Workshop in4Biz – “Innovation in Retail Industry”, a new perspective on the role of innovation management in the retail industry

With the goal of inspiring innovation about the role of innovation management and innovation culture in businesses, and helping leaders discover new opportunities and directions of development in the retail industry in this time. In the competitive digital technology period, the Innovation Institute organized the Workshop “Innovation in Retail Industry” – in4Biz* Seminar “Innovation in Retail Industry” on September 12, 2020, at campus 232. /6 Vo Thi Sau, Ward 7, District 3, City. Ho Chi Minh.

The in4Biz Series –  innovation for Business growth Series is a forum that brings together domestic and foreign experts, entrepreneurs, and researchers to discuss innovation-oriented business development strategies. The program is organized periodically by the UEH Innovation Institute with different topics on movement trends of the world economy, corporate governance, innovation management, new development trends of technology is applied in businesses, in daily life and in local economic development.

The seminar had the participation of speakers with many years of experience working in multinational corporations, prominent start-ups in Vietnam. granted at the Union of Trade Cooperatives of Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh – Saigon Co.op and representatives of projects incubating at the Innovation Incubator at the Institute.

In the opening speech at the Workshop, “Teacher Huynh Phuoc Nghia – Deputy Director of the Innovation Institute” shared: “There is a very clear truth that the law of innovation will govern the value chain of the organization and Innovation will be the factor that changes the level of competition of businesses in the future. Therefore, we also need to understand innovation with a strategic thinking and methodical investment. With the mission of connecting stakeholders to create an innovative startup ecosystem, the Innovation Institute builds platforms, startup-related activities, and training on innovation. The seminar “Innovation in the retail industry” will bring more open and multi-dimensional perspectives on the implementation of innovation in a specific field – the retail sector. On behalf of the Institute of Innovation, I would like to thank the participation and sharing from the speakers, and hope that, with this conference, we will learn a lot of useful knowledge as well as gain valuable knowledge. new perspectives on innovation.”

At the opening of the first session of the Conference,  anh Le Hoang Long – Senior Manager, Nielsen Vietnam  brought to the hall a sharing with the topic “Innovation Management for Store Concept”.

“The retail market in Vietnam is currently very active, developing and changing rapidly compared to the world. There are more than 1.6 million stores operating across the country, making it a big challenge for manufacturers.” – Mr. Long commented. In recent years, the Modern Trade channel has appeared many specialized stores, mini-marts such as Vinmart, Bach Hoa Xanh, Co.op Food, .. have formed and become popular. These are also the “incubators” for innovative solutions in the retail industry. Mr. Long also pointed out indicators as well as implicit truths about changes in consumer behavior; so that attendees can understand the role of innovation in building and improving store models that increase customer experience. At the Workshop, Mr. Long gave four principles for businesses in the retail industry to innovate in their stores, including:  Speed (Fast) – Experiment with small scale (Start it small) ) – Implementation based on practice (Evidence based) – Executing in a best way (Execution excellent).

Following Mr. Long’s sharing, Dong Hoan NANG – Head of Purchasing Department for Asia – Pacific, Trouw Nutrition, with the sharing “The New-Inno-Reno Way in Manufacturing Food Asia”   brought to participants a new approach to innovation management applied in the food manufacturing industry.

At the beginning of his sharing, Mr. Hoan NANG emphasized the role of innovation through the maxim of the famous German physicist – Albert Einstein – “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the different results”. We can’t expect different results, if we keep implementing the old method over and over again without innovation. He said: “Innovation is something that already exists around us, but the way to approach and implement it is by many different methods. The innovation strategy must start at the company scale, then to the departments/departments and then to the groups/individuals in the organization”. In order to successfully implement projects related to production and procurement, businesses should apply the process from Orientation (Orientation) – Creation (Creation) – Preparation (Preparation) – Implementation (Implement) with the fastest time possible. In addition, Mr. Hoan NANG also shared about the keys to his and the company’s success when implementing innovation in the procurement process, which are: difference in thinking, adapting to new things; behave and communicate flexibly with the multinational team; Accept failure, always in the mindset of being an idea seller and finally, expand your vision and knowledge in many different fields such as Finance, Marketing,..

Closing the first session of the seminar was a sharing from  anh Xuan Truong – GEEKUp Operations Director, Former Co-Founder and CEO AhaMove, Former Director of Money Transfer Service Momo E-wallet, with the topic “How to do it” How to transform the retail industry in the post-Covid-19 era”.

“While many leaders think that digital transformation is a very distant story, a story of many years from now, Covid-19 is already outside the window. And Covid-19 is also the driving factor leading the digital transformation to take place more strongly in Vietnam.” Mr. Truong raised the question. Although Covid-19 has seriously affected other economic sectors, it has opened up great opportunities for the retail industry, especially in fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), healthcare, … By sharing the successful digital transformation strategies of Zara, Alibaba Hema, Mr. Truong said that “Online-To-Offline strategy is a strategy that retail businesses must implement in the new period – in the post-Covid-19 period, so that businesses can keep their core values and competitive advantages.”

This means that businesses need to invest, build a set of capabilities in the online market, and at the same time understand the increasingly diverse needs and psychology of customers to guide their consumption behavior, based on on the collected data (data driven organization). “The transition to an Online-To-Offline strategy is not simply opening an e-commerce website (e-commerce site) but also a change of the entire operating system in the business, from the process of order taking to shipping to consumers, to create a better shopping experience for them. We can’t predict what will happen at this later stage, so we need to be prepared, persistently experiment and find our opportunities.”

The workshop continued to the Second session Panel Discussion with the participation of three speakers and moderators – Ms. Phuong Thao, Director of the Innovation Institute Incubator.

The second session of the Workshop opened up sharing and discussing opportunities and challenges of businesses, especially those with long-standing traditional business activities that are gradually shifting to a new mode of operation. application of new technology and innovation such as Saigon Co.op. The speakers exchanged and shared experiences and lessons that can be applied to the guests.

“Businesses with retail chains with many stores and supermarkets like Saigon Co.op have a great advantage in reaching different customer segments, but at the same time it is also a big challenge when more and more customers grow. customer segmentation, the more competitors we face. Besides, the application of technology in revenue management, process management, and customer experience enhancement at Saigon Co.op is not much. Although members are aware that they will have to carry out digital transformation, switching to an Online-To-Offline strategy, it is still a problem that is not easy to do quickly.” Mr. Xuan Truong shared about Saigon Co.op’s challenges when implementing digital transformation.

Also discussing the challenges of digital transformation, “Mr. Hoang Long” said that “The most difficult thing to do is to change people’s behavior. Applying technology can be quick, but getting customers and consumers to use those technologies is an extremely difficult story. Therefore, in order to be able to truly digital transformation in an enterprise, the first thing needed is the determination of the Board of Directors of that business. Along with that is empowering the staff below to transform determination into action, creating motivation to contribute to motivating individuals in the organization to act together. In short, businesses need to realize that digital transformation is a must, not doing is dead.”

“The implementation of innovation is not only the story of the organization, but it is the story of each of us individually, that we need to change our thinking, we need to consider innovation and creativity. created is a DNA in the body. Besides, we also need to have recognition and learn from our competitors, to look for opportunities in the digital transformation process. Not only that, businesses also have to step out of their comfort zone, accept challenges, think differently, change from small things right in their working environment.” Mr. Hoan NANG shared.

The seminar ended bringing new perspectives, useful knowledge and inspiration on innovation and innovation management to members of retail businesses in the digital era. competition, especially in the “new normal” after the Covid-19 pandemic.

UII – Where every idea has a story!

News and photos: Marketing – Communication Department