and planning ahead. As you may know, card Issuers have given a brief reprieve to petroleum retailers to upgrade their forecourts. This is good news, if you take advantage of it. Avoid these...
Dos and Don’ts of the EMV Delay (Part 1 of 2)
Petroleum retailers can benefit from the EMV delay as long as they understand the associated risks. Card Issuers have given petroleum retailers a brief reprieve in upgrading their forecourts. This is good news, if you take advantage of it. You can make the most of the...
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