ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Hong Kong’s retail market is synonymous with innovation, representing a climate where shoppers are hyperlocal and increasingly embracing new technologies and services like delivery, mobile payments and ecommerce. Innovators are also finding success with unmanned and cashless formats, making Hong Kong a must-see experience for anyone with a passion for retail.

At this year’s NACS Convenience Summit Asia, convenience retailers who want to be on the forefront of innovative retail solutions will hear from leaders such as BingoBox CEO Chen Zi Lin.

While Amazon has gone viral in the U.S. with its Amazon Go convenience store, BingoBox has been already pioneered similar technology in Asia. Open 24-hours-a-day, BingoBox is slightly more than 100 square feet and sells bottled drinks, bread and other convenience items. Like Amazon Go, customers enter the store by opening the BingoBox app and scanning a QR code. To finalize a purchase, customers check out at the self-service kiosk and pay using WeChat or Alipay, both Chinese electronic payment services. If anyone attempts to leave without paying for merchandise, an automatic alarm sounds at the door. See more on BingoBox on YouTube and read more on the retail concept in NACS Magazine.

Attendees will also hear from Matthew Brennan, a well-known speaker and writer on topics including WeChat and the China digital ecosystem, and its fast-expanding international markets.

With the world’s second largest economy (the U.S. is No. 1), 67% of all transactions in convenience stores in Beijing are made with WeChat or Alipay, and 38% of all third-party payments are on WeChat, which is closing in fast on Alipay. Furthermore, 35% of mobile time in China is spent daily on WeChat—or about 4,000 billion minutes. So, what exactly is WeChat? if Facebook and Alipay had a baby, it would be named WeChat, the social app that has successfully transitioned into a payments platform. Brennan will talk about how retailers can successfully do business with WeChat.

Next, Tmall will present its amazing success story and how it can apply to brands and merchants worldwide. Tmall is a Chinese-language website for business-to-consumer (B2C) online retail operated in China by Alibaba Group. It is a platform for local Chinese and international businesses to sell brand-named goods to consumers in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Tmall.com currently features more than 70,000 international and Chinese brands from more than 50,000 merchants and serves more than 180 million buyers.

In February 2014, Alibaba launched Tmall Global as a cross-border marketplace allowing over 14,500 brands from 63 countries and regions to sell directly to Chinese consumers. The cross-border model requires merchants no longer to have a legal entity in China nor hold stock in the country. Costco sells to Chinese consumers through Tmall Global, can now sell on Tmall and can open a brick and mortar store in China. 

To see the full schedule and register to attend the NACS Convenience Summit Asia, visit convenience.org/CSA. Now through January 31, we're offering special Early Bird pricing. You can save more than 20% off registration fees—up to $700—when you register before that date.

Question about the event? Contact Michael Davis, NACS vice president of member services, at mdavis@convenience.org or (302) 228-3038.