Hello Reader,

January is here, and retail tech is already doing the most. This month we cover bots that want to shop for your customers, bills that could reshape payments, and point of sale (POS) installs that can quietly make or break store operations. Here’s a quick roundup of the topics worth tracking early in 2026, plus a few reminders about the unglamorous basics that still determine whether the shiny stuff actually works.

Universal Commerce Protocol: Making AI Checkout Real

Google introduced the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), an open-source standard designed to let AI shopping experiences move from “help me research” to “go buy it” using a shared set of commerce building blocks like discovery, checkout, discounts, and order management. It is designed to reduce the messy N by N world of custom integrations and make it easier for AI surfaces like Google Search AI Mode and the Gemini app to connect to retailer systems and payment providers in a consistent way.

Expert POV: This feels like one of those quiet moments that only looks obvious in hindsight. Google is laying the groundwork for a world where AI does not just help you decide what to buy, it acts on your behalf. It researches, negotiates, applies incentives, and completes the purchase while you stay in the loop. If UCP lands, the biggest shift is not faster checkout, it is that buying becomes something you delegate, not something you do.

Take a closer look →

AI Gets Practical in 2026

Paytronix’s 2026 Trends Predictions Report argues AI is moving from experiments to embedded operations, with a big emphasis on automation tools that are finally becoming accessible for smaller operators. The report highlights predictive ordering and staffing, personalized offer engines, dynamic pricing tied to demand and loyalty status, and automated analytics that surface performance gaps in real time. It also calls out a shift in “value” from pure price to experience, plus more wellness-focused personalization and more subscription models across restaurants and convenience retail.

Kitestring’s Perspective: After getting back from NRF 2026, AI was everywhere, obviously, but the most valuable conversations focused on where it delivers value today versus where it is still emerging. Predicting the exact AI path is hard, so preparing for it really means designing for flexibility. The first and most important step is not glamorous but is critical: clean your data, because every meaningful AI use case depends on it.

Dig Deeper →

Bad Installs, Big Bills

Netfor argues POS installs are now mission-critical because downtime can cost large retailers over $1M per hour, and many outages trace back to preventable install mistakes like bad Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) setup, open ports, or mismatched hardware. As POS expands into a full commerce hub and mobile payments like SoftPOS surge, the “install” increasingly includes Wi-Fi optimization, device management, and Payment Card Industry (PCI) security. Their takeaway is simple: standardize the rollout with staging and kitting, tight network configuration, and clear support SLAs, or you will pay for it later in chaos.

Expert Take: This article does a great job of reminding retailers that POS success doesn’t end when the hardware shows up at the store, it starts when field services get involved. As POS environments become more complex (networked devices, security requirements, mobile workflows), the role of the technician shifts from “installer” to “critical operations partner.” The article reinforces a point many retailers learn the hard way: inconsistent installs and poor service execution create downtime, frustrated store teams, and higher long-term costs. It’s a timely reminder that strong field service strategy is just as important as choosing the right POS hardware.

Read the full article →

Retailers vs Shopping Agents

Retailers are teaming up to keep AI shopping agents from turning brands into anonymous backends. A new Shopper Context Protocol Working Group, under the Retail AI Council, is advancing an open standard that carries loyalty, preferences, and intent into third-party AI experiences so the “brand memory” does not vanish the moment shopping starts in a chatbot.

Our View: Customer loyalty is a two-way promise: you shop with a brand, and the brand give you perks. Retailers have spent years building loyalty programs as a strategic asset, but AI shopping agents can obscure that relationship. This working group is a solid first step toward safely sharing customer context with AI platforms so personalization and rewards do not disappear. It’s not perfect or final, but it signals something important: the AI halo is fading, and retailers are getting serious about everyday AI.

Keep reading →

Swipe Fees, Meet Competition

The National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) is backing the Credit Card Competition Act as a response to rapidly rising credit card swipe fees, arguing merchants are stuck with network terms largely controlled by Visa and Mastercard, which they say handle about 83% of U.S. credit card volume. NACS points to Visa and Mastercard credit card fees growing from $26B in 2010 to more than $111B in 2024, and notes that for many convenience retailers these fees can exceed pre-tax profits.

Kitestring’s Opinion: Swipe fees are one of the few major retail costs in retail that merchants have zero control over. The bill is basically trying to add lanes to a closed highway by requiring big banks to enable routing over at least two unaffiliated networks, which is not a magic wand but is how competition usually forces efficiency. This is less about politics and more about choice, transparency, and modernizing a system that hasn’t meaningfully changed in decades.

Check it out →

Retail POS Hardware in 2025

2025 marked a clear shift in POS hardware decisions, driven less by device refresh cycles and more by changing store formats, labor models, and checkout experiences. Hardware priorities moved toward longer lifecycles, modular components, and Android-first platforms that can flex across fixed lanes, self-checkout, kiosks, and handheld workflows. The piece calls out NCR, Toshiba, Elo and Zebra, and Diebold Nixdorf as key shapers, with Fujitsu, HP, and MicroTouch as notable players in specific niches.

Our Take: The winning question is no longer “which terminal should we buy,” it is “how fast can this platform adapt when the store changes again.” Modularity and Android make modernization easier, but they also introduce new dependencies and more operational responsibility, so retailers need to treat POS like infrastructure, not furniture.

Get more insight →

Thanks for Reading!

The big takeaway heading into 2026 is simple: the headlines are new, but retail winners still sweat the fundamentals. AI agents and new commerce standards can change how customers shop, but only if your data is clean, your checkout stack is stable, and your store rollouts are consistent.

Enjoyed this issue? Forward it to a colleague and share the insights!