If September had a motto, it would be "plays well with others." Walmart is stacking Dunkin' delivery and CITGO fuel discounts onto systems it already built, Target is pairing AI with shopper wish lists, and HOP Shops combined Mashgin checkout and Glory cash automation. We've also got new research on the ROI of modern checkout systems, a cheat sheet for the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) Show, and a bilingual reality check from Vicente on what makes a retailer hot. Let's get into it.

America Runs on Architecture

Walmart shoppers can now add Dunkin' to their delivery orders through the Walmart website or app, thanks to a collaboration with Inspire Brands. The service debuts through the 150 Dunkin' locations inside Walmart stores, with plans to expand to most of Dunkin's 10,000 locations outside Walmart nationwide. Eligible customers will automatically see Dunkin' under the "restaurants" tab based on their delivery address. It follows Walmart's June launch of express delivery from in-store Subway restaurants, as the retailer works to become a real contender in restaurant delivery.

Our View: The real advantage here isn't Dunkin'. Walmart built restaurant delivery once with Subway in June, and a second partner should take far less effort than the first. Expanding from 150 in-store locations toward most of Dunkin's 10,000 suggests a system designed to be repeated rather than rebuilt. The winners in this convenience race won't be the retailers with the best single idea. They'll be the ones whose commerce systems are flexible enough to test the next idea quickly and cheaply. When you look at your own systems, don't ask "can it do this one thing." Ask "how fast could we do the next thing after this." If the answer is fast, you've built it right.

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Working Hard or Hardly Working?

A new Coresight Research study sponsored by Aptos, a retail software vendor, surveyed 150 global retail decision-makers and found that 85% of retailers that recently modernized their Point of Sale (POS) systems said the investment met or exceeded ROI expectations. Modernizers reported an average 1.2-percentage-point lift in in-store conversion and a 4.3% increase in average transaction value. Plenty of retailers are still holding out, with 30% running systems at least five years old and 22% on hybrid or fully on-premises setups. Integration complexity topped the list of implementation hurdles at 45%, while justifying ROI to leadership ranked last at 19%.

Expert POV from Michael Leister: What stood out to me is how easy it can be to keep older POS technology around simply because it still works. But I think there's a big difference between something that still works and something that is still helping move the business forward. A POS refresh is a great opportunity to look beyond just replacing what you have and think about what you'll need to support new payments, better integrations, improved store operations, and whatever comes next.

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Your NACS Show Cheat Sheet

The NACS Show floor is massive, with a thousand exhibitors all promising to solve your store's problems, so we built you a game plan. Our guide highlights the booths worth your time at NACS 2026. Because Kitestring works across the vendor landscape and runs POS transformations every year for multiple retailers, the picks are based on what's actually working in stores.

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Target Does Its Homework

Back in October, we covered Target's disciplined tech rebuild and last month we explored their new digital twin. Now we’re seeing that groundwork pay off in the real world. Target told Retail Dive that customers who build back-to-school wish lists drive about 45% higher demand in the category, so it's using AI to recommend products as those lists take shape. A seasonal "next best action widget" uses AI to read each shopper's browsing signals and nudge them toward a helpful step, like starting a wish list. Senior Vice President of Technology Brad Thompson said the season also gives his team room to A/B test new ideas, with a longer-term goal of hyper-personalized page layouts across their site.

Our Take: Love this direction. These steps toward true loyalty and relationships with customers are amazing foundational moves that should allow Target to read and pivot based on direct customer preferences. We've talked about agile development practices and modern architectures for years, and how they bring speed and velocity into development. There can be good and bad in that, but the feedback loop is shorter. That's the key. Seeing a trend? A gap? An opportunity? You have data you can react to immediately, and tools to make an immediate impact. If you're not sure your processes and systems can turn that fast, it's time to take a hard look at what you're working with.

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Pump Up the Perks

Walmart+ is adding CITGO to its Gas Savings benefit, expanding from 13,000 to more than 17,000 participating stations nationwide where members save 10 cents per gallon. Additionally, members who join the Club CITGO loyalty program can collect additional CITGO rewards on top of their Walmart+ discount. Setup takes linking a Club CITGO account in the Walmart app, then entering the associated phone number at the pump, or on the pin pad inside when paying cash. According to Walmart, members who used the benefit at least weekly saved over $100 on gas on average last year.

Expert Take from Tim Webb: Great news for me. I love the fuel discount I get at Walmart fuel stations with my Walmart+ membership, and now I can get the same discount at CITGO stations when I'm traveling and not close to a Walmart station. Can your POS and loyalty architectures support a multi-brand loyalty program? If not, customers like me are going somewhere else.

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Tray Chic

HOP Shops, the family-owned convenience chain operated by Valor Oil, is rolling out Mashgin AI-assisted checkout integrated with Glory cash automation. Customers set their items on a tray, where Mashgin's computer vision recognizes multiple products at once without barcode scanning, and Glory's technology handles cash acceptance and dispensing for shoppers who pay with cash. HOP Shops says the combination speeds transactions while improving accuracy, security, and cash management for store teams. According to Vice President of Retail Operations and Marketing Damon Bail, the goal isn't to replace the personal side of convenience retail but to free team members to focus on customers beyond the register.

Kitestring’s POV: This is a smart example of technology solving a real operational problem. Plenty of self-checkout setups leave cash payers in the slow lane, and HOP Shops is closing that gap while keeping people at the center of the experience. Rolling out this kind of tech relies on fundamentals like clean item data, reliable integration between the checkout, payment and cash devices, and store teams trained to support the new flow. Now the real test begins, and we can't wait to see how their customers respond.

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Too Hot to Handle | Al Rojo Vivo

🇺🇸 The National Retail Federation (NRF) "Hot 25 Retailers 2026" ranking lists Miniso, Dick's Sporting Goods and Daiso Sangyo as the top three. This list focuses on sales growth within the United States. Across the list, these retailers show a powerful balance between their offerings and the marketing behind them.

Vicente Yañez’s Hot Take: Customers are not buying because of the cool tech behind the scenes, and they don't care which channel they are buying from. The customer cares about price, value and experience. So a tech modernization strategy that does not come paired with an enhanced customer experience will fall behind in the overall market.

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🇲🇽 El ranking "Hot 25 Retailers 2026" de la National Retail Federation (NRF) ubica a Miniso, Dick's Sporting Goods y Daiso Sangyo en los tres primeros lugares. Esta lista se enfoca en el crecimiento de ventas en los Estados Unidos. A lo largo de la lista, estas marcas muestran un poderoso balance entre el surtido de su oferta y la mercadotecnia detrás.

La opinión de Vicente: Los clientes no están comprando por las tecnologías cool que hay detrás de bambalinas. A ellos no les importa qué canal están usando para comprar. El cliente se preocupa por el precio, el valor del producto y la experiencia de compra. Así que una estrategia de modernización de tecnología que no venga de la mano de una mejora en la experiencia del cliente se quedará rezagada en el mercado actual.

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Thanks for Reading!

September's lesson? The retailers pulling ahead are the ones whose systems play well with others. Walmart keeps adding partners without starting from scratch, Target keeps tightening its feedback loop, and HOP Shops made room for every kind of customer at checkout. As Vicente reminded us, none of it matters unless shoppers can feel the difference. We'll be back in October with more, and if you're headed to the NACS Show, come say hi at booth C5975.

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