RECAP Webinar: Breakthrough Growth for Retail Chains: Elevating HR Management and Customer Experience with Cloud Computing

How can cloud computing technology be applied to enhance the customer experience? What should be considered when creating a digital, transparent work environment to improve the employee experience in the retail industry? All questions on these topics were shared by speakers in the webinar “Breakthrough Growth for Retail Chains: Elevating HR Management and Customer Experience with Cloud Computing” held on the morning of Monday, May 31, 2023.

Joining today’s discussion were leading industry speakers: Mr. Pham Minh Phong – Head of Sales in Hanoi – 1Office, Mr. Nguyen Hong Chuong: Digital Transformation Solutions Consultant at VNG Cloud, Mr. Ngo Van Lanh – IT Manager of the Media Mart system, and the seminar host, Ms. Nguyen Thi Ha – Senior Expert in HR Management at 1Office.

Context and Current State of the Retail Industry in Vietnam

The seminar session unfolded in a positive and vibrant atmosphere with telling figures about the future of the retail industry, which is expected to contribute up to 59% of the total national GDP in 2025.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam’s retail industry currently has a market size of $142 billion, projected to increase to $350 billion in the next two years. Despite facing great potential with many positive assessments, the experts at the seminar also made predictions about the difficulties and challenges that still remain for the retail industry.

The Covid-19 pandemic has passed, but the habits formed by Vietnamese people during the pandemic remain “deeply rooted” to this day. Customer behavior and lifecycle have consequently become significantly different from what they were about a year before the pandemic.

At the seminar, the experts also agreed on the shifting trends in the retail industry, including:

Customer shopping behavior based on age

Online retail takes the throne with voucher “hunting” behavior

Regarding this trend, speaker Pham Minh Phong stated: “Multi-channel retail is gradually becoming a trend, especially online retail. In this context, the behavior of hunting for vouchers and waiting for discount days has gradually formed among consumers”.

Agreeing with this assessment, Mr. Nguyen Hong Chuong shared: “The Omnichannel trend is and will increasingly be a key trend in the coming years. Accordingly, Vietnamese people will only visit physical stores for certain specific product categories”.

Cashless payment trend becomes dominant

Commenting on this, the speakers at the event all agreed that cashless payment is a growing trend not just in any field or industry, and retail is no exception. Accordingly, speaker Pham Minh Phong believes that in the near future, cashless payment methods will become the majority, surpassing traditional methods.

Users are gradually shifting their focus to post-purchase services and becoming less price-sensitive.

The price of goods – one of the most sensitive issues for consumers in the retail industry – seems to no longer hold a high position. Instead, the experts all agree that after-sales services – an area often overlooked in the retail industry – are gradually gaining significant attention from consumers.

Driving a superior customer experience with cloud computing technology

Speaker Nguyen Hong Chuong’s presentation began with a McKinsey study on the current state and purchasing trends of consumers in the retail industry. According to the study, cosmetics and home appliances are predominantly favored by Gen Z and Gen Y. Along with this trend, online platforms are on the rise and are gradually surpassing traditional methods like in-store purchasing.

Following that, speaker Nguyen Hong Chuong provided many insights for online sales regarding ordering via websites, such as: “customers will leave after 3 to 5 seconds if the website freezes,” “Customers are likely to leave the page if they find it difficult to find a product,” and “Customers feel valued when there is a dedicated loyalty program for them.”

Addressing the solution to this problem, speaker Nguyen Hong Chuong stated that enhancing the user experience requires focusing on excellence at every touchpoint. “Retail business owners need to anticipate all difficulties, challenges, and needs in user behavior to devise a plan to optimize their experience”

However, for a retail business to achieve growth momentum, the foremost factor is its personnel. Characterized by a high workload, the industry demands a large workforce. In the context of most businesses undergoing comprehensive restructuring, retaining talent and increasing employee loyalty are core factors for business development.

Effective HR Management in Retail Businesses

Part 3 opens with the assertion that human resource management is a prevalent issue for any business, especially retail enterprises. The challenge for every retail business is recruiting personnel and building loyalty to the company.

In operations, the constant HR management difficulties for retail managers—such as fragmented personnel data, inefficient data collection and reporting, and difficulty in evaluating the performance, work status, and contributions of each employee—are the reasons for high employee turnover rates.

The brain drain of personnel is no longer a rare phenomenon for retail businesses—an industry that often has a fairly short employee lifecycle. This stems from employees’ feelings of resentment when the company lacks transparency in calculating timekeeping, salaries, and bonuses, and fails to properly evaluate the contributions and dedication of its workers. This is the root cause that exacerbates the personnel crisis, which is already severe in the retail industry.

When traditional methods are no longer effective, digital transformation is a necessary step to enhance the employee experience. Creating a digital work environment is the vision and strategic move in human resource management for every retailer. Sharing his thoughts on this direction, speaker Pham Minh Phong emphasized: “Building a corporate culture is extremely important. However, conveying that corporate culture to each employee is just as crucial. Having employees receive daily notifications about salary policies, bonuses, teambuilding, etc., is an effective, low-resource solution for fostering a mindset of continuous striving, which helps increase productivity and quality for each individual.”

Additionally, speaker Pham Minh Phong offered a practical vision from a leader’s perspective: “The context of great potential for the retail industry is both an opportunity and a challenge for the entire sector as it faces a worsening personnel crisis. Along with this problem, the cost of retaining employees is also increasing. Therefore, in addition to evaluating the performance of each employee, leaders need to assess the turnover rate and employee recruitment growth in relation to the company’s scale growth“

Mr. Phong also shared potential factors to consider when choosing an HR management solution. “Customization and synchronization are key factors in today’s context of software overload”. These are also the necessary features to address the aforementioned difficulties, especially for retail businesses with a large number of locations and a high number of employees. A tool with customization capabilities will accurately analyze data for each employee at each point of sale with high precision and transparency. Meanwhile, synchronization is the ability to integrate with other revenue reporting tools to accurately assess employee performance and chain locations.

However, speaker Pham Minh Phong also emphasized: “Technology cannot completely replace people, but digital transformation will increase productivity by up to 70%“. Leaders can optimize budgets and enhance the work experience for employees by creating a digital work environment, starting with automating administrative tasks like timekeeping, salary, and bonus calculations, and allowing employees to self-monitor and assess their personal capabilities on a digital platform, fostering a “Self-motivate” mindset for staff daily.

Webinar: Breakthrough Growth for Retail Chains concluded successfully with a lively atmosphere during the live Q&A session from the audience to the guest speakers. 1Office hopes that through the program, retail industry managers have gained more experience in operations, not only regarding customers but also in paying more attention to the experience of each employee. 1Office deeply appreciates the companionship and dedication of the speakers and the 200 attendees. Your support is the motivation for 1Office to continuously strive and continue to bring practical value to Vietnamese businesses.

For more detailed information, please visit:

Fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/1officevn/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeTIRNqxaTwk0_kcTw6SxmA