Latest / The Retail Podcast / Inside NRF APAC: Building Asia-Pacific’s Retail Powerhouse with Ryf Quail

Transcript

Inside NRF APAC: Building Asia-Pacific’s Retail Powerhouse with Ryf Quail · The Retail Podcast

• 0:00
  Our purpose became a lot, much, much clearer.
• 0:02
  And if there was a distinction between the US show and our
• 0:04
  show, it wasn't the US show as a domestic American show, where as
• 0:08
  we as internationals go along as passengers, where we really have
• 0:12
  a a role to play in bringing the community together.
• 0:26
  Hello and welcome to a you know, Reef.
• 0:29
  I always say there's special episodes of the retail podcast.
• 0:34
  I feel like I have so many children and I love them all.
• 0:37
  But truly this is a special episode or a unique episode
• 0:41
  because we get to look behind the scenes.
• 0:44
  And I think that's really important when we're talking
• 0:46
  about conferences, when we're attending the conferences.
• 0:50
  What more would you want to know as a attendee then to have a
• 0:54
  sneak peek behind the scenes? And we're really privileged to
• 0:59
  be joined by Reef Quail, managing director of Retail's
• 1:03
  Big show Asia Pacific. As an attendee last year.
• 1:06
  And I think I've I said this to you face to face, the energy,
• 1:09
  the passion, the the execution that you bought to the event
• 1:14
  being that it was the first event in in the region was
• 1:17
  phenomenal. And I think if if you don't
• 1:20
  mind, why don't we start there 2024, how was that for you when
• 1:24
  you when you sort of now almost on the cusp of the show 2025 but
• 1:30
  how, how was 2024 for you? From now looking back is just a
• 1:34
  real sense of gratitude. You know, a lot of big
• 1:39
  organisations put a lot of faith in us to do, you know, it was a
• 1:44
  big undertaking and, and I feel that we repaid them in spite.
• 1:50
  So we had last year we were aiming for 5000 registrations,
• 1:55
  we had 8600 and we turned off conference tickets 8 days before
• 2:01
  because we were worried that we couldn't actually deliver a
• 2:04
  space for the people who were buying tickets.
• 2:06
  So we didn't sell any conference tickets for the last 8 days.
• 2:10
  And, and then we had, you know, Expo, we had one full of Expo
• 2:14
  and, and that was incredibly, it was full and excitement and
• 2:19
  energetic. We had 52 countries attend in
• 2:21
  the first year. And I was like, I was just like,
• 2:26
  it was mind blowing for me because when I was like running
• 2:30
  an event in our, in Australia, I, I, I knew everybody in the
• 2:33
  market. So if I, if it was, we were a
• 2:34
  bit soft on sponsorship. We're a bit, we were worried
• 2:36
  about retailers coming. I could always just pick up the
• 2:39
  phone. We ran a, a comprehensive
• 2:42
  regional programme and I, we didn't know everybody.
• 2:45
  Yeah, so, so it really proves the power of a brand and an
• 2:50
  effective programme that delivers an outcome.
• 2:53
  Felt like we just created a movement.
• 2:54
  People came towards us and they just want to.
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  And this year they're already talking to us and they're
• 2:59
  telling us what they're doing and how they're coming and and,
• 3:02
  and we, and we've made mistakes along the way, but we we, we
• 3:05
  knew where they were and we can approve them.
• 3:06
  So I think for me, you know, it's, as I said before, it's one
• 3:11
  of gratitude. You know, it's been an amazing
• 3:13
  experience and I've just met some awesome, awesome people
• 3:17
  through the prices. So you've spent a year going
• 3:19
  round to your Advisory Board, you you've sort of got, well
• 3:23
  you've definitely the agenda has already been published.
• 3:25
  So what has driven the agenda for this year?
• 3:28
  We we really coming through the first year's show and then also
• 3:34
  engaging advisor, but also the wider market.
• 3:36
  We really, it really became clear that the, our purpose
• 3:39
  became a lot, much, much clearer.
• 3:41
  And, and if there was a distinction between the US show
• 3:44
  and our show, it wasn't the US show was a domestic American
• 3:48
  show where as we as internationals go along as
• 3:50
  passengers, yeah, where we really have a a role to play in
• 3:55
  bringing the community together. And so in terms of the way we
• 4:00
  engage our Advisory Board, it's much more about diversity on
• 4:02
  stage. We've got much this year much
• 4:04
  more diverse than we were last year.
• 4:06
  So we were diverse last year, but our stages are much more
• 4:08
  diverse. So we'll have 11 keynotes, 11
• 4:12
  leaders from 11 different markets in the region, from
• 4:15
  India to Japan to Australia to the US to Singapore to Malaysia.
• 4:21
  So we've got lots of to the Philippines leaders from all
• 4:24
  around the region. And then we'll have 18 breakouts
• 4:27
  which are really the how to sessions, a bit more functional
• 4:31
  sessions and they're more led by I suppose heads of HR or heads
• 4:35
  of marketing or heads of e-commerce or heads of
• 4:37
  transformation that will talk to some of the big, big hairy
• 4:42
  topics in the region. What we've tried to do there
• 4:46
  though is actually match up. So, so rather than doing 4 on a
• 4:50
  panel or just two on a panel with a moderator and having an
• 4:56
  Australia and a Thailand or in New Zealand and in Japan, so
• 5:00
  having really contrasting markets.
• 5:02
  So they might be talking about, for example, we've got a great
• 5:05
  session on ESG and sustainability and we've got DFI
• 5:08
  in Southeast Asia and we've got Kohl's in Australia.
• 5:13
  Got you. And so the way that global
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  legislations manifest in their markets and in their
• 5:19
  organisations, while it's similar, is very different.
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  And so it allows to see retailers to see, to take things
• 5:27
  away and, and see stuff that are that that's unique to their
• 5:33
  market or unique to another market which they can lift and
• 5:36
  transfer. And then there's other stuff
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  like for example, we talk about the delivery revolution, which
• 5:42
  is, you know, which is unique to this region, such as quick
• 5:45
  commerce in India. Yeah, which is, you know, you
• 5:49
  know, when the iPhone recently launched, I think it was 18
• 5:52
  months ago, you know, you, you know, if you're in Hyderabad,
• 5:57
  Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, you ordered a phone and arrived on
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  your desk 8 minutes later. And, and, and no one in the
• 6:05
  world has done quick commerce like India has.
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  And now we're seeing how businesses from grocery to
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  costume jewellery are re engineering their business
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  around delivery as a service convenience by you know, so this
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  is totally unique to our region. And so that's been really neat.
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  And I think the other thing too, which is probably the most
• 6:28
  challenging for our region and another reason for us to be is
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  in the content, we're seeing a real desire to cross borders as
• 6:37
  a retailer, to expand geographically, but through
• 6:41
  culture, language, currency, legislative context, that's
• 6:47
  really hard. And so if you're Japanese and
• 6:51
  you want to go to Malaysia, you've got to find a Malaysian
• 6:53
  partner. If you're Australian and you
• 6:55
  want to go to Vietnam, you can't do it on your own.
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  You've got to find someone in Vietnam who is going to be
• 7:00
  aligned, spiritually aligned enough with you that you can go,
• 7:03
  that you can form a collaboration with to allow you
• 7:05
  to, to take that leap. So that's we're doing some
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  really nice interesting work in terms of opening up markets, in
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  terms of different range of speakers, having some country
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  spotlights on places like the Philippines, on Indonesia and on
• 7:19
  Thailand. So people can really start
• 7:21
  understanding are these markets I want to enter?
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  Yeah. And then I've noticed that in
• 7:27
  terms of the hall space, you've expanded.
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  So last year we had a red carpet club, which was our sort of the
• 7:33
  leadership club, and that didn't work because in America all the
• 7:40
  CEOs are domestic and they all know each other.
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  In Asia Pacific, all the CEOs don't know each other.
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  So we needed to have some facilitated networking.
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  So we took that out and moved it up to Level 3 and we're having a
• 7:50
  whole programme of facilitated networking among CEOs and the
• 7:53
  CEO. And that's going to be the
• 7:55
  largest gathering of retailer CEOs in the region.
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  So if you, if you want to get to, if you want to build your
• 7:59
  business case to come as a retailer can be your boss that
• 8:03
  who's the CEO to come to the CEO club because that ticket's free.
• 8:06
  But we want, we'd love to have as much gathering as many of
• 8:08
  those as possible. The other thing we've done on
• 8:10
  the floor was we've moved some of the elements which didn't
• 8:13
  work as well as she liked the some of the arranged meetings.
• 8:16
  We've taken those out. So there's actually more
• 8:18
  exhibitors. And.
• 8:21
  Yeah, the more exhibitors and we've also got last year we only
• 8:25
  had two exhibited big ID stages, those green stages at the back
• 8:29
  of the hall. Yeah, they will have three this
• 8:32
  year and they only said 80 last year.
• 8:34
  This year they'll we'll be able to fit in 130 into those
• 8:37
  sessions because they were oversubscribed.
• 8:39
  And you've kept your innovation area, I see as well.
• 8:42
  Yeah, Yeah. So the innovative showcase has
• 8:44
  now become a global programme. So this is really, this is
• 8:48
  really neat. So in New York, in Singapore and
• 8:52
  in Paris, NRF Europe, in Paris in September, the VCs, this is a
• 8:58
  programme independently curated the VCs pitch the leading, the
• 9:04
  latest, greatest retail tech. And they, and they, so they
• 9:08
  picked the tech we have about 120 plus people pitch for about
• 9:12
  30 spots. And then, and then we have a,
• 9:15
  the, the gathering of the, the best bleeding edge retail tech
• 9:19
  from anywhere in the world. So from a, from people coming to
• 9:22
  NRFA pack, they, they're going to see in one place 30
• 9:26
  exhibitors that are the latest and greatest as deemed by our,
• 9:32
  our curation team. So that's pretty cool.
• 9:35
  So you, you won't see that anywhere else.
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  And they, they had that in New York and we had that in Paris as
• 9:39
  well. So it's a, it's a global
• 9:41
  programme now. And and then I've noticed you've
• 9:43
  kept your special tours, the special programmes in terms of
• 9:47
  retail store tours and then the Expo tours, right?
• 9:51
  Yeah. So the Expo tours, we've got
• 9:53
  three different types and really they're centred around
• 9:56
  operational excellence, marketing and and some of the
• 9:59
  and send some of the cool technology in, such as AI and
• 10:02
  and other mercy tech. And they're really designed for
• 10:05
  retailers to sort of look at those heartland big bucket
• 10:09
  topics back up this front office and bleeding edge technology
• 10:13
  with the view to solving problems in their business.
• 10:15
  So you know that that means that as a retailer, I can go, OK, the
• 10:20
  tool will allow me to go, well, I need to I need to understand
• 10:23
  AI fully. So therefore I can take an
• 10:25
  application back on a use case back to my business that will
• 10:29
  begin us on the journey. Or it might be the fact that I
• 10:32
  have an operational problem in my business around inventory and
• 10:36
  I need to find a set of suppliers that can help me with
• 10:39
  that or a set of partners who have the answer to the questions
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  I need to answer. So that's the tour from the Expo
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  point of view. In terms of the retail tours for
• 10:50
  Singapore itself, Singapore's really fortunate that you know,
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  it's the hub for Southeast Asia. So a lot of the the some of the
• 10:57
  best practise retail, whether that be the Adidas's and Nikes
• 11:00
  or the Porsches are running amazing retail experiences.
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  So there's and, and people like fair prices at a domestic level
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  are also doing some pretty incredible stuff.
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  And so you'll be able to go and look at this three different
• 11:16
  tour types that will allow you to look at some of the best in
• 11:19
  retail in, in the Singapore marketplace, some quite
• 11:22
  traditional, some looking at different formats, some looking
• 11:26
  at, you know, different installations.
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  And then obviously the use of technology and grocery a whole
• 11:35
  lot. So you'd be able to have a, and,
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  and obviously, if you're in Asia, grocery is important
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  because food is very important in Asia.
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  So, so understanding how that all fits together is quite cool
• 11:46
  too. So those two are, are are were
• 11:51
  much, much more improved because we took a lot more out of 2024
• 11:55
  learnt so much. Also a bit a bit of it was a bit
• 11:59
  supply and demand. We understand understood what
• 12:01
  the what our retailers were looking for.
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  But more importantly got much deeper into the the headspace of
• 12:09
  the of the region. And really people like
• 12:11
  enterprise Singapore, Singapore tourism border to have as well
• 12:15
  as our our big Singapore advisors have provided and
• 12:18
  Singapore Retail Association I've given us a lot bigger
• 12:21
  better steer into tapping into what's best in the market.
• 12:25
  So Reef, you probably like all of us have been glued to, to the
• 12:29
  screens over the last couple of weeks, tariffs and the impact
• 12:34
  that it's having on the global economy.
• 12:36
  I'm just curious when, when you have such a global show in such
• 12:40
  a hot region of the world, how does that bleed into your
• 12:44
  conference or like do you have, are there talks in it?
• 12:48
  Are there, can you, yeah, expand that for us?
• 12:51
  Great question for us and I think for me really in a day,
• 12:54
  the big thing out of this whole, you know, created uncertainty is
• 13:00
  that there's one thing for certain is we've is our purpose
• 13:03
  and our purpose is to create intra AIPAC collaboration.
• 13:09
  And so within our region, everyone's pretty open to each
• 13:15
  other. This is we're not talking about
• 13:16
  facilitating trade between Asia Pacific companies in the US,
• 13:20
  we're talking about facilitating trade within Asia Pacific
• 13:23
  region. And so you know, and retail
• 13:26
  thrives through open conversations, collaborations,
• 13:32
  connecting with like minds. So it's, I think, you know, it's
• 13:35
  given even an even stronger purpose for us to exist because
• 13:40
  as companies think about diversifying their supply
• 13:43
  chains, you know, we've got countries like China, of course,
• 13:47
  but we've got countries like Philippines, Vietnam, who are
• 13:52
  creating a lot of materials for all sorts of different
• 13:55
  companies. Then you've got these, we've got
• 13:58
  some super big markets such as Indonesia, India, China.
• 14:02
  So how do you play in those markets as a retailer and then
• 14:06
  how do these markets alike, how do these markets come and expand
• 14:09
  out? You know, we're talking as I
• 14:11
  said before and talked to touch on the CEO club to have a whole
• 14:15
  bunch of CEOs in the region who can talk to each other and find
• 14:20
  opportunity to be to work together in a place where they
• 14:25
  quite often didn't know each other.
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  I think the context just gives us more reason to be Yeah, I
• 14:31
  think. And that's, that's pretty cool,
• 14:33
  you know, because that's what I want to do anyway.
• 14:35
  That's what I we, my, what gets me out of bed in the morning
• 14:38
  every day to see that stuff. And so now there's even more of
• 14:42
  a reason to, to do that and to be that platform that allows
• 14:46
  those connections and collaborations to occur.
• 14:49
  So for me, that's, that's really neat.
• 14:51
  So I'm, I'm, I'm actually, you know, we all went and held our
• 14:55
  breath, but really it's even better, you know, it's, it's a,
• 15:02
  it's a business doesn't want to stop.
• 15:03
  They just need to, they just need to look at other ways of
• 15:06
  doing it and the whole region's ready to do business.
• 15:08
  One of the things that I love is I'm going to take part in the
• 15:11
  show and we had a pre call with the Family Mart.
• 15:15
  He's #2. OK, we had a, we had a
• 15:18
  conversation with the number two person at Family Mart and I've
• 15:23
  got to be on. I mean, the easiest way for
• 15:25
  people who don't know Family Mart is to think of 711 and
• 15:29
  that's who you've got. But what what I came away with
• 15:32
  and I came away with this feeling from Shanghai last year
• 15:36
  when I was in Shanghai. We are so fixated on technology
• 15:40
  over here that we forget that once technology is solved, what
• 15:45
  happens next? And here you have an executive
• 15:48
  ex CEO of Uniqlo who is bringing all of this creative juice and
• 15:55
  elements to an industry, the convenience industry, because
• 16:01
  technology, if you like, is, is sold right?
• 16:03
  They, they, they don't need to optimise anything anymore.
• 16:07
  Yes, you can optimise things a little bit more, but it's
• 16:10
  absolutely all about the experience.
• 16:12
  How do you stand out? How are you unique?
• 16:14
  How do you bring your future customers in?
• 16:17
  And I just sat there. This was a pre talk, right?
• 16:20
  We were just sat there going, OK, let's just have a quick chat
• 16:23
  before like 30 minutes just glued to my to my little screen
• 16:28
  to what he has to say. And I just found what a
• 16:30
  wonderful example of a Japanese powerhouse because within Japan,
• 16:36
  they're they're, they're huge and sorry.
• 16:38
  And within the region, they've got stores in other parts of the
• 16:41
  region. But when you mention
• 16:43
  convenience, most people probably roll their eyes and go
• 16:46
  convenience, right? But you know, you ain't seen
• 16:49
  nothing yet as as, as they say when, when the transformation
• 16:53
  that that one convenience powerhouse is going on.
• 16:57
  And I think that's such a reflection of the maturity of
• 17:01
  the industry within your region and how you know how globally
• 17:05
  mature they are and then on the other side how they still are
• 17:09
  are transforming and maturing within certain markets.
• 17:13
  And I think it came. Sorry.
• 17:15
  Go on. Well.
• 17:16
  I I finished that call and went out because obviously family
• 17:19
  might have launched convenience wear.
• 17:22
  So I've got two. I've bought 2 pairs of, I bought
• 17:25
  some socks, I've got 2 pairs, I've got to give some to Raffi.
• 17:30
  I've got to give some to Raffi. My programme manager, but but a
• 17:33
  ducky son was quite keen to bring us if they've got a whole
• 17:35
  range of convenience where it was really neat actually.
• 17:39
  So no, they weren't at all. It was awesome.
• 17:43
  Yeah. You know, they're quite, they're
• 17:44
  quite. I feel like a bit, I feel a bit
• 17:46
  Gen Z ish in my so so white, so half calf in the colours of
• 17:53
  white socks within the colours of family Martin Apple, sort of
• 17:56
  a green and an Aqua, little rings around them.
• 17:59
  I look pretty retro. I want to be super respectful to
• 18:01
  your time obviously in Singapore in terms of the the final
• 18:05
  thoughts, what do we have in store in terms of size and scale
• 18:10
  or at the Expo this year at the conference?
• 18:12
  This year, so the, in terms of the Expo and conference,
• 18:15
  obviously we have more exhibitors this year it'll be
• 18:17
  bigger and we will, I suppose it's, I mean events are people
• 18:23
  based. So it's about the people who
• 18:24
  attend. I think, you know, in terms of
• 18:27
  where we are today, we are a long way ahead of where we were
• 18:31
  in 2024. So I, I, I hope to see somewhere
• 18:34
  between 9 and 10,000 through the site, which you know, means
• 18:39
  we'll have 13 or 14,000 registrations with just under 50
• 18:45
  days to go. That looks incredibly likely
• 18:46
  now, which is just mind blowing. So it's going to be pretty busy.
• 18:51
  We should have a lot of fun. And then I think through the
• 18:54
  conference, I think we'll probably get to probably another
• 18:58
  half, 50% more than we were last year in terms of people.
• 19:02
  So it's going to be pretty full. So I think from my mind, it's
• 19:05
  going to be, you know, we, we had a great first show, this
• 19:10
  show, this year's show is going to be really busy.
• 19:12
  And I think there's going to be more diversity in terms of the
• 19:16
  group. We'll have more language.
• 19:19
  We'll have obviously on site, we'll have particularly Chinese
• 19:21
  and Japanese and we'll have there'll be more people to meet
• 19:25
  and just so many more people to meet.
• 19:26
  So I think that from a, from an, if you're coming for the first
• 19:31
  time, just just expect it's, it's if you come, for example,
• 19:37
  if you come from my market in Australia, it's like nothing
• 19:39
  you've ever seen it's and that's why I find myself quite
• 19:41
  fortunate of being part of it. Because it's just.
• 19:43
  Big. It's yeah, And there's so many
• 19:46
  different people you can meet and collaborate with that.
• 19:49
  Yeah. I mean, I've got, I've got for
• 19:50
  for me, it's incredible. And actually we have to talk
• 19:52
  about this off off when we finish recording.
• 19:54
  I've got my clients from China. Like last year we spoke about
• 19:58
  it, but this year there's three or four of them making the
• 20:02
  effort to fly out from China. Obviously they're a European
• 20:05
  company with offices there, but it's on their radar, which I
• 20:09
  thought was, was, was phenomenal that they're, you know, they're
• 20:12
  getting 4 execs to fly over because it's, as you said, the
• 20:16
  region now is really coming together.
• 20:19
  But there has been that sort of gap for where do they come
• 20:22
  together at which is that space that you're filling?
• 20:26
  And that, and I think that's come from, you know, the, the,
• 20:29
  that still desire people hung back a little bit in the first
• 20:32
  year, But I also think that the desire is there.
• 20:36
  There's been, I said before and a few people have actually said
• 20:39
  thank you because they were, they've been waiting for this
• 20:43
  sort of event for a while, for such a long time.
• 20:48
  That's just, you know, I, I love what I do, but you know, when
• 20:52
  people have you've done one event and everyone's saying
• 20:54
  thank you, It's like that's, that's really neat.
• 20:57
  But and I, but I, it doesn't say before it will, it will be, it
• 21:00
  will be bigger in terms of people and numbers, a lot
• 21:03
  bigger. I.
• 21:04
  Think it's busy last? Yeah, it was busy last year, so
• 21:07
  and we've resisted the urge to have two floors of Expo we could
• 21:10
  off. Yeah, but we, we'll, we'll do.
• 21:12
  We'll do one and do and we'll just grow in an orderly manner
• 21:16
  this year. I think really it's about the
• 21:18
  experience and doubling down on, you know, making it a really
• 21:23
  fantastic experience for people who come to Singapore and make
• 21:25
  the trip. And, and, and that's where our
• 21:28
  emphasis will be. And, and then then as we, we can
• 21:32
  take, continue to grow in, in a way that, you know, as aligned
• 21:37
  to the values of the show. And I think that over time, this
• 21:41
  show can be one of the biggest in the world because we're you
• 21:44
  think we're only in U2, we could have 10,000 people through the
• 21:46
  site, you know, you know, that's just in the second year.
• 21:51
  Yeah. So, which is just so neat.
• 21:55
  So. I have no doubt, I, I have no
• 21:58
  doubt of watching this show. I'm, I'm, you know, for the
• 22:00
  moment, I and I, and I've told, I've shared the story many
• 22:03
  times. I saw Reef, I saw the, I can't
• 22:07
  remember the Minister of Culture who every person was at NRF 3-4
• 22:13
  years ago talking about this regional event that we're going
• 22:17
  to do. And it just made so much sense
• 22:19
  in the sense that there are so many retailers that I've spoken
• 22:22
  to in the UK, in Europe and in, in region that look for that.
• 22:27
  Where do we come together? Right?
• 22:29
  Yes, you can go to an in country event, but there are very few.
• 22:34
  So it's, it's a, a real joy to watch this to go from strength
• 22:38
  to strength to strength. And thank you as, as, as it is,
• 22:43
  it's only, you know, I, I think with the right energy that you
• 22:46
  can pull this off. So I'm, I'm, I'm super excited.
• 22:51
  Thank you, man. And to just to, to finish that
• 22:53
  thought. It's just we're creating a
• 22:55
  movement, you know, we're, that's what we're trying to do.
• 22:58
  And at this point in time for us, as we grow, it's about
• 23:03
  bringing people towards the show who are, who are passionate, who
• 23:08
  are invested and, and that's what we're looking for.
• 23:11
  And it's and there's just been so many of them that we're just,
• 23:13
  we're just trying to keep hold them all together and, and, and
• 23:17
  because once we get them together, we just got to get out
• 23:19
  of the way and let them do their thing and meet each other and
• 23:21
  enjoy the moment, right? Because I think you know that
• 23:25
  that that is what will make us successful.
• 23:28
  It'll be the people that continue to come year and year
• 23:31
  that just make this such a fantastic show.
• 23:33
  Yeah, that's wonderful, Reef. I look forward to seeing you in
• 23:38
  what? That's 40, about 47 days I
• 23:42
  reckon. 47 days and counting. I'm not counting at all.
• 23:48
  All right, Alex, thank you very much.
• 23:49
  Appreciate the opportunity. Take care.