On 4 November, the China National Retail Conference 2016 organised by the China Chain Store & Franchise Association (CCFA) was held in Suzhou. The biggest names in retail gathered at the conference and gave insightful views of how retail enterprises can carry out crossover integrations against a backdrop of improvements to the consumption environment.

Guo Geping, President of CCFA, said that “Retail will not be on the ground or online, but in consumers’ minds. The larger space you occupy in the consumers’ mind, the bigger market you will have. Those who win hearts and minds will win it all.”

Yin Hong, Deputy Director of Ministry of Commerce, told the conference, “The opportunity to accelerate the development of new retail has arrived”. Companies should continue to cross over by consolidating resources to build a new ecosystem of integrated online and offline businesses through strategic cooperation, cross-shareholding, and mergers and acquisitions, etc. The government will also ensure fair competition among all types of businesses, reduce the burden on companies and promoting a batch of industry pacesetters.

At the conference, Cui Yongyuan, professor at the Communication University of China, announced that he has also entered the retailing industry and shared his views on “building a fundamental connection point between consumers and retailers”. He introduced that he entered the retailing business out of a feeling of social responsibility. He stated his belief that “brick-and-mortar shops can warm things up and bring a casualness to people’s consumption”.

Yuan Yafei, Chairman of Sanpower Group, also attended the conference and delivered a keynote speech on the theme of “future defines future: an exploration of the transformation of retail in the Internet era”, unravelling the recipe for retail transformation. His speech was down to earth, but certainly not dumbed down, and featured many pithy observations; the speech was regularly punctured with applause.

Speech excerpts:

On the “winter”: The rapid growth of retail itself has pushed away all the consumers and pushed ourselves to the edge.

On retail transformation: If you miss the opportunities in structural reform of the supply side and upgrade in consumption models, you will miss a great era.

On e-commerce: What the e-commerce can solve is fragmented, inelastic demand. However, fundamentally speaking, the essential nature of people is social. I’ve made a bold prediction that as people’s spiritual needs increasingly shape demand, offline spending will represent at least 70% in the future, whereas e-commerce 30% at the most.

On online and offline businesses: Either online or offline is only the means. Their relationship is like the relationship between the airplane and high-speed rail. Omni-channel business is the inevitable direction for the future.

On the future: Advanced products and models from abroad are our future, and we shall buy them to build our own future, which is the meaning of “future defines future”.

On trends: Retail is just entering an era of integration. The main trend in retail in the future will be cooperation among companies in terms of management, technology and capital.

On data: Data will be the core asset for retail in the future. Data which can be traced, analysed and communicated are valuable.

On the prospects for retail: The winter has come for retail, can spring be far behind?

It is reported that Sanpower Group, which was founded by Yuan Yafei in 1993, has developed into a large-scale modern group with synergic growth in three major sectors, which are new consumption, new health and new finance. At this national retail conference, Yuan Yafei also won the “2016 CCFA Person of the Year” award.

At the conference, Sanpower Group, Intel Corporation, Accenture and Oracle signed an agreement with CCFA to set up the China Retail Technology Innovation Centre to research trends of management and technology in retail, and promote the rapid application of new related technologies.