The retail refueling and convenience store industry recently gathered at NACS-Tech‘98 to
explore new strategies to prepare for the turn of the century. As part of that exchange, retailers
and their technology partners joined Texas Instruments for a discussion on radio frequency
identification (RFID) payment systems and their impact on the future of retailing.
Moderated by Tom Agan of Kurt Salmon Associates, the roundtable was comprised of leading
industry journalists including Pete Hisey of Credit Card News, John Callanan from the Journal of
Petroleum Marketing, Jay Gordon of Convenience Store Decisions, and Kally Fraser representing
Petroleum Equipment & Technology. Responding to their questions were Rick Ellison of Mobil
Corporation, Robert Randelman from Verifone, and Joe Pearson of Texas Instruments.
The results raised some interesting questions, presented some new challenges and
helped illuminate how RFID technology will contribute to the changing role of retailing.