RSM Singapore’s David Eu sees retail future in AI-driven personalisation, authenticity

He shared his thoughts on how retail operations can become more profitable and scalable.

Asia’s retail landscape has recently been defined by the deep integration of online and offline channels, having become central to customer engagement and experience. Once experimental technologies are now standard to stay ahead in the market. As competition intensifies and consumers become more value-conscious, retailers are prioritising agility, localised strategies, and seamless experiences to sustain growth in such a complex and fast-paced environment.

In this year’s iteration of the Retail Asia Awards, David Eu, RSM Singapore Partner and Deputy Industry Lead of the F&B, Retail and Consumer Products Practice, has been invited as one of the esteemed panel of judges to share his sharp insights and expertise with industry leaders and stakeholders.

Eu began his career at Ernst & Young in 1994 and has since built extensive experience across a range of industries, including banking, manufacturing, and agriculture. His professional expertise includes audit engagements and initial public offerings. After joining RSM Singapore in 2007, he co-led initiatives supporting F&B and FMCG clients, delivering industry insights across manufacturing, retail, and publicly listed companies.

Speaking with Retail Asia, David discussed financial, strategic, and governance challenges facing Asian retail and F&B businesses today and offered practical insights for organisations navigating expansion in a complex and competitive regional market.

From your experience leading F&B and retail clients across Asia, what key financial indicators best distinguish scalable business models?

Unit economics (per customer/order) growth is only scalable when each incremental unit generates cash after variable costs and acquisition.

GP1 is the “first line of defence.” A strong GP1 indicates healthy pricing power and effective control over supplier costs. GP2 shows “real profitability” before general overheads. Shrinking GP2 is a sign of operational inefficiencies or underutilised fixed assets and is closer to true unit economics, making it core to scalability.

The breakeven point signals the speed at which a business generates pure profit. A low or declining breakeven point indicates that fixed costs are leveraged well with volume and that incremental units become increasingly profitable.

The capacity utilisation rate tracks how efficiently resources are used and helps achieve a balance where the business can handle growth without quality breakdowns, avoiding diminishing returns.

Cash conversion and working capital management are critical, as growth consumes cash; therefore, scalable firms should have a shorter cash conversion cycle and less reliance on external financing to fund working capital.

What governance or reporting gaps do you most commonly see in fast-growing Asian retail businesses?

The most common gaps include a lack of adaptable leadership, where founder-centric decision-making persists without structured governance, and leadership does not evolve quickly enough to keep pace with the business's scale. This often results in poor strategic controls. There is also frequent measurement of the wrong metrics, with misaligned reporting and KPIs that fail to reflect true performance or scalability. In addition, many fast-growing retailers suffer from poor cash flow visibility, particularly around working capital, alongside an over-reliance on single revenue streams.

With rising input costs and margin pressures in F&B, what financial or operational levers should organisations prioritise to protect profitability?

Organisations should focus on menu economics, ensuring the GP1 of every dish is clearly understood and actively managed. Targeted pricing is critical, avoiding blanket price increases and instead raising prices on items where customers are less price sensitive. Supply-chain resilience should be strengthened by diversifying suppliers to reduce cost volatility and disruption risks. Labour automation, through greater use of technology, can help offset rising wage costs. In addition, optimising the channel mix and improving footprint efficiency by maximising sales per square foot are key. Finally, tight working capital control — reducing inventory on hand and negotiating better payment terms with suppliers — helps preserve cash and margins.

Drawing from your corporate finance experience, how should Asian retail companies think about optimal capital structures during expansion?

An optimal capital structure for Asian retail expansion requires a strategic balance between asset-liability matching, debt discipline, and equity flexibility. Companies should prioritise internal funding by tightening working capital controls to maximise external funding costs, whilst ensuring long-term assets are financed with long-term capital to avoid refinancing risk during downturns.

Maintaining a healthy gearing ratio and a strong interest coverage ratio allows firms to benefit from the tax advantages of debt without compromising the operational flexibility needed to withstand market volatility.

Looking ahead, what characteristics will define the next generation of successful Asian retail and F&B organisations?

The next generation will be defined by AI-driven personalisation, greater authenticity through storytelling that builds emotional trust with customers, and the development of experiential hubs that are immersive and interactive.