On November 30, 2022, the 20th Asia-Pacific Retailers Convention was held in Indonesia, where many government representatives, industry experts, and business executives gathered to jointly discuss "Cooperation and Synergy in the New Normal". Zhang Wenzhong, the founder of DMALL, was invited to participate in the conference online and delivered a keynote speech titled "Digital Technology Empowering Retail", explaining the four major values of digital technology for retail, and DMALL is working with global partners to jointly promote the accelerated arrival of the digital transformation wave.

The Asia-Pacific Retailers Convention is one of the world's three major retail events, showcasing first-class business achievements and providing insights into global business development trends. At this convention, the President of Indonesia delivered the opening keynote speech, and senior representatives from Aeon Japan, Mitsukoshi Isetan, Nielsen, and others were invited to give speeches.

Global Retailers Are Embracing Digitalization

"Digital transformation has been widely recognized and accepted by retailers," Zhang Wenzhong said. "Nowadays, many retailers, even global retail giants, believe that digital transformation is the future trend. In the digital era where everyone is online, everything is online, and everything is connected, retailers must fully embrace digitalization and carry out digital transformation in all aspects of their enterprises. At the same time, we need to return to the essence of retail business and provide high-quality goods and services."

Regarding how to achieve digital transformation, Zhang Wenzhong pointed out that it is necessary to truly adopt new technologies and use digital ERP, that is, SaaS, as the basis for digital transformation. "SaaS can fully replace the ERP in the IT era, giving retailers the opportunity to reshape the system, making operations simpler, and at the same time meeting many new needs of consumers."

The Four Major Values of Digitalization for Retail

Zhang Wenzhong believes that digital transformation can help retailers achieve four goals: First, improve efficiency; second, enhance consumers' shopping experience and satisfaction; third, improve system security; fourth, fulfill ESG social responsibilities.

First, to improve the efficiency of the retail industry, there must be advanced, easy-to-understand, and easy-to-use technologies that truly help retailers operate more easily than before. Zhang Wenzhong further explained: "To achieve this goal, we need to provide a digital system for retailers and all their employees. For example, Dmall OS can provide retailers with an App to complete all the tasks required in business operations. Technology can help retailers reconstruct the business system in the digital era."

Second, digitalization can comprehensively enhance consumers' shopping experience and satisfaction. Consumers can use the same App for online and offline consumption, and retailers can gain insights into omni-channel data and use new technologies to provide better services, making consumers' lives better.

Third, to address the challenges faced by system security in the digital era. Adopting a new digital ERP system can avoid security issues such as the entire system being easily hijacked by hackers.

Fourth, fulfill ESG social responsibilities. Using a digital system can truly help retailers save energy. For example, Dmall OS provides a set of energy-saving solutions to optimize energy use in various links such as refrigerators and lighting.

China's SaaS Going Global to Collaborate with International Retail Giants

It is reported that since its establishment over 7 years ago, DMALL has been able to smoothly replace the traditional ERP system. It has switched the digital systems for many retailers such as Wumart, Metro China, Guangdong 7-Eleven, and Dairy Farm, helping them achieve omni-channel transformation. Among them, the retail digitalization cooperation with Dairy Farm in Hong Kong, China, Singapore, and Cambodia has also enabled DMALL's digital business to be fully implemented in Southeast Asia. In 2022, DMALL joined hands with Metro Group to launch a business pilot in Odido convenience stores in Poland, officially entering the European market.

Up to now, DMALL has received many domestic and international honors, including being selected as one of the "Top 100 New Entity Enterprises in 2022" by the China Enterprise Evaluation Association, one of the "50 Demonstration Samples of China's Digital Economy Industry" by the APEC China Business Council and the APEC China Digital Economy Committee, the "Annual Best Corporate Social Responsibility Contribution Award" and the "Annual Best Omni-Channel Strategy" of the 2021 Asian Retail Awards by the Asian Retail Magazine, and the "Annual Best Customer Service Solution" of the 2022 Asian Retail Awards.

"Digital transformation is the future of retailers. Many digital innovations are taking place, and this wave is emerging globally. I hope we can join hands and jointly explore the great future of digitalization," Zhang Wenzhong said.