The seminar in4Biz - "Innovation in Retail Industry", the new view about role of the innovation management in retail industry.

In4Biz Series - innovation for Business growth Series seminars are forums where domestic and foreign experts, businessmans, and researchers come together to discuss innovation-driven business development strategies. The program is periodically organized by the UEH Innovation Institute with different topics on the movement trends of the world economy, corporate governance, innovation management, and new development trends. technology is applied in businesses, in life and in local economic development.

The seminar was attended by speakers with many years of experience working in multinational corporations, prominent start-ups in Vietnam, and the employees, experts, and leaders of issued at City Union of Trade Cooperatives. Ho Chi Minh City - Saigon Co.op and representatives of projects are incubating at the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Incubator at the Institute.

Speaking at the workshop, Mr. Huynh Phuoc Nghia - Deputy Director of the Institute for Innovation 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 competitiveness of businesses in the future. Therefore, we also need to understand about innovation with a strategic thinking and investment method. With the mission of connecting stakeholders to create an innovative startup ecosystem, the Institute of Innovation builds the foundation, startup-related activities, and innovation training. The seminar on "Innovation in the retail industry" will bring more open and multidimensional 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 you for 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. new perspectives on innovation. ”

Opening the first session of the seminar, Mr. Le Hoang Long - Senior Manager, Nielsen Vietnam brought to the hall to share with the topic "Innovation Management for Store Concept".

“The retail market in Vietnam currently operates very actively, has developed and changed rapidly compared to the world. There are more than 1.6 million stores in operation across the country, becoming a major challenge for manufacturers. ” - Mr. Long commented. In recent years, many specialized stores and mini-marts such as Vinmart, Bach Hoa Xanh, Co.op Food, etc. have appeared in the form of Modern Trade Channel. common. These are also the "incubators" for innovative solutions in the retail industry. Mr. Long also pointed out indicators as well as implicit facts about changes in consumer behavior; From there, attendees could understand the role innovation plays in building and improving store models to increase customer experience. At the seminar, Mr. Long gave four principles for businesses in the retail industry when innovating in their stores, including: Fast - Start it small - Evidence based - Execution excellent.

Following Mr. Long's sharing, Mr. Hoan NUNG - Asia-Pacific Purchasing Manager, Trouw Nutrition, with the sharing "The New-Inno-Reno Way in Manufacturing Food Asia" brought to New approaches to innovative governance are adopted in the food manufacturing industry.

Opening his speech, Mr. Hoan Nung emphasized the role of innovation through the motto of the famous German physicist Albert Einstein - “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the different results ”. We cannot expect different results, if we repeatedly implement the old method over and over without innovation. “Innovation is something that already exists around us, but the way to approach and implement it is by many different methods,” he said. Innovation strategy must start at company scale, then to departments / then to groups / individuals within the organization ”. In order to successfully implement projects related to production and purchase, businesses should apply the process from Orientation - Creation - Preparation - Implement with about the fastest time possible. In addition, Mr. Hoan Nung also shared about the keys to success of him and his company when implementing innovation in the purchasing and production process that is: difference in thinking, adapting to new things. ; behave and communicate flexibly with a multinational team; accept failure, always in the position of being the seller of ideas 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 Mr. Xuan Truong - CEO of GEEKUp, Nguyen Co-founder and CEO AhaMove, Former Director of Momo e-wallet money transfer service, with the topic “How to transform retail industry in the post-Covid-19 ".

“While many leaders believe that digital transformation is a very distant story, a story for many years to come, Covid-19 is already out the window. And Covid-19 is also the factor driving the stronger digital transformation in Vietnam. ” Mr. Truong raised the problem. Although Covid-19 has had a serious impact on other economic sectors, it opens up great opportunities for the retail industry, especially fast-moving necessities (FMCG), healthcare, ... By sharing the successful digital transformation strategies of Zara, Alibaba Hema, Mr. Truong said that “The Online-To-Offline strategy is a strategy that the retail business must implement in the new phase - in the post-Covid-19 period, for enterprises to retain their core values and competitive advantage. "

This means that businesses need to invest, build a set of competencies in online markets, and understand the increasingly diverse needs and psychology of customers to navigate their consumer behavior. on the collected data (data driven organization). “The transition to an Online-To-Offline strategy is not simply to open an e-commerce website (e-commerce site) but also a change of the operating system in the business, from the process. receive orders through the process of shipping them to consumers, to create a better shopping experience for them. We cannot predict what will happen at this later stage, so we need to be prepared, persistently experimenting and finding opportunities for ourselves."

The seminar continued to the Second Panel Discussion Session with the participation of three speakers and the coordinator - Ms. Phuong Thao, Director of the Institute for Innovation Incubator.

The second session of the Workshop opens up sharing and discussions about opportunities and challenges of businesses, especially businesses with long-standing traditional business activities that are gradually shifting to a mode of operation. applying new technology and innovating as Saigon Co.op. The speakers exchanged and shared experiences and lessons that can be applied with the guests attending.

“Enterprises with retail chains with many stores and supermarkets like Saigon Co-op bring great advantages in reaching different customer segments, but at the same time it is also a big challenge as more and more customer segment, the more competitors we have to face. In addition, the application of technology in revenue management, process management, and increasing customer experience at Saigon Co.op is not much. Although the members were aware that there would be digital conversions and switching to an Online-To-Offline strategy, it was still a problem that was not easy to do quickly. ” Mr. Xuan Truong shared about challenges of Saigon Co.op when implementing digital transformation.

Also discussing the challenges of digital transformation, Mr. Hoang Long said that “The most difficult thing to do is changing human behavior. Applying technology can be fast, but letting customers and consumers use those technologies is an extremely difficult story. Therefore, in order to truly transform digital in an enterprise, the first thing that needs to be the determination of the leaders of that enterprise. 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 dead."

“The implementation of innovation is not just the story of our own organization, it's the story of each of us, that we need to change our minds, we need to see innovation and creativity. Made is a DNA in the body. In addition, we also need to have recognition, learn from our competitors, to seek out opportunities in the digital transformation process. Not only that, businesses also have to step out of their comfort zones, accept challenges, think differently, change from small things right in their working environment. ” Mr. Hoan NUNG shared.

The closing workshop brings new perspectives, useful knowledge and inspires inspiration on innovation and creative management for the members of retail businesses in the digitalization era. competition, especially the "new normal" period after the Covid-19 pandemic.

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