Latest / The Retail Podcast / Five Things Friday APAC Edition: Retail’s Next Moves at NRF Singapore & Shoptalk Europe

Transcript

Five Things Friday APAC Edition: Retail’s Next Moves at NRF Singapore & Shoptalk Europe · The Retail Podcast

0:00
Hello and welcome to Five things Friday, AIPAC edition, stroke
0:05
General Edition. We're on the cusp today's Friday
0:08
of two of the largest shows taking place.
0:11
We've got Shop Talk Europe, so if you're in the in Europe, what
0:16
a phenomenal event to attend. And then we've got the
0:20
powerhouse of NRF in AIPAC Insect taking place in Singapore
0:26
starting on Monday. So Are you ready?
0:30
Have you got your bags packed? Have you bought your tickets?
0:33
Have you got your comfy shoes on?
0:35
They are both jam packed with great content, with great
0:39
insights. And I'm not just saying this
0:41
because I have partnerships with them.
0:44
I'm generally saying this because that's how I used to go
0:46
to these events. I've been going to NRF for over
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15 years, obviously in the US and in the last two years in
0:54
AIPAC and I went to the second or first ever shop talk in
0:59
Europe, which I always get it wrong and I apologise if it was.
1:03
I'm pretty sure it was in Denmark, in Copenhagen, outside,
1:08
just outside of Copenhagen. And it was awesome.
1:10
I loved it. The, the, the energy, the
1:13
atmosphere is phenomenal. Anyway, 5 things Friday, you're
1:17
probably saying where's Laura? Where is your Co host?
1:20
Unfortunately, she's not feeling well.
1:22
So obviously you've got to put yourself first always.
1:25
And she's taking some time to recuperate.
1:27
I think she's had a pretty busy week from from what I can see.
1:31
I'm not going to go into, into five things.
1:33
We've got Reef that I'll introduce in a minute and we'll
1:37
go over to NRF APAC and Reef's been living in Singapore for the
1:41
last two weeks and he's sales director.
1:44
I believe it's her birthday today, so happy birthday.
1:48
What I want to do is start with a little video.
1:52
Unimaginable technology. They're decades old.
1:56
Yeah. And so it's just common sense to
1:59
at least think surely there's something beyond these legacy
2:03
products. We have like magic intelligence
2:06
in the cloud. If I wanted to ask Chachi PT
2:09
something right now about something we had talked about
2:12
earlier, think about what would happen.
2:13
I would like reach down, I would get on my laptop, I'd open it
2:16
up, I'd launch a web browser, I'd start typing and I'd have to
2:18
like explain that thing. And I would hit enter and I
2:20
would wait and I would get a response.
2:22
And that is at the limit of what the current tool of a laptop can
2:25
do. So here's Sam Altman, Johnny,
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I've two of the most iconic leaders in the world of tech
2:34
talking about how they're going to come together and reshape
2:38
devices pretty much something like this, a mixed device,
2:43
something that as Sam Altman went to great pains in
2:47
describing a laptop experience, not a mobile experience because
2:51
he said, oh, if we were using Chachibati runs on mobile.
2:56
The Chachibati app is pretty, pretty awesome as it stands.
3:00
Yes, it's feature poor, but ability rich, but they're coming
3:05
together. Their product is coming out next
3:07
year, which leads me to wanting to raise a flag, a warning to
3:13
warn you, my listeners, who coincidentally in May, we've had
3:17
the phenomenal, I had the phenomenal notifications from
3:20
Spotify yesterday, 10,000 streams, 500 listeners on the
3:25
Spotify platform alone, which when you look at a small retail
3:31
community across the world, for me, it's phenomenal.
3:37
I am so, so grateful and happy, but I want to to sort of bring
3:42
raise the ring the bell, say, hey, are you paying attention?
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I think a lot of organisations are sleeping, walking either to
3:50
being disrupted or left behind, but so are the workers Now this,
3:55
if you're watching this and you're like, hey man, my job's
3:58
my job. I'm going to go there, I'm going
3:59
to do my job and then that's it. Then probably you wouldn't be
4:04
watching this because if you know me, that's not how we turn
4:07
up. We we turn up to do our best and
4:10
to to live our best lives. And what AI is going to do to
4:16
our work lives is going to be pretty severe and in retail more
4:21
than most other areas because of the margins.
4:25
And so if you couldn't pass your days back memory back to when
4:30
Uber first came and you know, you can get across the city for
4:34
a couple of quid or bucks or EUR, you were getting Uber
4:38
vouchers were being left, right and centre coming, You know, 10%
4:41
discount here, 20% discount there.
4:44
Search price wasn't surge, pricing hadn't really taken off.
4:48
And then all of a sudden throughout the years, because
4:51
that was all funded by VC, the pricing crept up, crept up,
4:56
crept up. And I've listened to a lot of
4:57
founders, I've listened to a lot of startups saying, ah, AI is
5:02
magnificent. We used to have three developers
5:05
and now for 200 bucks a month, we don't need to two full time,
5:10
you know, 60 KA year people. So that's 120 K saving.
5:15
And I think, again, anyone who's been in the industry long
5:18
enough, whether it's Adobe, whether it's any of the sort of
5:22
SAS Pro providers and sales force, at a very soon point in
5:28
time, the pricing starts to change because the outcome that
5:32
you're creating, IE 2 workers, you're saving on their salaries
5:38
will be factored into the tool that you're using.
5:41
And this isn't a stop using the tool.
5:44
You've got to give up on using AI, not at all.
5:48
We are in the gold rush period of AI.
5:51
So this is the opportunity if you're a small business to
5:54
maximise your return on investment on AI or if you're a
5:58
knowledge worker to maximise your investment.
6:01
Because in the next, it may take long.
6:04
I don't know. The pricing is a little bit
6:06
difficult. But my assumption is in the next
6:09
two to three years we'll see an increase.
6:12
As that increases, we'll see businesses also changing their
6:17
operating models, changing their requirements and wanting more
6:22
humans in the loop, working with AI at Pace.
6:27
And I think, and that was another thing that I was reading
6:30
from someone who was retiring on LinkedIn, that this, you know,
6:33
at Pace term is being used now to sort of drive people in a
6:38
really uncomfortable way because it's sort of saying, oh, we've
6:42
got to go out pace. The market's going out pace.
6:45
From my perspective, out pace is a passion driven energy.
6:49
And so therefore, if, if, if someone's driving you to, to do
6:52
that, then obviously they don't understand your work, they don't
6:55
understand you or, you know, there's, there's a bit of a
6:58
mismatch there because you should be driving that yourself
7:01
and, and, you know, the world is going to change.
7:04
So I think I'm, I'm super excited because obviously to
7:08
have some new technology hardware that will potentially
7:12
replace laptops. I don't know, Again, I'm really
7:15
interested. Curious about your thoughts on
7:18
why they've gone after the laptop first, or maybe that's
7:20
just they to sort of take us off the scent.
7:23
They're really not going to go after laptops and they're going
7:26
to go after mobiles and create a little pocket for all those.
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I think it was her the the where you put the headphone in and
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your AI comes to life. We're, we're there.
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We're on the cusp of that with all of the problems that that
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brings. We're on the cusp of it.
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And as listeners of the retail podcast of five things Friday, I
7:45
want you guys to be a be prepared.
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And if there is anything you, you need to know if if you're
7:51
curious or you want to have a conversation, just e-mail me.
7:54
I'll I'll 100% small enough to to respond personally and take
8:00
an interest in in helping where I can as I think I've had to
8:04
pretty much reinvent myself within my career significantly
8:09
over the last 30 years. And so anything I can pass on,
8:13
I'm willing to do. With that in mind, let's go over
8:16
to Reef. Hi Alex, I I live for these
8:18
podcasts with you. It makes me feel happy and
8:20
joyful. Well, I'm sending you the
8:22
virtual cuddle because I remember the end of the show
8:25
last time you said look when you when I, when anyone sees me,
8:28
just give me a cuddle on on the show.
8:30
So I'm sending you that virtual cuddle.
8:32
I think it's, you know, it's been a week, but I feel maybe 10
8:35
years older, but that's OK. We're OK.
8:37
You don't look 10 years old. You're looking still fresh and
8:40
happening. So let's let's listen.
8:41
Yeah. Oh, sorry.
8:42
Go on. So before I start to, I might
8:46
throw this, and this has been unprepared, but today is MJ, my
8:50
sales director's birthday and tomorrow is obviously the last
8:55
day of the week before the show next week.
8:57
So if anyone wants to give MJ a birthday present, I reckon she's
9:00
about 5K off her budget. So I spons any sponsors out
9:02
there. Well, MJ, Oh, OK, we love this,
9:06
we love that. Just give, give me a call, DM me
9:08
and I'll hook you up with MJ and you'll make her day because it's
9:11
her birthday and she's worked so hard for this and so you'll make
9:14
her really happy. So you you heard it direct from
9:17
Reef. Make make MJ happy with
9:19
sponsorship no. It's one of the most important
9:22
things in my life. You know you've got your sales,
9:23
directors are happy. The world's a happy place.
9:26
Got you. I, I, I say happy wife, happy
9:28
life. But I guess in your world, happy
9:31
sales director. Absolutely.
9:34
You know, I'm pointing in the same direction.
9:35
So when she hears this, she'll be, she'll be up and about, you
9:38
know, because she'll be happy she got a mention.
9:41
Well, listen, why don't we? Obviously, you're living in
9:44
Singapore right now for before the show starts next week.
9:47
But tell me, what are your top 2?
9:49
My top 2 this week 1 relates to my live my world at the moment
9:53
in the show and the other relates to doing business in our
9:56
region. Sure.
9:57
So the number one thing right now is ratios and ratios as an
10:02
organiser is really, really important.
10:05
And so and what I mean by ratios is the the split of retailers in
10:12
our case to non retailers attending the event.
10:16
So if you think about what's important to people who come to
10:20
a show like ours, it's very much OK.
10:24
As a retailer, you come for one, to learn and be access content,
10:29
right? Two, to shop, you're trying to
10:31
find solutions from the pro for the problems in their business,
10:35
but you don't want to be overwhelmed by vendors, right?
10:38
And three, you want to connect with your peers, particularly
10:42
peers that are facing the similar challenges to you,
10:46
right? So you can share a few war
10:47
stories and compare notes. And quite often, you know, even
10:52
even recommend vendors, OK, which is quite powerful, right?
10:56
You know, there's nothing more compelling than meeting a
10:59
retailer who's had a fantastic experience with a vendor, right?
11:03
So that's really important. So, so if you've got more than
11:09
50% retailers, that's a good thing because that means it's
11:14
not, it's not stuck one way. So we're, we're approaching 60%
11:18
retailers to non retailers this year show.
11:21
And I know that all of our exhibitors, it's, it's that's
11:23
really important. So on the other side of the
11:25
fence, that's our exhibitors and sponsors.
11:27
That's everyone from Shopify to Adyen to MasterCard and all
11:32
inclusive. Now you can imagine how unhappy
11:35
they are. It's just vendors on the Expo
11:36
floor. It's a nightmare.
11:39
Well, they like, they all know each other so they don't mind
11:41
catching up for a drink, but they can't really get any ROI.
11:44
So for them, what's really important then is that they've
11:47
got, you know, a bunch of bodies going past who's interested in
11:51
their solution and enough of them.
11:53
So for me, that's the bit that we focus on now because you need
11:59
to quite often resist the urge as an organiser to sell tickets
12:02
to everyone and you'll see people do it differently.
12:06
So, you know, in in our world, if I'm marketing now and I want
12:10
retailers, I'm highlighting what's on stage.
12:13
Yeah. But if I'm wanting to get
12:16
exhibitors and sponsors or non retailers, vendors, so to speak,
12:20
our industry partners as we call them, yeah, then I'm leading
12:23
with who's coming, who are the retailers that are coming
12:27
because they're they're different triggers.
12:28
OK. So, and so you'll see a lot of
12:30
the stuff right now will be very much for us around obviously
12:34
speakers for retailers and then who's coming.
12:37
So you'll see brand montages because we've got a really good
12:39
ratio this year. So I'm quite pleased with that.
12:42
But you know, you always got to keep an eye if you're a if
12:45
you're a retailer or a non retailer coming to an event like
12:48
ours. That's the thing, that's the
12:49
watch out and and that's the basis of a really good event
12:53
experience. OK, makes sense.
12:56
So #2 and #2 for me is just really coming back to our
13:03
region, our region, Asia Pacific.
13:05
Now as we've talked about before, you know more than half
13:08
the world's customers, retail customers are in this part of
13:11
the world, right it, but it is extremely diverse.
13:15
It's not a one-size-fits-all region.
13:18
In fact, there is China, there is India, there's all Southeast
13:23
Asia, then there's Pacific. Yeah.
13:25
And what that means is, and every country is its own
13:29
sovereign nation, right? So it has its own currency.
13:34
It has its own culture, in some cases, multiple cultures.
13:38
Have a good look at Malaysia. Yeah.
13:40
For example, language, legislative contexts and also
13:45
also infrastructure to get product to people.
13:48
Right. Everything's different.
13:51
Yeah. And So what we've learned on our
13:53
journey and, and really been immersed in this over the last
13:56
little while has been about the whole ability to do business.
14:00
We've seen big organisations try to turn up into markets and do
14:06
it alone on their own and fail. I'm talking about $280 billion
14:13
retailers coming into a SEA market and leaving with their
14:17
tails between their legs. Yeah.
14:19
So we're not talking about small fraud.
14:20
We're talking about, but this, this message is true whether you
14:24
are a a $50 million retailer or a $300 billion retailer.
14:29
Yeah, right. So, and so one of the things I
14:33
want to do with the programme this year is, is sort of deliver
14:37
a session that embodies that and embodies how some of this
14:41
diversity and the bridge has been crossed.
14:45
Yeah. Because.
14:46
You know, if you don't tell the stories, then you don't inspire
14:50
the next generation of retailers to do that.
14:52
And that's it isn't the thing that gets me out of bed in the
14:54
morning too. This is the thing I'm most
14:55
excited about. If I see a retailer, you know,
14:58
you know, from Malaysia setting up in Vietnam because I've met
15:00
someone at my show that is extremely rewarding for me
15:04
personally. That's that's cool, right?
15:06
And so for me, the session that's on the, IT sort of
15:10
embodies this is on the afternoon of day one, so on the
15:14
Tuesday afternoon, right. And that's Ian Bailey.
15:17
Now Ian Bailey was the MD of Kmart in Australia.
15:21
And Kmart is a power. It's not like the US, it's a
15:24
powerhouse of a business. It's an $11 billion turnover
15:29
Aussie business. They've got various brands
15:31
right, if I if I remember correctly.
15:32
Yeah, yeah. So Kmart is an incredible place,
15:36
but on its journey, you know, it sells toys and Lego and all
15:41
those sort of things. I think it's Australia's biggest
15:43
retailer of Lego. I don't know.
15:45
I think something like 70 to 80% of Kmart's revenue is their
15:51
house brand Anko. Right.
15:54
And anko is everything from shirts, ANKO, anko everything
15:59
from shirts to coffee cups. Yeah.
16:03
To, you know, to linen, to kettles you can make a cup of
16:07
tea with, to everything, right? To crockery and cutlery,
16:11
everything. You name it.
16:12
Yeah. And the, the, the story of how
16:15
that product has come together is, is amazing.
16:18
And how it's rebuilt and made this Kmart a dynamic and
16:22
powerhouse of a business across Australia and New Zealand is
16:24
fascinating. But then Ian's no longer than
16:27
MD. He's taken on the role as global
16:30
chair of Anko. So his passion is not changed.
16:34
He still lives in the family, but he's taking the Anko brand
16:39
to the world, to North America, to Europe and to Asia.
16:43
Oh yeah. OK.
16:45
And so you. Say it's ANCO.
16:48
ANKO. ANKO.
16:51
Yeah, Anko. And so he has done a partnership
16:54
in the Philippines, for example. Now as you know that Australia
16:57
and the Philippines are a long way away geographically from
17:00
each other, probably about, I don't know, 8-10 hours by plane.
17:04
Yeah, a completely different country.
17:06
You know, the Philippines is mostly cash economy.
17:09
You know, they're not. They're not so big on credit
17:11
cards in the Philippines, unlike Australia, they have other
17:13
payment mechanisms. Marketplaces like Shopee are
17:16
pretty dominant there. But Anko has set up a retail
17:20
operation under its own brand in the Philippines.
17:24
But as I said before, you can't set up if you're an Australian,
17:27
you can't just turn up in the Philippines and set up a store.
17:30
You've got to find a partner. So Ian's going to talk about
17:33
that journey, finding a partner, finding like minds, going
17:38
through that due diligence process, finding on the same
17:41
page and then doing it, doing this, launching A launching a
17:46
retail operation together. Go ahead.
17:48
Right, that and it's pretty cool, right?
17:52
And so for me, his anecdote he used when I was speaking to him
17:56
about his session was sometimes as an Australian, you don't
18:00
understand. And when your partner says I'll
18:03
take care of that, you nod and smile because they know what's
18:07
important in their market, not you.
18:09
Yeah. And so that that development of
18:11
relationship and trust over time through partnership is pretty
18:14
special. And that's two very diverse
18:17
markets. So that's a really cool story.
18:19
And I'm really, I'm really hoping.
18:21
And, and they're going to be going through that on stage,
18:24
yes. Yes.
18:26
So that's exciting because that's, you know, that's the
18:28
story we want to highlight. You know, we want to act.
18:31
You talk talk about this and you can see, you know, I think for
18:34
me in partnership, probably the most successful Asia Pacific
18:38
country right in in the region is Japan.
18:42
Yeah. And Japan, you know, is North
18:46
Asia, so it's very formal and has protocol.
18:48
Yeah. Yet they have been more
18:50
successful, I think than any other country with Aeon fast
18:54
retailing or Uniqlo. Yeah, Muji PPIH shows on stage
18:59
with last year, yeah to expand through the region and build
19:03
partnerships in each of the markets, Indonesia, Malaysia,
19:07
yeah, some fantastic but that's you know that's but they are
19:09
well established and they are and as you know in Japan they
19:13
are long term players. Yeah.
19:15
So it's they, I mean they are the benchmark.
19:18
Yeah. But I mean, I'm, I'm really
19:21
excited about Ian's session. That's fantastic.
19:23
Well, look, listen, I look forward to not long now it's
19:27
like. Four days.
19:28
Slopes. Yeah.
19:29
Yeah. What day is it again?
19:31
I don't. Know we're almost there, we're
19:34
all. Right.
19:34
Saturday, Sunday, Monday, I'll be on.
19:36
I'll be, I'll be there. I'll be there one of these days
19:38
soon. It's OK.
19:39
Well. Yeah, exactly.
19:40
And I'll get to to to give you that cuddle.
19:43
Yeah. I'm looking forward to that.
19:45
Looking forward to that. OK.
19:46
Reef, thank you so much and. Then no worries.
19:49
And just remember, don't do it for me, do it for MJ.
19:52
All right. Thank you, Alex.
19:54
I look forward to seeing you for my friend.
19:56
Bye. Bye.
19:58
Thank you Reef happy birthday and I wish I could pronounce it.
20:02
Thank you Reef. Happy birthday to your wonderful
20:05
sales director. I will maybe bring you something
20:08
from Spain or the UK. Definitely not the the miserable
20:12
weather, but I will hopefully get to to share in the in the
20:15
joy of your birthday. And so with that, I wish you a
20:18
happy weekend. Have fun at shop Talk or NRF.
20:21
Let me know how you. Get on and then hopefully next
20:24
week we'll be back with the wonderful Laura and Reef.
20:28
Until then, have a fantastic week.