Singapore, 8 November 2019 (Friday) – Following the success of the first Asia Retail Leaders Conference (ARLC) in October last year, the Singapore Management University (SMU) Retail Centre of Excellence (RCoE) will be hosting the second ARLC on 14 November 2019.  Held at SMU’s Mochtar Riady Auditorium, RCoE expects to welcome 300 delegates from key retail brands across Asia Pacific.

This year, an esteemed panel of speakers from the industry and academia will delve into the world of ‘Next-Gen Retail: Unravelling the New Norm', with a focus on the challenges and benefits of creating and adhering to a digital-ready retail strategy.  These industry leaders will provide delegates with a comprehensive analysis of the current market trends and enable them to create the opportunities to propel them into the future of retail.  

Last year’s delegates included marketing and retail directors from 76 companies, including Asia Malls Management, Charles & Keith, Frasers Property, Godiva Japan, Jardine Cycle & Carriage, Mercatus Co-Operative, Johnson & Johnson and Lego.  This year’s Conference will see participation from Moet Hennessy Diageo, Uniqlo, Changi Airport Group, Asia Mall and OUE among many others.

SMU RCoE is a retail insight-sharing hub in Singapore focusing on generating and disseminating actionable knowledge for retailers in Singapore, Asia and beyond. A tent pole event of the Centre, ARLC serves as a platform that engages retail leaders, industry experts, knowledge partners and senior managers from around the region.

Dr Kapil Tuli, Professor of Marketing at SMU’s Lee Kong Chian School of Business (LKCSB), and Director of RCoE, said, "We are pleased to present the second leadership conference for retailers in Asia to come together to share ideas and industry best practices that have the potential to help advance the industry as a whole. It’s a challenging yet fascinating time for the retail industry in Southeast Asia and Singapore.  For example, the rise of social commerce is providing innovative options for retailers to get closer to customers. Retailers are also re-discovering the great potential of enhancing customer engagement in the physical world with the aid of design thinking and immersive technologies.”

“In addition, the innovations in payment technologies and the rise of online marketplaces are providing consumers with greater options. Against this background, the speakers we have invited this year are all market leaders and trendsetters within their own fields in retail. We believe that their insights and sharing on new retail trends will inspire and empower retailers to do more in embracing retail for the new generation,” he added.

The one-day Conference will be presented in five themed segments, namely, Engage, Design, Enhance, Understand and Imagine:
 
Engage
What are eminent retailers doing to stay relevant and engage customers? This will be discussed in-depth by a panel of speakers featuring Ms Elaine Heng, Chief Executive Officer, Retail Business, FairPrice Group; Dr Ernst Christiaan Osinga, Associate Professor of Marketing, SMU LKCSB; and Mr Christopher Daguimol, Director/Head of Brand Communications, Zalora.
 
Design
Another panel will discuss how technology, visual engagement and consumer empathy can be seamlessly weaved together to develop a highly focused consumer-centric retail experience. Mr Mark Wee, Executive Director, DesignSingapore Council; Ms Dione Song, Chief Commercial Officer, Love, Bonito; Ms Richa Menka, Principal, Eight Inc.; and Ms Kim Nayoung, Marketing Officer, Shimano, will share why and how retailers can incorporate design thinking to generate opportunities to better connect with consumers.
 
Enhance
How do retailers leverage emerging technologies and exploit disruptions and behavioural shifts to enhance the value proposition for their customers? Hear from Mr Sam Too, Head of Corporate and Media Relations, Qoo10;  Mr Gary Chan, Channel & Device Marketing Director, Microsoft; Mr Mark Jamison, SVP, Global Head of Innovation and Design, Visa; and Dr Nirmalya Kumar, Professor of Marketing, SMU LKCSB.
 
Understand
How should retailers refresh their business models to understand their next generation of employees and customers? Ms Gayathri Venkatesan and Mr Pratt Hetrakul, Marketing Science Partners, Facebook, will share how retailers are leveraging the opportunities from social media to drive business results; Dr Sandeep Chandukala, Associate Professor of Marketing from SMU and Dr Yong Chin Tan from City University of Hong Kong (CUHK) will share their research insights into how retailers can leverage Augmented Reality in stores; and Ms Sheryl Woon, Online Traffic Acquisitions Leader, Decathlon, will share insights on engaging the young generation of employees.
 
Imagine
SMU RCoE will be holding the grand finals of the Inter-Varsity Retail Challenge 2019 where retailers will gain first-hand insights into the mindsets, preferences and behaviours of the new generation. The first-of-its-kind competition in Singapore saw overwhelming response when it opened in August 2019, with more than 80 participating teams represented by a total of 254 students.  The students hail from seven tertiary institutions in Singapore, namely National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, SIM Global Education, Singapore Institute of Technology, Singapore University of Social Sciences and Singapore University of Technology and Design, and SMU.
 
Teams have been tasked to address one of two topics:
(i) Millennials’ Retail Shopping Behaviours in the Age of the New Retail
(ii) The Professional Retail Job of the Future.

Following a rigorous judging process over the past few months, 10 teams made it to the semi-final round held on 2 November 2019.  Subsequently, the four best teams have emerged and will be making their presentations to an esteemed panel of judges at the grand finals to be held during the Conference.

Relevant and applicable retail research insights
Apart from learning about new ideas and best practices from fellow industry practitioners, delegates can also expect to gain valuable research insights from three global academics who have conducted retail-related research on augmented reality and email marketing campaigns.

In the Engage segment, SMU Assoc Prof of Marketing Ernst Christiaan Osinga will share his research on ‘Online advertising to boost offline sales’.

Synopsis: Online advertising may be the go-to tool when retailers sell online. But what if retailers (predominantly) sell offline? Can they benefit from online advertising? And how do they even measure the impact of online ads on offline sales? These questions are particularly relevant in Southeast Asia where the share of online retail sales is still in the single digits. Assoc Prof Osinga’s research discusses two recent studies which demonstrate that firms that (predominantly) sell offline can benefit from online advertising. The first study looks at using data from a browser extension and purchase diary to show that online banner ads on desktop PCs can encourage new customers to visit the advertiser’s website to obtain more information and subsequently purchase offline. The second study, he examined the effects of mobile banner ads on offline and online sales through a large-scale geographical field experiment, and discusses the implications of these findings for retailers.

In the ‘Understand’ segment, SMU Assoc Prof of Marketing Sandeep Chandukala and CUHK Asst Prof Yong Chin Tan will share their research on Augmented Reality (AR) in retail and discuss applications of this technology in stores.

Synopsis: AR is a technology that superimposes virtual graphics onto a live view of the physical environment, helping users visualise how objects fit into their physical reality. A promising application of this technology is letting shoppers experience products virtually before making a purchase, especially in online contexts where shoppers have no access to physical products. They will demonstrate in this presentation how retailers are using AR to improve the shopping experience in online and offline settings, and share insights from their research investigating how AR usage affects shopper engagement and influences purchase decisions.

Conference tickets are available at SGD 220 before GST.  Attractive group pricing applies.  Detailed Conference programme, speaker profiles and tickets are available online at smu.edu.sg/arlc2019.
 
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