BlueStar Retail & Hospitality Newsletter Q4.25

We’re growing every year, but we still keep our events personal and hands-on. Whenever our Retail & Hospitality vendors are involved, a member from the R&H sales team is there too, joining conversations, sharing what we’re seeing in the market, and helping connect the right partners.

In 2025 we ran 30 events across Europe, bringing in more vendors and more resellers than previous years. Rather than chasing big numbers, we focus on useful sessions, live demos and time for proper conversations.

It’s no secret that over the past five years self‑service has exploded and is now turning up everywhere – not just in retail and hospitality but in healthcare and a range of other sectors. The use cases keep growing as end users get more comfortable with the tech and look for ways to cut costs.

Early on, most projects relied on expensive, custom kiosks, but today we’re seeing far more flexible, cost‑effective options making it easier for smaller customers to get involved. Combined with a growing consumer expectation for a self‑service option, this has helped drive our continued growth with our self‑service sales doubling in 2025. 

We’ve put a lot more money into stock over the last few years and, working closely with the sales team, have tightened up how we forecast and choose the right mix of products. That’s helped our run rate grow steadily and then really kick on this year.

We’ll keep forecasting at a more granular level so we’ve got the stock ready for both project business and ongoing run-rate orders – whether they’re planned months in advance or land at short notice.

We’ve been working hard on our ISV Program during 2025, adding lots of new ISVs with a wide range of innovative new solutions for Retail, Hospitality and beyond. Coupled with this we’ve worked even harder to bring these innovative software solutions in front of our resellers, at events, expos and in our demonstration facilities across Europe. As developments in the retail and Hospitality market become increasingly demanding for channel partners to meet, BlueStar’s ISV Program helps resellers to easily add new software to meet these demands.

The ISV Program will continue in 2026 to expand, adding even more solution areas and with specific activities focused on bringing the opportunities presented by BlueStar’s ISVs directly in front of our resellers.

Stay Tuned for more information.

If you follow Richard Austin on LinkedIn you might be aware of his delight in travelling around Europe and the wider world to various industry events. He particularly enjoys spending times in airport lounges, train stations and events in general; as you can see from the pictures collage, 2025 was wall to wall excitement for Richard. But the fun doesn’t stop just because 2025 is over. Richard and his Retail and Hospitality team colleagues have a packed start to Q1 2026, including visits to NRF, Integrated Systems Europe (ISE), EuroShop – The World´s No. 1 Retail Trade Fair, Nordics What’s Cooking events, BlueStar EMEA Sales Kick Off and who knows what else as the year unfolds...

In the action-packed schedule and excitement of a big BlueStar event it’s not unknown for an item to have been left behind when packing up. What could have been left behind? A demo product? A tablecloth? A banner?

The ISS UK in Weybridge saw many connections being made and conversations happening throughout the breathtaking Mercedes Benz World. We had our hardware vendors, ISV partners, and resellers all in attendance. The Tech Zone bustling with activity and the Round Tables in full swing.

In this case I had my own experience with leaving an item behind. In the mix of the events, running around all day had kept me so busy that I hadn’t even noticed until I returned to my hotel room. Then it struck me, I had left behind my smart watch charger. Devastated at such a tragic loss, I had to buy a replacement, the original never to be seen again.

Solving Reseller Challenges

What are the biggest pain points for retail and hospitality resellers and how can you overcome them? In this video, Richard Austin, POS Business Development Manager at BlueStar EMEA, shares expert insights drawn from decades of experience across Europe and beyond.

Ask Blue Podcast #42

In this episode, host Rich Austin welcomes Andrew Broster from Evexi to discuss the evolving role of data in driving business transformation. Andrew explains how Evexi helps organizations move beyond simply collecting data to actually leveraging it for strategic advantage. 

Throughout 2025 we've produced tons of video content. From unboxings and solution showcases to podcasts, we've covered a full range to bring our knowledge to you. 

However, when we're filming, not everything always goes according to plan. In this video, you'll see a little of what can go wrong.