Speech by MOS Alvin Tan at Singapore Retailers Association Excellent Service Award Presentation Ceremony

Mr Ernie Koh, President, Singapore Retailers Association

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Introduction

1.             I am happy to join everyone today at SRA’s Excellent Service Award (EXSA), to we celebrate achievements of individuals who have delivered outstanding service standards in the retail industry. All of you play an important role as retailers and frontline staff. 

Overview of Retail Industry Landscape

2.             The service excellence demonstrated by these winners reflect their commitment to the retail sector, especially when facing today’s complex challenges. The global economic uncertainty and supply chain disruptions are reshaping how retailers manage costs and plan ahead. These challenges also impact their operations and customers' spending patterns.

3.             At the same time, consumer preferences are changing. Shoppers increasingly embrace e-commerce. Traditional retailers must thus rethink their strategies and invest in digital technology.

4.             As retail evolves, service excellence grows in importance. Retailers must differentiate themselves, maintain customers’ trust, and adapt to new market demands. 

5.             Singapore is a retail haven, but as Singapore grows as a global lifestyle and retail hub, we can work together on two fronts to support a vibrant retail landscape:

   1.     First, we must help our retail workforce continue to deliver exceptional performance.

   2.     Second, we must help you to deliver excellent service standards, and that includes using technology and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions. It is important to augment the human delivery of experience with AI.

Building Retail Service Excellence Through People

6.             This year, SRA partnered Singapore Airlines Academy to design the curriculum for its retail Excellent Service Award (EXSA) programme. The curriculum provides a comprehensive foundation in service excellence, covering customer needs assessment and equipping EXSA nominees with skills to manage service challenges.

7.             Singapore Airlines’ expertise in service excellence and operational discipline is world class. By using their service framework, our retail workforce will be equipped with skills that meet global standards. That distinguishes us from others.

8.             SRA also developed and piloted the “SRA RetailX” application as part of the EXSA programme. This is a flexible, on-demand learning tool that allows for retail staff amongst you to build skills in customer service experience and management during their downtime, to upgrade and learn to help deliver excellent customer service. The app has been used by 4,500 EXSA nominees from 129 companies. As we scale this platform for the broader retail industry, we urge more companies to use it to help train and upskill your workers.

9.             Lastly, SRA is partnering government agencies to launch industry-wide training required under the Progressive Wage Model for the retail industry. For example, SRA is working with Singapore Police Force to incorporate the Shop Theft Awareness for Retailers (STAR) Programme, which will help retail staff detect, prevent and respond to shop theft and other security threats that I am sure you see from time to time when you interact and go to work every day.

Embracing Technology for Service Excellence

10.          With all of these different platforms to help you become better, we are also working on AI. As we help our workers get better, these digital tools will help you to operationalise and improve your operations and customer experiences.

11.          SRA will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Singapore Artificial Intelligence Association. Over the next two years, this partnership will help retailers adopt AI more quickly, in two key areas:

    1.     First – in customer analytics and personalisation. If you buy from any e-commerce platforms, they are analysing your preferences and delivering prompts, which are customisation and consumer analytics. On your end, retailers can use AI-powered tools to analyse customer data, such as browsing behaviours and shopping preferences, to provide insights on customer preferences. This will help retailers offer personalised recommendations that enhance upselling and cross-selling opportunities, while enabling backend teams to deliver fast, tailored support to customers. This is already happening; we are just helping you use AI a little bit more effectively to super boost your sales.

    2.     Second – in merchandising and inventory management. By providing real-time visibility into stock movements and using predictive analytics to optimise inventory levels. These AI solutions will reduce risks of warehouse overstocking and stockouts and allow companies to meet customer demand more effectively. All of these tools are very effective to our retailers as we enter, or are already entering into, the e-commerce space.

Government Support for AI and Retail Experiences

12.          The Government is also committed to help our retail workforce and retailers adopt AI.

13.          For instance, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) will launch the AI Experience for SME Programme in January next year in partnership with the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCCI). This programme aims to help businesses adopt and use AI through hands-on workshops that feature IMDA’s pre-approved AI and generative AI tools.

14.          Another ongoing programme is the Enterprise Compute Initiative by Digital Industry Singapore (DISG), which supports businesses to partner with major cloud service providers like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon Web Services to access their whole suite of AI tools, computing power, and also consultancy services.

Conclusion

15.          In conclusion, I want to thank SRA, its council, and all retailers for their dedication and investment into staff training and development. Your efforts of course drive higher standards and customer service in the retail industry that will continue to differentiate Singapore from the rest of the world.

16.          If you come to Singapore, nothing else beats seeing happy faces and people passionate about the retail sector. That is what we want to do, and what we are celebrating today. Congratulations to all the EXSA winners, for your contributions to retail excellence. Let us continue to work together to make Singapore a budding light for retail. Thank you!