Latest / The Retail Podcast / NRF APAC 2025: Day 1 Highlights with Ryf Quail & Guests

Transcript

NRF APAC 2025: Day 1 Highlights with Ryf Quail & Guests · The Retail Podcast

• 0:00
  Hello and welcome to live from NRF, the retail podcast.
• 0:04
  I am with the man of the hour, my Co host for five things
• 0:08
  Friday, Mr Reef Quail, managing director, fresh off stage,
• 0:12
  centre stage. Wow, yes it was.
• 0:13
  And the ribbon cutting session that we've had.
• 0:16
  Reef, how are you doing? I'm pretty good.
• 0:18
  It's been a bit of an emotional journey, but I'm fine.
• 0:21
  I'm still standing. I'm still standing.
• 0:22
  Actually, to be honest with you, this is the best part.
• 0:24
  When soon as the doors open and the people are here, it's it
• 0:27
  makes a huge difference. I, I noticed this morning we had
• 0:30
  a whole full conference room for you so that was really good to
• 0:34
  see and the show floor was packed and I think one of the
• 0:38
  things we're going to do now you're actually going to take me
• 0:40
  through some of your your highlights if.
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  You like absolutely there's and there's some really cool stuff
• 0:44
  on that highlight to it for me. You know, we have some really
• 0:47
  cool global programmes, but it's also really good local stuff as
• 0:50
  well for local participation. So innovative showcase the
• 0:53
  latest and greatest technology pitched by VCs around the world
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  and also Fair price. Singapore's largest retailer has
• 1:01
  their own installation, the store of the future.
• 1:03
  So I really. Cool.
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  I did have a look at it. It looked pretty, pretty
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  impressive in terms of the scale and structure.
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  And I presume one of the feelings that I've got about
• 1:12
  this NRF is this whole bringing data to life.
• 1:16
  A lot of people focused on bringing that data life.
• 1:18
  I don't know what the themes. Yeah, it ties beautifully with
• 1:21
  the theme because really retail unlimited is not retail
• 1:24
  unlimited without your data, without your data in order, I
• 1:27
  can't say data, I say data, right.
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  So without without your data in order, you really can't take
• 1:32
  advantage of the opportunity which is retail unlimited.
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  So it starts with data, it starts with getting that stuff
• 1:37
  sorted, and then you can then scale your business.
• 1:40
  Fantastic. Well, let's go inside and take
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  a. Look, absolutely.
• 1:43
  Let's go. Hello, my name is Seth Webb.
• 1:45
  I work with NRF to curate the Innovator Showcase here, which
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  is the only curated section of the Expo 4.
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  All of the these companies have to apply and demonstrate that
• 1:55
  they have a new technology that's come to the market in the
• 1:58
  last two to three years. They have to show how that
• 2:00
  technology has been validated and, and, and proven market fit,
• 2:05
  product market fit. And then they have to also show
• 2:09
  why they're ready to scale because everybody who comes to
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  this show is ready to do something that can work
• 2:14
  everywhere. So we've got 25 companies that
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  fit that bill. A lot of them are early stage,
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  some are, some have been around for a little bit and come up
• 2:22
  with new innovations. We curate this based on
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  recommendations from a network of venture capitalist tech
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  accelerators and retail operators.
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  And we're hoping to answer the question for everybody who comes
• 2:33
  to the show, What's new, What's next?
• 2:35
  How is tech transforming retail? I've got a question.
• 2:38
  I know you've got to go. He's an incredibly busy man.
• 2:41
  We've just caught him off guard. What is that key trend people
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  should be watching apart from AI?
• 2:47
  Yeah, AI. But.
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  What do you? Think we'll put him on the spot?
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  Because you said what you said, what is the trend?
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  And I was going to say, well, it's AI.
• 2:57
  It's AI and it's AI. So, you know, I'm sorry that we
• 3:00
  have a lot of the same. Here, but we actually outcomes
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  from. AI, look, here's what's
• 3:04
  happening here and what you're going to see in the showcase is
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  you're going to see how AI is being applied to sourcing and
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  supply chain, product awareness, inventory, product
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  consideration, customer engagements, payments, service
• 3:17
  of logistics, loyalty, like the whole commerce journey, right?
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  Like how is it fitting in? What's coming to market, what's
• 3:25
  matured, and it's changing on a daily basis.
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  And you know, a lot of the things, one of the things that
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  we've been talking about here this week is how the
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  geopolitical shifts have created a challenging market and, and
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  how AI can help you with some of that regulatory compliance,
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  navigating some of the and, and staying up to up to.
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  Speed. On how there's different changes
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  in in some of your key markets? Fantastic.
• 3:52
  And that's and that's, to be honest with you, why I love
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  working with Stephanie's team. The innovative showcase is a
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  complete feature of our floor and it's a really, it's a real
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  joy because these companies are from all, as I can see, Germany,
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  India, USA. That's right.
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  We've got we've got 12 Asian companies, 12 N American
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  companies, 4 European. Yeah.
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  And so that means that you're seeing companies from all over
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  the world that retailers, management specific would
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  normally not get to see in one place.
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  This is that's spectacular. That's right.
• 4:20
  Great. Well, you know, look, besides
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  AI, we've got, we've got, we've got AI applied to robotics,
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  we've got it applied to software, we've got it applied
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  to in store hardware to create digital displays.
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  I mean, it's, it's, it's integrated in everything here.
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  How about this? I'll come back later when you've
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  not as pressed for time and we'll go and look at some of the
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  key ones. Yeah.
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  And we'll, we'll, we'll go in deep so that way you can get off
• 4:46
  now and we'll come in and do a deep dive on that.
• 4:49
  Thank you so much. That's OK.
• 4:50
  Thanks. Thank you.
• 4:51
  Right. Hello, everyone.
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  You are at the next level of five and five is where I take
• 4:56
  over. And Alex stays quiet.
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  This will be challenging for him, but that's OK.
• 5:00
  I've got this, I think, right. So today we're going to
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  introduce you to a new event that's coming to Southeast Asia,
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  Imedia. And, and what better person to
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  speak about this than Mr Michael Lambs, who's been involved with
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  Imedia for now for more than a decade.
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  This is true. Yes, it's true.
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  Tell me about. Tell me about the event,
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  Michael. So we are bringing the media
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  format to Southeast Asia in Penang next year, 2026,
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  September 2026. The idea for our media is we
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  bring together retailers from all over the region and we're
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  bringing together a senior group of retailers who will be able to
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  share ideas and thinking with each other.
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  They'll experience some fantastic content from the stage
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  and they'll be able to mingle and interact with lots of
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  different solution providers who are experts at what they do and
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  can bring solutions that will be hopefully game changers in those
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  retailers businesses. And what and what I love about
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  our media is you, you, you, you take people away from the
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  office. You take people to a
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  destination, a beautiful destination in Benang, Malaysia.
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  Absolutely. And they don't.
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  They don't leave and they spend time together.
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  Yes, we lock them in. No, we don't.
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  But it's a, it's what's really lovely is when people to arrive
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  at the destination, people kind of decompress and walk into a
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  beautiful environment, but then they're confronted with all of
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  their peers and lots of fantastic people in the industry
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  that they're just itching to chat to.
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  The thing about our media is the quality of the conversations
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  that you can have there. It's such high level is that all
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  of the the retailers that come it's an invitation only events.
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  All the retailers attending have all been selected for the
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  seniority and the the quality of the business that they
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  represent. And so everybody there is of a
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  is a is a high level business person that you with fantastic
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  conversations to be had amongst each other and with the vendors
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  there. Brilliant events.
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  So it's been very much part of my retail journey and I think
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  Southeast Asia get ready because it's going to be a lot.
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  Of fun. It is a lot of fun as well.
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  People will really enjoy themselves and come away
• 6:58
  energised and lots of new ideas for their businesses so.
• 7:01
  Thanks, Michael. If there's one thought left that
• 7:03
  you want to talk about, I mean, you have.
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  We just got all the thoughts out today.
• 7:07
  Come along and experience it. So we run these events across
• 7:09
  the region. So we've run Australia and New
• 7:11
  Zealand. We've our colleagues in Japan
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  run the events there. Our colleagues in India run the
• 7:15
  events there. So we've been going for a long
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  time. A fascinating is a brilliant
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  format and we always have people come back to us after the event
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  saying how much they've enjoyed it, how much value they've got.
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  So bring on Southeast Asia. Thank you, Michael.
• 7:28
  My pleasure. Glad to have you involved.
• 7:29
  My friend, fantastic. Enjoy, see you.
• 7:31
  So we're outside the store of tomorrow, but Reef, we're not
• 7:35
  going to get a chance to go in there today because it's five
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  things. Friday.
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  It's not even Friday, but we're just doing a really quick
• 7:41
  overview. Tell me about it.
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  What is this? This is Fair Prices Store of the
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  Future, So Fair Prices Store of the Future is really
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  highlighting some of the technologies that will be part
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  of the shopping experience with Fair Price as they view the
• 7:54
  future of retail. Fair Price is one of
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  Singapore's, if not Singapore's largest retail group.
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  They have fish everything from from great screen technology to
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  smart carts to AI to facial recognition.
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  There's so many cool things in this exhibit.
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  It's curated by fair price. So it's actually curated by a
• 8:13
  retailer, not a vendor. Yeah.
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  So it's their view of the future as a retailer.
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  So it's something special, something not to be missed.
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  And what I'm sure Alex will catch up with these guys and do
• 8:22
  it a real tour through that, through the experience.
• 8:24
  Well, hopefully day 2 tomorrow you'll TuneIn and your day three
• 8:28
  you'll see the outcome. So anyway, thank you so much for
• 8:31
  giving us your time until tomorrow.
• 8:34
  We're signing off now.