Retail Asia 2018 JunJuly2018 | Page 9

A USTRALIA Harry Black H Black & Associates Pty Ltd Tower House, 148 High Street, Ashburton, Victoria, 3147 Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] E-mail: [email protected] [email protected] H ONG K ONG Godfrey Wu MHI Limited 1305 CC Wu Building, 302-308 Hennessy Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong SAR Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone]v8 E-mail: [email protected] C HINA Mary Yao MHI China Ltd Room 971 Poly Plaza, 14 South Dongzhimen Street, Beijing 100027 Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] E-mail: [email protected] I NDIA JS Malhotra MRI Global Media Network With technology, retailers can utilise the data collected from individual digital touchpoints, which then provides personalised experiences for each customer. Coupled with powerful reporting tools, retailers can now see the direct impact these online campaigns have on their offline foot traffic. A simple idea for a simple problem. Data, data everywhere Chief marketing officers (CMOs) often say that not having enough data isn’t the problem — it’s knowing what to do with it. For retailers in particular, tracking customer patterns using Wi-Fi hotspots, sensors in-store and QR codes, for example, can give much better insights into customer sentiment and behaviour. The collection and analysis of these rich insights can help greatly in driving business decisions. But data isn’t just useful for boosting customer experience. It is also critical to leverage these predictive customer insights for new opportunities and growth — if not now, then soon. The most innovative retailers know that in addition to identifying technical gaps, it is also essential to align your analytics strategy with your business goals, and to have sufficient operational and governance capabilities in place. By doing so, retailers will be able to build scalable analytic programmes that can be adjusted as they grow, driving better results and profitability. Cashflow management Cashflow optimisation is key to all retailers, allowing them to prioritise their working capital to enable growth. Getting there, however, is easier said than done. In fact, a recent study by JP Morgan cited the average small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) hold a cash buffer enough to support only 27 days of their typical outflows. A huge portion of this problem lies in the high upfront costs to stock up on inventory, logistics and the need to order supplies in bulk — battles fought daily to keep working capital afloat. Couple this with the high cost of recurring monthly expenses such as rent and payroll, and it’s clear why the recent SME Financing survey by SPRING Singapore (now known as Enterprise Singapore) suggests cashflow management is the number one pain for small businesses in Singapore this year. Fortunately, the rise in fintech means more convenient and flexible solutions that can immediately impact these cashflow needs of retailers. In short, technology for retailers doesn’t have to be complicated to be effective. It is, after all, there to solve the problems we face in business now, not in the future — the VR goggles can wait a little longer! ra Annex II & III, 1/16, West Patel Nagar, New Delhi – 110 008 (India) Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] E-mail: [email protected] I TALY Tiziana Vailati Studio P R B Di Tiziana Vailati Via Vittorio Emanuelle II, 52, I-20052 Monza Mi Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] E-mail: [email protected] J APAN Mikio Tsuchiya World Media Services Inc 3-35-1-302, Hongodai, Sakae-Ku, Yokohama 247 0008, Japan Tel/Fax: [phone] E-mail: [email protected] S OUTH K OREA Edward YB Jeon Storm Associates Inc 4F, Deok Woo Bldg, 292-7, SungSan-Dong, MaPo-Ku, Seoul Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] E-mail: [email protected] T AIWAN Virginia Lee Spacemark Media Services 2/F, No. 22-18 Chang An East Road, Section 1 Taipei Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] E-mail: [email protected] U NITED K INGDOM Patricia Corbett Greg Corbett Associates Ltd International Media Sales, 3rd Flr Ebury Gate, 23 Lower Belgrave Street, London, SW1W 0NR Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.gca-international.co.uk For all other advertising enquiries, contact [email protected] Retail Asia June/July 2018 7