‘Retailers need to find sweet spot between online and offline presence’
KUCHING: Retailers will need to strike a balance between brickand-mortar presence and an online presence to varying degrees depending on its position in the retail industry value chain.
This came after the 18th Asia Pacific Retailers Convention and Exhibition 2017, whereby core retail topics discussed were future retail customers, winning retail formats of the future, retail technologies and solutions and omni-channel retailing.
Among the companies and associations represented at the conference were JD.com, 11Street Malaysia, Isetan Mitsukoshi Japan, GS Retail (Korea), SevenEleven Japan and Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry of Japan.
“It was interesting to observe the trends in countries with more developed and advanced retail concepts and services. Although the e- commerce theme wasn’t addressed explicitly, elements of it were the underlying resonating theme,” said AmInvestment Bank Bhd (AmInvestment Bank) in a note yesterday.
“It will present challenges to most existing retailers but there will be opportunities to thrive.”
Looking at the balance between brick-and-mortar presence and an online presence, AmInvestment Bank attempted to relate it to the Malaysian context.
“Among the beneficiaries of e-commerce are the convenience store operators,” it said.
“We think 7- Eleven and Bison’s extensive store network and increasingly established distribution chain will play well into the e-commerce theme as its stores become pickup and return hubs.
“It is an alternative to lastmile parcel delivery services. There are other benefits which include higher foot traffic and related spillover spending and commission fee from payments made through the convenience store.
“Aside from that, other technological best practices seen during the conference led us to believe that it could alleviate the convenience store operators’ dependence on labour.”
On the opposite end of the spectrum, AmInvestment Bank said shopping mall and departmental store operators such as AEON and Parkson may face an existential crisis in the long term as they face intensifying competition from both online and offline players.
“Online shopping provides consumers with the ultimate level of convenience, offering endless product selection and price comparisons,” it added.
“Meanwhile, we opine there arenumerous competing shopping malls that offer value- added elements beyond the commoditised shopping experience commonly found with AEON malls.
Other highlights during the conference include Key growth trends for Asia retailing presented by Euromonitor.
It said aside from the prominence of single households, Asia is expectedtoseeanageingpopulation and greater participation of women in the workforce.
“Best practices within the retail-convenience store industry, such as meal delivery service and frozen and prepared meals, will pivot and position an organisation to fully capture the impending trends.
“In terms of fashion retail, elements of fast fashion coupled with digital commerce were recipes for successful fashion distribution. Fast fashion has outgrown apparel specialists by an average of four per cent a year.”