Last Updated on October 1, 2026 by Craig Allen Keefner
RetailSystems.org, a sister publication of KioskIndustry.org and part of The Industry Group (TIG), focuses on the broader automated-retail ecosystem surrounding kiosks: retail technology, vending, unattended commerce, payments, grocery technology, AI and store automation.
Several recent RetailSystems reports are particularly relevant to the kiosk and self-service community. Rather than duplicate the complete articles here, we’ve pulled together the highlights and links to the original research and reporting.
TIG Top 100 Retailers — Adding Technology to the Ranking
Most Top 100 retailer lists answer a fairly simple question: who sells the most? RetailSystems and The Industry Group took the 2026 NRF/Kantar Top 100 and added another dimension — how effectively major retailers are actually using technology for employees and customers.
The TIG Retail Technology 100 looks at workforce and customer-facing technology, including POS, self-checkout, kiosks, digital signage, electronic shelf labels, mobile applications, fulfillment, AI and automation. An important addition is reliability. Installing another endpoint doesn’t accomplish much if the kiosk is unavailable, the digital sign is dead or the self-checkout constantly requires intervention. Remote management, observability and support increasingly belong in the retail-technology equation.
Read the full report:
https://retailsystems.org/top-100-retailers/
Top 100 North American Grocers — Technology Becomes a Differentiator
RetailSystems applied a similar approach specifically to grocery. The TIG Top 100 North American Grocers covers the United States, Canada and Mexico and separates grocery operations from the much larger corporate organizations that may own them. That matters when comparing companies such as Walmart, Amazon, Costco and Loblaw.
The technology component is particularly interesting for our industry. RetailSystems looks beyond revenue to workforce and customer technology, including self-checkout, Scan & Go, computer vision, electronic shelf labels, digital signage, retail media, robotics, fulfillment and AI. Grocery stores are rapidly becoming distributed technology environments containing dozens of different endpoint types, making deployment only the first half of the job. Keeping all of it operational may become an equally important measure of technology maturity.
Read the TIG Top 100 Grocers:
https://retailsystems.org/top-100-grocers-north-america-tig-index/
Grocery Technology in 2026 — Where the Money Is Going
A Progressive Grocer technology study provided RetailSystems with a useful snapshot of where grocery operators are putting their technology dollars. The headline is not autonomous stores or armies of robots. Investment is concentrating on e-commerce, loyalty, analytics, electronic shelf labels, employee technology, AI and practical self-service applications.
There are some very relevant numbers for the kiosk industry. Self-checkout remains mainstream, while self-service food and beverage and touchscreen ordering continue to have meaningful adoption plans. RetailSystems also points out what conventional grocery-technology studies tend to overlook: accessibility, EV charging, outdoor technology, curbside systems, parking, infrastructure and regulatory requirements. The future grocery store extends well beyond the four walls of the building.
Read the RetailSystems analysis:
https://retailsystems.org/grocery-technology-trends-2026/
Cash, Card or Bank — Give the Customer a Choice
Payment costs remain one of the less visible components of self-service. RetailSystems recently examined the argument for making the true cost of card acceptance more apparent to consumers and providing lower-cost alternatives rather than simply accepting steadily increasing card-processing costs.
For kiosks and unattended systems, the interesting takeaway isn’t necessarily a return to cash. It is presenting payment choices clearly at the transaction point. Credit, debit, cash and emerging bank-to-bank payment options can potentially coexist. The kiosk is actually an excellent place to explain those choices and their costs—as long as the interface remains simple, accessible and doesn’t introduce another layer of friction.
Read Cash Discount – Consumers Want More Payment Options:
https://retailsystems.org/cash-discount-with-credit-cost/
California Pizza Kitchen Plans Up to 1,000 Automated Retail Locations
California Pizza Kitchen has partnered with T-ROC Global to install and operate as many as 1,000 automated retail machines during the next three years. The target locations extend well beyond restaurants: airports, universities, hospitals, hotels, offices, residential properties, EV charging locations and sports venues are among the environments being considered.
The operational model may be as interesting as the machines. T-ROC brings 32 warehouses, a van fleet and thousands of technicians to deployment, replenishment and maintenance. Initial deployments are expected to concentrate groups of at least 20 machines across 30 major U.S. markets. That illustrates an important lesson in automated retail: the kiosk is only one component. Logistics, replenishment, maintenance and field service ultimately determine whether a large distributed deployment works.
Read the full CPK/T-ROC story:
https://retailsystems.org/california-pizza-kitchen-taps-t-roc-global-for-automated-retail-kiosk-expansion/
25 New Vending RFPs — An Opportunity Feed for Operators
RetailSystems also maintains a useful resource that is less about technology trends and more about actual business opportunities. The site’s vending RFP database tracks government and institutional requests for vending and related unattended services. A September update added 25 RFPs published since August 31.
The opportunities demonstrate how broad “vending” has become. Recent solicitations have included traditional snack and beverage service, school meal vending, cafeteria services and specialized applications. Some explicitly call for ADA-accessible equipment and cashless payments. RetailSystems updates the RFP resource at least monthly, making it worth bookmarking for vending operators and unattended-retail providers looking for new business.
Read the latest Vending RFP update:
https://retailsystems.org/vending-rfps-2/
When AI Runs the Vending Machine — And Cheats
One of the more unusual RetailSystems stories involves an AI experiment using a simulated vending business. Andon Labs put advanced AI models into a competitive vending environment where they had to operate businesses over time. The experiment produced some uncomfortable behavior: models pursuing the goal of maximizing results resorted to tactics including deceptive negotiations and breaking agreements.
The lesson isn’t really about vending machines. Vending provides a convenient simulation of an autonomous business with inventory, pricing, customers, suppliers and competitors. The larger issue is what happens as AI moves from answering questions to independently taking actions in retail systems. Giving an AI agent authority to adjust pricing, negotiate purchases, issue refunds or communicate with customers requires governance, constraints and human oversight—not simply a better language model.
Read the RetailSystems analysis:
https://retailsystems.org/ai-vending-machine/
RetailSystems and the Expanding Definition of Self-Service
KioskIndustry has traditionally concentrated on kiosks, digital signage, accessibility and self-service technology. RetailSystems looks farther outward at the environment those systems increasingly operate within: automated retail, vending, grocery, payments, AI, robotics and retail infrastructure.
The boundaries between those markets continue to disappear. A modern retail location can include POS, self-checkout, kiosks, digital signage, lockers, electronic shelf labels, vending, computer vision, mobile applications, EV charging and AI-driven systems—all connected to the same customer and operational workflows.
That is why we’ll continue highlighting selected RetailSystems research here on KioskIndustry while keeping the deeper retail-specific coverage at RetailSystems.org.
More automated retail news and research:
https://retailsystems.org/news-posts/
