Hello, good morning, good afternoon, good evening.
Welcome to the retail podcast and Reef before before I get to
you I I forgot there's a there's a there's a back story to my
journey to to here. I was at NRF in a press
conference, I think it was last year where the Singaporean
Minister of Tourism was talking about how they want to bring
retail to Singapore. And NRF will be that event that
will sort of kick off this retail festival, if you like, in
in Singapore. So when I heard that, I was
like, whatever happens come hell or high water and I need to be
#1 be there and #2 if I can get an inside track.
What's going on? How are you putting it together?
And so Reef Quail, thank you so much for giving up your time to
to meet with us. We're in the world.
Are you ready? Women, Sydney, Alex, thank you
for the opportunity. By the way, I'm in Sydney at the
moment and it's actually not very Sydney.
Like it's dark and gloomy and radio outside, which is very
unlike Sydney at the moment. So I'm not sure.
I'm not sure I wanna be in Sydney.
I'd rather be back in Singapore at that at this time point in
time with me. Yeah.
Well, especially when you see the tourism videos or the video
that we just watched. So Reef, you're the Managing
Director and I guess you're responsible for putting this
phenomenal agenda and event together in one of the biggest
regions across the world. If not, it is not one, it is the
biggest region across the world. So I've got some questions to go
through with you, if that's OK, that's great and we'd love to do
we we have a global audience who sort of TuneIn as as I go to
different events around the world and they're always you
know looking at what are the next big things, what is
happening. And I noticed one of the things
that you've gone to great lengths at is to make sure that
retailers can sort of fast track their their success by attending
the event. But I was curious, I'd love to
get your thoughts on what fast track your success, what is it
and how can retailers extract the most value from NRF Asia?
Ohh, thank you. Thank you for that Alex.
For me, the fast track, Essex Fast track, your success is the
theme of the show, yeah. And it's pretty much well, it is
very linked to the launch as is the inaugural event.
And the reason why we've taken that road with the theme is, you
know most retailers are focused domestically on their markets.
Some of them are globally expanding.
But the really the, the thing that's going to fast track
people's success is to meet a collection of peers from across
the region and across the world all in one place.
There are great minds when great minds in retail come together.
It's a fantastic industry because, you know, a hardware
retailer can talk to a beauty and a fashion retailer and
they're not competitors, so they're able to share a lot of
information. And by sharing and working with
colleagues and peers, you can solve problems in your business
and solve problems you didn't even know you had.
So when you go back to your office, go back to your
business, you can fast track your career and fast track your
business and basically turbocharged things because
you've come back on a whole bunch of insights from a diverse
group of peers that you wouldn't normally have engaged.
Reef, I was taking a look at the agenda and and the the level and
quality of speakers that you've got from around the world, which
is interesting because part of me felt that you know there
would be maybe a focus in one region in Asia.
But I notice you've got speakers from India, you got speakers
from China, Australia, literally from every single region.
But I I'm just curious what are the key takeaways that attendees
can anticipate from attending the the talk tracks.
And I don't know if you've got, you know, top of mind any of the
of your speakers, but I'd love to sort of just sort of focus a
few minutes on that if that's possible.
Fantastic. Thank you.
For me, there's a, there's a whole bunch of really
fascinating stories. I mean we've got Uniqlo, Unico
speaking, Takehiro, he's, he's gonna talk about how our friends
at Uniqlo are taking are taking their retail mark to the world.
We have obviously fair price in Singapore, which is their big
supermarket brand. We have Lottie supermarkets
coming out of Korea. We have we have Nike out of the
US talking about digital transformation and that's going
to be a fascinating story. We've got Lauren Boyd Evasi,
who's the president of APAC speaking who's from Moet
Hennessy, uncorking, uncorking luxury retail experiences.
We have a huge array of speakers, both DC across
categories. We have the associations having
to say and of course we've got, we've got some sessions on
sustainability with with Amazon and humour, but and also people
like Simon Miles, who's ex Coke, who ran their global retail
media strategy around the world. So there's some really
interesting stuff coming through it and and as as I said to you
before, this has been an incredibly self indulgent
journey if content. Now I've met some absolutely
fantastic retail leaders and people and for me it's been a
wonderful, enjoyable journey. Where I've, I mean I've grown as
a as in when my knowledge because every time I have an
encounter I walk away richer from the experience.
So I really hoping that when our delegates set up on stage,
they'll have to take as much pleasure from this pieces of
content as I have putting them together.
Yeah, I I look the the energy comes across just from talking
to you and having a sort of meeting you and seeing the
agenda. I sort of get where that come
that general passion and and light for for the industry and
helping attendees leave. You know and I think you you
mentioned this actionable insight rather than just
insight. I think there's a lot of
conferences I've been to where, yeah, you get a lot of insight,
but you think you have had, am I gonna use that right instead of
like actionable insight, which I think is the key thing that I'll
definitely be looking for. Yeah, it has to.
I mean, things have to get landed.
So there's there's for many retailers need to be able to as
if we're going back to our theme and fast tracking our success,
what are the Nuggets, What are the things that retailers can
grab hold of in these fantastic retail leaders and go well, I
can take that back to the business that's applicable to me
in my career and what I'm doing today.
That's the exciting part of it, and the commonality between the
countries within the region is there, despite being sometimes
unrecognisably different. But the commonality is, is
there, and the energy for retail is there, and the passion with
these people is there. And so through that enthusiasm,
I think people will find their opportunities, find their
moments and find their Nuggets. They'll take back to their
businesses to really fast track their success.
Yeah, I as as I, I mean we we sort of keep going back to this
is when when you use words like region or area as you said
people sort of imagine one jurisdiction area and whereas I
don't know how many jurisdictions you have across
across Asia. One of the things I noticed
about the show and at the big show in New York there was also
a big focus on innovation on actual store tours and and
bringing that to life. But one of my favourite things
store design and obviously how technology plays a part in that.
I notice that that's actually a big part of the agenda and the
experience of just, I don't know if you can sort of give some, I
don't know if it's an external company that's doing it for it.
You guys are doing that yourself.
But I'd just love to get your thoughts on, you know, the the
whole Safari event that that you're running.
Well, there's a couple of things that we've got going and we have
some fantastic special programmes that really are the
accents on the show. The 1st is the Innovation Zone.
And the Innovation Zone We work with a partner who allows us to
curate via the VC community globally some of the most
forward thinking and progressive technologies and solutions.
Wow, they're coming at retail and that's called our Innovation
Zone. And we'll have 24 of those.
And we've got retail tech companies from Singapore, from
from Europe, from the US, from Australia, all around the world
who are breaking them all. And they are, they apply to be
there. How can we have lots of
applications. So we they and they apply to be
there. And so that's really exciting.
And the same group we use, we work with in the US as well with
the big show in New York City. And so it's a very global look
at some of the best technologies that are available to retailers
and it's mind-blowing. It's, you know, it's it's
immersive tech where you've got the augmented reality type
stuff. It's a really wonderful use of
AI. It's robotics, it's, you know,
drone and last mile delivery. It's all sorts of things that
are you know that are going to be mind bending in the way we
consumers engage with retail going forward.
It's it's so for me it's sort of a little glimpse into the future
for many years because you know we're finding now in many cases
that technology arrives and it turbocharges a section of the of
the of the industry. I mean retail media is a good
example of that. Retail media always existed, but
when the technology arrived and and the plumbing came together
that that whole element of retail of our retailers business
took off. So I'm hoping to see more of
that through our innovation zone.
The other thing we're doing and it's very much part of the US
show, but also we're doing here is that our retail to us, Yeah,
And we're partnered with Singapore Retail Association,
they've been a. Fantastic.
So retailer, so Singapore Retailer Association.
And they've taken on the task, yeah with gusto to run retail
tours around Singapore. And Singapore is a fantastic hub
because the the, the the way that the pillar of strategy that
the Singapore Retailers Association had is that they
they look to bring international retailers to the regional, land
them in Singapore and then expand them through the region
and help them really. But the Singapore becomes their
launchpad for Asia Pacific. Solutely.
Yeah. And what's great about that is
it then you see as a result a lots of wonderful flagship
retail experiences which are really amazing from global
brands, but also some really fascinating local style and
heritage and heritage style retail experiences.
You know, because Singapore is a huge melting pot of colonialism
plus inbound inbound inbound tourism, plus also a greatly
interesting diversity of ethnic mix, which makes the experience
really dynamic and really interesting when you when you
engage in retail, when you walk the streets to Singapore, you
think you see a lot of interesting, cool stuff.
Yeah. And I can make and and it's
really interesting that you you sort of highlight that because
when when you look at international retailers, they
are struggling with global communities that are are
expanding, not shrinking. Globalisation is going to
continue and I think retailers are sort of how do we build
those future experiences. And it's interesting like a side
note about how for example live shopping in in in APAC has been
a shopping as entertainment has been a thing for a long time.
Whereas you know that's just sort of people are getting their
heads round of what does shopping as entertainment mean
and all of the diverse elements from the store to online to
ecommerce, the digital. And so you know I'm, I'm super
excited to come to the home of live shopping basically, right.
That's and see what's going on there.
Absolutely. Have you got a precincts like
Orchard Rd in Singapore? It's just.
It's it's it's an incredible experience because you've you've
got, you've got a very, very warm hot city.
It's it's not it's not cool in Singapore, yeah.
So the the malls are with the air conditioning are very
enticing. But then you.
Literally, you can get lost in the place.
It's got, you know, it's an amazing experience and it's and
and and people come to Singapore not just to shop.
The locals are passionate about those those precincts, but you
know, people come to Singapore to see what's possible.
Yeah, no, absolutely. I think you sort of mentioned
some of the technologies, but I can also imagine networking.
Given such a diverse group of people coming together, how do
startups or newcomers into the field?
What's the best way for them to network?
Are you Are you running networking events?
How are you approaching networking?
Well, we're always good at networking, Alex.
But look, let's start, let's start with all the key things.
So this show, fundamentally this show will be no paper.
So everything will be on the app.
And when you're on the app, you'll be able to see who's
there. You'll be able to message in
between people within the app. Obviously, the, the trade show
and Expo is all about networking and they'll be functions like
the opening night party on on day one on the Expo floor.
So there will be plenty of opportunities to rub shoulders
with people. But for me, I think I really
would encourage retailers to take the bit between the teeth
because if you want to expand your business through the Asia
Pacific region, yeah, it's quite hard to do it without partners.
So if you're an Australian retailer and you want to go into
Malaysia, you can't do it without a Malaysian partner.
Yeah, it's just you need, you need some stewardship in each of
the markets. So for me what's exciting is you
not only I would encourage retailers to seek out partners
in those markets they desire to enter, but for me what's
exciting if that happens in two and three years time, we're
gonna see the the fruits of those discussions come to light.
Yeah. And and that's what that's what
gets out of bed in the morning. So we're we're hell bent on
trying to make sure that retailers find their partners
both from a supply point of view but more importantly from a from
a networking point of view. One of the one of the speakers
we've got is a gentleman by the name of Chris Chong who's CEO of
Capital. And so they are Raffles malls
and they run properties all around the region and mall
experiences. So one of the good partners you
can help to expand your business if you will is to go with the
property partner and that helps you achieve that outcome.
So there's just one example of of ways to expand to the region
and people retailers should seek out to help them expand.
Well, the number of retailers that I've spoken about that are
focused on growth and where future growth is coming for
from. I think that's why for me I'm so
excited to bring that sort of experience to the retailers that
I'm coming there with but also to learn and bring back because
I think that's one of the irrespective of where you are
in, in Europe or the UK or in the US if you want to grow and
you you're a serious looking at growth, I think you know you
have to be thinking about your APAC or Asia strategy, how are
you going to do that And it is a minefield, it's not easy.
So I mean that little nugget of go with the property partner and
and expand that way. Obviously is, is, is is one way
and super interesting. I think for me too, just when
you look at, when you look at the region too the that finally
once you've found the right partner, I think the opportunity
is enormous. And we spoke before the we went
on air and and for me what's really exciting about this
region is just the absolute power of growth.
Yeah, we're looking at, we talked to our chief economist
from MasterCard, David Mann, who's closing the show.
Yeah. You know, from 23 to 24, the
desire for consumer goods still increased in this region like it
went all right. So still growing and that's
driven primarily by the wealth generation and in this part of
the world, according to Colliers, this region from 2020
to 2040, yeah, well, the middle class will glow, grow, grow,
grow and like it's growing and growing by 3.49 billion people.
You just can't find them, right? That's the strides.
It's crazy. Yeah.
And so if you think that's a growth from a 73% growth across
the decade, yeah. And so we are seeing some
fantastic investment money is flowing into the region.
Obviously, we've many companies who are running supply chains in
Southeast Asia, in China, in in India.
So there's there's already there's great productivity
happening but we're seeing now a consumer that's meeting needs,
needs them, demands met and retailers the opportunity is
just fantastic. I I think obviously as I said, I
got to be sensitive to your time.
The event is in two months. It's early Friday morning for
you. I just love to get your closing
thoughts. If you're an executive and
you're and you just sort of gone through the experience, you're
sat in your flight back to wherever you whatever region,
what would you want them to have top of mind?
You know what? Because I know, because I'm
curious in that when you were going out and asking questions
to all the retailers to decide your agenda, you had this sort
of vision in mind of what people would leave the show with.
I'm I'm curious, from your perspective, what do you think
would be that number one thing that someone would leave?
Because we've discussed five or six things already.
Yeah, what would be that one thing in your opinion?
I I think for me the, the the first point would be just we've
all I've made. I've I've talked stats already,
but for them to see with their own eyes the scale of the
opportunity to come to the region, yeah, it's just emits
and then it's actually about. For them walking away and going,
let's find what are the links in the chain to make this possible
go you know it. Just how do I understand the
legislative context, the payments, the issues in beige
market and then and meeting some people who are similarly
orientated who can hold, hold hands with them and take them on
the journey to expand in the region.
Because I just, you know, I think if you look, if you're a
North American retailer or European retailer and you and
you sort of daunted by this party, it's a very friendly
place. It's a very great, it's a great
place to be part of and when I love being part of this region
and so, So you'll find some awesome people who will
literally go well, OK, we want to partner with you.
We can see the opportunity. This is the opportunity we see.
Yeah. And I think people will get back
on planes very excited about what's possible.
Yeah. Well, I'm super excited.
Tickets are booked. Need to get my hotel done.
But Ruth, thank you so much for taking the time to sort of talk
us through what what's happening.
The tickets are still on sale now and I think I'm gonna put a
link in the notes of the show on how you can get your ticket and
reserve your spot. But Reef, thank you so much for
taking the time to be with us. And thank you for the
opportunity to really great to be be speaking, speaking with
you today. And I look forward to seeing you
in Singapore in June. Thank you.