MRCA Event
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Smart Retail Webinar: Embrace To Survive The Digital Storm Organised by TM ONE in collaboration with Huawei and MRCA, the webinar addressed the dynamics of the digital economy and adapting to a new retail attitude as well as the role of cloud-based solutions transforming the retail sector. icking off the webinar, Joshua Lim of MRCA said that the pandemic has pushed the retail sector from evolution to revolution, transforming the dynamics of the retail sector. He added that currently online purchases have increased to 72 percent compared to a decrease of 44 percent of shopping at physical stores in Malaysia. The webinar features topics on smart shops, customer analytics, omnichannel shopping experiences, enterprise-wide inventory visibility and fulfilment agility as well as building effective customer loyalty.
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THE NEXT FRONTIER BY STAN SINGH, SECRETARYGENERAL OF MRCA Stan shared about the progress of the digital age amidst the pandemic storm and the storm of digitalisation. He adds that the dilemma with retailers currently is where to start the digitalisation journey. Stan explained that despite the size of the business, the retail cycle never changes for all businesses – it comprises sales, analysis, planning, buying, receiving, warehousing, distribution and in-store. Stan highlights key internal challenges businesses face today include lack of overall business visibility, from end-toend, misaligned business and IT processes, the movement of inventory, unknown shrinkages or loss of stocks, fraud detection, systems reliability, and lack in Malaysia Retailer Vol 9 No 3
vendor’s service and industry. Other key concerns include data management, security and controls, data collection, people management, decision-making, and launching effective strategies. Key external challenges faced by retailers include the increasing complexity of business, shifting demographics, household spending and downsizing, changes in social and lifestyle behaviour, and more educated customers. Other key areas of concern include new channel formats, trends and lifestyle changes, targeting selected customers, borderless retail landscape, manpower management and competition, brand building and regulatory compliance. He reminds retailers that digitalisation is not for the future, but is happening now. Stan explains that currently the world, especially the retail industry is experiencing four types of revolution, namely a digital revolution, knowledge revolution,
social revolution and information revolution. With internet capabilities available to the masses, information is available to the general public. Stan says that there are 10 technologies impacting the retail industry namely artificial intelligence (AI), facial recognition, cyber security, augmented/ mixed reality, big data analytics, robotics and automation, voice and video technology, blockchain, internet of things, and Trust architecture. He encourages retailers to embrace the disruption and do it the new way. Stan reminds retailers that customers have unlimited choices today, and knowing customers’ buying habits is a key success factor in the retail industry. He also points out retailers’ need to embrace omnichannel retailing to provide customers with easy access to purchase products and services. In foraying into e-commerce, Stan advises retailers to understand the business terrain, have an idea of
