Christian Warning, forecourttech chair, announced: “The programme is set. The conversations are overdue. And the industry can no longer afford to treat innovation as theatre.”
forecourttech returns in 2026 with its most commercially focused programme to date. Two days built around a single, unbroken red line: the structural shift from fuel-first sites to integrated customer destinations, and the technology, data and payments infrastructure that will determine who profits from that shift.
forecourttech’26 is organised by Stephen Bozdan, managing director of SAB Events, and chaired by Christian Warning, one of Europe’s leading voices in roadside retail strategy. Together, they have designed a programme that moves beyond the conceptual and into the operational. Why? Because the decisions that will reshape forecourt P&Ls over the next five years are not future decisions. Many of them are already overdue.
Every session in the 2026 programme connects to the same commercial logic.
Day 1 is about protecting and earning the margin; making the case for operational resilience, digital infrastructure, regulatory readiness, and the payments ecosystem that underpins it all.
Day 2 is about growing and monetising it; understanding what world-class format design actually delivers, how extended EV dwell time changes forecourt economics, and how payments, loyalty and partner platforms need to work as a single connected stack.
It is a deliberate sequence. You cannot monetise what you have not first secured. And you cannot grow what you do not understand.
Day 1. Protecting and Earning the Margin
Welcome: From Innovation Theatre to Everyday AI
Christian Warning and Stephen Bozdan open the two days with a scene-setter that frames the programme’s central argument: AI is not an IT project. It is a P&L intervention. Every session that follows builds the commercial case, from protecting margin on Day 1 to growing it on Day 2. Delegates leave the opening with a clear map of how the two days connect and how to use the structured meeting slots to act on what they hear.
The Global Tech Compass
The programme opens with a worldwide perspective on where convenience and mobility retail is heading. Against the backdrop of structural pressures — labour scarcity, margin compression, and the rise of digital-first consumer expectations — delegates will hear which international markets and formats are leading the way, and what the most relevant moves elsewhere mean for EMEA operators.
Waylet: Building Europe’s Leading Mobility Loyalty Ecosystem
One of the most closely watched loyalty transformations in European forecourt retail takes centre stage. With ten million users reached ahead of target, the story behind this open mobility loyalty ecosystem is not simply about scale, it is about the strategic logic of evolving a fuel payment tool into a multi-service platform spanning retail, mobility and energy. The session traces the data and personalisation playbook behind the platform, and draws out concrete lessons on how loyalty can be used to drive frequency, optimise the customer experience, and build commercial partnerships that extend well beyond the core category.
The Digital Mile: Mapping the Connected Customer Journey from Car to Checkout
The customer relationship no longer begins at the pump, it begins on the road. From the moment a driver spots a price on a roadside pylon to the second they tap to pay at self-checkout, every physical touchpoint along the forecourt visit is now a digital moment. Yet for most operators, these touchpoints still function as isolated systems rather than a single connected customer journey.
This panel maps the full digital mile, from in-car navigation and pre-arrival engagement, the price pillar as the first brand statement, pump-side screens, shop entrance communication, self-order terminals, to self-checkout, and the digital signage layer that ties it all together. The discussion moves touchpoint by touchpoint, examining where the technology is mature, where the investment case is proven, and where the biggest gaps between ambition and operational reality still exist. Dwell time is a genuine commercial asset. The operators who win will be those who have stopped thinking in screens and started thinking in journeys.
Fleet 2.0: The $315bn Mobility Payments Opportunity
Day 1 closes with the scale of what is at stake in B2B payments. The transition from closed-loop fuel cards to open-loop mobility cards, instruments that cover EV charging, parking, tolls, maintenance and cross-merchant spend on a single platform, represents a market opportunity that most operators have not yet positioned themselves to capture. This session sets out the commercial logic of Fleet 2.0, the risk of disintermediation for operators who don’t participate, and what it takes in data and partnerships to remain central to the B2B customer relationship as mobility broadens beyond the nozzle.
Day 2. Growing and Monetising the Margin
The Smartest Store in the World: Global Lessons in Format Design
Day 2 opens with a global tour of the formats redefining what convenience retail can be. Design, experience quality and artificial intelligence are converging to drive profitability in ways that are no longer confined to flagship concepts with unlimited budgets. This session showcases the sites setting the standard worldwide and draws out the commercial thinking behind them in terms that translate to everyday operations.
From Concept to Till: A Retailer in Conversation
Theory meets the shop floor. A working operator joins the conversation to test the global lessons against the realities of live trading — what actually works, what doesn’t, and the numbers behind the decisions. This is the grounded counterpart to the global tour: candid, benchmark-driven, and built around the real-world trade-offs between concept ambition and day-to-day execution.
From Fuel Stops to Customer Destinations: The Changing Face of Forecourts
A fireside conversation that steps back to take stock of the industry’s transformation from fuel-focused operations to integrated retail and energy platforms and looks forward at where technology, data and AI are taking it next. The session explores changing consumer behaviour including the impact of EV adoption on dwell time and retail opportunity, and draws on perspectives from across EMEA markets and beyond.
The Orchestration Layer, Making Payments, Loyalty and Partners Work as One
The modern forecourt only delivers its commercial potential when payments, loyalty and partner systems operate as a single connected stack. This panel brings together technology providers and an operator voice to examine the integration choices that separate a smooth customer journey from a fragmented one and to explore how a well-constructed orchestration layer becomes a commercial advantage rather than a technical overhead.
Closing: The Red Line, Reconnected. Five Priorities for the Boardroom
The two days close with a synthesis that ties the programme back together. Protect margin. Integrate data. Monetise loyalty. Build retail media. Design for EV. Five priorities clearly sequenced, directly actionable, and grounded in everything the programme has covered. The closing session is designed to give every senior leader and independent owner something concrete to take back to their business. Not inspiration. Action.
Join Us
forecourttech’26 is where European forecourt and convenience retail’s most consequential conversations happen, not only in the conference hall, but in the structured meeting slots that sit between conference sessions and give the programme its commercial purpose.
The agenda is set. The red line runs from the first welcome to the final word. We look forward to welcoming you to Alicante in October 2026.
