- When you think about 7-Eleven,
it would be great if you could describe
your business's approach to innovation.
- We were a traditional convenience retailer
that is now pivoting to having food
at the heart of our business.
And so a lot of our innovation comes through product
and making sure that we've got
the right product range for our customers,
but then also how do we bring that to life
in an omnichannel way that is right for a convenience store
and enhancing our customers' experience.
And then also how do we build operational excellence
through technology so that 7-Eleven
becomes such a fantastic place to work for our team members,
but also for our thousands of franchisees.
- What are some of the challenges that you face
with keeping up with that pace of change?
- One of the biggest challenges is around talent
and having the right skills
and the right capabilities in our business.
And the way that we overcome that
is by external partnerships,
and that is really critical.
To your point, it's innovation changes so fast,
disruption comes so fast.
And so the only way that we can continue
to stay abreast of those changes
is to have critical partnerships.
The second one is getting the teams
to recognize the need to change.
- When it comes to innovation,
as we look two, three years ahead,
what is it that excites you most about the space?
- I think omnichannel for sure
is going to become very much the norm
and particularly in Asia, we're seeing
the rise of social commerce especially
and how do we continue to leverage that
for us in the convenience space.
And then the other piece is personalization,
and very closely linked to that,
how do we leverage the huge data sources that we've got
to give our customers a personalized experience
and make sure that what they're seeing
is very relevant to them,
whether that's in store, whether that's online.
So, they are the two things that make me really excited
about the next two to three years.
(gentle music)