Most retailers already have strong strategies, campaigns, standard operating procedures, and operational plans. 

But ensuring those plans are executed consistently across hundreds or thousands of stores is an increasingly complex challenge for retailers across the region, explains Olivier Adam, GM, commercial at Lark, an operations platform for leading retailers.  

He describes the problem as ‘the retail execution gap’ – the disconnect between what headquarters plans and what actually happens at the store level.

“For example, HQ may launch a promotion expecting displays installed, pricing updated, and inventory positioned correctly across every outlet by the next morning. But in reality, some stores receive instructions late, some execute them only partially, and others interpret them differently altogether,” Adam explains. 

At scale, these small inconsistencies compound very quickly. A missed pricing update, an incomplete campaign setup, or delayed store reporting across a network of hundreds of outlets can quietly translate into millions in lost sales, operational inefficiencies, and weaker customer experiences.

“What makes this especially important today is that retail strategy itself is increasingly commoditised. Most brands know what they want to do. The real competitive advantage now lies in how quickly and consistently retailers can execute across their store networks.”

“At Lark, we believe retail transformation is not just about digitising workflows. It’s about enabling consistent execution, speed, and visibility across complex retail organisations through a connected operational system.”

How legacy tools are widening the retail execution gap

Adam ventures that the major reason the retail execution gap exists is that many retailers are still operating on fragmented legacy systems built for a very different era of retail.

“Traditionally, retailers adopted separate tools for communication, task management, approvals, standard operating procedures, reporting, training, and analytics,” he explains. “Over time, this created highly fragmented operating environments where store teams constantly switch between emails, spreadsheets, messaging apps like WhatsApp, Line or Telegram, shared drives, and outdated enterprise systems just to complete daily work.

“Retail today moves far too quickly for disconnected workflows,” says Adam. “Yet many frontline teams are still overwhelmed by information overload, buried under emails, long manuals, and multiple communication channels.”

Communication is most fragmented when instructions get missed, priorities become unclear, reporting is conducted manually, accountability weakens, decision-making slows down, or the head office loses visibility into actual store execution.  

All these factors create operational friction through every layer of the organisation.

“What we are now seeing across leading retailers is a shift away from fragmented legacy stacks toward unified operational platforms where communication, workflows, reporting, approvals, standard procedures, dashboards, and AI all exist within the same environment,” Adam says.

“That operational integration is becoming increasingly critical not just for efficiency, but for speed, visibility, and execution consistency at scale.”

Southeast Asian retailers lead the way

The fastest-growing retail brands in Southeast Asia are now fundamentally rethinking how their organisations execute.

Instead of treating head office and frontline teams as separate operational layers, they are building highly connected operating environments where communication, workflows, reporting, and decision-making happen in real time across the organisation.

Adam says a few trends stand out very clearly.

“First, these retailers are operating with much higher execution speed.

“At Zus Coffee, for example, rapid expansion meant opening more than 30 new stores every month while coordinating across outlet development, construction, operations, and frontline teams. As the company scaled to more than 1000 stores in just seven years, fragmented communication across WhatsApp, Telegram, spreadsheets, and email became increasingly unsustainable.”

By consolidating workflows, approvals, reporting, and communication into Lark, Zus Coffee created a much more connected operating environment. Weekly expansion reporting was reduced from three hours to 15 minutes, while real-time dashboards gave the head office faster visibility into project bottlenecks and outlet progress.

Secondly, leading retailers are building operational consistency directly into their systems. At Indonesia’s Hypermart, for example, maintaining consistent operating standards across more than 130 stores and 6000 employees nationwide was a major challenge.

By digitising audits and operational workflows within Lark, teams now run nearly 400 operational self-checks daily, with results visible centrally as they happen. The shift reduced the need for frequent on-site inspection travel and helped Hypermart save approximately US$50,000 in regional operational costs.

And thirdly, retailers are rethinking employee experience across the organisation. At 7-Eleven Philippines, supporting teams across more than 4000 stores required a more role-specific way of working across the business.

“The retailer previously relied on multiple spreadsheets and folders to manage day-to-day work. By customising the workplace experience, employees could access the tools and information most relevant to their roles, reducing unnecessary navigation and making day-to-day work more efficient,” explains Adam.

What’s becoming especially interesting now is how AI is moving directly into frontline operations.

Previously, AI conversations in retail focused mainly on head-office functions such as forecasting and analytics. Today, retailers are increasingly deploying AI into day-to-day frontline execution.

“We’re seeing frontline teams use AI to retrieve standard operating procedures instantly, summarise operational updates, automate reporting, analyse store images for compliance, and surface operational risks faster,” says Adam. “This reduces administrative burden for store teams while giving head office greater visibility and consistency across store networks.”

Building an edge in the intense Southeast Asian market

Adam considers Southeast Asia to be one of the most operationally complex retail environments in the world. 

“Retailers here operate across highly diverse markets with different languages, customer behaviours, cultural expectations, infrastructure conditions, and levels of digital maturity. What works operationally in Singapore may not work the same way in Thailand, Indonesia, or the Philippines,” he explains.

“This means retailers cannot rely purely on rigid top-down operating models. They need systems that allow HQ to maintain alignment and operational standards, while still empowering local teams to adapt intelligently to local realities.”

At the same time, competition across the region is intensifying rapidly.

“Consumers now expect faster service, better omnichannel experiences, and more consistent execution across physical stores. Meanwhile, highly agile regional and Chinese retail brands are entering Southeast Asia with extremely fast operating rhythms and highly integrated operational systems.”

All of this is raising the competitive benchmark for the entire industry.

“In this environment, operational agility becomes a major differentiator,” adds Adam. “The retailers that win will not necessarily be the ones with the biggest budgets or largest store footprints. They will be the ones that can combine centralised alignment with local flexibility, while executing consistently across every market and store.”

AI, he says, will continue to play a major role in enabling such agility. 

“In a region as operationally diverse as Southeast Asia, AI can help bridge communication gaps, simplify frontline workflows, accelerate decision-making, and empower store teams with faster access to information and operational support,” Adam concludes.

“That’s why we believe the future of retail in Southeast Asia will increasingly favour retailers that move beyond fragmented legacy systems and build execution-first operating models designed for speed, visibility, AI adoption, and scale.”

• Discover more about Lark and its operational solutions for retailers, visit the website here.
• Lark will be at NRF Retail’s Big Show APAC 2026. Visit the Lark booth to discover how leading retailers across Asia, including Zus Coffee, Mr DIY, and Pop Mart, are using Lark to drive faster execution, stronger headquarters-to-store alignment, and operational excellence at scale.