Future Proof Your Business, The New Retail Innovations & Interventions

Quill City Mall Kuala Lumpur

FB : Quill City Mall Kuala Lumpur

*****

Have you heard about Phygital?

Thanks for the wonderful invitation, I recently attended the “Future Proof Your Business – New Retail Innovations and Interventions” expert forum held at Quill City Convention Center.

Moderated by Jonathan Case, the forum was joined by 4 retail guru – Anwar Jumabhoy (Industry Expert), Kent Lee (Founder of Smuzcity), Redza Shahid (Founder of Grubcycle) and Cheong Chia Chou (CEO of PUC Berhad). Led by Quill City Mall, these retail industry players explored the future of retail impacted by the Phygital era.

I only get to know what is Phygital after the forum. It is a brand new retail strategy, where Phygital ecosystem focuses on maximising shoppers’ experience and providing a platform for retailers to engage with consumers in meaningful ways.

A Phygital mall is a combination of the physical and digital functionality, and excitement to create the best version of a balanced retail ecosystem. Some of the features include e-wallet function, borderless payment, smart logistics and digital content marketing such as live streaming by influencers.

“Many malls in Malaysia is struggling to compete with the rise of online shopping and the short-lived retail gimmicks. The team at Quill City took time to reimagine what the future of retail entails and decided to shift our focus towards understanding shoppers’ behavior,” said Group CEO of Quill Group of Companies, Koong Wai Seng.

Quill City Mall is envisioning a retail model centered around exciting digital interactions, social intimacy and a borderless O2O e-commerce platform within a physical space. A Phygital mall is about designing a shopping platform, a journey within a physical space, with consumer-centric tech infrastructure that facilitates the interactions between consumers and brands throughout the shopping experience.

“The decision to build a Phygital mall stems from our earnest preposition as an industry leader to provide tools and platforms to empower SME’s and retail entrepreneurs. Quill City is determined to meet the ever-evolving consumer expectations and their standards for convenience, entertainment, and of course, the satisfaction of shopping. We want our Phygital mall to become a platform for local entrepreneurs to showcase their products and reach a wider audience,” added Koong.

Quill City also announced their new tenant line-up that each has their unique definition of what a Phygital concept store means to their brand and customers.

JD.com, China’s leading one-stop e-commerce platform – has teamed up with Presto, a local social marketing application to form an exhilarating partnership – JDX Presto Concept Store. Making headline as the largest online-to-offline experience store in Malaysia, the store is not only cashless but also staffless and borderless.

Furthermore, E-Sport Center is also settling in with a Phygital gaming store while UniKL introduces industry exposure projects dedicated to business students.

“It is 250 per cent higher purchase rate when retailers engage customers with at least 3 channels. The statistic reaffirms the importance of consistent customer experience and marketing across multiple touchpoints in guaranteeing a higher revenue,” shared CEO of PUC Berhad, Cheong Chia Chou.

In conclusion of the forum, the future of retail needs to promote intimate social relationships between brands, both international and local, with consumers by building a physical space that is customer experience-centric.

Retailers that had or hadn’t been focused on pushing their products online need to reimagine the essential role physical experience play in building strong and memorable relationships with their customers.

It is time we welcome the Phygital era!! The fun of shopping remains but the way we shop has changed. I can’t wait for Quill City to become a borderless retail, edutainment, and experiential learning center soon with more international and local tenants to come.

*****

More photos at FOOD Malaysia facebook page, a Malaysian food and lifestyle blogger since 2010

Related Post : J&T Express’ #KasiJadi 6th Anniversary Bazaar @ Pavilion Bukit Jalil