The Asia Retail Leaders Conference (ARLC) 2018 held last week bestowed awards on nine founding members of the organiser, Singapore Management University (SMU) Retail Centre of Excellence (RCoE).
At a formal luncheon attended by 200 retail industry participants, Chee Hong Tat presented awards to DFS, Decathlon, Harvey Norman, Ikea, Microsoft, Popular, Tiffany & Co, Visa and DBS Bank. The acknowledgement awards were presented in recognition of the companies’ strong support of the centre since it was founded in October last year as a joint initiative between SMU, the Economic Development Board and Enterprise Singapore.
The Asia Retail Leaders Conference is SMU RCoE’s first thought-leadership, experiential and networking event. The event served as an industry platform for the sharing of ideas and strategies which will help retailers to not only ride on the digital wave, but also encourage them to explore new and innovative practises in the industry.
In addition to the sharing sessions by several SMU faculty and distinguished speakers, ARLC 2018 held exhibition booths which featured a mix of entrepreneurs and their disruptive products and services. Four entrepreneurs from around the world were invited to showcase their technological innovations to address crucial challenges facing the retail industry and illustrate how RetailTech can be used to create and support new business models. The exhibitors include Microsoft featuring Kroger Shelf, Cloud Cherry, Gravity Supply Chain and Trakomatic.
RCoE organised the conference to encourage and facilitate open dialogue by retailers to rethink their portfolios and to explore new omni-channel retail concepts that connect front-end brick-and-mortar with back-end distribution, while embracing technology.
