Latest / The Retail Podcast / NRF APAC 2025: Retail’s New Frontier with Jill Dvorak and Ryf Quail

Transcript

NRF APAC 2025: Retail’s New Frontier with Jill Dvorak and Ryf Quail · The Retail Podcast

• 0:00
  What what we're talking about is the next now.
• 0:01
  It's the next generation, but it's here, it's the now
• 0:05
  generation. So we're really focusing a lot
• 0:08
  on content and experiences that are ageing a little bit younger.
• 0:16
  You know, every, you always hear the generational, you know,
• 0:19
  stereotypes. But one thing that is seeming
• 0:21
  really true about this next generation is they are all
• 0:24
  incredible individuals and they are individualistic, meaning
• 0:29
  they don't really fit into a huge pot that you can just say,
• 0:33
  oh, they're this or they're that.
• 0:34
  They shop, they shop their values, they shop their ethics
• 0:37
  more than anyone's done before. And that's going to prove to be
• 0:41
  a really unique challenge for retailers.
• 0:43
  So we're trying to get, if we can get ahead of it, that's what
• 0:46
  we're trying to do. Hello and welcome to A and I
• 0:58
  know I always say this sentence a really special episode of the
• 1:02
  retail podcast and I always say that it's a crescendo.
• 1:06
  It just keeps getting better and better.
• 1:08
  And what better surprise than being on the stage, the main
• 1:13
  keynote stage with the people. Obviously, you know, roof from
• 1:17
  our five things Friday, but we're joined by with, I'm sorry,
• 1:20
  we're joined by, we're joined by, joined by.
• 1:24
  Jill has joined. Jill's here.
• 1:26
  Jill's here. She's so important.
• 1:29
  She's got me flustered. Jill is the SVP of content for
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  NRF across the world, so very heavy responsibility.
• 1:40
  And So what we're going to do, we're going to just jump
• 1:42
  straight in a lot. Of pressure.
• 1:44
  A lot of pressure, a lot of pressure and and she's looking
• 1:48
  fabulous. Honestly, you wouldn't know this
• 1:50
  is the third day there's. Some fantastic meds here in
• 1:54
  Singapore. I guess we're going to be doing
• 1:58
  a lot of editing anyway. So Jill, why don't we start with
• 2:03
  you? Obviously, you have this massive
• 2:06
  umbrella of the NRF brand and this sort of flagship event in
• 2:11
  the US that's expanded across the globe.
• 2:14
  So what's how's it been? How's the conference been for
• 2:17
  you? It's been absolutely incredible.
• 2:20
  You know, this is our second year at in the Singapore, you
• 2:24
  know, APEC region. And really we came here for
• 2:29
  growth, for innovation and to bring ideas in two directions,
• 2:35
  really bring it back to a lot of the NRF members in the US and
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  also bring some of the things that are working in the US here.
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  You know, I mean, it's retails one of the most kind of globally
• 2:46
  connected industries out there, powered by tech, powered by
• 2:49
  people. All of those are global get out.
• 2:52
  So it's been truly incredible. I think we've broken all
• 2:55
  numbers. All records have been broken.
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  I love. I love a.
• 2:59
  Record. I love a record.
• 3:00
  I love smashing it. So you know, just to shy of
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  about 10,000 people this year, 10,000 attendees, More sponsors,
• 3:08
  more content, more countries represented.
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  I mean truly, it could not have gone better.
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  I mean, the Expo floor was packed.
• 3:16
  All, all of the exhibitors we've spoken with, we're really
• 3:19
  excited. You know, what they get here is
• 3:22
  not only access to people that maybe they haven't ever gotten
• 3:27
  to speak with or work with in these regions, but they also get
• 3:30
  access to their networks that already exist here.
• 3:33
  And this is such a diverse hundreds of countries in this
• 3:37
  region, obviously. So for everyone involved, it's
• 3:40
  just as exciting and it feels, I don't know, it feels like a new
• 3:44
  frontier in a way, even though it's, it's been around for so
• 3:47
  long, obviously. So just cast your mind back.
• 3:50
  When did you arrive? Sunday evening.
• 3:54
  OK, it's Saturday, you're getting ready, you're going to
• 3:57
  the airport, you're obviously going into business premier
• 4:00
  class wherever you fly. Very expensive flights.
• 4:05
  I actually left Thursday because I was in the belly of the plane.
• 4:09
  Yeah, I I find a cattle class, so it's OK.
• 4:11
  I still. Got my RFID chip on me actually.
• 4:14
  So my, my, so you're, you're flying out here and you and
• 4:18
  you're running through because obviously you're head of
• 4:19
  concerts, you're thinking there's these talks.
• 4:22
  What's the one thing that surprised you over the last
• 4:25
  three days? Good question.
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  I think honestly, the, the excitement of the retailers that
• 4:33
  I've spoken with here to partner and to think about buying or
• 4:40
  renting and not building so much of the tech infrastructure over
• 4:44
  the past, you know, at least decade or two that I've been in
• 4:48
  retail, it's this build versus buy constantly.
• 4:51
  That conversation I think has really lessened and it's it's
• 4:56
  partnering. It's just partnering.
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  And I think there's a lot of that that is happening now in
• 5:01
  the states as well. But here it was almost a, a
• 5:04
  given that you wouldn't do something yourself when somebody
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  else is doing it better and more efficiently.
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  So I think that's just, I mean it's great for all of our
• 5:13
  industry partners who want new customers in this area.
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  And frankly it's great for the end customer who's purchasing
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  goods from a company who cares about how can they get it
• 5:22
  better, faster, quicker. So that's been that's been great
• 5:25
  to see. That's really interesting
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  because Reef, I remember you talking about this whole
• 5:29
  connecting partnering the CEO club, obviously Co host.
• 5:33
  You've been we've been doing this the last three days and and
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  you that was one thing that when you first mentioned it to me, I
• 5:40
  took it as a Givens, of course, but then it's really a unique
• 5:44
  thing to the show. Obviously on day three, we're
• 5:47
  not over there. We're just in the middle of day
• 5:49
  three. There's that wonderful keynote
• 5:51
  to come later by myself and and Ruth, but what's what's, what's
• 5:56
  been the show for you, I mean. At the end of the day, as Jill
• 5:59
  said, we've had some growth, but I think for me, the journey over
• 6:02
  the last, and I've been on the journey since 2003 to bring this
• 6:04
  show to life. Yeah.
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  And you know, I'm Australian, I, I move around the region.
• 6:12
  But what's been awesome is people, it's it's been a super
• 6:14
  friendly region and I've connected with some amazing
• 6:17
  people. So you know, the other morning I
• 6:20
  had breakfast seeing next to Sam Kim, the global CEO of Latte and
• 6:25
  and hey Sam. He's got.
• 6:27
  Did you buy his? Breakfast.
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  Apparently he's a really nice guy.
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  He's. A he's a lovely man.
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  And and, and, and, and then the energy of people like V Paul
• 6:35
  Charla, who's the CEO of Fair Price, who's just passion and
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  focus for this show has just brought so many things special
• 6:42
  to life here. And so so.
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  They want to help. They want to help and, and they
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  and they, they want to have a regional show where they all
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  come together so and well, me included.
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  So for us, for me, the people I've met along the journey are
• 6:55
  being special. And and last night was not that
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  it was a public thing, but it was the culmination of that was
• 7:03
  a gathering for the Advisory Board.
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  So we gather about, we have about 3035 folks from Mumbai to
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  Tokyo down to Auckland who guide us on the big themes and topics
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  of the region. And it's rare that we get
• 7:16
  together. I do lots of one on ones.
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  We might have a lunch in a town and and whoever's around we we
• 7:22
  catch up. But we had. 30 of them together
• 7:24
  last night and it was truly special, you know, because they
• 7:29
  all know of each other. Yeah, but they all got to meet
• 7:31
  each other. And I, I, we, it was, I was, I
• 7:33
  was. It was obviously the night of
• 7:35
  night too. After the lead up the shirt, I
• 7:36
  was exceedingly tired. They wouldn't go home.
• 7:39
  Sorry. About.
• 7:43
  That but you know that's sort of magic, you know and you look
• 7:46
  around the room and I'm like sort of pinching moment, you
• 7:49
  know, it's this pretty cool it's really it's pretty still quite
• 7:52
  blessed. That's fantastic.
• 7:54
  And, and, and I mean, and as I said, it's diverse from the
• 7:58
  Advisory Board like when last year we had 52 countries come
• 8:01
  right. This year we've had 72 different
• 8:03
  nations attend this show. Wow, so.
• 8:08
  I don't know how many more can we.
• 8:10
  How many more headsets are you going to have to go right?
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  But me, what's really cool about that is and I and I passionate
• 8:17
  about turning people's heads towards this region.
• 8:21
  Yeah. And that's a really strong
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  statement to go 52 to 72. So people are now thinking about
• 8:26
  this region and the potential of this region.
• 8:28
  Our theme is Retail Unlimited. Yeah.
• 8:30
  You know, that's the cool thing. Like we're going, this show is
• 8:33
  waking up a bit of a sleeping giant.
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  And for me, the people who live in this region are going where
• 8:40
  they're. So they're so truly embracing
• 8:42
  it. Yeah.
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  And then people because of this show are going, there's an
• 8:47
  opportunity. Yeah.
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  And and demystifying the opportunity and coming in and
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  and wanting to have conversations.
• 8:53
  So that's neat. Yeah, That's so cool.
• 8:55
  Yeah, Joe, if we're going to just cast our minds into the
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  future because obviously this doesn't stop for you, Obviously
• 9:01
  Reef's going to breathe for a couple of days and then get onto
• 9:04
  that's good. But you've you know, you've got,
• 9:07
  I know you were saying you've got the two months off.
• 9:13
  Yeah, he's not joking. Yeah, yeah, we're not going to
• 9:18
  go. Have they been working or?
• 9:22
  Yeah, we need that anyway. You've got some, you've got
• 9:27
  literally are going in and you were saying that you've got
• 9:30
  another Expo folks, the Security Focus 1 NRF protect.
• 9:34
  NRF Protect. Yeah, yeah.
• 9:35
  So just tell me what? What does the rest of the year
• 9:38
  look like for you? Yeah.
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  I mean the calendar we try to work to put shows when we think
• 9:44
  and know retailers can attend potentially have time to really
• 9:49
  invest A-Team being on the floor looking at new technology,
• 9:53
  looking at investing, things like that.
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  So you know, everyone is different budget cycles, but we
• 9:58
  really we had shows throughout the year.
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  So in two weeks from now we'll be in Dallas with NRF Protect,
• 10:03
  which is our asset protection and loft prevention show.
• 10:07
  A lot of it is just about mitigating and lowering risk.
• 10:11
  That's about shrinkage, yeah. It is shrinkage.
• 10:13
  Yeah. Organised retail crime,
• 10:16
  shoplifting, cyber, digital fraud, all sorts of, you know,
• 10:20
  fraud prevention and it's just, it's getting more and more
• 10:23
  massive, right? I mean, who isn't getting
• 10:26
  different types of phishing emails or, you know, ransomware
• 10:29
  and cyber attacks? It's, it's unfortunately all too
• 10:33
  real. You know, I'm speaking to
• 10:34
  somebody last night at the Advisory Board dinner, it was,
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  you either are experiencing a cyber attack this year or you'll
• 10:41
  be next year. And it was, you know it, we're
• 10:44
  all in it together. So what I really love about what
• 10:47
  NRF does is we allow all boats to rise.
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  You know, I, I've actually gotten asked by a lot of people
• 10:53
  who don't really understand retail, how do you get all these
• 10:56
  competitors in a room and have them talk?
• 10:58
  I was like, we're not all competing.
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  What we're doing is we're trying to serve customers.
• 11:04
  You know, shopping is emotional or it can be emotional,
• 11:07
  hopefully for the better, you know, but people have real
• 11:10
  attachment and emotions connected with brands.
• 11:13
  So we're trying to power the people who can put that
• 11:15
  experience in front of a customer.
• 11:18
  We're trying to help them. So Protect is coming up in two
• 11:21
  weeks, then we go, we have, you know, month or two off.
• 11:25
  Then we have a retail law Summit that is in person.
• 11:29
  We also have one that's at virtual six months later.
• 11:32
  Then we go to Paris, which is NRF Europe, big Show Europe.
• 11:37
  That is our first dip in a toe into Europe.
• 11:40
  So this year September 16th to 18th and then we have two or
• 11:46
  three months until January at the big show and we is there all
• 11:49
  over. I, I have obviously fanboy
• 11:52
  myself. Lots of people who watch the
• 11:54
  podcast, I meet them at NRF and that's where we all get
• 11:59
  together. Any sneak peeks, anything you
• 12:02
  can give us? Anything that's driving content.
• 12:06
  Function there. Oh, really?
• 12:10
  You're crashing the party? Yeah.
• 12:13
  That's fine. No, we massive.
• 12:15
  Yeah, apparently these guys are showing up.
• 12:17
  You know, I mean the outside of obviously inviting all the
• 12:20
  global partners. You know, the theme this year
• 12:23
  obviously APEC was retail unlimited.
• 12:25
  The theme at Big Show is the next now.
• 12:29
  So it's kind of a play on the, you know, the new normal and all
• 12:33
  the terms that we heard going through, you know, the, the
• 12:36
  COVID time period, still still a little too soon to use that.
• 12:40
  But what, what we're talking about is the next, now it's the
• 12:42
  next generation, but it's here, it's the now generation.
• 12:47
  So we're really focusing a lot on content and experiences that
• 12:52
  are ageing a little bit younger. You know, every, you always hear
• 12:57
  the generational, you know, stereotypes.
• 13:01
  But one thing that is seeming really true about this next
• 13:03
  generation is they are all incredible individuals and they
• 13:07
  are individualistic, meaning they don't really fit into a
• 13:11
  huge pot that you can just say, oh, they're this or they're
• 13:14
  that. They shot, they shop their
• 13:16
  values, they shot their ethics more than anyone's done before.
• 13:20
  And that's going to prove to be a really unique challenge for
• 13:23
  retailers trying to get, if we can get ahead of it, that's what
• 13:27
  we're trying to do. Well, it's interesting.
• 13:29
  I mean, this isn't a personal plug as anyone who watches the
• 13:31
  podcast, my it's like, who'd you, who have you met?
• 13:35
  Who hasn't got a book out right. But but finally, you haven't got
• 13:38
  1 yet. Oh my God.
• 13:39
  Come on. What are you weighing?
• 13:40
  But ghostwriter. Here we go.
• 13:42
  They they that seriously? Yeah.
• 13:45
  Well, in my book that was released earlier this year, The
• 13:47
  future of retail now. No, but but it's interesting
• 13:51
  that you're going the Genz Gen Alpha.
• 13:54
  Genz Alpha. So that's the focus.
• 13:56
  It's really about that. So here's an interesting sort of
• 14:00
  topical thing. What about the older generation?
• 14:02
  Do you not think we're forgetting about them because
• 14:05
  the share of wallet, yes, is not addressable for another five
• 14:09
  years for that generation? Yes and no.
• 14:12
  OK. You look at the Roblox
• 14:14
  purchases, you look at all of those purchases yeah they do not
• 14:18
  necessarily have purchasing power, but they have their
• 14:21
  parents wallet and influence right so they really and I
• 14:25
  unfortunately fall prey to it of a 10 and a 13 year old yeah Mom,
• 14:29
  I want this mom I was like can I just buy you a toy a.
• 14:31
  Yeah, a physical. I don't know.
• 14:33
  Where is this Roblox? Roblox I.
• 14:35
  Must have this avatar. A skin of this of that, a new
• 14:40
  car on Forza. But I mean, that is definitely
• 14:43
  true. That's up and coming.
• 14:44
  And that generation requires personalization.
• 14:48
  So by getting a little ahead of it, hopefully that the data and
• 14:53
  the house can be in order to kind of build those experiences.
• 14:56
  100% agree with you though ignoring the whether it's
• 15:00
  boomers or ex or any of. Those no.
• 15:03
  No. And I've got to say, and I've
• 15:06
  got to say for this region, yeah, particularly N Asia where
• 15:10
  there's ageing populations, they are holding all of the wealth.
• 15:13
  Yeah. So anyone and and and as an ex
• 15:16
  media person, anyone who's thinking about 25 to 54
• 15:23
  demographics, yeah, it's just a thing of the past, you know, go,
• 15:27
  you know. So people, people are we've got
• 15:29
  a whole generation that's reinventing the way they engage
• 15:32
  with brands. Yeah.
• 15:33
  And the older generation is still holding all the wealth, so
• 15:36
  and are still working in many cases, yes.
• 15:38
  Yes. Interesting.
• 15:39
  So there's the it's, it's, it's harder to be a, a marketer in a
• 15:43
  retail business because you're gonna, you're serving such a
• 15:46
  broad preference set. Yeah, I got you.
• 15:47
  Really. I noticed that downstairs.
• 15:48
  You've actually got your date for next year and it's the same
• 15:51
  date, right? Oh, no, no, no.
• 15:53
  Similar, but different. That's that's a second.
• 15:56
  It's a second. I'm sorry, yes.
• 15:59
  But you did confuse me. But I'm sorry.
• 16:01
  Yeah. Thank you, Joe.
• 16:02
  Yeah. You know, you know what it was
• 16:04
  and it it is because we're on US times.
• 16:06
  We're today behind, you know. Yeah, yeah.
• 16:08
  OK, So fantastic. Just quickly shifting gears.
• 16:12
  One of the things I always do with female leaders because it
• 16:16
  is all about allyship and empowerment.
• 16:19
  If there was a piece of advice that you could give to a younger
• 16:22
  self, that would help and. An older version of me, yeah.
• 16:27
  To get there faster. What would that be?
• 16:29
  I mean, I want to say it's gender.
• 16:31
  And then normally when the advice comes out, it's like it
• 16:33
  applies to, you know, any, any, any gender, right?
• 16:36
  But, but I'm just curious, if you could go back to your
• 16:38
  younger self, what advice would you give?
• 16:42
  What advice would you give yourself?
• 16:44
  I I think a lot of it is you want to know where you're going.
• 16:47
  At least I did. What is my end goal?
• 16:50
  By 10, by 5 year, 10 year, 20 year, you know it.
• 16:53
  And I started in retail as a buyer and a merchandiser.
• 16:56
  I thought it was to be a CMO, you know, like it's pretty close
• 17:00
  where I am. But I think you don't need to
• 17:02
  know right now as you know what, what that gave me of having a
• 17:07
  goal is I was able to kind of dabble in all the pieces I
• 17:10
  thought that would ladder up to really serve that kind of bigger
• 17:14
  C-Suite office. So there was some method to my
• 17:17
  madness. However, I was a retailer I
• 17:20
  didn't see coming to an association.
• 17:22
  But when you start to think about the impact you want to
• 17:25
  have and the legacy you want to leave, I mean, it's a privilege
• 17:29
  to age. I'm not ready to tap out anytime
• 17:31
  soon, but I, I think you want to help or my, my thought was I
• 17:36
  want to help as many people as I can, sharing anything I've
• 17:40
  learned along the way and having a platform as incredible and
• 17:43
  broad and public as NRF, that to me makes me kind of feel like
• 17:49
  I've needed and that I can, I can do more than just serve one
• 17:53
  retailer. I can serve many, many that's.
• 17:56
  That's. Great.
• 17:57
  I don't know if that's advice or just look back hindsight.
• 18:00
  But I think look, it's you got to just to share with you a lot
• 18:03
  of the, a lot of the sort of feedback I get from senior
• 18:06
  traditionally female executives is permission to speak.
• 18:09
  I didn't feel I had permission early on in my career.
• 18:12
  I need to get that out of my brain.
• 18:13
  And I would have gone by saying you do have permission and and
• 18:16
  those sorts of things. I think people wish they didn't
• 18:18
  have permission. I always.
• 18:25
  I'm just holding my tongue at this point.
• 18:28
  I you know, I'm interesting to unpack the designer in Pierre.
• 18:34
  We've been forming, norming, and now we're storming.
• 18:36
  Storming OK. It is no.
• 18:39
  And that is it is such a good point.
• 18:41
  I will say working in technology, you are with a lot
• 18:44
  of men yes, I, I was really, really lucky and had great teams
• 18:49
  with me, above me, below me, inside of me.
• 18:53
  So I really, I didn't, I didn't need the permission to speak.
• 18:56
  And I think I was so, so lucky for that.
• 18:58
  Yeah, but I also don't leave silence.
• 19:01
  Yeah, that's good. Ruth, I'm curious.
• 19:04
  Obviously you, I don't know what the head count is for the show.
• 19:07
  Yeah, but what what was one of the.
• 19:09
  Because one of the things I've seen from your perspective is
• 19:12
  the culture that you bring to your team.
• 19:14
  Yeah, everyone has been phenomenal, right?
• 19:16
  Yeah. Everyone from the organisation
• 19:18
  of the speakers to your team, we've been looking after you.
• 19:21
  What is the what is the one thing?
• 19:23
  Instead of reflecting back, what's the one thing right now
• 19:25
  that you think you could help people with?
• 19:27
  I think at the end of the day, wherever you are in this, this
• 19:32
  events can be quite stressful, right?
• 19:34
  And there's at junctures along the way, yeah, things can go
• 19:38
  wrong. But if you put the right people
• 19:43
  around you, as a leader, my job is to ensure that they can be
• 19:49
  successful. Because if they're successful,
• 19:52
  by rights, my job's much easier. Yeah.
• 19:55
  So, so it's the that, that that piece of, you know, right, if
• 20:01
  there's something goes wrong. It's their ownership.
• 20:03
  It's their ownership. It's such a good job with that.
• 20:05
  And, and I think for me, I, I, we, we talk about this a lot.
• 20:10
  We know my advice to them is don't worry about the people who
• 20:13
  say no. Yeah, we've got, we're doing
• 20:15
  something pretty good. You know, we don't need to worry
• 20:17
  about them. They'll come, yeah.
• 20:18
  They'll just watch everyone out and miss out one year and
• 20:20
  they'll come back next year. It's like.
• 20:22
  Yeah. So like, they're not good for
• 20:25
  your head and heart, right? Yeah.
• 20:27
  We're doing something special. We're creating a movement and.
• 20:29
  And we're delivering something we're really proud of.
• 20:31
  Yeah. And, and they own it.
• 20:33
  But the point is that some people will say no, Yeah, don't
• 20:36
  act at the heart because there's plenty out there will say yes
• 20:39
  and they'll pump your tyres up. Yeah.
• 20:41
  And off you go. Go to the yes, go to the.
• 20:43
  Yeah, There's so many of those and there's.
• 20:45
  And right now there's so many people saying yes.
• 20:47
  So it's sort of it's so one or two detractors.
• 20:51
  Yeah, it's OK. You can, you can live with that
• 20:53
  because you know, it's you've got to be passionate and you've
• 20:55
  got to love it. And those the people who say yes
• 20:59
  build you up and let you. I think that's a wonderful,
• 21:02
  wonderful point to close on. Thank you so much for giving up
• 21:06
  your time. I look forward to seeing you at
• 21:08
  your next events and I'll see you on Five Things Friday 0.
• 21:12
  Absolutely, Alex. I look forward to it.
• 21:13
  Thank you. Thank.
• 21:14
  You. Thank you.