The Cloud and the New Normal in the Retail Industry

By Liu Binxing, General Manager for Hong Kong (China), Macau (China), and the Philippines, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence

The pandemic has promoted a new consumption mode that centers on online shopping, and consumers demand a better e-commerce experience. Some retailers combine the workflow of physical stores and e-commerce to integrate online and offline sales. This way, they can provide a better shopping experience and make their operations more profitable and efficient. This requires considerable stability and technology. Cloud suppliers can meet the need and help develop Online to Offline (O2O) commerce and solve difficulties in transformation.

The pandemic has driven the digital transformation of enterprises and increased the demand for cloud services. Meanwhile, people's lives are affected by the digital transformation, which is forming a new normal. International companies and small retailers have begun to realize that they need to transform through cloud technologies.

More companies have started to realize the speed, flexibility, and stability of cloud services and the benefits to business and performance brought by the services. They know they need to acquire the services soon. Now, the pandemic, economy, and demand are still changing. The IT management team of a company needs to deploy cloud technologies in advance (such as cloud-native) to make their services more stable. Sufficient technologies and production capability allows them to seize the opportunity when the demand rebounds and the market recovers.

I helped many small and medium-sized enterprises build their shopping websites. They often asked me to help launch new products and new functions urgently or deal with the demand surge during holidays. If they deploy solutions (such as cloud-native) in advance, they can allocate resources and adjust the capacity flexibly to meet various demands and urgent circumstances.

All industries are accelerating their transformation, and the retail industry's demand for cloud technology is particularly significant. The retail industry has suffered the most since the pandemic. According to the 2021 Asia-Pacific Retail Flash Survey released by CBRE, 59% of retailers believe the current sales performance of their companies is lower than the 75% of the pre-pandemic level, and only 10% of respondents believe the sales performance is better than the same period before the pandemic started.

The pandemic promotes a new consumption mode that centers on online shopping and consumers demand a better e-commerce experience. Some retailers combine the workflow of physical stores and e-commerce to integrate online and offline sales. Thanks to this, consumers can smoothly switch among multiple channels and platforms, and retailers can provide a better shopping experience and make their operations more profitable and efficient. This requires considerable stability and technology. Cloud suppliers can meet the need and help develop O2O and solve difficulties in transformation.

Let’s take Chow Tai Fook Jewellry Group in Hong Kong as an example. Its digital transformation can be difficult since its consumers need to try-on things needs, and the traditional physical stores were the mainstream in the past. However, after years of cooperation with public cloud service suppliers, Chow Tai Fook has combined the workflow of physical stores and e-commerce to integrate online and offline sales so consumers can have a smooth shopping experience across multiple channels. This also makes its operation more profitable and efficient.

Cloud technologies affect more than the retail industry. It will help other industries strengthen technologies and services. In the foreseeable future, cloud technology will play a pivotal role in business and help companies transform, seize opportunities, and resolve challenges in the market.

About the Author

Mr. Liu Binxing (Leo Liu) has more than 15 years of practical experience in cloud computing, AI, and globalizing the ICT industry. Currently, Leo is the general manager of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence in Hong Kong, the Macau region, and the Philippines. He is responsible for leading the team to build up the cloud computing, AI, and network infrastructure, which provides global customers from different industries comprehensive solutions in cloud services such as IaaS, PaaS, AI, security, IoT, etc.

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The Cloud and the New Normal in the Retail Industry

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