Latest / The Retail Podcast / Retail Transformation in Asia-Pacific: Ryf Quail (NRF APAC) & Shopify’s Bold Moves, with The Retail Podcast

Transcript

Retail Transformation in Asia-Pacific: Ryf Quail (NRF APAC) & Shopify’s Bold Moves, with The Retail Podcast · The Retail Podcast

• 0:00
  Hello welcome to five things Friday in quotes APAC edition.
• 0:05
  Now I appreciate the region is huge, but we've got NRF coming
• 0:09
  up in less than two weeks, NRF APAC that's taking place in
• 0:13
  Singapore. My lovely Co host Laura is based
• 0:17
  in Sydney, Australia. So it would be a miss of not
• 0:21
  doing a a regional focus as opposed to trying to.
• 0:25
  But as Laura quite rightly just pointed out to me is that some
• 0:29
  of these e-commerce issues are global issues or digital issues
• 0:33
  are digital are global digital issues.
• 0:37
  In today's show we're going to carve off into three specific
• 0:41
  areas. We're going to have a special
• 0:42
  guest and that's Reef. Reef is the managing director
• 0:46
  for NRF APAC. He's going to, I filmed with him
• 0:49
  yesterday on the top two things that are top of mind for him
• 0:53
  given that his show is in less than two weeks.
• 0:57
  And then we're going to do 2 things with Laura.
• 0:59
  And then I'm going to do an AI Co host, new retail podcast Co
• 1:04
  host called ChatGPT. But anyway, Laura, why don't we
• 1:08
  hand over to you and you, you tell us what's been top of mind
• 1:11
  for you. The first one I think I cannot
• 1:14
  not talk about as Shopify editions just dropped so this is
• 1:19
  global. All the Shopify Bros are
• 1:22
  definitely in full swing of really reading every part of
• 1:27
  that report and picking the best bets.
• 1:31
  For me, there's a couple, a couple of themes that are quite
• 1:35
  important. I'd say the the one of them as
• 1:38
  they've released a new theme template called Horizon, which
• 1:42
  will have everyone starting to question or should they be
• 1:46
  redesigning their theme? It's a lot to do with AI, how
• 1:49
  you make it. It's going to be super easy.
• 1:51
  They're really, really leaning in a natural language and this
• 1:55
  so really cool new theme template is going to be super
• 1:59
  intuitive to make, customise and build.
• 2:03
  Then the second one is market. So that's really how you go
• 2:05
  global, how you go global. And Shopify has changed a few
• 2:09
  times and they've just been iterating and getting it right.
• 2:12
  But markets seem to be the the now the standardised best way
• 2:17
  for going global. For every region that works with
• 2:20
  Shopify and point of sale, they have been kind of doubling down
• 2:24
  in this. It hasn't really been enterprise
• 2:28
  level, but they're definitely making some plays into it.
• 2:33
  So they're making improvements there.
• 2:35
  Couple of couple of good ones. And then the Sidekick, which is
• 2:39
  their generative AI tool. So I would say that one of the
• 2:44
  things that kind of really stands true to me as they're
• 2:47
  really leaning into how natural language is going to be a big
• 2:51
  part of how people use Shopify in the tool.
• 2:54
  And yeah, it's, it's going to be interesting to see how it plays
• 2:58
  out. So I would definitely say for
• 3:00
  me, that new theme is interesting.
• 3:03
  So around the pause, they've definitely made the the
• 3:06
  interface a lot better. They're constantly, they've made
• 3:09
  a lot of upgrades in this, the additions, the interfaces is, is
• 3:13
  a lot stronger. So there is a lot of changes.
• 3:15
  And one of the things that I read was a big issue that
• 3:19
  they've kind of surfaced is if you're in the store and you buy
• 3:24
  four things and let's say one of them isn't in your size.
• 3:27
  So you want to, you want to buy the four things, but three of
• 3:30
  them you're going to take home and 1 is going to be shipped to
• 3:32
  your home. What they've had to do up to now
• 3:36
  is basically give you 2 invoices.
• 3:38
  So you could still do it, but it was a little bit clunky from a
• 3:41
  customer point of view. You're then getting 2 invoices,
• 3:44
  2 orders probably from the retailer point of view, then
• 3:47
  you're you're getting a skewed data set.
• 3:50
  So that has now been changed. So I'd say that as one of the
• 3:53
  main announcements and just that kind of interface is really
• 3:57
  improved. Yeah, and optimised.
• 4:00
  And one thing that's interesting that I think this happened the
• 4:03
  last time they were selling a lot of the hardware.
• 4:05
  I think they thought their hardware would be a big benefit
• 4:09
  and what they've decided to do is scrub, scrap that, let the
• 4:12
  retailer decide what hardware they want, whether it be
• 4:15
  tablets, iPhones and really make the interface or programme it
• 4:20
  the way they want to do it. So that's a little bit of a, a
• 4:24
  shift. So there's there's quite a few
• 4:25
  pivots. So that's cool markets really
• 4:29
  good that we're kind of moving to a best practise way to go
• 4:32
  global. That's what what we mean by
• 4:35
  markets is it's just going to be a lot easier to manage opening
• 4:38
  up in multiple countries, but also settling in that currency.
• 4:43
  So it was always about that settlement and the and the
• 4:45
  currency and how how you know the retailer is getting the
• 4:48
  money back to them and the sidekick, right?
• 4:51
  You're talking about now you can actually, you know, you get a
• 4:54
  sales spike, you can actually ask in natural language.
• 4:57
  Can you give me a breakdown of why you think this happened?
• 5:00
  So really, really cool things. The one thing for me from coming
• 5:05
  from Agency Land is this new theme.
• 5:08
  I would definitely say I play in that more mid to enterprise
• 5:11
  retail space. You don't have to use it.
• 5:14
  There'll be a lot that jump in it.
• 5:16
  I would probably more wait to see how that pans out.
• 5:19
  And I think we're going through the next couple of months.
• 5:22
  We'll see. I think for me, the big question
• 5:24
  is some of these upgrades, who are they aimed, who they aimed
• 5:28
  at, right? Are they aimed at more that
• 5:30
  entrepreneur? They're definitely feel that
• 5:31
  they're aimed at more that entrepreneurial seller and not
• 5:35
  necessarily for the the top end of town that they're they're
• 5:38
  going after, but definitely moving in that vein.
• 5:42
  So that's the first one. Shopify editions, everyone who's
• 5:47
  in the who's who of the agency, Shopify land, we'll be talking
• 5:50
  about it and I think in two weeks there's a Toronto one day
• 5:55
  big conference with the agencies.
• 5:57
  So I'm sure we'll I'll have more to talk about in that in a
• 6:00
  couple of weeks. The second one I want to talk
• 6:03
  about and I'll try and I'll try and I'll try my best I'll
• 6:07
  probably be as clear as mud. But the second one that's really
• 6:11
  in my mind, I'm very aware that I'm a little bit biassed because
• 6:14
  I've just finished up. I was partnered in an agency for
• 6:17
  6 1/2 years scaling a mid market Shopify agency.
• 6:21
  But as I feel it, I feel it's not just my bias, but I think
• 6:27
  the future of agency really is going to shift significantly in
• 6:32
  the next 12 months. I feel like a lot of the agent,
• 6:35
  the mid market agencies are already, they're already aware
• 6:38
  of this and they're probably looking for how they adapted
• 6:41
  approach. So when speak about that, what I
• 6:46
  mean is a really successful agency from the past would be
• 6:50
  you've got new projects in and you've got a really healthy
• 6:53
  managed services retention, retainer based business.
• 6:57
  I feel now in the the with AI and even the key platforms,
• 7:02
  right? So generative AI, all the chat
• 7:04
  GPTS, but plus even like the drops from Shopify, it's really
• 7:10
  pushing agencies to rethink about how they do business.
• 7:14
  And I, I think there's a big risk for the, the agencies who
• 7:20
  play in that really small end of town, who do, you know, quite
• 7:24
  like, you know, theme based designs and you know, quick
• 7:28
  builds to get them up. Really what's happening in the
• 7:32
  Shopify land is you're, you're probably going to take that in
• 7:36
  house, right? Like direct to consumer brands.
• 7:38
  It's becoming a lot more intuitive, but even the bigger
• 7:42
  end of town, it has to be a lot more about being that business
• 7:46
  partner rather than an order taker.
• 7:48
  You you're going to have to come with your philosophy to the
• 7:51
  client, explaining why really have that that subject matter
• 7:57
  expertise and probably start to go a little bit deeper with your
• 8:02
  clients rather than broader so much more strategic play coming
• 8:06
  up an agency. And that's from the agency
• 8:09
  angle. When I look at the retailers I
• 8:11
  advise to one of the new kind of questions, I would be kind of
• 8:16
  pushing up my list of questions to ask an agency if they were
• 8:19
  looking for one would be tell me about what your approach is to
• 8:23
  AI. How are you being more efficient
• 8:26
  with the use of my retainer and my money?
• 8:28
  What processes are you doing? But also how can you build how,
• 8:33
  how can I make sure I'm spending my money in the most optimised
• 8:37
  way? So yeah, there's, there's
• 8:40
  definitely a little bit of a pivot there.
• 8:42
  But I, I think it's, I think it's a great 1.
• 8:45
  And I think that some agencies will do really well from it.
• 8:48
  But yeah, I think the the volume of smaller Shopify agencies
• 8:52
  we've seen come up, it's like that adapt or die next 6 to 12
• 8:58
  months. We've went through the wave of
• 9:00
  like we've moved a lot of people off of quite custom platforms.
• 9:04
  Maybe that more, you know, the magenta world.
• 9:07
  We've moved a lot of people into this more SAS environment,
• 9:10
  whether it be like a big commerce or a Shopify.
• 9:14
  And now with these new tools, I mean, I was getting annoyed with
• 9:20
  the AI thing. I was like, oh, wow.
• 9:21
  But you can't ignore it. It's, it's really transforming
• 9:25
  the way we're doing everything. And I, I think now what I would
• 9:30
  say is being a generalist isn't really going to cut it.
• 9:34
  Now you have to have deep understanding the technology
• 9:36
  they use and how, how they're going to market and be almost
• 9:40
  like a strategic advisor now rather than taking a Jira board
• 9:43
  of tasks and doing them that that isn't going to be the way
• 9:47
  that you're going to grow your agency.
• 9:49
  So I think it's driven by technology.
• 9:52
  I think the mid market tech have really good teams that can be
• 9:57
  more agile and they're they're rolling out these tools, they're
• 10:00
  changing the game and the retailers that have smart people
• 10:05
  in house are going to start asking a lot more questions to
• 10:09
  their agency partner. So technology, I would say is
• 10:13
  driving it more than like, you know, pulling the push strings a
• 10:17
  bit tight. I think it's more driven by the
• 10:19
  tech. Got you.
• 10:21
  Got you. Yeah.
• 10:22
  I mean, listen, it's a good segue into like my one thing is
• 10:26
  like I I was experimenting with doing a show with AI and seeing
• 10:33
  what that what what that would look like.
• 10:35
  And you know, I asked chat CBT what would be the top five
• 10:39
  trends just to get a feel. I think three of them I agreed
• 10:42
  with and two of them were like, I don't know because one of them
• 10:47
  it says 5G. OK, and and you'll see it here.
• 10:54
  Absolutely. Let's break it down.
• 10:56
  Here are the top five digital transformation trends sweeping
• 10:59
  across the Asia Pacific region. First, AI and machine learning
• 11:03
  integration. Companies are rapidly adopting
• 11:06
  AI and machine learning to enhance everything from customer
• 11:09
  service to supply chain management.
• 11:11
  This is driving efficiency and creating more personalised
• 11:14
  consumer experiences, particularly in e-commerce and
• 11:17
  fintech. 2nd, 5G roll out and adoption.
• 11:21
  The rapid deployment of 5G networks is transforming
• 11:24
  connectivity, enabling innovations in smart cities, IoT
• 11:28
  and real time data analytics. This leap in infrastructure is
• 11:31
  positioning the region as a global leader in ultra fast
• 11:34
  connectivity. Third, e-commerce and digital
• 11:38
  payments boom. The region is witnessing a surge
• 11:40
  in e-commerce platforms and digital payment solutions.
• 11:44
  Super apps like Grad and Go Jack are becoming one stop
• 11:47
  ecosystems, integrating payments, delivery and financial
• 11:50
  services, reshaping consumer behaviour. 4th, cloud computing
• 11:55
  and SAS growth. There's a significant shift
• 11:57
  toward cloud adoption and SAS solutions, driven by the need
• 12:00
  for scalability and remote work capabilities.
• 12:03
  This trend is empowering businesses to innovate faster
• 12:06
  and reduce operational costs. Fifth, digital health and
• 12:10
  telemedicine expansion. The pandemic accelerated the
• 12:13
  adoption of telemedicine and digital health platforms.
• 12:16
  Countries like Singapore, Japan, and South Korea are leading the
• 12:19
  way in integrating digital health solutions into mainstream
• 12:22
  healthcare, improving access and patient outcomes.
• 12:25
  These trends are not only shaping the future of the Asia
• 12:28
  Pacific region but also setting benchmarks for global digital
• 12:31
  transformation. Let's explore each of these in
• 12:34
  more detail and see how they're influencing the market
• 12:36
  landscape. Yeah, I the, the, The thing is,
• 12:39
  I was watching this diary of ACEO, Stephen Bartlett thing and
• 12:45
  you know, they, it was a real sort of like we are sleepwalking
• 12:50
  into like the AI taking over everything, right?
• 12:54
  And, and, and I sort of like sort of ran that through my
• 12:57
  mind. I was thinking, OK, if they say
• 12:59
  that, would podcasts be replaced if you can get like a
• 13:04
  conversational AI like the one from ChatGPT to be able to to
• 13:08
  get it. We're not there yet, but I
• 13:10
  definitely think it's not, it's not five years away.
• 13:14
  It's not ten years away, 1824 months you'll be seeing and I
• 13:19
  don't know, maybe maybe that'll be my claim to fame, the first
• 13:22
  AI generated podcast, but I don't know how many people want
• 13:26
  to listen to that. But anyway, that's my, my, my
• 13:30
  looking glass into the future about I think we're still not
• 13:35
  capitalising on what AI can do for us, specifically within
• 13:39
  retail. Yeah, and, and even the stats,
• 13:43
  like when you hear them, I definitely think some of the big
• 13:46
  guys in the Asia Pacific region are actually further ahead than
• 13:52
  even some of the US retailers, right?
• 13:55
  Like some, you know, some, some of the ones you're going to meet
• 13:58
  in NRF Asia are going to blow your mind, you know, they're,
• 14:02
  they're so far ahead. And I think that's where the
• 14:06
  divide is getting wider, right. And yes, and there's a lot of
• 14:10
  people that are relying in the tech to drive the AI adoption
• 14:15
  and then there's others that are taking matters into their own
• 14:17
  hands. So it's.
• 14:18
  I just, look, I think we're on the cusp of it and and it feels
• 14:22
  like no one wants to talk about it because no retailer wants to
• 14:26
  come out and say, yeah, we're going to cut our workforce by
• 14:30
  50% in merchandising, operations, finance and
• 14:35
  marketing because we've just created an AI model that can do
• 14:40
  the first five things. It's a human in the loop.
• 14:43
  And they keep saying AI won't take your job, someone working
• 14:47
  with AI will take your job. But I just feel given the
• 14:50
  margins in retail I, it feels like it's going to be a a bit
• 14:56
  faster than we think this transformation that we're a. 100
• 14:59
  and and probably leaning back into that point of agency, I
• 15:03
  think the fractional piece, the fractional people are going to
• 15:06
  become like we, we had the buzz everyone was fractional, which
• 15:10
  was just consultants calling themselves fractional.
• 15:13
  But I feel now we're moving in a real fractional expertise is
• 15:17
  going to be what drives that AI adoption.
• 15:21
  So you're still going to need kind of that real senior
• 15:25
  fractional consultant or agency. But I think everyone else will
• 15:30
  be very much where can you use AI and where do you need the
• 15:33
  human? And within that pathway of
• 15:37
  people don't know where a lot of the mid tier, they're a bit
• 15:40
  lost. So they still need expertise and
• 15:43
  they're leaning on their agencies or their their best
• 15:46
  partners. But how long will will that
• 15:50
  take? Or will it just keep changing so
• 15:52
  rapidly that, you know, we we won't become obsolete?
• 15:56
  You know they'll still they'll still need to listen to a
• 15:59
  podcast and not ChatGPT isn't going to be your podcast.
• 16:03
  I. Hope so, yeah.
• 16:04
  But anyway, let's go over to Reef and listen to Reef.
• 16:07
  The top 2. The top.
• 16:09
  Two, number one thing right now is the, the heats come out of
• 16:13
  there's, there's really the geopolitical situation, which
• 16:16
  was being we've seen over the last of sort of, I don't know,
• 16:20
  100 days has has calmed. And I in my, in my home market
• 16:25
  of Australia, we've had the consecutive rate drops, the
• 16:28
  reserve and we're starting to see the green shoots of
• 16:32
  optimism. Even though we've obviously the
• 16:34
  US has drawn a lot of creative, you know, it's drawn a lot of,
• 16:38
  you know, ire. I think that ultimately for the
• 16:40
  region, the we're seeing a real, you know, feeling like we're
• 16:45
  emerging from the mist. Australia certainly, certainly
• 16:48
  has, is turning a corner. Inflation's back under control.
• 16:53
  The region of this, the Southeast Asian region really
• 16:56
  has always been chugging along. But I feel like it's when there,
• 17:00
  there's certainly, certainly there's certainly growth in the
• 17:03
  region. And I think in other parts of
• 17:06
  the region, I think, you know, people are beginning to turn
• 17:10
  their heads from batting down the hatches to thinking about,
• 17:16
  you know, where their next bet is going to be.
• 17:18
  Their expansion's going to be, their opportunity's going to be.
• 17:21
  And that's, that sort of all goes well for us in.
• 17:25
  And that's how my number 2 is. I have a show coming up in 2
• 17:28
  weeks. And, and, and I think, yeah.
• 17:31
  And I think what that's what what the, the global context has
• 17:35
  done has given us real focus for this region.
• 17:38
  And that focus is one of, and our role.
• 17:40
  And that focus is, it's about intra Asia Pacific trade.
• 17:45
  And I think for me, that's really neat because it's a, it
• 17:49
  is a great place to do business in this region.
• 17:51
  It's, you know, all when, as I've always said, as I travel
• 17:53
  around the region, there are a lot of friendly faces and a lot
• 17:55
  of people willing to collaborate.
• 17:57
  We don't have a lot of barriers between us in terms of trade
• 18:01
  barriers. And I think that, you know, and
• 18:04
  what we've found this year from the show is that leaders have
• 18:08
  been very, very keen to participate.
• 18:11
  And so I think for our show, the, the outcome of that
• 18:14
  positivity has been the fact that, you know, our 11 keynotes
• 18:19
  this year are all C level execs. You know, they're not, they're
• 18:23
  not heads of department. We've got executive directors,
• 18:25
  we've got, we've got chairs of Australian businesses, we have
• 18:29
  presidents of Filipino businesses, we've got global CEO
• 18:32
  of Latte and, and, and fair price from Singapore.
• 18:35
  So it's those, those CEOs are coming towards us and they're
• 18:40
  coming. They don't come and speak at a
• 18:41
  show like ours without a, a considered purpose.
• 18:46
  And I think that purpose to put out their shingle and say we're
• 18:49
  ready to do business. And so that's really neat.
• 18:52
  And, and, and then on the on sort of building on that thought
• 18:56
  around, you know, it's really strong programme and certainly
• 18:58
  stronger than 2024, which which was great in itself is that the
• 19:03
  CEOs are coming together. So this year we're launching the
• 19:05
  NRF AIPAC CEO Club and it's it was it's really from the
• 19:11
  learning that, you know, we need to facilitate some networking
• 19:14
  through the region for, you know, intra Asia Pacific trade.
• 19:18
  And we've got roughly, excuse me, we've got roughly.
• 19:23
  I knew the phone would ring. We've got OK, it's just two
• 19:26
  weeks for a show. If one breathe, where was I now?
• 19:29
  So yeah, so we're going to have over 100 CEOs who are coming to
• 19:33
  the show to be part of CEO club to meet other peers from the
• 19:37
  region, you know, and that, you know, that means CEOs aren't not
• 19:41
  looking inward, they're looking outward, which is a really good
• 19:45
  sign, a really good sign. And so I'm excited about about
• 19:49
  that because you know that's we're seeing that geographic,
• 19:53
  that number one thing is geographic lifting of the tide
• 19:57
  in terms of economic conditions that is leading to a much
• 20:01
  stronger participation in the show from leadership this year
• 20:04
  than 2024. And as in 2024 was no, was, was,
• 20:08
  was not, was no slouch. But this year we've been it's
• 20:11
  another, it's gone another level.
• 20:13
  And I think that that participation is a really
• 20:15
  reflection of. You know, optimism and
• 20:17
  positivity about trading within the region.
• 20:20
  The thing that we realised last year when we looked at our show,
• 20:24
  we replicated a lot of programmes from the US and
• 20:27
  through through that journey, we learned quite quickly that in
• 20:30
  the US when they run their format called the Red Carpet
• 20:33
  Club, the CEOs are domestic. So they all know each other.
• 20:37
  So when you know the CEO of Walmart, John Ferner walks into
• 20:44
  BJ's and it's Bob Eddy, they know each other and they walk in
• 20:47
  and they run and they, they chat, right?
• 20:49
  And both lovely men. But when you come to this part
• 20:53
  of the world, as you say, it's so diverse.
• 20:56
  And so we, we, our role and purpose for leadership became
• 21:01
  really clear. We need to have a forum that
• 21:05
  allowed the networking and connection to take place.
• 21:08
  So you answer your question, yes, we're having a mixer on the
• 21:11
  first night. And that mixer will be a bit of
• 21:13
  a welcome from us, but also some technology which will allow them
• 21:17
  to connect with each other at the show, create meetings with
• 21:21
  each other in an exclusive environment that's partitioned
• 21:23
  away from the main show. And then they've got a lounge
• 21:27
  they can retreat to. They can have meetings in.
• 21:30
  They can, you know, they can, they can retire and do a few
• 21:34
  emails or do a few bits and pieces because then we know
• 21:37
  that, you know, these people are busy that they and they're going
• 21:39
  to cherry pick content and quite often it's what happens on the
• 21:42
  sidelines. It counts for these guys.
• 21:44
  So creating a place, a safe place away from the hubbub of
• 21:47
  the Expo and conference, which allows them to to retreat,
• 21:51
  regroup, have a meeting, find a partner, those type of things.
• 21:55
  So, but we've that that mixer upfront will allow them to, you
• 22:00
  know, take the first step of connecting with others in the
• 22:02
  room. I might need a hug next week on
• 22:05
  Friday. You never know.
• 22:05
  It's just it's going well, you know, you know, when you're on a
• 22:10
  show, it's waves of my mind. It's waves of emotion.
• 22:12
  So we're on a bit of a roll and it's all good.
• 22:14
  It's exciting. It's really exciting.
• 22:16
  OK. Thank you, Alex.
• 22:18
  Cheers. So that was the wonderful reef
• 22:19
  and giving his his top two. OK, well listen until next week.
• 22:24
  Have a lovely week. Bye Alex, have a lovely day.
• 22:26
  Bye. Cheers.