NRF APAC 2024
NRF's inaugural APAC conference was held in Singapore at the Marina Bay Sands Expo Conference Centre. Here are my thoughts from a rather steamy Singapore!
The Merlion and Marina Bay Sands. Image: author
I’ve a confession to make, well, not so much a confession, more by way of ensuring complete transparency and declaring any conflict of interest; I happen to love Singapore.
It might be unbearably hot and humid outside (and from speaking to someone from Levi Strauss at a wonderful lunch courtesy of Vusion Group, apparently, it’s getting hotter by the year) but that hasn’t dampened my love affair with Singapore.
I first started coming here back in the late seventies and, not having returned in quite a while, even though I had tried to prepare myself, nothing had quite prepared me for the almost total redevelopment of it.
Thank goodness for the Merlion, because that’s about the only familiar thing here. It used to be a symbol of this wonderful City, but now that honour falls to the Marina Bay Sands.
It’s a slice of Vegas (the entire property is owned by the Las Vegas Sands company) dropped onto this amazing City. Think of any superlative you like and you won’t even come close; but for me, somehow it all seems a little incongruous, a little And as I discovered, the somewhat sad reality is that for many either holidaying or transiting, the incredible Changi airport and MBS (as it’s known locally) might just be all many see of Singapore.
And for me, much like parts of Vegas, it all seems just a little antiseptic, functional yes, awe-inspiring most definitely, but inspirational? I’m not so sure. Chinatown or Kampong Glam or Boat Quay still retain much of the feel and excitement of Singapore. And even though the hawker stalls are now extremely well regulated and exist in specified centres, they are a must visit for the food and the atmosphere.
However, one thing’s for sure, for those who have visited Singapore, you’ll know that one thing stands head and shoulders above everything else here; everything just works. From the Uber equivalent, Grab (works much more efficiently by the way) to the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) underground, to the almost ubiquitous use of the QR code.
Chinatown. Image: author
However, although I was here to soak up as much of Singapore as I could, the primary purpose was, of course, the inaugural NRF APAC.
Held, as previously mentioned, at the MBS, this was the result of a two year collaboration between NRF and a ‘local’ Australian events company, Comexposium, who, led by the irrepressible Ryf Quail, delivered the Show. And although, as would be expected from a first-time event of this size in the region, there were a few rough edges, it was universally hailed a great success.
7,000 registrations from 52 countries and over 230 exhibitors laid testament to that.
And it all began notably on day one, when Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry, Gan Kim Yong formally opened the Show.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade & Industry, Gan Kim Yong opens NRF APAC 2024. Image: author
So let’s get into my thoughts on the Show as I posted them on LinkedIn at the time.
Day One
- Don't expect the usual NRF, this is quite different in look and feel
- The first retail conference I've been to where the venue is part of a shopping mall - in this case the amazing Marina Bay Sands mall
- Innovation Lab looks interesting, (note I was fortunate enough to have a guided tour on day 2)
- Good keynotes featuring first Dominos and then Uniqlo:
Dominos - CDO Christopher Thomas-Moore.
Interesting that they have partnered with Microsoft to explore how Gen AI can essentially help them run a restaurant. Their CDO approach is "picking small wins, small steps"
Next 2 – 5 years innovation plans: more tailored experiences – customers and relationships with customers. "We anchor our conversations on our history with each other"
Most important is everyday value for customers.
What to avoid: “don’t trust, verify” use data to understand how the things happening in the economy are affecting you
Uniqlo – Fast Retailing CIO Takahiro Tambara:
- Discussed what it means to be a digital consumer retailer - vision to make garments in the right quantities at the right location for the customer – that’s what it means to be a digital consumer retailer
- Extensive use of RFID to enable this at source of production
- Using innovation and information to bring value to the customer
- Has a concept of "the voice of the market" (ie. customer) to inform new products, using AI to analyse these insights
- Halving checkout time by using RFID at the checkout – place item in bin (like Decathlon) – made to 100% improve customer experience – redeploy store staff to improve CX
- Integrating inventory with production plant as they are also manufacturers – wonder if this is unique?
- RFID integrated into each item at point of production
- Constantly stressed global perspective – TT moved to London in order to "be able to have a global mindset"
- 3,600 stores – collect the voice of the customer – needed technology in order to scale up from the initial stores in Japan
Final session of the day was a keynote from the Chairman of the China Chamber of Commerce, Mr Jiang Ming - sadly my transcription didn’t work. It was disappointing that it was poorly attended as this was surely a key keynote.
Day Two
Opening remarks this morning at NRF 2024: Retail's Big Show Asia Pacific was from the President of the Singapore Retailers Association, Ernie Koh with some fascinating insights.
E
Ernie Koh, President of the Singapore Retailers Association. Image: author
Globally we are all facing the same issues and challenges / it's about inspiring retail experience. He discussed four pillars of this:
1. Unique diversity – it is ‘shopping mall centric’ ‘use what you have in your own country’ For example, F1 in September – “how can we use F1 as a kindling thing (for retailers)?
2. Beacon of light – how can we draw students to come into retail? SRA have created an innovation challenge for students
3. Emotional connection – there needs to be an emotional connection between employer and staff and the connecting of retailers with consumers. "AI is very impersonal, we can now track the customer through the store using the app. Identify you and whoever you bring with you into the store. Personal but not personal – you know that I am tracking you using AI" Ernie Koh
4. Seamless collaboration – example of SRA working with Singapore Airlines to repurpose a decommissioned A380 aircraft to create furniture
Very brief (we said good morning!) chat with Matthew Shay just prior to his wonderful fireside with Moët Hennessy President APAC Laurent Boidevezi where they discussed:
- Brands are known as Maisons – most over 250 years old
- ‘Unique relationship with time’ – many products age for anything up to 50 years. Want to build for the next 50 years. Building the desirability of the Maisons.
Moet & Hennessey President APAC Laurent Boidevezi with Matthew Shay. Image: author
- Wholesale business by nature – driven by on-premise consumption but also have retail through supermarkets and retailers.
- Route to consumer driven by wholesale. Many luxury brands have been driven by wholesale and have pivoted themselves to become a retail business.
- ‘Strategy in retail is about showcasing brands to inspire consumers’
- Travel retail – airports have transformed themselves into luxury retail destinations
- “We are in the business of selling experiences – above and beyond the bottles we need to animate our stores”
- “We have a digital engagement programme. Personalisation, customisation eg. engraving”
- We are aiming at building the Maisons for the next 50 years by being close to our DNA. “You need to be very true to your roots but also be modern and exciting for the next generation by being creative and delivering excellence.
- One way is by creating excitement around the brand using partners
Followed by Wesfarmers with MD Nicole Sheffield
Delivering Customer Value Through the Power of Customer Data :
- “We’ve recognised the importance of being connected” Need to ensure you embrace and understand the data which is actually representing your customers.
- Anticipate and predict customer needs: using data to “identify life stage attributes”
- “You have to include AI in your business because your teams are using it already. Using AI one of our hackathon teams created something in 6 hours that we thought would take 6 months”
- RFID: Knowing where inventory is in store, you can provide a much better click and collect service
- Tory robot at Kmart (as in invenTory) – efficiency benefit, customer benefit
- AI at Wesfarmers – not across all brands yet but probably will be. Data is democratized but Gen AI is at the proof of concept stage.
- ROI: Difficult because boards having to sign off on projects where the ROI is less certain but still need to invest
- Using data not for the sake of data but using it to unlock customer lifetime value. Don’t get caught up in the data – understand how to unlock the value from data. “Customers then become advocates because they are getting value from you”
Day Three
Day 3 at NRF 2024: Retail's Big Show Asia Pacific has been another filled with great and interesting content, personal highlights from day 3:
First up was Thomas Meier, Creative Director dwp | design worldwide partnership with a session, "great retail instore experience that will be talked about"
Thomas Meier, Creative Director at dwp. Image: author
Some interesting images from the work he's done pre-dwp and current. His thoughts on retail trends didn't break new ground:
Convenience:
- AR
- Showrooming
- Omnichannel
Except for:
- Time as a commodity (in a retail brand / customer context)
His thoughts on flagship values:
-Extraordinary
-Memorable
-Experiential
-In line with brand strategy
“The place to fall in love with the brand”
And then he hit the bullseye: “What if products are a by-product of the experience?”
Next up, a session with Zebra Technologies CTO Tom Bianculli
- This discussed many aspects of AI & the future we should perhaps anticipate especially the future of computing, with the big question: Do LLMs understand the real world?
- Eg. The captcha system of choosing images has been broken by LLMs
- How does this impact the device world? Devices that can see and hear the physical world will soon understand the context of your life. The computer will become the initiator of the action rather than the other way around.
Applications:
- Will we still have icons? Multiple modality with apps blurring into the background.
- Going to interact with expert capabilities as we currently do with human beings
- Apps will merge from the foreground to the background
- Frontline workflows: mobile computer / application / inventory app / user interface / syncing with backend
- Future: mobile becomes distributed (wearable, camera etc) / connect to LLM (model the real world) / automating tasks and syncing with backend
Next was Oroton an Australian brand known for its handbags – fireside chat with Jennifer Child CEO with Paul Zahra CEO Australian Retailers Association discussing transforming an 80 year old brand which had lost relevance.
Oroton CEO Jennifer Child. Image: author
“The creative team need to have the opportunity to take risks”
“Running an 80 year old retailer is different from a startup – you need to respect the heritage”
“Always a story and always a smile”
Which sounds a perfect way to end a great conference.
In amongst the Expo and the sessions I attended a guided tour of the Innovation Lab and accepted an invitation to attend some store tours on the evening of day two. Media lunches ensured that the conversation continued and helped to form my conclusion and the big question I was searching for an answer to by coming to the Show.
Is APAC ahead, about the same or behind us when it comes to retail innovation?
And the answer for me was that we are all on the same journey, there might be local nuances and small variables, but overwhelmingly, we are all very much in the same place when it comes to trying to understand what’s around the retail corner.
And whilst I was hoping to uncover some amazing retail gems which would totally transform my thinking of our industry, realistically that was never going to happen.
‘We’re in this together’ was never truer than now.
And as a final parting thought, perhaps the biggest impression on me goes to getting out of the Grab car at Changi airport, when I saw this patrolling the drop off zone. No disrespect to NRF APAC whatsoever, but perhaps this represents the future far more than SSC, AI inventory or lift and learn technology.
Just be careful where you park.
