Suning’s 2019 Smart Retail White Paper Unveils Digital Store Trends

On November 9, 2019, Suning released the "2019 China Smart Retail Store Digitalization White Paper" at the China Full Retail Conference, examining the current state and future trends of retail digitalization from perspectives such as user value, merchandise management, store efficiency, and operational effectiveness.

The white paper, based on Suning's practical experience, identifies four key advantages of digital retail over traditional models: diversified customer acquisition channels, intelligent product supply and refined management, OMO (online‑merge‑offline) scenario integration boosting store productivity, and comprehensive data collection enabling smart store operations.

It also outlines industry pain points, including duplicated resource investment, slow digital transformation, independent R&D by large retailers, and lack of standard guidance for small and medium enterprises.

Suning aims to share its experience and collaborate with industry partners to accelerate the digital transformation of retail stores, enhancing both efficiency and profitability.

Since 2017, Suning has pioneered unmanned and smart stores, achieving four stages of digital store evolution that combine cost benefits, technological innovation, and new marketing models. The 2019 smart unmanned store, the first in China to use the latest global unmanned technology, demonstrates integrated technology, scenario, supply chain, and ecosystem capabilities.

According to Wang Junjie, director of Suning Retail Technology Research Institute, digitalization—leveraging AI, big data, and cloud computing across consumer services, product operations, experience scenarios, and store management—is the most effective way to transition traditional retail to smart retail. O2O integration further merges online and offline channels, creating synergistic effects.

Wang emphasizes that future retail competition will focus on user experience, operational efficiency, and business models, with store digitalization playing a crucial role in building new competitive advantages. He calls on industry partners to continuously explore strategic, managerial, and execution aspects of store digitalization to drive comprehensive industry transformation.