What AgVend's Roadmap Signals for the Future of Ag Retail

Index:

1. Overview

2. From Data Layer to Decision Layer

3. CRM+ and an AI Embedded Capability

   1. Voice AI Agent

   2. Opportunity Pipeline

   3. Goose Foresight

   4. Task Management

4. Loyalty & Rewards: Behavior Change Embedded in the Transaction

5. The Power of the Control Point

6. Program Management for Ag Retails

7. AgVend Nexus

   1. Finance

   2. Market

   3. Procure

Over 250 people gathered in Austin two weeks ago for AgVend's annual Partner Summit — a combination of North American ag retailers, input manufacturers, financial providers, and agribusiness software players all in one room.

There was plenty of discussion that you would expect given the current market environment, from retail margin pressure, farmer profitability concerns, along with valuable learning that happen when operators who are running the same systems compare notes on what's working and what’s not. In my conversations with retailers from around North America, that was a huge part of the value of attending the event.

But what I want to focus on here is a segment of the conference that stood out to me — the product demonstrations and roadmap presentations.

I think the roadmap for a software company that penetrates 35% of the North American retail market provides an interesting signal into the future of ag retail: what problems it believes are worth solving, where it's placing its bets, and if you read between the lines what it thinks the next chapter of ag retail looks like, including heavy emphasis on one of my favorite subjects, friction reduction, and team efficiency that leads to better outcomes for retails, crop input manufacturers and ultimately better results and experiences for farmers, too.

From Data Layer to Decision Layer

In January I published AI and Agribusiness Software: From Systems of Record to Systems of Action.

One component of the white paper gets into agribusiness software moving through three distinct phases: systems of record (ERPs), systems of engagement (portals, CRMs), and towards systems of action, where AI and agentic capabilities move from organizing data to actually executing workflows autonomously.

Most ag retail software has been built to capture manually entered data. The better ones surface it. The best ones improve how a business operates. I recently had a conversation with an executive at a large ag company and one of his comments to me was how the company’s transition to SAP fundamentally shifted how they operate, for the better. I think the best vertical agribusiness software does the same thing to a company’s internal processes. That was consistent with what I heard from ag retailers in Austin, and was one central theme from AgVend co-founder and CPO, Eli Rosenberg, who stated that they are moving from tools to outcomes.

The four areas I will cover surrounding the road map are related to their CRM+, Loyalty and Rewards System, Program Management and Nexus capabilities.

CRM+ and an AI Embedded Capability

CRM initiatives in ag retail tend to fail for two reasons:

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