Inside NRF APAC: Building Asia-Pacific’s Retail Powerhouse with Ryf Quail

Our purpose became a lot, much, much clearer. And if there was a distinction between the US show and our show, it wasn't the US show as a domestic American show, where as we as internationals go along as passengers, where we really have a a role to play in bringing the community together. Hello and welcome to a you know, Reef. I always say there's special episodes of the retail podcast. I feel like I have so many children and I love them all.

But truly this is a special episode or a unique episode because we get to look behind the scenes. And I think that's really important when we're talking about conferences, when we're attending the conferences. What more would you want to know as a attendee then to have a sneak peek behind the scenes? And we're really privileged to be joined by Reef Quail, managing director of Retail's Big show Asia Pacific. As an attendee last year.

And I think I've I said this to you face to face, the energy, the passion, the the execution that you bought to the event being that it was the first event in in the region was phenomenal. And I think if if you don't mind, why don't we start there 2024, how was that for you when you when you sort of now almost on the cusp of the show 2025 but how, how was 2024 for you? From now looking back is just a

real sense of gratitude. You know, a lot of big organisations put a lot of faith in us to do, you know, it was a big undertaking and, and I feel that we repaid them in spite. So we had last year we were aiming for 5000 registrations, we had 8600 and we turned off conference tickets 8 days before because we were worried that we couldn't actually deliver a space for the people who were buying tickets. So we didn't sell any conference tickets for the last 8 days.

And, and then we had, you know, Expo, we had one full of Expo and, and that was incredibly, it was full and excitement and energetic. We had 52 countries attend in the first year. And I was like, I was just like, it was mind blowing for me because when I was like running an event in our, in Australia, I, I, I knew everybody in the market. So if I, if it was, we were a bit soft on sponsorship. We're a bit, we were worried about retailers coming. I could always just pick up the

phone. We ran a, a comprehensive regional programme and I, we didn't know everybody. Yeah, so, so it really proves the power of a brand and an effective programme that delivers an outcome. Felt like we just created a movement. People came towards us and they just want to.

And this year they're already talking to us and they're telling us what they're doing and how they're coming and and, and we, and we've made mistakes along the way, but we we, we knew where they were and we can approve them. So I think for me, you know, it's, as I said before, it's one of gratitude. You know, it's been an amazing experience and I've just met some awesome, awesome people

through the prices. So you've spent a year going round to your Advisory Board, you you've sort of got, well you've definitely the agenda has already been published. So what has driven the agenda for this year? We we really coming through the first year's show and then also engaging advisor, but also the wider market. We really, it really became clear that the, our purpose became a lot, much, much clearer.

And, and if there was a distinction between the US show and our show, it wasn't the US show was a domestic American show where as we as internationals go along as passengers, yeah, where we really have a a role to play in bringing the community together. And so in terms of the way we engage our Advisory Board, it's much more about diversity on stage. We've got much this year much more diverse than we were last year. So we were diverse last year, but our stages are much more

diverse. So we'll have 11 keynotes, 11 leaders from 11 different markets in the region, from India to Japan to Australia to the US to Singapore to Malaysia. So we've got lots of to the Philippines leaders from all

around the region. And then we'll have 18 breakouts which are really the how to sessions, a bit more functional sessions and they're more led by I suppose heads of HR or heads of marketing or heads of e-commerce or heads of transformation that will talk to some of the big, big hairy

topics in the region. What we've tried to do there though is actually match up. So, so rather than doing 4 on a panel or just two on a panel with a moderator and having an Australia and a Thailand or in New Zealand and in Japan, so

having really contrasting markets. So they might be talking about, for example, we've got a great session on ESG and sustainability and we've got DFI in Southeast Asia and we've got Kohl's in Australia. Got you. And so the way that global legislations manifest in their markets and in their organisations, while it's similar, is very different.

And so it allows to see retailers to see, to take things away and, and see stuff that are that that's unique to their market or unique to another market which they can lift and transfer. And then there's other stuff like for example, we talk about the delivery revolution, which is, you know, which is unique to this region, such as quick commerce in India. Yeah, which is, you know, you know, when the iPhone recently launched, I think it was 18

months ago, you know, you, you know, if you're in Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, you ordered a phone and arrived on your desk 8 minutes later. And, and, and no one in the world has done quick commerce like India has. And now we're seeing how businesses from grocery to costume jewellery are re engineering their business around delivery as a service convenience by you know, so this is totally unique to our region. And so that's been really neat.

And I think the other thing too, which is probably the most challenging for our region and another reason for us to be is in the content, we're seeing a real desire to cross borders as a retailer, to expand geographically, but through culture, language, currency, legislative context, that's

really hard. And so if you're Japanese and you want to go to Malaysia, you've got to find a Malaysian partner. If you're Australian and you want to go to Vietnam, you can't do it on your own. You've got to find someone in Vietnam who is going to be aligned, spiritually aligned enough with you that you can go, that you can form a collaboration with to allow you

to, to take that leap. So that's we're doing some really nice interesting work in terms of opening up markets, in terms of different range of speakers, having some country spotlights on places like the Philippines, on Indonesia and on

Thailand. So people can really start understanding are these markets I want to enter? Yeah. And then I've noticed that in terms of the hall space, you've expanded. So last year we had a red carpet club, which was our sort of the leadership club, and that didn't work because in America all the CEOs are domestic and they all know each other. In Asia Pacific, all the CEOs don't know each other. So we needed to have some facilitated networking.

So we took that out and moved it up to Level 3 and we're having a whole programme of facilitated networking among CEOs and the CEO. And that's going to be the largest gathering of retailer CEOs in the region. So if you, if you want to get to, if you want to build your business case to come as a retailer can be your boss that who's the CEO to come to the CEO club because that ticket's free. But we want, we'd love to have as much gathering as many of

those as possible. The other thing we've done on the floor was we've moved some of the elements which didn't work as well as she liked the some of the arranged meetings. We've taken those out. So there's actually more exhibitors. And. Yeah, the more exhibitors and we've also got last year we only had two exhibited big ID stages, those green stages at the back

of the hall. Yeah, they will have three this year and they only said 80 last year. This year they'll we'll be able to fit in 130 into those sessions because they were oversubscribed. And you've kept your innovation area, I see as well. Yeah, Yeah. So the innovative showcase has now become a global programme. So this is really, this is

really neat. So in New York, in Singapore and in Paris, NRF Europe, in Paris in September, the VCs, this is a programme independently curated the VCs pitch the leading, the latest, greatest retail tech. And they, and they, so they picked the tech we have about 120 plus people pitch for about 30 spots. And then, and then we have a, the, the gathering of the, the best bleeding edge retail tech

from anywhere in the world. So from a, from people coming to NRFA pack, they, they're going to see in one place 30 exhibitors that are the latest and greatest as deemed by our, our curation team. So that's pretty cool. So you, you won't see that anywhere else. And they, they had that in New York and we had that in Paris as

well. So it's a, it's a global programme now. And and then I've noticed you've kept your special tours, the special programmes in terms of retail store tours and then the Expo tours, right? Yeah. So the Expo tours, we've got three different types and really they're centred around operational excellence, marketing and and some of the and send some of the cool technology in, such as AI and

and other mercy tech. And they're really designed for retailers to sort of look at those heartland big bucket topics back up this front office and bleeding edge technology with the view to solving problems in their business. So you know that that means that as a retailer, I can go, OK, the tool will allow me to go, well, I need to I need to understand AI fully. So therefore I can take an application back on a use case back to my business that will

begin us on the journey. Or it might be the fact that I have an operational problem in my business around inventory and I need to find a set of suppliers that can help me with that or a set of partners who have the answer to the questions I need to answer. So that's the tour from the Expo

point of view. In terms of the retail tours for Singapore itself, Singapore's really fortunate that you know, it's the hub for Southeast Asia. So a lot of the the some of the best practise retail, whether that be the Adidas's and Nikes or the Porsches are running amazing retail experiences. So there's and, and people like fair prices at a domestic level are also doing some pretty incredible stuff.

And so you'll be able to go and look at this three different tour types that will allow you to look at some of the best in retail in, in the Singapore marketplace, some quite traditional, some looking at different formats, some looking at, you know, different installations. And then obviously the use of technology and grocery a whole

lot. So you'd be able to have a, and, and obviously, if you're in Asia, grocery is important because food is very important in Asia. So, so understanding how that all fits together is quite cool too. So those two are, are are were much, much more improved because we took a lot more out of 2024 learnt so much. Also a bit a bit of it was a bit supply and demand. We understand understood what the what our retailers were looking for.

But more importantly got much deeper into the the headspace of the of the region. And really people like enterprise Singapore, Singapore tourism border to have as well as our our big Singapore advisors have provided and Singapore Retail Association I've given us a lot bigger

better steer into tapping into what's best in the market. So Reef, you probably like all of us have been glued to, to the screens over the last couple of weeks, tariffs and the impact that it's having on the global economy. I'm just curious when, when you have such a global show in such a hot region of the world, how does that bleed into your conference or like do you have, are there talks in it? Are there, can you, yeah, expand that for us?

Great question for us and I think for me really in a day, the big thing out of this whole, you know, created uncertainty is that there's one thing for certain is we've is our purpose and our purpose is to create intra AIPAC collaboration. And so within our region, everyone's pretty open to each other. This is we're not talking about facilitating trade between Asia Pacific companies in the US, we're talking about facilitating trade within Asia Pacific

region. And so you know, and retail thrives through open conversations, collaborations, connecting with like minds. So it's, I think, you know, it's given even an even stronger purpose for us to exist because as companies think about diversifying their supply chains, you know, we've got countries like China, of course, but we've got countries like Philippines, Vietnam, who are creating a lot of materials for all sorts of different

companies. Then you've got these, we've got some super big markets such as Indonesia, India, China. So how do you play in those markets as a retailer and then how do these markets alike, how do these markets come and expand out? You know, we're talking as I said before and talked to touch on the CEO club to have a whole bunch of CEOs in the region who can talk to each other and find opportunity to be to work together in a place where they quite often didn't know each other.

I think the context just gives us more reason to be Yeah, I think. And that's, that's pretty cool, you know, because that's what I want to do anyway. That's what I we, my, what gets me out of bed in the morning every day to see that stuff. And so now there's even more of a reason to, to do that and to be that platform that allows those connections and collaborations to occur. So for me, that's, that's really neat.

So I'm, I'm, I'm actually, you know, we all went and held our breath, but really it's even better, you know, it's, it's a,

it's a business doesn't want to stop. They just need to, they just need to look at other ways of doing it and the whole region's ready to do business. One of the things that I love is I'm going to take part in the show and we had a pre call with the Family Mart. He's #2. OK, we had a, we had a conversation with the number two person at Family Mart and I've got to be on. I mean, the easiest way for people who don't know Family Mart is to think of 711 and

that's who you've got. But what what I came away with and I came away with this feeling from Shanghai last year when I was in Shanghai. We are so fixated on technology over here that we forget that once technology is solved, what happens next? And here you have an executive ex CEO of Uniqlo who is bringing all of this creative juice and elements to an industry, the convenience industry, because technology, if you like, is, is sold right?

They, they, they don't need to optimise anything anymore. Yes, you can optimise things a little bit more, but it's absolutely all about the experience. How do you stand out? How are you unique? How do you bring your future customers in? And I just sat there. This was a pre talk, right? We were just sat there going, OK, let's just have a quick chat before like 30 minutes just glued to my to my little screen

to what he has to say. And I just found what a wonderful example of a Japanese powerhouse because within Japan, they're they're, they're huge and sorry. And within the region, they've got stores in other parts of the region. But when you mention convenience, most people probably roll their eyes and go convenience, right? But you know, you ain't seen nothing yet as as, as they say when, when the transformation that that one convenience powerhouse is going on.

And I think that's such a reflection of the maturity of the industry within your region and how you know how globally mature they are and then on the other side how they still are are transforming and maturing within certain markets. And I think it came. Sorry. Go on. Well. I I finished that call and went out because obviously family might have launched convenience wear. So I've got two. I've bought 2 pairs of, I bought some socks, I've got 2 pairs, I've got to give some to Raffi.

I've got to give some to Raffi. My programme manager, but but a ducky son was quite keen to bring us if they've got a whole range of convenience where it was really neat actually. So no, they weren't at all. It was awesome. Yeah. You know, they're quite, they're quite. I feel like a bit, I feel a bit Gen Z ish in my so so white, so half calf in the colours of white socks within the colours of family Martin Apple, sort of a green and an Aqua, little rings around them.

I look pretty retro. I want to be super respectful to your time obviously in Singapore in terms of the the final thoughts, what do we have in store in terms of size and scale or at the Expo this year at the conference? This year, so the, in terms of the Expo and conference, obviously we have more exhibitors this year it'll be bigger and we will, I suppose it's, I mean events are people based. So it's about the people who

attend. I think, you know, in terms of where we are today, we are a long way ahead of where we were in 2024. So I, I, I hope to see somewhere between 9 and 10,000 through the site, which you know, means we'll have 13 or 14,000 registrations with just under 50 days to go. That looks incredibly likely now, which is just mind blowing. So it's going to be pretty busy.

We should have a lot of fun. And then I think through the conference, I think we'll probably get to probably another half, 50% more than we were last year in terms of people. So it's going to be pretty full. So I think from my mind, it's going to be, you know, we, we had a great first show, this show, this year's show is going to be really busy. And I think there's going to be more diversity in terms of the group. We'll have more language.

We'll have obviously on site, we'll have particularly Chinese and Japanese and we'll have there'll be more people to meet and just so many more people to meet. So I think that from a, from an, if you're coming for the first time, just just expect it's, it's if you come, for example, if you come from my market in Australia, it's like nothing you've ever seen it's and that's why I find myself quite fortunate of being part of it. Because it's just.

Big. It's yeah, And there's so many different people you can meet and collaborate with that. Yeah. I mean, I've got, I've got for

for me, it's incredible. And actually we have to talk about this off off when we finish recording.

I've got my clients from China. Like last year we spoke about it, but this year there's three or four of them making the effort to fly out from China. Obviously they're a European company with offices there, but it's on their radar, which I thought was, was, was phenomenal that they're, you know, they're getting 4 execs to fly over because it's, as you said, the region now is really coming together.

But there has been that sort of gap for where do they come together at which is that space that you're filling? And that, and I think that's come from, you know, the, the, that still desire people hung back a little bit in the first year, But I also think that the desire is there. There's been, I said before and a few people have actually said thank you because they were, they've been waiting for this sort of event for a while, for such a long time.

That's just, you know, I, I love what I do, but you know, when people have you've done one event and everyone's saying thank you, It's like that's, that's really neat. But and I, but I, it doesn't say before it will, it will be, it will be bigger in terms of people and numbers, a lot bigger. I. Think it's busy last? Yeah, it was busy last year, so and we've resisted the urge to have two floors of Expo we could off. Yeah, but we, we'll, we'll do.

We'll do one and do and we'll just grow in an orderly manner this year. I think really it's about the experience and doubling down on, you know, making it a really fantastic experience for people who come to Singapore and make the trip. And, and, and that's where our emphasis will be. And, and then then as we, we can take, continue to grow in, in a way that, you know, as aligned

to the values of the show. And I think that over time, this show can be one of the biggest in the world because we're you think we're only in U2, we could have 10,000 people through the site, you know, you know, that's just in the second year. Yeah. So, which is just so neat. So. I have no doubt, I, I have no doubt of watching this show. I'm, I'm, you know, for the moment, I and I, and I've told, I've shared the story many

times. I saw Reef, I saw the, I can't remember the Minister of Culture who every person was at NRF 3-4 years ago talking about this regional event that we're going to do. And it just made so much sense in the sense that there are so many retailers that I've spoken to in the UK, in Europe and in, in region that look for that. Where do we come together? Right? Yes, you can go to an in country event, but there are very few. So it's, it's a, a real joy to watch this to go from strength

to strength to strength. And thank you as, as, as it is, it's only, you know, I, I think with the right energy that you can pull this off. So I'm, I'm, I'm super excited. Thank you, man. And to just to, to finish that thought. It's just we're creating a movement, you know, we're, that's what we're trying to do. And at this point in time for us, as we grow, it's about bringing people towards the show who are, who are passionate, who are invested and, and that's what we're looking for.

And it's and there's just been so many of them that we're just, we're just trying to keep hold them all together and, and, and because once we get them together, we just got to get out of the way and let them do their thing and meet each other and enjoy the moment, right? Because I think you know that that that is what will make us successful. It'll be the people that continue to come year and year that just make this such a fantastic show.

Yeah, that's wonderful, Reef. I look forward to seeing you in what? That's 40, about 47 days I reckon. 47 days and counting. I'm not counting at all. All right, Alex, thank you very much. Appreciate the opportunity. Take care.