Retail News CRM

Category: Research

Retail News Asia is committed to providing both local and global retailers with the latest Research throughout the Asian market. This on a daily base.

  • Things to know about Bitcoin

    Things to know about Bitcoin

    Bitcoin is the world’s most widely used crypto currency. Mark Karpeles, the former CEO of collapsed Bitcoin exchange MtGox, went on trial in Tokyo on charges stemming from the disappearance of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of the virtual currency from its digital vaults.

    Here are some key facts about the world’s most widely used crypto currency:

    What is Bitcoin?

    Bitcoin is a virtual currency created from computer code. Unlike a real-world unit such as the US dollar or euro, it has no central bank and is not backed by any government.

    Instead, Bitcoin’s community of users control and regulate it. Advocates say this makes it an efficient alternative to traditional currencies because it is not subject to the whims of a state that may devalue its money to boost exports, for example.

    Just like other currencies, Bitcoins can be exchanged for goods and services — or for other currencies — provided the other party is willing to accept them.

    Where does it come from?

    Bitcoin was launched in 2009 as a bit of encrypted software written by someone using the Japanese-sounding name Satoshi Nakamoto.

    Last year secretive Australian entrepreneur Craig Wright said he was the creator of Bitcoin, but some have raised doubts over his claim.

    Hundreds of other digital currencies followed but Bitcoin is by far the most popular, with an increasing number of merchants accepting digital currencies for payments.

    Transactions happen when heavily encrypted codes are passed across a computer network. The network as a whole monitors and verifies the transaction in a process that is intended to ensure no single Bitcoin can be spent in more than one place simultaneously.

    Users can “mine” Bitcoins — bring new ones into being — by having their computers run complicated and increasingly difficult processes.

    However, the model is limited and only 21 million units will ever be created.

    What’s it worth?

    Like any other currency, it fluctuates. But unlike most real-world units, Bitcoin’s value has swung wildly in a short period.

    When it first came into existence it was worth a few US cents. Several years later Bitcoin topped $1,000. It’s now worth more than $2,300, with commentators suggesting some are buying it as an alternative bet in times of global economic uncertainty.

    The chaotic withdrawal of high-value notes in India, and Chinese controls on the purchase of foreign currency have also been cited for its meteoric rise.

    There are presently more than 16 million units in circulation. Some economists say the limited number of Bitcoins mean its price will increase over the long run, making it less useful as a currency and more a vehicle to store value, like gold.

    But detractors point to Bitcoin’s volatility, security issues and other weaknesses as flaws that will eventually undermine it.

    What’s the future?

    Some commentators say that like many technological developments, the first iteration of a product will encounter difficulties, possibly terminal ones. But the trail it blazes might smooth the way for the next crypto currency.

    Problems include an apparent vulnerability to theft when Bitcoins are stored in digital wallets.

    A major Hong Kong-based Bitcoin exchange suspended trading last year after $65 million in the virtual unit was reportedly stolen by hackers.

    The virtual currency movement also faces legitimacy issues because of the way it allows for anonymous transactions — the very thing that libertarian adopters like about it.

    Detractors say bitcoin’s use on the underground Silk Road website, where users could buy drugs and guns with it, is proof that it is a bad thing.

    If Bitcoin does become more widely accepted, experts say, it could lead to more government regulations, which would negate the very attraction of the concept.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • e-retail brands out of the social media loop in SE Asia

    e-retail brands out of the social media loop in SE Asia

    Over 85% of consumers in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, who mention e-retailer brand names in their social media posts don’t tag brand handles, according to Digimind.

    This means brands need to be vigilant in monitoring their brand reputation in the wider social media space to ensure they aren’t missing out on key conversations and trends, and are able to act upon any customer service concerns quickly.

    With the rise of empowered consumers and an increasing adoption of online shopping, e-retailers need to adopt customer-centric strategies in order to thrive. With so much of our daily conversations happening online, data from social media can provide key insights for e-retailers wishing to optimize customer experiences.

    Digimind’s study, Social Shopping in 2017, assessed the state of the e-retail industry in the three countries by monitoring 15 local and regional e-retailers, including Lazada, Zalora, and Berrybenka.

    “It’s no secret that brands who implement customer-centric strategies are excelling. With 2.8 billion active social media users in Southeast Asia, it is crucial for e-retailers to listen to what is being said about their brand, competitors and the industry online,” said Stephen Dale, general manager of APAC at Digimind.

    “Understanding what consumers are saying on social media can provide companies with an arsenal of insights that can be used to develop content strategies, improve customer service, build brand advocacy, and increase sales,” said Dale.

    He added that when analyzed in conjunction with other data such as web page visits and browsing behavior, this can further inform marketing plans and Voice of the Customer programs.

    The study also revealed that while the majority of e-retailer’s followers in the countries studied were on Facebook, consumers were most actively publicly posting their opinions and experiences on e-retailers on Instagram and Twitter.

    This means while Facebook is the ideal channel for brands to communicate with followers, Instagram and Twitter are key channels for community engagement.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • New Mobile Solution Boosts Millennial Performance at Work

    New Mobile Solution Boosts Millennial Performance at Work

    Manhattan Associates today announced the release of Performance at Work, a new solution for enhancing employee engagement, which results in productivity gains, lower attrition rates, and therefore greater customer satisfaction. The solution drives improved employee satisfaction by aligning individual employee activities with established organisational goals and metrics, providing employees and managers frequent feedback on their performance via their mobile devices.

    According to several Gallop Research polls, the majority of workers across the globe are simply not engaged at work. Gallop’s 2017 survey of American workers reveals that 70 percent of US employees are not engaged, whilst its global report from a few years prior indicates that 87 percent of workers in Southeast Asia are not engaged. And the challenge is even more acute with the rapidly growing millennial workforce. The research firm reports that millennials change jobs at three times the rate of other generations.

    Gallup’s most recent report reveals potential solutions to the millennial engagement challenge. Millennial workers require more frequent and consistent performance feedback. They also prefer to connect and interact with the world through their own mobile devices.

    The new Performance at Work solution enhances communications with a modern and connected workforce. It leverages the latest mobile technologies to provide millennial workers with the frequent performance feedback they require. The solution combines a challenge-based approach to learning with continual performance data on mobile devices. Performance at Work is designed to boost employee engagement and encourage the development of highly positive relationships between warehouse employees and their supervisors.

    “Productivity improvements often focus on high-performing execution applications, like warehouse and labour management, yet support for the human element of the equation has largely been overlooked,” said Peter Schnorbach, senior director, Product Strategy, Manhattan Associates. “Companies will have to shift this focus as more millennials, and their need for frequent feedback, enter the workforce. Performance at Work is designed to engage this modern, more connected worker through their preferred medium – the smartphone.”

    Manhattan today introduced the following Performance at Work solutions:

    • The new Employee Engagement mobile application delivers a weekly performance scorecard directly to employees’ smartphones. The software leverages gamification concepts to engage, motivate and incentivise success. It provides regular feedback on how each employee impacts company success and how their work ranks against that of their colleagues.
    • Manhattan recently embedded Labour Management (LM) functionality within the traditional Warehouse Management System (WMS) to deliver immediate labour reporting and improved visibility into employee productivity. By integrating the typically separate components of LM and WMS, Manhattan’s Performance at Work also reduces deployment time and drives immediate ROI.
  • Vietnam beats Thailand, Indonesia with big jump in global innovation ranking

    Vietnam beats Thailand, Indonesia with big jump in global innovation ranking

    The country, at number 47, is now only behind Singapore and Malaysia in Southeast Asia. Vietnam has been named the 47th most innovative economy in the world, its best performance to date, according to this year’s Global Innovation Index report.

    The country jumped 12 spots compared to last year, thanks to its efforts to improve business environment as well as competitiveness.

    Vietnam also ranked first among lower-middle income economies. Among Southeast Asian countries, it overtook Thailand to secure the third place, only behind Singapore and Malaysia.

    Global Innovation Index of Southeast Asian economiesSingapore (7th)Malaysia (37th)Vietnam (47th)Thailand (51st)Brunei (71st)Philippines (73rd)Indonesia (87th)Cambodia (101st)010203040506070Source: Global Innovation Index (GII)

    Knowledge and Technology Outputs, one of the main pillars of the index, was found to be Vietnam’s strong point.

    The country also performed well in Market Sophistication and in Creative Outputs. However, Vietnam’s performance was mediocre in the other pillars that measure institutional framework, human capital, infrastructures and business sophistication.

    “New Asian Tigers — such as Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam — are emerging too, and they increasingly join not only Asian high-tech value chains but also other activities such as ICT offshoring. These and other countries in Asia are also active in improving their innovation performance,” the report said.

    The report, co-published by the World Intellectual Property Organization, Cornell University and the business school INSEAD, surveys the innovation performance of 127 economies around the world.

    Vietnam has been part of the index since its debut in 2007. The country has been climbing up since 2013, after several years of hovering just above the 70th place.

  • Brick-and-mortar stores with online presence have retail edge

    Brick-and-mortar stores with online presence have retail edge

    The growth of e-commerce may pose a serious threat to brick-and-mortar stores, but there is a silver lining for department stores here. A nationwide survey has found that department stores with both a physical and online presence can have a competitive edge over online-only stores.

    Department store customers who shopped via the store’s online channels – such as its website or mobile app – reported higher levels of customer loyalty than shoppers at e-commerce sites such as Zalora and Groupon.

    This was one of the findings of the latest Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore released yesterday.

    “This would suggest that traditional brick-and-mortar stores could be better served and complemented by developing a robust omni-channel presence if they have not already done so. It can potentially give them a competitive edge over the e-commerce retailers,” said Mr Chen Yongchang, head of research and consulting at the Institute of Service Excellence (ISE) at the Singapore Management University, which compiled the index.

    The survey of 6,900 Singapore residents and tourists between January and April this year found that satisfaction levels in the retail sector remained similar to last year’s, with the retail sector scoring 72.1 points out of 100, up from 71.7 the year before.

    Of the four retail sub-sectors surveyed, the department store sub-sector showed significant improvement.

    This largely stemmed from more satisfied local shoppers, said Ms Neeta Lachmandas, ISE’s executive director.

    “This increase could be related to the revamps of various stores and product offerings, as well as increased promotional activities targeted at boosting sales.”

    Among department stores, DFS had the highest score of 73.6 while Metro was the only store whose score had increased significantly.

    DFS’ managing director for Singapore and Indonesia, Ms Wilcy Wong, attributed the retailer’s high score to its focus on providing “authentic and personal customer engagement. But at the heart of the DFS experience is of course our people,” she added.

    “We invest heavily in talent management programmes, as well as learning and development through our own DFS University to enhance our operations.”

    The fashion apparel, supermarket and e-commerce sub-sectors did not see any significant change in scores.

    A notable observation among supermarket customers was that those who frequently used self-checkout counters were more satisfied than those who mostly used manned cashier counters.

    The survey also looked at customer satisfaction for the info-communications sector, which scored a record high of 69.6 points out of 100, up 1.6 per cent.

    ISE found that service attributes relating to responsiveness, assurance and empathy were key drivers of loyalty among mobile telecommunications and broadband customers.

    This was in addition to the usual product-related attributes such as suitable subscription plans and fast data speeds.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • The Challenges For Global Retail Franchises in Indonesia

    The Challenges For Global Retail Franchises in Indonesia

    Research company Spire in 2016 found Indonesia is viewed as the region’s largest franchise industry, with experts predicting at least 60 percent of franchise business operated in Indonesia last year with the majority of foreign franchises.

    Amir Karamoy, Chairman of the National Committee for Franchising and Licenses at the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said regional headquarters based in Indonesia should be encouraged as it benefits the country through taxes and human resource development. But at this stage, Indonesia’s complicated regulations regarding retail businesses and franchises limit foreign involvement, particularly for foreign businesses hoping to base a regional headquarters in the country.

    These regulations, as well as strong competition, can spell trouble for even the biggest global brands. The recent announcement that US convenience store giant 7-Eleven will close its doors in Indonesia has prompted speculation on further reforms.

    Modern Sevel Indonesia (MSI), the local arm of 7-Eleven Indonesia, opened its first store in Bulungan, South Jakarta, in 2009.

    “The business model that 7-Eleven implemented made underlying products such as snacks, beverages and cigarettes popular. This had made several other mini markets struggle to compete,” University of Indonesia academic and businessman Rhenald Kasali said.

    The chain introduced the hang-out concept to Indonesia, which saw young people gather to spend time together and snack, which in turn disrupt traditional models where customers would purchase food and then leave.

    Kasali speculated the Indonesian government does not support the business concept, which could have been a factor in MSI closing all stores by the end of June.

    He said government regulations typically ‘take sides’ in support of older retailers.

    “Sixty percent of 7-Eleven’s income came from youngsters who hang out at the store. 7-Eleven suffered because of bureaucracy and regulators that don’t understand the business model,” Kasali added.

    7-Eleven faced tough questioning from the Ministry of Trade when it first launched about the concept and whether the outlets were convenience stores or restaurants. A government regulation which prohibited the sale of alcohol at convenience stores is also believed to be a factor in the shutdown.

    The convenience store brand is not the first international giant to struggling to do business in Indonesia. Last year Swedish furniture retailer IKEA struggled to keep its franchise in Indonesia due to copyright problems with a firm called IKEA Surabaya.

    The Surabaya-based IKEA had registered the name in 2013, while the Swedish firm had registered in 2013. But Indonesian regulators defended the Surabaya business, saying the Swedish IKEA had been commercially inactive. As a result, Swedish IKEA paid a royalty to the Surabaya IKEA.

    Similarly, French fashion brand Pierre Cardin sued Jakarta businessman Alexander Satyo Wibowo who had been using the name for his brand in Indonesia. Like the IKEA case, the courts sided with the local business and ruled Pierre Cardin had lost the rights to the name due to inactivity.

    Although Pierre Cardin is a famous brand globally, the company registered its name in Indonesia in 2009 while Wibowo registered his brand in 1977. As a result, France’s Pierre Cardin no longer open outlets in Indonesia under that name.

    Lees ook:

  • 6 key components to effective customer experience

    6 key components to effective customer experience

    Today’s highly competitive retail environment requires that retailers create compelling and unique customer experience (CX) allowing them to have a frictionless shopping experience across all the channels. The customer experience is not confined to a single department or a job role but a holistic organizational effort that requires participation from all the stakeholders within the retail organization. Customer experience is a strategic goal led by the CEO driving the omni-experience transformation within the organization. Consistency across the customer-facing touchpoints is essential to ensure a perfect and consistent customer experience.

    According to IDC experience survey, “consistent experience across different channels of interactions” cited as the number 1 factor by the respondents. Retailers must also orchestrate their channels with business process and support those processes with integrated software systems.

    IDC sees the customer experience as a business strategy that is part of a customer-centric business strategy. Customer experience is one of the four experiences defined by IDC (the other are employee, partner, and supplier). While an organization may have the result of a customer experience in mind, it may choose to pursue an employee experience or partner experience strategy as its means to ultimately deliver a differentiating customer experience. IDC defines customer experience as follows: Customer experience is the entire process over the lifetime of a relationship between customers and an organization with which they engage. In this context, customer experiences can range from a single transaction to an ongoing relationship over a period of many years.

    Key Components of Customer Experience

    • Culture, strategy, and processes. The organization’s culture is central to making a CX strategy work. Leadership must show support for CX initiatives because the ripple effect through the organization is profound. The concrete evidence of this cultural directive should be found in the strategy and processes that support it.

    • Products and services. The product or service that the retailer offers should inherent to the satisfaction of the customer, and it must fulfill a need or demand. The quality of the product or service should also reflect the value for money.

    • People. Customers are obviously at the center of CX. But the company’s employees are just as important, if not more so, as they are in the direct flow of delivering the customer experience. Employees are the advocates and evangelists for the company. In addition, suppliers and partners enable the production, sales, and implementation of the product or service, requiring them to understand the organization’s strategy in order to represent its brand.

    • Information. Information includes all of the content, data, and analysis that are distributed among key stakeholders: the customer and the organization, by employees to other employees, and from partners to customers through the delivery and support of products.

    • Access. Access includes all the touch points through which a customer experiences a retail brand. The consistency of these touchpoints is the powerhouse factor in driving customer experience.

    • Technology. Technology, including both hardware and software, supports and automates the CX environment. Technology should streamline and reduce friction for customers when using digital channels.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Digital driving nearly half of revenue for companies

    Digital driving nearly half of revenue for companies

    Emerging technologies such as AI, the IoT and machine learning have changed the way businesses operate and what it takes to thrive in a digital economy, a new report finds.

    An independent survey of IT leaders in more than 9,000 businesses spanning twenty-four countries across APC, EMEA and the US, conducted by Pure Storage, found that digital solutions drive around half of revenue (47% on average) for organizations, whether through customer facing applications or more back-office functionality.

    But despite this growth, technical complexity and strategic uncertainty from an infrastructure standpoint have prevented businesses from truly becoming digital. Public, private and hybrid cloud, SaaS and traditional on-premises all have momentum, but businesses still lack confidence in where to place specific workloads.

    On average, businesses are running 41% of applications with traditional on-premises IT – higher than both public cloud (26%) and private cloud (24%).

    Public cloud is poised to grow in the next 18-24 months (61% say their use will increase). Alongside this, a combined 87% of respondents see their use of either private cloud (52%) or traditional on-premises (35%) accelerating.

    Despite strong indications of public cloud growth, a significant number of companies that ran workloads in public cloud environments have actually moved some or all of those workloads back on-premises (43% of businesses in North America have done so). In EMEA, 65% say they have reduced use of public cloud in the last 12 months because of security concerns.

    Businesses run approximately one in five applications via SaaS currently (22%), and more than half (51%) see their use of SaaS increasing over the next 18-24 months.

    “Emerging technologies have started to drive true digital transformation, but businesses remain in a cycle of lure and regret when it comes to public cloud,” said Scott Dietzen, CEO of Pure Storage.

    “Rather than being viewed as competing options, companies should embrace cloud and on-premises storage as complementary offerings. By doing so, storage infrastructure becomes agile and future-proof, which drives the data advantage that enterprises seek.”

  • Trojan horse DDoS attacks on the rise

    Trojan horse DDoS attacks on the rise

    The greatest DDoS risk for organisations is the barrage of short, low volume attacks which mask more serious network intrusions,  Corero Network Security has warned.

    According to new Corero research, which highlights DDoS attack attempts against its customers, short, frequent, low-volume DDoS attacks continue to dominate.

    Despite several headline-dominating, high-volume DDoS attacks over the past year, the vast majority (98%) of the DDoS attack attempts against Corero customers during Q1 2017 were less than 10 Gbps per second in volume. In addition, almost three quarters (71%) of the attacks mitigated by Corero lasted 10 minutes or less.

    Due to their small size, these sub-saturating attacks tend to go undetected by IT security staff and many DDoS protection systems. However, they are just disruptive enough to knock a firewall or intrusion prevention system (IPS) offline so that the hackers can target, map and infiltrate a network to install malware and engage data exfiltration activity.

    “Short DDoS attacks might seem harmless, in that they don’t cause extended periods of downtime. But IT teams who choose to ignore them are effectively leaving their doors wide open for malware or ransomware attacks, data theft or other more serious intrusions,”Corero Network Security CEO Ashley Stephenson explained.

    “Just like the mythological Trojan Horse, these attacks deceive security teams by masquerading as a harmless bystander – in this case, a flicker of internet outage – while hiding their more sinister motives.”

    In total, Corero customers experienced an average of 124 DDoS attack attempts per month, equivalent to 4.1 attacks per day during Q1 of 2017. This is a 9% increase in attacks over Q4 2016.

    “Rather than showing their capabilities in full view, through large, volumetric DDoS attacks that cripple a website, using short attacks allows bad actors to test for vulnerabilities within a network and monitor the success of new methods without being detected. Most cloud-based scrubbing solutions will not detect DDoS attacks of less than 10 minutes in duration, so the damage is done before the attack can even be reported,” Stephenson said.

    “As a result, the raft of sub-saturating attacks observed at the beginning of this year could represent a testing phase, as hackers experiment with new techniques before deploying them at an industrial scale.”

    While low volume attacks remain the norm, Corero recorded a significant (55%) increase in large DDoS attacks of more than 10 Gbps per second, in Q1 of 2017, compared to the previous quarter. In addition, while the majority of attacks recorded lasted less than 10 minutes, the data also revealed a slight increase in attacks lasting 20 minutes or longer, with these attacks now accounting for nearly a quarter (22%) of all the attacks recorded.

    Lees ook:

  • Avoiding Supplier Sustainability Scandals Through Better SRM

    Avoiding Supplier Sustainability Scandals Through Better SRM

    Corporate ethics are under greater scrutiny than ever before; any failing is rapidly exposed on social media and very soon hits the global headlines. Investigative media – be that online, on television, or on paper – will eagerly expose the latest scandal, whether it’s to do with child labour, slave workers or bribery in high places, while Governments, which must be seen to act, respond with public inquiries, new legislation, or prosecutions. But it’s not just about protecting brand reputation and adhering to regulations, it’s also about being able to reassure and cater for customers.

    Daniel Weston, Chief Operating Officer (Europe), Adjuno, discusses how best to implement effective Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) to help avoid nasty surprises.

    Conscious Consumers
    Many of today’s shoppers want to know exactly where the items they buy come from and that they are sourced sustainably and ethically. Is that garden furniture made from illegally logged rainforest teak rather than the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) variety from sustainable plantations? Can you trust the supplier to have honestly labelled it as such? As various scandals in recent years have highlighted, what certain suppliers say about their products is not always strictly true, and when the deception hits the headlines then most members of the public will remember the retailer’s name – not the lesser known supplier.

    Our global world is also highly competitive: consumers are increasingly demanding with across to cross-border ecommerce commonplace, while product life cycles grow ever shorter. Add to that concerns over rapidly changing business-to-consumer (B2C) dynamics as well as the total “cost to serve” – as competition and consumer demand increase pressure on high-level services – and the need for good supplier relations becomes ever more significant.

    Implementing Supplier Relationship Management
    Supplier relationship management is all about strategic collaboration with suppliers to add value, minimise risk and ensure consistent and compliant governance. Any SRM implementation should start small with a pilot project involving a handful of key strategic suppliers before embarking on more significant developments.

    Implementing an SRM process is made a lot simpler when following a step structure, such as in the following checklist.

    1. Define objectives and priorities.
    2. Analyse the activities involved, process change needed and the necessary toolkit.
    3. Identify and define the necessary roles and responsibilities.
    4. Assess the maturity of your procurement department and their ability to cope with change.
    5. Establish the internal competences needed and give training where required.
    6. Identify suppliers and their core competencies.
    7. Segment suppliers: identify the strategic with whom to develop SRM.
    8. Examine existing and needed technology.
    9. Establish parameters for measuring and improving supplier performance.
    10. Establish systems to identify and mitigate risk.
    11. Select meaningful KPIs relevant to both you and your strategic supplier.
    12. Ensure both partners in the relationship are committed and all stakeholders throughout the
    13. Don’t expect a one- size-fits all solution: relations with each strategic supplier may take on a organisation aligned unique character.

    Overcoming Obstacles

    Putting a set of standardised, open and transparent SRM tools in place, plus a rigorous and consistent management approach can help improve the chances of SRM success. But there are still several pitfalls to consider and avoid when setting up SRM, three key ones are:

    1. Placing too much focus on costs rather than value
      Effective SRM demands attributes, such as change management, team leadership, and the long-term planning necessary to develop lean and agile supply chains. Too much preoccupation with short-term cost control and it’s back to those old adversarial combats with buyers pushing down the price while disgruntled suppliers watch their profits evaporate.
    2. Lack of specific SRM competencies and skills
      While the right software tools can ease SRM implementation, it is more than just an electronic filing cabinet. The success also depends on the people and processes across both supplier and buyer organisations. For example, this new way of operating may be challenge for those transitioning from traditional procurement departments that have previously been responsible for running sourcing projects and have specialised in taking an adversarial approach to negotiation. Extra training will help to combat any of these sorts of issues.
    1. Non compatible strategic objectives
      SRM also requires that both supplier and buyer adopt a complementary strategy: developing long-term collaborative partnerships will not work if either side is still in combative mood looking for weaknesses to exploit. The decision to introduce and develop SRM needs good executive leadership and agreement from selected strategic suppliers so that they, too, are comfortable with such an approach.

    Conclusion
    There are lots of benefits to supplier relationship management, as well as more sustainable processes and improved customer satisfaction, they generate better access to technological innovations, improved on-time delivery, reduction on inventories, higher responsiveness to customer demand and more product innovation opportunities.

    SRM is not a quick-fix solution, it is a long-term game and involves a strategic approach to business improvement. Success requires commitment and persistence. Especially, in the global economy with ever-increasing competition, where securing a reliable and supportive supplier base is essential: if businesses do not become the “customer of choice” then it is very likely that one of their competitors will. Equally, if procurement departments maintain a traditional adversarial stance, the performance management is poorly monitored or contracts are buried deep in a filing cabinet, then the likelihood of supply chain breakdown increases – and brands will have no excuse when the ethical failings of their suppliers become public knowledge and damage their hard earned reputation.

  • Three in Four Consumers Frustrated by Inconsistent Retail Experience

    Three in Four Consumers Frustrated by Inconsistent Retail Experience

    Not only do today’s shoppers expect a great service experience, they want it to be integrated and harmonised across channels. According to recent research by Manhattan Associates, three quarters of shoppers say they expect a consistent cross-channel shopping experience, yet just 14 percent claim to enjoy such an experience today. With 82 percent stating they expect their online experience to be duplicated in store, and 78 percent saying they feel they know more about the products and services in store than the store associate, it is clear where the consumer thinks retailers need to invest.

    Furthermore, half of the consumers surveyed said they would like store assistants to make personal recommendations in the same way a website already recommends products they might like, indicating that personalisation within every selling channel – not just online – is high up on the consumer’s agenda.

    The rewards for those retailers able to effectively provide customers with a consistent service experience across channels is potentially huge, with 56 percent of the consumers surveyed stating a seamless service capability as the main reason they would be willing to commit their loyalty to a retailer.

    Other key findings include:

    • 45 percent of consumers stated “a reward scheme that gives you exclusive promotional offers” and 35 percent stated “fast delivery” as key reasons they would stay loyal to a retailer
    • 64% of consumers consider “free delivery” as the most important fulfilment option a retailer should offer as part of their online service proposition, ahead of any chargeable option
    • 47 percent view “product advice” and 33 percent of consumers consider “checking stock availability” as the most important aspects of the service provided by store assistants
    • Regarding reasons consumers are more likely to go to a physical store rather than buying online, 62 percent of respondents said “to get the product there and then” and 53 percent stated “to try and feel the products before buying in-store”
    • As to what consumers would like to happen when they go into a store and the product is not available on the store shelf, 42 percent said “they would like the store assistant to check if it is available in a store nearby where they can collect it from” whilst 19 percent stated “they would like the store assistant to order the product for them and have it delivered to their home or to the same store for collection”

    Raghav Sibal, managing director, Australia and New Zealand at Manhattan Associates, commented, “Consumers clearly have an expectation of what a retail experience should look like in today’s digital world and are willing to offer their loyalty in exchange for retailers able to meet that expectation. Now is the time for retailers to invest in technologies that keep them ahead of the curve and take the appropriate steps required to close the gap between customer expectation and today’s reality. Those that do will be the ones that will thrive in 2017 and beyond.”

    The research by Manhattan Associates questioned 2,000 adults in Australia about their shopping experience and expectations.

    Lees ook:

  • Virtual Reality: The Future of Retail in Asia Pacific?

    Virtual Reality: The Future of Retail in Asia Pacific?

    New research from Worldpay, a global leader in payments, has revealed that Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) technology are slowly gaining ground across Asia Pacific. Chinese consumers are leading the region – and the world – with 95% of survey respondents saying they’ve used VR or AR technology in the past three months. Other APAC markets are more cautious in their VR/AR uptake, yet remain confident that the technology may play an important role in the future of retail.

    Worldpay’s study queried more than 16,000 consumers across eight markets – including China, Japan and Australia in Asia Pacific – to get their viewpoints on VR/AR adoption; from current uptake and future potential, to the technology’s benefits and barriers. In Asia, the research revealed that although China is a leader in the virtual reality revolution, other markets are only at the start of their VR journey.

    In Australia, less than a quarter of survey respondents (22%) say they’ve used VR technology at some point, and a mere 14% describe themselves as early adopters. It’s a similar situation in Japan, where only 19% have tried VR technology – the least of any market surveyed by Worldpay. In contrast, nearly 100% of Chinese consumers surveyed say they’ve tried AR or VR technology at least once, and more than half use these technologies at least once per week.

    Phil Pomford, General Manager for Asia Pacific at Worldpay, said: “China is blazing a trail for VR/AR adoption and showing other Asia Pacific markets what the future could look like. At the moment, the technology isn’t driving a huge amount of uptake in markets like Australia and Japan – but as we’ve seen before, technology can go from zero to a hundred in a very short amount of time. Therefore, with China leading the way, Asian businesses should start investigating the future of VR/AR technology now, so that they’re ready to meet consumer demands as and when they arise.”

    Already, even cautious Asia Pacific markets are demonstrating interest in how VR/AR can improve retail experiences. Of Australian survey respondents, 61% think VR and AR could someday change the way we shop. Two thirds (66%) of Japanese consumers surveyed would like to see more physical stores using VR and AR, and a full 70% would like to see the technology used in retail apps. Unsurprisingly, Chinese consumers’ interest in VR/AR retail experiences is even more enthusiastic – 84% of respondents believe that VR/AR is the future of shopping, 92% say they’d like to see more retail apps make use of VR/AR, and only 1% say they’d never be comfortable making a purchase in a virtual environment.

    Pomford added: “Many merchants are already looking at how VR/AR technology might create new Omni-channel experiences, enhance mobile shopping, and drive the next generation of consumer-led retail innovations. A compelling, immersive and seamless VR experience can drive higher customer engagement and may even have the capability to increase sales. As more companies experiment with VR/AR, they need to consider if VR technology can support purchases as well. Whatever the sales channel, it’s vital to make the payment process both slick and secure for customers. ”

    In response to this, researchers at Worldpay are investigating how shoppers can pay using a credit or debit card while remaining immersed within a virtual environment. The global payments processor has created a proof of concept, which provides the same levels of convenience, and security that shoppers have in-store and online, without needing to leave the virtual world.

    The prototype design uses Host Card Emulation (HCE) to virtualise the purchasing process. The payment uses EMV* technology, and for purchases under £30 (RMB268.25), the prototype works in the same way a contactless payment does – with a tap of the (virtual) card across a (virtual) card machine. For higher value purchases, Worldpay has created a technology called AirPIN. This first of its kind system allows the consumer to see a range of numbers whilst immersed in the virtual world, and then collect the four numbers that make up their PIN, one by one, using their virtual controller.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • 40% of the world to use digital commerce by 2021

    40% of the world to use digital commerce by 2021

    Juniper Research predicts that the digital commerce sector is set to see substantial growth in user numbers over the next 4 years, as the number of unique users exceed 3 billion by 2021.

    Juniper has identified two sectors set to drive the digital commerce market, in terms of transaction values; these are digital and physical goods as well as digital banking.

    “When we analyze the digital & physical goods sector in particular; for some time now, it has been clear that the mobile device, whether it be the smartphone or tablet, is becoming increasingly important in the world of e-commerce,” Juniper Research senior research analyst Lauren Foye said.

    Juniper has observed a shift in the market from a position where the smartphone was used as a means for discovery but not purchase, to a situation where the smartphone is used for both product discovery and purchase.

    This trend appears to be a natural progression from the relatively stagnant consumer tablet industry, whose lack of steam has been compounded by the emergence, and prevalence, of larger-screened smartphones offering an improved purchasing experience.

    Indeed, mobile as a whole is gaining traction as a remote goods purchase device, although the smartphone’s growth is accelerating faster than that of the tablet.

    Lees ook:

  • Three key areas that will help grow Malaysia’s retail industry

    Three key areas that will help grow Malaysia’s retail industry

    The e-commerce market is one. According to BMI Research, three specific areas: big-box boulevards, e-commerce, and duty-free shopping will be the key growth areas in Malaysia’s retail sector over the coming years. They are attracting significant investment initiatives that are in line with the government’s National Economic Transformation Program.

    The government is currently stimulating public-private investment in modern ‘big-box boulevards’-large scale integrated shopping malls on the outskirts of urban centres. Multinational corporations are predicted to be attracted by Malaysia’s strong outlook for consumer spending.

    “We forecast total household spending in Malaysia to expand at an annual growth rate of 7.5% between 2017 and 2021, rising from MYR774b ($250.12b) in 20 17 to MYR1t ($323.45b) in 2021,” BMI said.

    Malaysia’s e-commerce sector is still noted to be nascent, with consumers generally preferring to shop using cash in local stores due to a lack of trust with regards to online payments. However BMI estimates that this will gradually change as consumer purchasing habits evolve, supported by the government’s National e-Commerce Strategic Roadmap.

    “We forecast Malaysia’s e-commerce market to reach MYR21.04b ($6.81b) in sales in 2017, a 28.2% y-o-y increase,” BMI said.

    Malaysia’s tourist industry is another key part of the government’s economic transformation strategy, and like retail, is one of the 12 designated areas for investment. The government’s aim is to position Malaysia as a duty-free shopping destination for the Asia-Pacific Region, centred upon Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

    “Our forecasts for tourist arrivals into Malaysia will underpin growth in duty-free retail sales. 2017 will see 28.1m international tourists , rising at an average of 5.2% y-o-y to hit 34.3m by 2021. This will be driven by ongoing weakness in the Malaysian ringgit, making the country affordable for tourists,” BMI said.

    Lees ook:

  • Slow US retail growth filters through to Asia

    Slow US retail growth filters through to Asia

    Retail sales for April in the US rose slightly to 0.4%, up from 0.1% in March. Although this growth is some cause for encouragement, it was expected to be as high as 0.6% for last month. The fragile picture for the retail sector in the US is having a noticeable impact on many of its key trading partners throughout Asia.

    China, South Korea and India are amongst the US’ biggest trade partners. Exporting goods such as electronics and clothing, they all see the country as a major export market. With demand for Asian goods sluggish, there are tentative signs that the picture for retail sales across the region are beginning to slow down.

    For April, Chinese retail sales grew by just 0.79%, down from 0.84% in March. In January, sales growth stood at an even more unimpressive amount of just 0.51%, so there has at least been a small upturn. Part of that is down to other factors, most notably industrial production.

    Industrial output

    Elsewhere in Asia, industrial output figures seem to correlate with the slow rate of retail growth in the US. Japan is a prime example, with output figures for March contracting. In that month, industrial output nationwide shrank by 2.1%, coming soon after a rise in output for February. Concerns over the historically strong Japanese tech sector have been prevalent for a while.

    The picture in other major Asian markets for industrial output is mixed. Growth in India is erratic – contraction in output was recorded in five of the last 12 months. In South Korea, figures for March are positive, but contraction occurred in January and February.

    Low demand for home-made products, alongside similarly low demand from the US and sluggish industrial output could all hint at a more prolonged economic malaise. When spread betting, the most sensible choice would be to back against share price rises for major Asian retailers.

    Malaysian recovery 

    One possible ray of light for Asian retail is Malaysia. Despite some of its’ neighbours not performing too well, retail sales growth is pretty healthy. The most recent monthly figures saw month-on-month growth of 4.7% for March, jumping from a position of slight contraction for both January and February.

    Among the reasons behind the growth include wider economic growth exceeding expectations for the first quarter of 2017 and increased consumer confidence. Interest rates have remained steady, but the bad news coming from across the Pacific Ocean is likely to dent confidence going into the summer months.

    The future for retail in Asia is a little uncertain. The contractions and slow growth experienced in Malaysia, China and Japan may return, with one eye focused on how events are unfolding in the US and Europe.

    Should all go to plan and retail sales in the US return to more favourable levels, there is a possibility that the feelgood factor will move to Asian markets. More demand from consumers would equate to higher sales to US firms by Asian manufacturers, but it remains to be seen how this scenario would be played out.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook: