Malaysian telco U Mobile is collaborating with Qualcomm to explore the future of smart retailing.

The two companies say they will work together to enable digital innovations for retail players, enhancing the shopping experience for customers and simplifying operations for retailers in the process.

The retail industry has enjoyed a healthy rebound in recent months with the lifting of pandemic restrictions. According to the Malaysia Retail Industry Report for September 2022, the country’s retail industry recorded a growth rate of 62.5% in retail sales in the second quarter of this year compared with the first quarter, with the projection of an average growth rate of 61.7% for the following quarter.

In addition, the upcoming commercial launch of 5G could lead to more digital transformations and innovation opportunities becoming reality.

Smart retail technology can help retailers transform the shopping experience for customers while reducing their digital pain points. For example, retailers can personalise the shopping experience according to customer profiles, making it easier for shoppers to locate a product within the store and even engage with customers while they are shopping through augmented reality and location-based services.

The end-to-end shopping journey can be enhanced with features such as smart parking, integrated loyalty rewards, VIP services and online-to-offline retail, made possible by a 360-degrees integrated IoT platform with existing retail digital enablement. 

On the retailer’s end, daily retail operations including inventory and resources management can be digitised, integrated and simplified for better management. Furthermore, retailer pain points such as shrinkage, theft and security can be better managed using vision AI technology.

“U Mobile is delighted to work together with Qualcomm to explore the opportunities available in smart retail,” said Wong Heang Tuck, chief executive officer of U Mobile. “As a digital company, we’re always looking for ways that we may leverage technology and, as such, Qualcomm is the right partner to help us realise these ambitions. Smart retail is the first space that we’ll be going into together but we’re looking forward to more to come with this collaboration.”

ST Liew, president of Qualcomm in Taiwan and south-east Asia, added: “At Qualcomm, we believe in the impact that digital transformation can do for business and their consumers. Through our comprehensive system of integrations, we provide enhanced smart retail which not only improves the overall retail experience of consumers, but also improves efficiencies among retailers. We look forward to this collaboration with U Mobile as, together, we will be able to empower more retailers through smart retail.”