News Briefs

Gift cards have been a trusted way to drive customer loyalty, but they often fall short of their full potential. PAR Technology is changing that with the launch of its gift card solution, PAR Gift™, an offering designed to help restaurants and retailers transform gifting into a seamless, personalized experience while unlocking new opportunities for growth.

With this launch, PAR enables businesses to go beyond the basics, creating stronger customer connections and driving measurable results using a fresh approach to gifting by combining ease of use, advanced features, and the flexibility modern businesses need by offering:

• Personalized Engagement: Delivering gift cards is simple and impactful, whether it’s through SMS, email, social media, or physical cards. PAR’s platform makes every interaction feel tailored to the customer.
• Seamless Integration: The platform is built to integrate effortlessly with existing systems, allowing businesses of any size to quickly launch and scale gift card programs.
• Enhanced Features: With options like cashback rewards, auto-reload capabilities, and omnichannel delivery, PAR ensures that gift cards become a central part of a broader customer engagement strategy.

As digital gift cards continue to gain popularity—expected to grow at a 15.8% compound annual growth rate through 2030—PAR’s solution positions businesses to capitalize on this growing demand.

Why It Matters

Research highlights the significant impact gift cards can have: customers spend, on average, 61% more than the value of their card. However, many businesses lack the tools to fully realize this potential. PAR’s stored value solution solves this challenge with a streamlined, scalable platform that is both innovative and practical.

“Our customers are at the center of everything we do,” said Sal Nazir, General Manager of PAR Pay at PAR Technology. “With the launch of PAR Gift, we’re providing businesses with a resource to deepen customer relationships while creating new opportunities for revenue growth. It’s about delivering value—for the customer and the brand alike.”

With PAR Gift, stored value becomes a bridge between businesses and their customers, offering value to both. Whether it’s a thoughtful present for a loved one or an incentive to return, the impact is undeniable: more loyalty, more revenue, and more opportunities.

Shift4 has acquired a majority stake in Vectron Systems AG, a European suppliers of point-of-sale (POS) systems to the restaurant and hospitality verticals. 

Based in Germany, Vectron has 65,000 POS locations across Europe, representing. Shift4 is expected to acquire additional ownership of Vectron through a public tender offer that is expected to conclude within the next month, with a de-listing and formal integration process to occur shortly thereafter.

The acquisition is expected to provide Shift4 with an expansive customer footprint across Europe as well as a distribution network of ~300 POS resellers. As a result of the acquisition, Shift4 believes it will be able to add its integrated payment services to current Vectron customers and products, while also empowering the sales force with a compelling all-in-one POS and payments solution unrivaled in Europe.

“Shift4 was at the forefront of the convergence between software and payments in the restaurant and hospitality verticals in the US. We see an incredible amount of demand for a similar all-in-one solution across Europe,” states Shift4 CEO Jared Isaacman. “With our integrated payments and SkyTab offering, we believe we have the best solution at the right price point. Vectron will provide valuable local expertise, infrastructure, and the distribution necessary to meet the demand. This acquisition is right out of the Shift4 playbook – enabling us to unlock synergies, expand our distribution, and monetize payments for a large existing install base.”

Completes Revel Systems Acquistion

In addition to the acquisition of Vectron, Shift4 has also completed its previously announced acquisition of Revel Systems. Revel has over 18,000 merchant locations across the United States and internationally which Shift4 estimates represents a $17B+ payment opportunity. Revel also has a direct sales and dealer distribution network which Shift4 believes can be leveraged to accelerate SkyTab distribution both domestically and abroad. 

Shift4 has signed a definitive arrangement agreement to acquire Givex Corp., a global provider of gift cards, loyalty programs and point-of-sale solutions. 

The Arrangement Agreement is subject to customary closing conditions and the transaction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year. 

With across more than 100 countries, Givex serves a wide range of businesses in various industries, including 7-Eleven, Wendy’s, Best Western, Texas Roadhouse. 

The company offers robust gift card and e-gift solutions as well as customizable loyalty programs, and a point-of-sale (POS) system for various business types, among other value-added services.

 “Givex has a considerable footprint around the world which will dramatically increase Shift4’s overall customer base,” states Shift4 President Taylor Lauber. “At the same time, their gift card and loyalty solutions are second to none and will add significant value for our current customers, creating stickier relationships andh 130,000+ active locations enhancing our overall value proposition. Similar to other deals we have recently completed, this acquisition aligns perfectly with how we like to deploy capital – adding blue-chip merchants at a low customer acquisition cost while delivering additional benefits to our customer base.” 

“The Givex team looks forward to joining the Shift4 family and bring our enterprise gift card capabilities and loyalty programs to hundreds of thousands of new customers,” says Don Gray, CEO of Givex. “By combining Shift4’s end-to-end payment solution with our value-added engagement services, we can deliver an unparalleled package to both of our customer bases.”  

HARMAN, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., announced that its HARMAN Digital Transformation Solutions business unit will launch HARMAN ConnectIQ, an AI-powered retail frontline workforce productivity solution at NRF Big Show 2025.

The latest U.S. Department of Labor BLS report reveals a staggering 60% average turnover rate for retail employees*. This is coupled with escalating costs of hiring, training and retention. In response, nearly 40% of retail tech executives plan to boost investments in frontline worker experience technology in 2025. #

HARMAN ConnectIQ tackles these challenges by enhancing worker collaboration, delivering personalized training, streamlining onboarding and simplifying task management for store managers and associates. Powered by AI, it integrates multiple retail systems through prebuilt connectors, offering a unified digital experience for frontline workers. This improves productivity by up to 30%, boosting in-store customer experience.

[A spokesperson for the brand confirmed that HARMAN ConnectIQ will also be available to hotels and restaurants.]

HARMAN ConnectIQ uses market-leading technologies such as Microsoft Teams for collaboration, Microsoft Copilot for enhanced productivity and Samsung Knox for secure communication across channels

"HARMAN ConnectIQ is an AI-driven solution transforming retail operations by boosting frontline worker productivity and addressing labor shortages," said Nicholas Parrotta, President - Digital Transformation Solutions and Chief Digital & Information Officer at HARMAN. "By unifying various systems into a single digital experience and incorporating AI, we enhance workforce efficiency and elevate customer experiences. We're excited to showcase how this cutting-edge technology empowers retailers to stay competitive and drive innovation at NRF Big Show 2025."

HARMAN ConnectIQ will be showcased in the Samsung booth #5303 at the NRF Big Show. For more information on HARMAN Digital Transformation Solutions and HARMAN ConnectIQ, visit Retail Digital Transformation Solutions and Contactless Shopping | HARMAN.

Invig Consulting, a company that reimagines the way brands, convenience stores, and restaurants connect and do business, is thrilled to announce its new partnership with PizzaForno, North America's pioneering automated pizzeria renowned for baking high-quality pizza round the clock. Together, this partnership aims to bring PizzaForno’s 24/7 automatic pizza vending machines to all convenience stores across the West Coast of the United States. With over 20 years in business and an established presence across Canada, Invig Consulting and PizzaForno will work together to make pizza vending machines the new standard for convenience stores.

“We couldn’t be more excited to collaborate with PizzaForno,” said Bassem Nowyhed, CEO of Invig Consulting. “We started Invig Consulting to bring innovation to the industry and maximize the ability for store owners to adopt the immersive technologies of the future. PizzaForno allows store owners to introduce a new product to their customers efficiently and reliably without having to pay for the extra training, labor, and materials that would come with running a pizza-making operation within their store. These vending machines are a no-brainer for stores to have an edge over their competitors and introduce a new line of revenue. We’re super excited to bring these incredible machines to store owners across California and the entire west coast.”

Earlier this year, PizzaForno made its presence known in the U.S. by successfully launching in Utah, Delaware, New York, Florida, and Maryland, establishing 39 new units across the nation. As of today, PizzaForno has introduced its vending machines at three locations across California. With this new partnership, PizzaForno seeks to continue to expand and spread its machines across the state, with the ultimate goal of establishing a PizzaForno inside every convenience store.

“Our 24/7 automatic machines embody everything customers seek in a convenience store appliance,” said Travis Musser, Master Licensee for PizzaForno Southern California and Washington State. “With how connected Invig Consulting is to the convenience store industry, we’re confident that our vending machines will become available to more stores and eventually become an essential component for the convenience store experience.”

Lodging Interactive, a digital marketing, social media, and guest review engagement agency exclusively serving the hospitality industry, announced the launch of GuestCONNECT, a flexible, subscription-based suite of services that includes a hotel website, social media marketing, and white-glove guest review response services designed exclusively for hotels and resorts. This all-in-one solution allows properties to build an impactful online presence with minimal upfront investment while ensuring consistent guest engagement across the travel booking journey.

“GuestCONNECT brings together a modern website experience, an engaging social media presence, and hotel reputation management through guest review responses to ensure hotels build lasting relationships with guests and increase direct bookings,” said DJ Vallauri, Lodging Interactive’s Founder and CEO. “I’m pleased to say that Lodging Interactive is the only hospitality digital marketing agency that can offer such comprehensive services on a ‘pay-as-you-go’ subscription basis.”

Fully Managed, Flexible Solutions, Pay-As-You-Go

GuestCONNECT provides hotels and resorts with professionally managed services designed to amplify online visibility and boost direct bookings. Core services include:

Website Design, Development, Ongoing Support and Marketing :

GuestCONNECT offers elegantly designed websites with cutting-edge technologies. Each is fully hosted and managed, including Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which highlights the hotel’s unique brand. With all-inclusive monthly pricing, GuestCONNECT delivers affordability and peace of mind.

Engaging Social Media Marketing: 

GuestCONNECT ensures properties maintain an active and engaging online presence by posting to Facebook and Instagram accounts weekly. This provides property ‘top-of-mind’ for both current and potential guests.

Guest Review Response Services:

GuestCONNECT provides professional Online Reputation Management (ORM) services 7 days a week, ensuring brand-compliant and timely responses to online reviews. With monitoring of over 140 review sites, GuestCONNECT offers hotels consistent and brand-aligned replies and in-depth sentiment analysis reporting to reveal valuable guest experience insights.

KPI data points include detailed online reporting, one-on-one account management, and strategy calls for all core services.

“With our ‘pay-as-you-go’ business model, GuestCONNECT is built for scalability and flexibility, allowing hotels to grow their digital presence affordably, consistently and in a professional manner,” added Mr. Vallauri.

GuestCONNECT has affordable pricing options for properties of all sizes and offers flexible agreement terms.