World Retail Congress Asia 2011 kicks off in Hong Kong

The event serves as a platform for 35 retail experts from across 10 countries to provide insight into opportunities and challenges facing both domestic and international retailers. It is part of the wider World Retail Congress to be held in Germany on 25 to 28 September this year that brings together 1,000 senior executives from the global retail industry, featuring over 130 retailers and visionaries, in over 40 business streams, plenary sessions and executive roundtables.

Distinguished executives comprising the roster of speakers throughout the two-day event include Peter Sharp, senior vice-president of business development at Walmart; Kal Patel, enterprise executive vice-president of Asia at Best Buy; Gordon Campbell, CEO of SPAR International; Meera Harish, head of learning and development – Titan Industries at TATA Group India; Tom Doctoroff, North Asia and Greater China CEO of JWT; and Jane Perry, general manager of Proximity Shop (BBDO Asia), among others.

Eric Fishwick got the ball rolling in the morning session with an overview of the Asia-Pacific region as the world’s economic powerhouse. He highlighted the various factors as to why Asia is experiencing such unprecedented growth, chief among them increasing domestic consumption figures and the region as a whole coming away relatively unscathed by the global financial crisis compared to their Western counterparts.

The succeeding panel discussion featured four executives from four different companies and markets: Wu Jianzhong, chairman of Wumart Stores in China; Govind Shrinkhande, managing director at Shopper’s Stop in India, Mr Park, executive VP at Samsung Cheil Industries in Korea; Jerry Black, chief strategy officer at AEON in India. Topics that were covered in the session included how the retailers managed their customer base, how an effective supply chain leads to increasing business growth, how a motivated workforce translates to a winning proposition for any business, and the increasing use of social media among their target consumers.

Shrinkhande, for one, pointed out that blogs and social media are effective tools that helps the firm monitor consumer trends because it is in this space that customers open their hearts and describe their opinions on current trends. “Also, customers want their needs and problems addressed, and blogs and social network sites are an effective avenue to monitor the public, and take their opinions into consideration.”

AEON is another firm that is just starting to scratch the surface on the new medium, and Black admits firms have no choice but to adapt to the new technology. “The customer is always in charge and with this frame of mind, you have to give them what they want anytime, anywhere and this includes social media and taking part in it to get a better gauge of your customers.”

The World Retail Congress Asia Pacific event runs from 7 to 8 March 2011.