24 August 2006 – Retail NEXT conference which was held on 23 August 2006 in JW Marriott, Bangkok, Thailand drew close to 100 senior representatives in retail conglomerates within Asia, Middle East and India. The one day by-invitation only event was jointly organised by ETP International, an international retail solutions company and its Premier Business Partner in Thailand, 4Bizinet Co., Ltd and co-sponsored by IBM of which ETP International is a PWIN Premier member.
The conference started with a welcome address by Mr Naresh Ahuja, Chairman of ETP International. He explained the need for an industry event that can provide an exchange platform for retail industry practitioners and analysts. There is a gap and ETP International as an active participant in the retail industry would like to take the initiative to provide that platform.
The conference programme had a strong representation from leading retailers presenting case studies on their organisations as well as expert knowledge sessions from industry analysts. Senior representation as speakers came from IBM, Euromonitor International, ITC Ltd – a US$3 billion retail conglomerate in India, Titan – a subsidiary of Tata Group and India’s leading watch retail chain, Minor Corporation – one of Thailand’s leading multi-brand retail giant and others.
The conference agenda covered a broad spectrum of trends and issues facing the retail industry. Topics include retail trends, understanding consumer behaviour, future customer-centric store concepts, information management, brand building and much more.
The panel discussion comprising all the speakers for the day saw a lively discussion on the current and future retail landscape as well as points for consideration in retail expansion plans. Active audience participation also saw delegates raising questions on various concerns ranging from technology adoption to future of symbiotic relationships between retailers and vendors.
Commenting on the needs and the challenges facing retailers today, Mr Niwat Lekklai, Managing Director, 4Bizinet Co., Ltd stated, “Currently, the retail industry is growing dramatically, especially in Thailand. Information is one of the key factors to support retail business growth. It can be used to improve business strategy and customer service. Although information can be found everywhere, actual and real-time information is difficult to sieve out. Therefore, selecting the right information is a very important result to business owners for making decisio ns.”
“We are pleasantly surprised by the turnout for the event as it far exceeds our expectations. The support from the retailer industry has been very encouraging. This clearly reflects the industry is in need of events along the lines of Retail NEXT to facilitate knowledge exchange. We plan to be one of the key forces in providing this platform hence plans are underway to make Retail NEXT an annual anchor event in most countries in Asia and the Middle East. Thailand’s retail industry is growing and its predicted to grow by 8% in the next 5 years. The need for more robust information management systems, knowledge of best-of-breed retail management practices, versatility in adapting to change among others is key to the survival of retailers,” remarked Mr Naresh Ahuja, Chairman, ETP International Pte Ltd.
The conference closed with a gift presentation ceremony by Mr Ahuja to all the speakers. Each delegate left the conference with the knowledge takeaways as well as an attractive door gift and conference proceedings from the organisers.
About 4Bizinet Co., Ltd
4Bizinet is a leading professional IT service and software solutions provider offering complete end-to-end solutions to its customers. Over five years of its establishment, 4Bizinet has built its business and domain expertise in several industries including Retail, Telco, Banking and Finance. 4Bizinet’s products and services include various Enterprise business software applications and complete professional services. 4Bizinet has a business belief that its success can only come when it help customers to overcome their businesses challenges. By engaging its strategic partnership with global and internal technology leaders such as Microsoft, IBM, ETP International and SourceCode Technology Holding, 4Bizinet delivers its customers the most reliable, a scalable and robust solution available in the market today.
www.4bizinet.com
About ETP International Pte Ltd
ETP International is an enterprise software company focused on enabling retailers to run their business proactively using the cutting-edge ETP V5 Retail Solution. Founded in 1988 ETP has its International HQ in Singapore, R&D centre in Mumbai and a network of partners in over 12 countries, selling, implementing and supporting ETP solutions. ETP’s three digit growth is driven by the wide acceptance of its flagship product ETP V5 by leading retailers.
ETP V5 is a 4th generation solution designed to help retailers move from a push based business model to a push-pull based business model, making them more proactive in planning, execution, analysis and decision making. It is seamlessly integrated through POS, CRM, Online Sales, Call Centre Sales, Merchandise Planning, Promotions Planning, Procurement, Distribution, Warehousing and Analytics. Developed with reliability, scalability and globalisation in mind, ETP V5 is capable of handling multiple languages, time zones, currencies, taxes, company and group structures, 20 users to 1000’s of users, various hardware platforms and operating systems and can be implemented comprehensively or modularly.
