Industry Insights | Pekon — Retail Digitalization

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Retail System Selection: What Should You Really Ask? 30 Real Customer Questions on Capabilities and System Boundaries

This article is based on real questions raised by customers during retail system selection discussions with PEKON’s pre-sales consultants. The conversations have been edited for clarity while preserving the original business scenarios and product capability boundaries.

How to Evaluate a Beauty Retail System Vendor: 8 Scenarios to Test in a POC

This article provides a practical POC framework for evaluating beauty retail system vendors through eight real-world scenarios, including shade-level inventory, complex promotions and partial returns, samples and testers, batch and expiry management, beauty advisor follow-up, China department-store transactions, online-to-store fulfillment, and distributor sell-through. It helps CIOs and retail IT teams assess not only whether a function exists, but also how data, integrations, exceptions, and project responsibilities are handled across POS, CRM, ERP, OMS, WMS, WeChat applications, and B2B ordering systems.

China Retail Systems: Data Security and Headquarters Governance for International Brands

This article explains how international brands can balance global headquarters governance with China-local retail operations. It covers data classification, cross-border data screening, headquarters access, ERP/CRM/BI integration, security validation, project delivery, and SLA design. It also provides a practical framework for defining systems of record, field-level permissions, audit requirements, and vendor responsibilities, helping brands build a China retail system that supports local execution while providing headquarters with reliable management visibility.

Multi-Brand Beauty Retail in China: Centralized Governance with Independent Brand Operations

This article provides a practical governance framework for multi-brand beauty groups operating in China. It explains how group-level IT and management teams can standardize organization, security, interfaces, reporting, and technology foundations while allowing each brand to manage its own products, pricing, promotions, loyalty programs, inventory, customer relationships, and store operations independently. It also outlines seven vendor-evaluation scenarios to help CIOs, regional IT teams, retail operations leaders, and China management assess whether a retail platform can support group-scale growth without removing brand-level flexibility.

Beauty Retail in China: System Requirements for International Brands

International beauty brands entering China need specific retail systems: POS with local payments, member management across channels, WeChat integration, and global system coordination.

WeChat CRM for International Retail Brands: How It Actually Works

How WeChat CRM works for international retail brands opening their first China store — Official Account, Mini Program, WeCom, and member identity unification explained.

China Market Entry: First-Store Digital Systems Checklist

A practical checklist for foreign brands entering China: POS, payment, CRM, WeChat, and inventory systems to confirm before your first store opens.

China System Integration for Foreign Brands: Connecting Global ERP with Local China Systems

Learn how foreign brands can connect global ERP and headquarters systems with China-local POS, CRM, inventory, payment, and reporting systems before opening their first store in China.

Why Software Localization Matters for Business Operations in China

This article explains why software localization in China is more than interface translation. For foreign companies entering the China market, localized software must support local workflows, payment and invoicing processes, customer identity, WeChat-based engagement, store operations, data governance, and headquarters reporting. The article outlines how global systems and China-local systems should work together, helping sales, retail operations, and IT teams build a practical system foundation for stable and scalable business operations in China.

Chinese Brands Opening First Stores in Hong Kong: Don’t Simply Replicate the Mainland Retail System

This article explains why Chinese retail brands should not simply copy their Mainland retail systems when opening a first store in Hong Kong. It highlights key implementation issues such as Hong Kong dollar pricing, local payment methods, product and inventory management, membership benefits, daily settlement, and management reporting standards. The article also compares three common system approaches and recommends that brands planning long-term operations in Hong Kong should adopt a locally adapted store system that can stay connected with headquarters systems and support future multi-store expansion.

Brand First-Store Retail Digitalization Guide

A complete playbook for new-store digitalization, system selection, compliance, and BA tooling.

20 to 300 Stores: Chain Brand Retail System Switch Guide

When and how a chain brand should migrate its retail system as it scales from 20 to 300 stores.

Overseas Brand: Entering China Retail System Selection Guide

Selection criteria, localization checklist, and compliance landmarks for overseas brands entering the China retail market.

CRM Member Management System Selection: Common Pitfalls

The most common mistakes brands make when selecting a CRM member management system, and how to avoid them.