Bridging Online, Offl ine Retailing

Bridging Online, Offline Retailing

In March 2021, the Star Media Group Sdn Bhd organised a two-day live virtual conference themed The Smart Retail: Powering Nation’s Digital Economy. The conference featured prominent speakers and panelists from the retail industry, including MRCA President Shirley Tay, on the dynamics of the industry in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

uring the event,

Dpanelists and speakers expounded on the evolution of the retail landscape and its rapid progress into digitalisation fueled by the pandemic situation. With movement restrictions in place and limited access to retail outlets, consumers were forced to adopt online shopping as the next best solution to accessing goods.

Lazada Malaysia’s Chief Marketing Officer Diana Boo, noted that the online shopping platform saw a 300% increase in new sellers on-board last year, via its Pakej Kedai Pintar stimulus plan, aimed at assisting local SMEs to sell online.

FashionValet & The dUCk Group Co-founder Vivy Yusof said that 2020 was a very challenging year and her companies had to be very smart in product pivots, to cater to the changed consumer landscape.

Recognising the evolving business landscape, the Malaysian government has also lent its support through Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC). According to MDEC CEO, Surina Shukri, MDEC introduced initiatives to help SMEs overcome the digital divide such as its nationwide campaign under the government’s Penjana stimulus plan partnering private sector companies to onboard microSMEs onto online sites. MDEC

What’s in Store for Retail in 2021? Power Panel (from left): Assistant Professor of Marketing, Asia School of Business & international Faculty Fellow at MIT Willem Smit, ADA’s Regional Head of Business Insights Vittorio Furlan, Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Secretary General Datuk Seri Hj. Hasnol Zam Zam Ahmad, MRCA President Shirley Tay and The Food Purveyor’s CEO Geoff King. also rolled out its eUsahawan programme, to assist Malaysian youths and micro entrepreneurs in digital entrepreneurship. To-date, MDEC has helped train 365,000 people - 65% of them are female entrepreneurs.

The conference also featured a session entitled “What’s in Store for Retail in 2021?” moderated by Willem Smit, Assistant Professor of Marketing at Asia School of Business. During the session, Shirley Tay, President of MRCA pointed out that Generation Z (those born from the late 1990s to early 2010s) are changing the retail arena.

“Generation Z are very knowledgeable, well informed, and many of them are financially secure thanks to parents who have fewer children,” she said. Shirley Tay also stressed that retailers need to have omnichannel strategies to reach customers, and that “connectivity and engagement with consumers has to be the top priority”.

The Food Purveyor CEO Geoff King noted that the food retail industry had seen a much bigger growth in online commerce in 2020. “We’ve had to adapt very fast to meet that need. And where we used to pride ourselves

by having a smiling butcher, explaining about the cuts of meat and how to cook it – now, we have to think about how to do that online,”

As for government incentives for digitalisation, Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Secretary General Datuk Seri Hasnol Zam Zam Ahmad pointed out that there are many funds available within Government Ministries and agencies to support various sub sectors within industries.

“That is something that industry players should try to benefit from. The government is always willing to listen to new ideas and new ways on how the retail industry can be further assisted,” he said.

Key to the success of online retailing is automation and live chats to assist customers, said AirAsia Chief Customer Happiness Officer Adam Geneave. He said that an enormous challenge over the last 12 months for the low cost carrier’s customer support teams was the increase in the volume of cases. As such, the company had to quickly pivot the way they were talking to their customers.

“We focused on increasing automation to give customers the ability to self-serve, primarily through the AVA chatbot. We have seen much better customer satisfaction. At the end of the day, customers want this fast interaction,” he said.

Ninja Van Malaysia Chief Operating Officer Lin Zheng supported this move stating that due to the MCO, the logistics company pushed more customers to its live chat team.

Love, Bonito Malaysia Country Director Joan Yeoh shared how the company tested and trialled store-to-door services. The company provided the option for customers to pick up stuff from the stores and enjoy delivery.

Meanwhile, QSR Brands Group Chief Information Officer CK Chong shared that topping his list was acquiring the right technology and recruiting talent. While calling for more local talent development, QSR’s strategy is to work with technology partners from overseas.

As companies resort to remote work arrangements, Heineken Malaysia Digital and Technology Director Janina Vriesekoop said she preferred a hybrid of remote working and work on-premises, while AEON Retail CEO Shafie Shamsuddin said the future would see a mix of offline and online retail.

“It is important for us to envision that in the future, 30 to 40% of our workforce will continue to work from home or from everywhere. The digital transformation will continue to be important. We need to continue to build our infrastructure,” he said.

The event also featured a presentation by Retail NZ Chief Executive Greg Harford entitled “Retailing in New Zealand through the lows and highs of Covid-19”, about how the country’s retailers digitalised rapidly during the pandemic.

Harford estimated that presently, about 17% of retail sales by volume are done through e-commerce channels. He added that New Zealand consumers will still want to go to physical shops “to touch and feel the goods that they want”.