KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian companies that performed and survived during the pandemic period are those who invested in digital transformation, said global financial platform, Ayden.
According to the Ayden Malaysia Retail Report 2022, one out of four businesses connect its payment systems to other organisation parts like inventory management and supply chain to improve operations and break down silos in the back-end process.
Ayden South East Asia & Hong Kong's commercial head, Priyanka Gargav said payments have become a lot more entrenched in how consumers want to shop.
"Retail experience itself has become more contextual and experiential. There's also an element of expecting your retail journey to be experiential, which is common among Malaysian consumers. We want to understand what consumers are looking for so we can empower our merchants to deliver it to the consumers," she said.
Meanwhile, Malaysia KPMG technology consulting's head, Alvin Gan said the retail report also covers Customer Experience, Connected Empire, and Digital trust.
Sixty per cent of businesses are in a better position, which is 11 per cent above the global average and the highest in Asia-Pacific (APAC).
Companies that connect payment systems to other business sectors grow 18 per cent more.
This shift makes 80 per cent of Malaysians believe retailers should use technology to make their products available during the pandemic, and 77 per cent of consumers believe that retailers should deliver the same cross-channel flexibility they provided during the pandemic and use technology to improve loyalty/rewards schemes (90 per cent).
Unfortunately, 81 per cent of consumers refuse to shop with bad-shopping experience-businesses for both online or in-store.
While online shopping is convenient, 76 per cent believe physical stores lean more toward pleasure. And bridging both online and offline realms, will create a new customer experience.
Also, the report said that 87 per cent of consumers will shop more with retailers who use technology while 74 per cent will be more loyal to retailers that let them buy online products and return them in-store.
The report also mentioned that Malaysian businesses use data to inform decision-making and engage customers. And this urges them to safeguard consumer data and address consumer concerns.
Half of Malaysians let their data be stored and used if there are assurances around security and privacy while 45 per cent believe retailers should refrain from using their data/purchase behaviour unless given permission.
With more businesses embracing digitalisation and Malaysian consumers' preference for technology to improve the in-store experience, businesses in 2022 look forward to the future.