IMPACT INSIGHTS
We’ve walked in your shoes, served in your roles, and been a part of the industry for over 21 years.
Join us as we share company and industry news, trends, and insights.
DID YOU KNOW?
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.
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...
Insights from NRF – More Solution Options for C-Stores
A recent visit to the annual National Retail Federation (NRF) conference yielded some positive insights for convenience stores. As a solution-neutral consultancy, we are always on the lookout for ways to drive improvements for our c-store clients. EXPO visits and...
NACS, Impact 21 Launch Online Advanced Category Management Course
The courses are designed for convenience store professionals; They offer education and certification and will be delivered in partnership with NACS and Learning Evolution. NACS and Impact 21 have launched a new series of advanced category management training tailored...
Category Management Technology Doesn’t Work Without…
Since being introduced to the convenience channel nearly two decades ago, the category management approach has certainly evolved, especially in the areas of data—both its availability and the capability to analyze it—and consumer/shopper behavior research. While we...
The Least Surprising Announcement in Payments, with Some Surprising Possibilities
The announcement by MCX (Merchant Customer Exchange) regarding the suspension of its CurrentC® mobile payments platform was met with little fanfare last week, as most in the payments space have been expecting this announcement even sooner than it came. The handwriting...
Impact 21’s Rob Gallo Quoted in CSP Magazine article: Mexican Retailers: Ready to Rumble
Mexican powerhouses set to unleash mayhem, but can they pin down the Lone Star State? By Angel Abcede, Senior Editor/Content Development Coordinator, CSP; Full Article courtesy of Convenience Store News. If neither the brute force of Britain’s Fresh & Easy nor the...
Impact 21 Names Lucia Romanello Crater as Executive Vice President, Sales & Business Development to Lead the Company’s Expansion Plans
Lucia Romanello Crater fills a new role at Impact 21, the leading retail consulting company for the petroleum/convenience, travel center and retail channels. Lexington, KY, April 26, 2016 – Impact 21, a retail consulting, analytics and services company, announced the...
GAP Analysis – What do you see?
At first, a spark plug...a common car part looks rather simple on the surface. Let’s face it, how many of us actually know where to find it under the hood of our cars, let alone the complex function that it provides? When we begin to look at our current systems and...
Impact 21’s Rob Gallo Provides Insights for Convenience Store Decisions’ Article
How to Conduct Business Planning Through Co-Branding by Marilyn Odesser-Torpey The article addresses the challenges of starting a proprietary program and suggests a more cost-effective way to enter the foodservice arena. "Adding a foodservice concept may be a proven...
Skimming Security: How to Protect Yourself and Your Customers
Gas stations and convenience stores continue to be victimized by skimming devices, which continue to pop up all over the nation. All too often, a lack of solid policies and procedures allow the breaches to occur. Understanding the risks can help you deter breaches....
NACS 2015
Headed to NACS? Be sure to attend these innovative sessions lead or moderated by our Impact 21 team. Double Down on Your Customer Engagement Strategy Lesley Saitta | Sunday, October 11, 4:10 pm - 5:00 pm Learn how Wawa and other companies are using customer...
Impact 21, a Global Consulting and Analytics Company, Moves Business Forward and Announces New Name, Logo, and Website
The changes better reflect the company's core offerings to petroleum, convenience, retailing, refining, and foodservice industries. Lexington, KY, September 25, 2015 – Impact 21, a consulting, analytics and services company since 1998, has officially changed its name...
![[Webinar Link] C-Store Analytics: Improving the Customer Experience](https://impact21.com/wp-content/uploads/Retail_Next_Sept_Webinar_2-400x250.png)
[Webinar Link] C-Store Analytics: Improving the Customer Experience
As the fastest growing sector of retail, Convenience stores (C-stores) are adapting to a high level of competition by focusing on the shopper experience and leveraging in-store analytics to drive decision-making. In the September 8th webinar, “C-Store...
CMA Webinar- Go To Market Strategy: Maximizing Your Potential
Thursday, September 17th, 1:00 PM Central Time Impact 21's Lisa Stewart, President, and Casey McKenzie, Senior Principal Consultant, will conduct this Category Management Association (CMA) webinar on Go To Market Strategy. They will address: Why a GTM strategy is even...
Impact 21 quoted in NACS Magazine- TEST MARKET by John Morell
Impact 21's Rob Gallo is quoted in NACS Magazine article: Test Market. This article explores the art of c-store merchandising and advantages of tech opportunities to attract customer attention and to gain additional sources of revenue. The following excerpt addresses...