2019 China International Retail Innovation Conference Was Held In Shanghai

"Retail innovation has entered a no man's land, and we are taking a path that others have never taken," said Pei Liang, president of China Chain Store Association, at the 2019 China International Retail Innovation Conference.

From April 10 to 12, the 2019 China International Retail Innovation Conference, co sponsored by the China Chain Store Association, the Municipal Commission of Commerce and the Pudong New Area Government, was held in Shanghai International Convention Center.

On the morning of April 11, Xu Kunlin, Vice Mayor of Shanghai, attended the main forum and delivered a speech. Shang Yuying, Deputy Secretary General of the Municipal Government and Director of the Municipal Commission of Commerce, as well as the Special Office of the Ministry of Commerce in Shanghai and leaders of the Pudong New Area Government attended the meeting.

Participants included Massimo Volpe, chairman of the International Retail Association (FIRA), and representatives of retail industry organizations from more than 20 countries, including the United States, Italy, France, Germany, and Japan.

Yoshiya Okada, global president of Japan Aeon Group, and more than 100 representatives of domestic and foreign retail enterprises, as well as Matthias Schranner, an international negotiator, and a group of domestic and foreign experts and scholars in the retail field.

During the conference, the participants will discuss the theme of "Retail returns to fundamental technology and leads the future" through 6 research routes, 2 engineer nights, 7 parallel forums and 12 special lectures.

Xu Kunlin, Vice Mayor of Shanghai, pointed out that the development of Shanghai's retail industry benefits from the city's character of embracing all rivers and inheriting a century old commercial civilization. In recent years, with the accelerated application of new technologies and new models in the commercial field, Shanghai has become a testing field and arena for retail innovation, which is inseparable from the participation of domestic and foreign retail peers.

At present, focusing on the three-year action plan to launch the "Shanghai Shopping" brand, Shanghai will form a commercial civilization that matches the excellent global city positioning and build itself into an international consumer city with global influence.

Shanghai will also continue to uphold the open, innovative and inclusive urban character, provide a high-quality business environment, welcome powerful retail enterprises at home and abroad to settle in Shanghai, share the wisdom of global retail innovation, jointly promote the innovation and prosperity of global retail, and better meet people's aspirations for a better life.

　　 The retail innovation conference has four highlights:

First, create a large platform for international exchange of retail innovation. Representatives of retail industry organizations from more than 20 countries, including the United States, Italy, France, Germany and Japan, will attend the meeting.

The second is to expand the international influence of the "Shanghai Shopping" brand. More than 100 domestic and foreign retail executives and industry experts gathered in Shanghai to expand the global vision and provide international wisdom for Shanghai to launch the "Shanghai Shopping" brand.

The third is to provide a new model for creating high-quality life.

The fourth is to open a new chapter in the construction of modern commercial civilization. At this conference, representatives from the government, associations and enterprises jointly launched the construction of modern commercial civilization.

Next, we will jointly carry out project research on the construction of modern commercial civilization around the dimensions of contract spirit, honest operation, consumer rights and sustainable development, and call on global retail colleagues to explore the connotation of modern commercial civilization.

Pei Liang, President of China Chain Store Association, said in his speech that as the highlight of the "New Consumption Forum" series of China Chain Store Association, the Innovation Conference is a platform to comprehensively display the technological innovation achievements of the retail industry and promote the innovation practice of the retail industry.

I hope to reflect and look forward to the innovation and development of the industry through the annual innovation conference.

　　 Retail innovation enters no man's land

Pei Liang said that from the enterprise level, whether it is physical retail, online retail or omni channel retail, the main body has moved from the simple imitation stage to the imitation and innovation stage. In some areas and leading enterprises, retail innovation has entered the no man's land, and we are taking a path that others have never taken.

Although in this process, there are many arguments and even doubts. With the help of capital, we have also gone through minefields and entered into misunderstandings. But Pei Liang said that the significance of innovation lies in creating value.

First of all, from the enterprise level, a group of high-quality retail enterprises, according to their own development strategies and market characteristics, continue to promote the improvement of enterprise management and operation capabilities through innovation, and their development potential and competitive advantages are becoming increasingly prominent, accelerating their development when the market enters a downturn.

For example, the management mechanism innovation represented by the partnership system has injected tremendous momentum into enterprise innovation, but the lag of information systems and business processes has become the main obstacle to the success of enterprise innovation. Therefore, Pei Liang said that technological innovation must be based on continuous optimization and innovation of business and management.

From the industry level, through innovative practices, consumers' consumption experience has been significantly improved, and consumers' shopping convenience has not been improved before.

At the same time, Pei Liang also pointed out the challenges facing the development of the retail industry.

First of all, is the innovation bonus and price benefits consumers get really because of the value created by innovation? From the perspective of the overall operating efficiency and return on investment of the industry, the overall improvement is not obvious. The speed of commodity turnover has not been significantly improved, and the gross profit level and industry scale and intensification level are not high.

Secondly, the continuous emergence of new technologies, especially mobile Internet, mobile payment and digital solutions, has provided a huge imagination space for retail innovation. However, it should also be noted that the current third-party services, professional talent supply, and effective use of social resources still face many challenges.

Future innovation trend of retail industry

At the retail leaders' summit and the closed door meeting of 50 people from all channels held at the conference, industry leaders had a heated discussion on the trend of retail innovation. Pei Liang revealed that everyone has different views, but there are several high consensus points. First, all innovations should focus on the creation of customer value, and second, innovation must rely on people to achieve.

For the future, how will retail innovation, especially technological innovation, and the future pattern of retail in China be shaped?

Pei Liang said that through the full discussion of industry leaders, everyone agreed that the impact of technology on retail innovation will be reflected in two aspects:

First, under the influence of new technologies, including AR/VA, smart speakers, the Internet of Things in the 5G environment, etc., will comprehensively change the form of the retail industry. However, the omni channelization of product sales in retail industry is an inevitable choice, which is the core function of retail industry in commodity sales.

After omni channelization, retail services will become more important, and retail services will also become a new support for the retail industry to create value.

Second, lean management. Through technological innovation, the refined management level and efficiency of the retail industry will continue to improve, and the cost will also be effectively improved.

Especially through artificial intelligence and digital applications, such as ECR, which was previously promoted - quick response of consumers, and the precise customization and sales forecasting that are being tried.

Including efficient management of personnel, these will continue to accelerate with the digital process, providing favorable support for retail innovation and the improvement of retail efficiency.