Getting retail ready for the Fourth Industrial Revolution

A new dawn is upon us as we enter the new digital age. What can retailers do to prepare for the future? Muneerah Bee captures highlights on key retail trends and emerging technologies at a Power Breakfast held on October 24 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

When is the right time for retailers to invest in technology and make the move towards all things new and digital? 

The panellists at the Power Breakfast seminar hosted by NYCU Media, the publisher of Retail Asia, and Honeywell shared their insightful views on this topic on October 24.

In his opening remarks, Briand Greer, president, South-east Asia, Honeywell, noted that Honeywell is committed to the region as it sees the tremendous potential here. “It is a relatively young and tech-savvy population, and it is moving in the direction of where all the macro trends are moving to.”

Held at The Westin Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the by-invitation-only event discussed some thought-provoking best retail practices that leverage emerging technologies to enhance the personalisation of customer experience, including in-store customer experience, online-to-offline (O2O) and click-to store integration.

Kenneth Tan, partner, NYCU Media, opined the time to invest in technology is now because retail workers need time to learn to handle the products and solutions. “They cannot jump from a traditional, first generational barcode scanner to virtual reality (VR); they would be like, ‘What do I do with this’?”

Echoing his sentiments, Anson Bailey, KPMG’s head of consumer & retail, ASPAC, said that while it is important to invest in technology, retailers also need to start investing in their staff and management teams. “We have got to invest in our people, upskill ourselves and our people to take the business forward because if we do not, we are dead,” he warned.

Sharing the perspective of a solutions and technology provider, Ong Beng Hui, regional sales director (Malaysia & Philippines), Honeywell Safety and Productivity Solutions, explained that the data captured from technology investment is very useful for personalisation and tailoring selections to individual customers. “At Honeywell, we do not serve the customer directly; we serve enterprises or retailers that serve customers — so we have products such as tablets and mobile computers with scanners which allow you to have the customer’s profile [at hand],” he said.

He added that the omni-channel approach is important and encouraged bricks-and-mortar-only retailers to consider looking at e-commerce. “Five years ago, we were serving bricks-and mortar stores. Today, we count a lot of these online players as our major customers.

He shared that a lot of Honeywell’s products are now being used in warehouses which have the capability to serve e-commerce and bricks-and-mortar clients.

While companies may worry about charting the return on investment (ROI) when it comes to investing in technology, Dr Lynda Wee, chief executive officer/founder, Bootstrap, described it as a “lagging indicator”. She said: “The time to re-invent ourselves is when we are very successful — not when you are feeling the pressure of going down.”

She also reached out to the Internet savvy millennials among the audience to share their thoughts on their retail preferences and habits.

Prior to the panel discussion, Edgardo ‘Gary’ Calantuan Jr, CIO of National Book Store in the Philippines, shared his knowledge and years of implementing business applications that can facilitate much-needed business transformation in retail. He also covered the latest developments in payment gateways, the evolution of bricks-and-mortar stores and why “retail-tainment” will pervade the industry, as well as key retail trends and emerging technologies.

He urged retailers to “experiment” to understand their customers better, suggesting having pilot runs of initiatives they would like to implement in the business. “Keep on understanding [the customers’] needs. This is part of the transformation of the retail business,” he said.

According to thought-leader Calantuan, we also need to “future proof our retail business” and be ahead of the curve. He went on to say that in order to prepare for the future, retailers should be customer-centric, be creative and innovate, be focused on customer experience, and continuously improve and optimise operations.

Closing his presentation, he challenged the audience to ask themselves: “How future-proof is our retail business?”