Tech-savvy customers find their FairPrice online

Singapore

THE next time you see a long queue and crowded aisles at your favourite NTUC FairPrice outlet, consider going online to Fair- Price's Web portal.

In keeping with changing buying habits in Singapore, FairPrice has ramped up the number of items that can be purchased via the Internet. It has also streamlined its delivery system.

FairPrice's image as a common man's supermarket chain and a social enterprise may not sit well with the idea of a tech-savvy organisation. Yet the company set up its online portal way back in 2002, long before e-commerce and online sales became buzzwords. It is now poised to take advantage of this early move into the Internet.

Market research shows that Singaporeans are moving online for their purchases. Data from Frost and Sullivan shows that Singapore was the largest e-commerce market in South-east Asia last year, generating revenues of US$1.7 billion. Another survey by Merger Alpha says e-commerce revenues here are predicted to hit S$4.4 billion by next year, driven by rising Internet penetration, smartphone adoption, and a growing affluent middle class. Mobile e-commerce is also taking off in Singapore, with anticipated revenues of S$3.1 billion by next year, says PayPal.

FairPrice saw a year-on- year growth of 15 per cent in online sales during the first half of this year and its subscriber base has also been growing; it currently has about 45,000 active online subscribers, an increase of 20 per cent from last year.

FairPrice CEO Seah Kian Peng tells BT that the company constantly reviews and increases its online product range to meet customers' needs and evolving tastes. FairPrice now offers more than 5,100 SKUs (stock keeping units) online, including fresh produce.

SKU is a unique identifying number that refers to a specific stock item in a retailer's inventory or product catalogue. It is used to identify the product size or type, and the manufacturer.

More than two-thirds of FairPrice's customers access the website from their mobile devices and it is, thus, important to ensure that the portal is mobile- friendly, Mr Seah adds. "Our latest online portal revamp has been mobile-optimised, and shopping for groceries on-the-go is now more intuitive and user- friendly," he says.

FairPrice offers delivery options from Monday to Saturday, from 10am to 10pm. Online customers can chose available delivery windows. Mr Seah adds that orders made will be delivered to customers the next working day if the order is made by 8pm. After 8 pm, orders will be delivered the day after.

Recently, FairPrice also launched the Click&Collect service to provide an alternative option to customers. Under this system, customers can choose the location from where they would like to collect their orders (these are selected FairPrice stores or Esso Service stations), and their preferred collection date.

Orders can be placed seven working days in advance before the collection date. "This service is especially useful for customers who spend most of the day out and about, and are unable to receive their deliveries at home," Mr Seah notes.

The FairPrice CEO observes that the Click&Collect service has become quite a hit. "It caters to increasingly busy lifestyles. Our online shoppers enjoy the convenience of shopping from home or on-the-go and picking up their orders at their convenience. These customers are increasingly looking for better ways to manage their hectic lifestyles.

"The working Mom is such an example - she has to juggle work and family. On the way home from work, she has to pick up her child from daycare and the groceries at the same time. Click&Collect gives her the convenience of picking up all the groceries she needs without having to spend time shopping at the store. This also explains why one of the top items that is being purchased through Click&Collect is milk powder."

FairPrice is also looking to engage customers through various platforms. Mr Seah notes that his organisation is actively engaged in social media, with its Facebook page currently having more than 176,000 followers. "We have introduced two apps - My FairPrice+ App and FairPrice Wine Pairing App - to bring more convenience to our customers and keep them updated on our latest promotions and highlights," he adds.

Like any retail organisation, FairPrice seeks to understand its customers' needs better. In order to do so, it uses sophisticated data analytics. "We recently completed implementing an SAP system which handles reporting and analytics from a huge in-memory database. The speed of the system (10-100 times faster than conventional systems) allows FairPrice to undertake big data analytics done in a reasonable timeframe," says Mr Seah.

"Data collected through our interactions in store, via our customer service hotline and even through social media, is immense. The SAP Business Warehouse manages big data, which presents us with an opportunity to improve our customers' shopping experience.

"For example, being able to mine and analyse this data enables us to promote the right products to the right customers on the right channel. We can understand what customers want, be it in terms of product range, service platforms and more. Similarly, the data can be analysed to manage our sustainability efforts - management of food wastage, plastic bag usage and interest in green or organic products."