How NTUC FairPrice revamped its business for digital

While having a good hold on the local market, the digital age has proved challenging for NTUC FairPrice nonetheless, with the retailer looking to put its business online and through mobile.A few months ago, it re-launched its Fairprice Online website. It extended its online store with the addition of a new service called Click&Collect where customers were able to order their items online and have the option of collecting their purchased items at preferred store locations at a convenient date and time. This came as FairPrice Online registered a year-on-year growth of 15% in sales for the first half of this year.Bernard Chew, CIO of NTUC FairPrice, on a panel discussion at SAP’s APAC Media Summit said that one very telling sign that the launch was what it needed was that more than two third of its customers were accessing the website through their mobile devices.“Customers out there are glued to their mobile devices. Today advertising is no longer on the billboards but rather the advertising banner is the mobile device itself. As a retailer, we are just starting to learn how to use this. And it is an ongoing process,” said Chew.Seah Kian Peng, CEO of the brand also added that content marketing is another important aspect for the brand.“We try to be in all the spaces that we think are important, for the present and future generation. We started Internet television and pumped a lot of content there,” he added. But what is ultimately crucial in pushing out new technology and marketing mediums is to ensure that the consumers are ready, therefore timing is important.Challenges of having an aging populationSingapore’s aging population also serves as a challenge for the brand. While the younger Singaporeans are very much well travelled, tech-savvy and in tune with global consumer habits, the older demographic is also a core group of customers NTUC FairPrice needs to deal with on a regular basis. Hence simplicity for its platforms is also vital.“If you go back to keeping things simple, the consumers will be able to find the things that they want and will enjoy the shopping experience. To adjust to them, to meet their wants as much as we can, we had to pool together and make sense of the tremendous amount of data that we had – so that we could better serve both segments,” added Seah.Currently NTUC FairPrice has an internal analytics team to sieve through data from its half a million daily customers. With the increased focus on data, time is also of the essence for the brand. Seah added that while there is plenty of data on hand, it all needs to be analysed in a timely manner to understand the customer life cycles and habits.“We want to be able to do it at a much faster time. Life cycles are very short. Consumer needs can change very quickly. Equipping our stores and store managers with tools for them to make better informed decisions is also important,” he added.Barriers to adding new technologyChew added that today there are significant barriers to introducing new technology whether form the customer’s perspective or internally within the organisation itself.One example he cited was the use of self-checkouts counters. When NTUC first introduced it in its stores over three years ago, customers had been extremely hesitant. This is despite the immense success the procedure had in Europe and America. However, persistence paid off for the brand and today adoption for self check out has been just as good - the demand has been on par with regular checkout.“We often wondered whether we were doing the right thing or not because it is taking customers significantly longer to go through the check-out process on the self machines rather than with the regular cashier. For some, it seemed like a retrograde process,” he added.Internal resistance is also an issue the retailer has to overcome when introducing new marketing tactics and technology.“You need to have your own colleagues adjusting to this new technological advancement. Being a leading retailer with a significant market share, we were able to lead the market, and we should continue to do so and provide better innovation,” said Seah.Future of NTUC FairPriceRetail is a tough business but having 41 years of history in the country helps, said Seah. However he is well aware that the brand success in the past is not an indication or assurance of its success in the future. Staying close to the ground and remaining relevant to the changing consumer lifestyles, demands and behavior is a key challenge for any retailer.Change and digitisation is going to be a constant. For one, Seah added, if you go to the NTUC FairPrice stores today, all of the counters are using electronic shelf tables.“In five years time, you will see much better ones, adapted to our aging population so that it is easy on the eyes. You will see interactive screens as well – that are able to better promote to customers, showing them what’s on offer and also to guide them around the stores.”Whether a physical or online store, the experience has to be seamless and simple, said Seah. While the speed of change makes technology predictions hard, it will still push the retail business.