Thailand
Thailand: Keeping up with the consumers
The changing lifestyles and preferences of consumers are causing financial distress to many retailers that refuse to reinvent their stores. Traditional retailers are under intense pressure from the rapid transformation of the industry.
Consumers want to maximise their shopping experience with minimal effort but maximum convenience. To meet such high expectations, big players are adopting strategies and technologies to expand their market share.
For instance, 7-Eleven launched Speed-D to battle startup logistics service providers. The one-day delivery service lets customers send or collect goods from any 7-Eleven store nearby. Central Food Retail Group, meanwhile, has introduced the Tops Box application at Tops Daily Singha Complex to serve the emerging cashless society and digital-savvy customers.
While retailers are all trying to establish an online presence, some online retailers are embracing the reverse online-to-offline strategy. Alibaba has a physical supermarket format in China called Hema, and Lazada launched its physical pop-up stores in Singapore and Malaysia, letting consumers experience products before buying them online (in a similar way to Alibaba’s cashless stores in China).
Amazon has Amazon Go and is doubling down on the mobile-driven omnichannel, but it’s struggling to deliver the same level of convenience that traditional retailers can harness.
In Bangkok, Pomelo Fashion, the JD.com-backed online fashion retailer, opened its fifth physical store at the new Iconsiam to reach new customers and boost brand awareness.
Despite the challenges in the global retail market, the planned future supply in Thailand has continued to grow. Some 1.4 million square metres of retail space is now under construction or planned at future retail and mixed-use projects in the capital.
With growing competition from e-commerce and future supply, the challenge for landlords is how to stay relevant. Digital technology is undeniably affecting the traditional retail infrastructure, but this does not mean that it is game over for physical stores.
Technology is facilitating the creation of new shopping experiences that integrate digital insights with physical reinforcement. Only the innovative retailers will survive this retail revolution.
Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/news/1617478/keeping-up-with-the-consumers