Want to get up to speed quickly on what happened in fuel and convenience retail during 2025 and what we’re anticipating in 2026? Check out the free December Connections Live Quarterly webinar!
Five of our top industry experts joined in to share their insights and answer questions in our final webinar of 2025. Read on for a quick summary of each segment.
GasBuddy end-of-year recap and fuel outlook for 2026
Patrick De Haan , VP and Head of Petroleum Analysis at GasBuddy, kicked off the webinar with an end-of-year summary of GasBuddy data and previewed his 2026 fuel forecast.
Patrick noted that prices continue to fall for both gasoline and Diesel, with some states such as Oklahoma seeing average prices below $3 per gallon. In addition, global oil supply and prices are holding steady with low seasonal demand expected for the upcoming winter months. One particular item to watch for is potential supply disruption due to ongoing geopolitical challenges.
You can see more of Patrick’s analysis here or follow him (@gasbuddyguy) on X.
Latest updates for AI in convenience
Next up, Jeff Hassman, VP of Brands and Consumer Strategy, shared the results from a recent PDI survey of convenience industry professionals about their expectations for Artificial Intelligence (AI). He identified popular areas for AI deployment, such as marketing, security, IT, and analytics.
He also highlighted key use cases such as leveraging AI to manage, analyze, and extract insights from massive data stores. One highlight was the way retailers are already using agentic AI to improve workflow automation—thereby increasing their efficiency, productivity, and cost savings.
While describing new tools such as MyPDI that provide a platform to build, test, and deploy AI workflows, Jeff stressed the importance of balancing human expertise with AI speed and scale to calculate the potential ROI from AI-related projects.
Connect with Jeff.
Fuel market trends for LATAM
Focusing on Latin America, Luis de Montes, VP of Sales, shared the latest regional fuel and market trends spanning 20 countries and approximately 60,000 fuel stations. He cited top trends such as more retailers embracing machine learning models to support dynamic fuel pricing and even micro-pricing for individual sites—particularly in Argentina.
Luis also identified best practices for intelligent fuel pricing strategies, including knowing what questions to ask yourself and how to pinpoint your unique value differentiator in the marketplace. Lastly, he explained how advances in AI and machine learning models are already helping retailers reach the optimal price point every time.
Connect with Luis.
Consumer experience trends in APAC
Shifting to the Asia-Pacific region, Sin Hin Wong, GM and VP of Sales, noted that customer experience has increasingly become a core competitive differentiator in convenience. Retailers are focusing on enhancing their store experience with smarter technologies, customer-centric loyalty, and increased personalization.
He shared some of the hottest trends from various countries, such as:
- Australia: Self-checkout and low-interaction customer preferences.
- Singapore: The Electric Vehicle (EV) transition and expansion into non-fuel store revenue.
- Thailand: Deep localization with food innovation and seamless loyalty integration.
- Japan: Environmentally conscious customer experiences featuring sustainability.
Connect with Sin Hin.
Cybersecurity challenges for today’s c-stores
Closing out the webinar, Chris Berry, SVP of Security Solutions, covered why c-stores are facing more cybersecurity challenges than ever before. In particular, four key trends have created the need for security modernization across the convenience retail channel:
- An expanding attack surface due to the rapid increase in Internet-connected devices.
- Tighter compliance based on PCI DSS requirements and other regulations.
- Mission-critical networks that must support massive amounts of customer data and payment transactions.
- The widening skills gap from a lack of IT security expertise in managing increasingly sophisticated threats.
Chris shared recent examples of cyberattacks on convenience retailers, highlighting the true cost of business downtime. She also provided security best practices such as network segmentation, proactive 24/7 monitoring and response, and the value of working with a reputable managed security services partner with specialized industry knowledge.
Connect with Chris.
Pre-register for Connections Live 2026
If you want to see more of the PDI team, be sure to pre-register for Connections Live 2026 in Grapevine, Texas.