Retail News CRM

Author: Mei Ling Tan

  • Crocs attracts A-listers as brand ambassadors

    Crocs attracts A-listers as brand ambassadors

    Casual footwear brand Crocs has added five new global ambassadors as it launches the fourth year of its Come As You Are global marketing campaign.

    Crocs’ lineup of famous faces now includes Suzu Hirose, Yang Mi, Zooey Deschanel, Sejeong and Priyanka Chopra. The global ambassadors for the Crocs brand this year are tasked with inspiring fans to feel comfortable in their own shoes.

    In addition to the global ambassadors, Crocs has also enlisted a diverse cast of models and influencers to bring more personal meaning to the brand message. The influencers and models will be featured in campaign photography and imagery that will be rolled out this year and will be encouraged to engage with fans through forums like social media.

    “The fourth iteration of the Come As You Are campaign is a proclamation to our fans: It’s time to stand up and stand out,” said Crocs chief marketing officer Terence Reilly. “Our new lineup of global brand ambassadors and ‘One-Of-A-Kinds’ ambassadors offers the perfect mix of star power and authentic representation to help CrocNation feel empowered and emboldened to own who they are.”

    Alongside the campaign, Crocs’ marketing efforts will focus on new, style-forward products as well as footwear comfort innovation.

    To help spread the word, Come As You Are will be seen through various digital, social, print, and in-store marketing materials with a global focus on countries including China, Japan, South Korea, the US, and Germany.

  • Clarins Skin Spa opens at Singapore’s Ion Orchard

    Clarins Skin Spa opens at Singapore’s Ion Orchard

    Clarins Skin Spa opened at Singapore’s Ion Orchard last week. The luxury beauty brand unveiled its new home having spent the past 24 years at its former Wheelock Place location. The new outlet’s cozy interior of light oak, whites, and lush greens reflect the brand’s late founder Jacques Courtin-Clarins’ belief that healing begins from within.

    A launch event was attended by Clarins Group executive VP Southeast Asia Guillaume Nagy along with Clarins Group president of North America and Asia-Pacific Christophe de Pous and several celebrity guests.

    To celebrate the occasion, all 60-minute facial and body treatments given at the new location will be discounted from February 1 through to June 30.

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  • Costs cited as Gap cancels Old Navy spinoff plans

    Costs cited as Gap cancels Old Navy spinoff plans

    Gap has nixed plans to spin off its Old Navy subsidiary, saying that after further investigation the costs involved outweighed the benefits.

    “The plan to separate was rooted in our commitment to value creation from our portfolio of iconic brands,” said Robert Fisher, Gap Inc’s interim president and CEO. “While the objectives of the separation remain relevant, our board of directors has concluded that the cost and complexity of splitting into two companies, combined with softer business performance, limited our ability to create appropriate value from separation.

    “The work we’ve done to prepare for the spin shone a bright light on operational inefficiencies and areas for improvement,” he said.

    Meanwhile, the company is now searching for a new CEO to oversee the full portfolio of brands.

    Neil Fiske, president, and CEO of Gap brand who previously led Billabong before moving to Gap in 2018 has left without explanation. Last November, former long-term CEO Art Peck left Gap on the eve of the announcement of the Old Navy spinoff.

    Meanwhile, four of the company’s senior leaders have taken on additional responsibilities reporting to Fisher. Mark Breitbard, president and CEO at Banana Republic, will now lead Gap Inc’s specialty brands, including Gap, Banana Republic, Athleta, Janie and Jack, Intermix and Hill City; Sonia Syngal, president and CEO at Old Navy, will continue to lead that business; Teri List-Stoll, executive VP and CFO, will lead corporate operations related to finance, supply chain, technology, and real estate; and Julie Gruber, executive VP, global general counsel, corporate secretary and chief compliance officer, will lead corporate administrative functions including legal, corporate facilities and services, human resources and communications, loss prevention, sustainability, government affairs and foundation.

    Fisher said the company had “learned a lot” from the preparations to spin off Old Navy and intends to operate Gap Inc in “a more rigorous and transformational manner” in future in a way that empowers its growth brands, Old Navy and Athleta, and appropriately focuses on profitability for Banana Republic and Gap brand.

    “Our board is focused on supporting this work and appointing new leadership with the appropriate experience necessary to lead a portfolio of retail brands and to support our transformation efforts.”

    Meanwhile, as a result of better-than-anticipated promotional levels during the holiday period, particularly at Old Navy, the company now expects its adjusted the fiscal year 2019 earnings per share to be moderately above its previous guidance of $1.70 – $1.75.

    “We are working aggressively to stabilize and improve business results,” said List-Stoll. “We are committed to sharpen strategic focus, tailored operating strategies and operational discipline and accountability that can strengthen the health and profitability of our brands.”

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  • Stelux sales slump as network slims down

    Stelux sales slump as network slims down

    Stelux Holdings, parent of the City Chain watch retail business, says its sales in the December quarter were down 32.6 percent, or by HK$198.98 million (US$25.6 million).

    The company closed about 15 percent of its stores, primarily in Hong Kong, as social unrest continued throughout the city, affecting sales to both locals and visitors.

    While the company did not break out figures for Hong Kong, it said revenue for Greater China was down by 46.1 percent in the quarter, to $110.3 million. Sales in Southeast Asian stores, which comprise about 40 percent of the business, slipped by 2 percent.

    Total group sales were $650.5 million, compared with $895.8 million in the same quarter a year earlier.

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  • DBS Launches QR-Based B2B Payments

    DBS Launches QR-Based B2B Payments

    DBS helps further propel Singapore’s cashless movement by introducing quick response code-based payments for the business-to-business segment.

    The bank hopes to boost payment speeds and is piloting the solution first in the F&B industry – a sector with limited penetration with nine out of 10 payments still being made through cash or bank transfers, according to a statement. The bank developed the solution after nearly 20 digital workshops with F&B businesses to identify bottlenecks in the payment process.

    In the new solution, which executes payments through its fund transfer service PayNow, users can consolidate multiple invoices per transaction and make full or partial payments for multiple invoices. This is also expected to effectively help improve credit terms due to the instantaneous and flexible nature of the process. The bank will roll out the new payment solution to the broader F&B ecosystem, logistics companies, and traders by the end of 2020.

    Aside from the retail segment, SMEs are expected to be a major growth driver for digital players in finance given a large gap between needs and demand.

    Many SMEs we speak to want to realize productivity gains by becoming more digital but don’t have the expertise or infrastructure to do so,» said Joyce Tee, group head of SME banking at DBS. «The lender is looking to understand SMEs’ pain points and then lay the foundation for enhanced payments capabilities one sector at a time.

    In November last year, Singaporean rival UOB also launched a payment solution aimed to capitalize on the cashless market for businesses. UOB’s Mcollect is a QR-based solution that enables instant payment and reconciliation to improve what it estimates is otherwise, on average, a four-day manual process.

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  • CapitaLand wins 9 year rights to manage Bugis Village

    CapitaLand wins 9 year rights to manage Bugis Village

    Singapore property developer CapitaLand is set to refurbish the Bugis Village and Bugis Street retail spaces after winning a tender to manage both from the Singapore Land Authority.

    CapitaLand told selected media outlets that it will build on the existing character and heritage of the sites when it takes over the management on April 1 for an initial three-year term. It has the right of renewal for two further three-year terms. The developer – which manages the nearby Bugis Junction shopping center – says it will use the existing shophouses and a spiral staircase to appeal to Instagrammers.

    Described as Singapore’s largest street market, the Bugis spaces have suffered from declining footfalls in recent years.

    According to the New Paper, CapitaLand plans to install colorful container boxes, creating open spaces that could serve as retail incubators for established brands and local start-ups, and a Singaporean and South-east Asian hawker food hub.

    “CapitaLand will be introducing a modern interpretation of Bugis’ street-market concept while celebrating the iconic architecture of the shophouses,” a CapitaLand spokesperson said.

    “Together with curated retail concepts and public spaces, we want to create a vibrant experience for both locals and tourists… We will also explore hosting marquee events such as programs, exhibitions, and events celebrating heritage, youth, and the arts community which are unique and distinct to the Bugis precinct.”

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  • Sephora launches giant flagship store at Fahrenheit88, Malaysia

    Sephora launches giant flagship store at Fahrenheit88, Malaysia

    Sephora Malaysia has launched a new flagship store at Fahrenheit88 shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur, the French beauty brand’s largest outlet in Southeast Asia.

    Located in downtown Kuala Lumpur, Sephora Fahrenheit88 occupies a 17,000sqft area, featuring more than 10,000 products from 100 brands.

    “The opening of Sephora Fahrenheit88 is a testament to our ongoing effort to make Sephora the ultimate place for our beauty community and strengthen Sephora’s position as the world’s leading beauty retailer,” said Valerie Foong, GM at Sephora Malaysia. “This flagship is the largest beauty playground and will be the ultimate one-stop beauty destination in this market.”

    To celebrate the opening Sephora Malaysia has unveiled eight more premium brands to its local range, including Bobbi Brown, La Mer, SK-II, Sulwhasoo, Aerin, Maison Margiela, Dunk Elephant and Tatcha

    The Sephora Malaysia flagship features in-store interactive kiosks, pictured below, where customers can discover the latest promotions as well as services and events in store, flick through the Sephora buying guide and rewards boutique catalog, and play an interactive game.

    Sephora Fahrenheit88 also offers two special services: a breakthrough skin analysis app Skincredible and a facial and lip treatment Perk Treatment by Hydrafacial & Perk Lips.

    The Sephora store is also home to the brand’s first Beauty Loft in Southeast Asia, where Gold-level members of its rewards program can redeem their rewards and points as well as using in-house personal beauty-shopper services and exclusive product-engraving service.

    Besides the retail area, Sephora Fahrenheit88 dedicates a whole floor to Sephora University, a Sephora Lounge for events, and a photography studio for beauty-brand takeovers to engage with the customers, influencers and KOLs.

    The president of Sephora Asia, Benjamin Vuchot, said a driving force behind the Sephora Fahrenheit88 store was to make sure it truly represents what the Sephora brand stands for – the largest beauty community and a heart for Sephora Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia.

  • Global exclusive Kiehl’s Lunar New Year store launched at Changi Airport

    Global exclusive Kiehl’s Lunar New Year store launched at Changi Airport

    New York skincare brand Kiehl’s has launched one of its largest-yet airport pop-up stores in the region, at Singapore’s Changi Airport.

    The global-exclusive Kiehl’s Lunar New Year store at Terminal 3 was formally opened in partnership with the airport’s beauty-products concessionaire The Shilla Duty-Free and will trade until February 9.

    At Friday’s launch, popular Chinese actor, singer and model, Dylan Wang, best known for his appearances in Chinese television series Meteor Garden, made a guest appearance, greeting 35 young fans from across Asia who had won a contest to attend the event and wowing KOLs from Mainland China.

    The pop-up store artwork was created by Australian artist Eirian Chapman and features a mascot Rock-it the Rat traveling through a cinematic New York to the garden city of Singapore. Chapman also designed Year-of-the-Rat labels for three of Kiehl’s’ most-popular products, the Ultra Facial Cream, Avocado Eye Cream, and Calendula Herbal Extract Alcohol-Free Toner, sold in a travel-exclusive boxed set. Playing on the theme of the mischievous rat lighting up the sky and the year, Chapman also illustrated a Rat on a firecracker she has ‘set alight’.

    More than a just a large, high-profile store, the Kiehl’s Lunar New Year pop up features an interactive game where visitors can win prizes for tapping the rat as it pops up on a digital screen, an onsite calligrapher drawing Chinese characters and customizable messages on souvenir fans, and Instagrammable spots, including a Singaporean rickshaw.

    On an interactive screen, visitors can write New Year blessings on a rocket graphic, then decorate it with their choice of colors and stickers, before virtually blasting it off into the sky, to be shared with friends via email.

    Cellophane-free packaging

    Sustainability issues and the Kiehl’s commitment to the environment were also highlighted at Friday’s event. Petrina Kho, GM of Kiehl’s Travel Retail Asia Pacific, revealed the brand has eliminated all cellophane wrapping of its products as part of a commitment to reducing its environmental footprint.

    The company also presented a cheque for US$30,000 to Singaporean charity the Jane Goodall Institute which supports student-initiated activities under its Roots & Shoots program, encouraging and empowers youth to help solve human, animal welfare, and environmental problems in their communities. The funds will allow local youngsters to plant 800 saplings and monitor their growth and wellbeing over three years.

    “I am very proud that we continue to successfully engage customers in an evolving retail landscape while supporting a meaningful cause that gives back to the community,” said Kho.

    Jeff Lee, MD of The Shilla Duty-Free Singapore, says the Kiehl’s pop up helps his company create unique shopping experiences to excite airport travelers. “Working closely together with Kiehl’s Travel Retail Asia Pacific and Changi Airport Group, we strive to push the boundaries in delivering exceptional customer-centric retail experiences.”

    Teo Chew Hoon, group senior VP of airside concessions at Changi Airport Group said the Kiehl’s pop up kicked off Lunar New Year festivities for Changi Airport Group. “Travellers can engage in fun and memorable experiences at the interactive space, while shopping for the perfect gifts for their friends and families.”

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  • StanChart Names Global Head of Trade

    StanChart Names Global Head of Trade

    Standard Chartered hires a global head of trade in Singapore as its transaction banking business undergoes a tech-fueled transformation.

    Michael Spiegel joins in his new role reporting to Lisa Robins, global head of transaction banking at Standard Chartered. Spiegel has over 30 years of experience in Europe, the U.S. and Asia and was most recently with Deutsche Bank where he held various senior roles such as global head for trade finance and corporate cash management. Previously, he also held senior positions in client coverage and at the bank’s executive management committee.

    The new hire coincides with what Robins calls the next phase of the evolution in Standard Chartered’s transaction banking business with various tech-related milestones to boast for in recent times.

    Earlier this month, the bank made a strategic investment into Linklogis, China’s leading blockchain-enabled supply chain financing platforms to expand its ecosystem of partners. In the same week, it also became the first bank to introduce a public portal for real-time tracking of cross-border payments called SCI GPI Track.

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  • Citi Private Bank Nets Ex-Managing Director from UBS

    Citi Private Bank Nets Ex-Managing Director from UBS

    Citi Private Bank hires a former managing director from UBS to lead its South Asia FX advisory team based in Singapore.

    Christian Schuwey joins the bank, effective immediately, with responsibilities to drive «significant growth» in Australia, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, according to a statement, naming the South Asia region as the main driver of Citi Private Bank’s APAC FX business. Schuwey reports to Adam Cowperthwaite, managing director and head of capital markets, Asia Pacific at the private bank.

    Schuwey was most recently a managing director with UBS where he led a team of FX advisors based in Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Taipei covering ultra-high net worth clients across the flow and structured products. Schuwey has over 30 years of experience and spent over a decade as an FX trader at UBS’s investment bank before shifting to its wealth arm where he developed direct, longstanding relationships with some of Asia Pacific’s largest UHNW FX trading clients.

    He will be working in partnership with the bank’s front office and Cora Chiu, North Asia head of FX advisory, to increase understanding and usage of FX-linked products, hedging tools, and funding solutions.

  • Amazon India To Have 10,000 Electric Vehicles In Its Delivery Fleet By 2025

    Amazon India To Have 10,000 Electric Vehicles In Its Delivery Fleet By 2025

    Amazon India said that it will induct about 10,000 electric vehicles in its delivery fleet in the country. The e-commerce giant says that the idea is to reduce its carbon footprint in the country in accordance to the Climate Pledge that Amazon has signed. As part of the pledge, Amazon announced its plans to introduce 10,000 EVs into its delivery fleet globally in 2022 and one lakh vehicles by 2030, saving 4 million metric tonnes of carbon per year by 2030. Amazon had already begun an EV pilot project in a few cities across India and the learnings from the pilot project has helped the company to have a scalable and a long term EV delivery fleet by 2025. Amazon India announced this right after Amazon President and CEO, Jeff Bezos made a trip to India and announced an investment of $ 1 billion and creation of 1 million jobs by 2025.

    “The fleet of 10,000 EVs-including three-wheeler and four-wheeler vehicles-has been designed and manufactured by original equipment manufacturers in India,” the company said in a statement. The company has been working with a few Indian companies in order to ready a fleet of electric vehicles in its delivery fleet to ensure that last mile deliveries are sustainable. The government’s focus to encourage the adoption of electric vehicles in the country, and steps towards setting up of charging infrastructure with the FAME II policy, has helped the company accelerate and chart its vision for EVs in India, it added.

    “At Amazon India, we are committed to building a supply chain that will minimize the environmental impact of our operations,” Akhil Saxena, vice president for customer fulfillment (Asia Pacific and Emerging Markets) at Amazon, said in a statement.

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  • Tesla Moves A Step Closer To Opening First European Factory With German Property deal

    Tesla Moves A Step Closer To Opening First European Factory With German Property deal

    U.S. electric car pioneer Tesla has agreed to buy a property on the outskirts of Berlin, bringing it a step closer to opening its first European factory, local authorities said on Sunday. The U.S. carmaker last November announced plans to build a giant factory in Gruenheide, in the eastern German state of Brandenburg, giving it the coveted “Made in Germany” label just as local rivals prepare to launch competing models.

    Tesla’s board of directors approved a purchase agreement with the state of Brandenburg on Saturday to acquire a 300-hectare property, Brandenburg government spokesman Florian Engels said in a statement. The state parliament’s finance committee had already approved the sale on January 9.

    A Tesla spokeswoman confirmed the deal. The agreement states a preliminary property price of 40.91 million euros ($45.36 million) which can be amended if an external review provides a different value, Engels said.

    The property is in a designated industrial area and is being checked for weapons from World War II as there are most likely unexploded U.S. bombs still in the ground, he added.

    Politicians, unions and industry groups have welcomed Tesla’s move which is expected to create up to 7,000 jobs in Brandenburg.

    But some 250 locals took to the streets to protest on Saturday, fearing the factory could endanger the water supply and wildlife in the surrounding forest.

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  • Barclays Cuts Dozens of Investment Banking Jobs

    Barclays Cuts Dozens of Investment Banking Jobs

    Barclays seeks to cut 100 mainly senior jobs in its investment banking arm including dozens of roles in Asia.

    The British lender will mostly cut managing director and director positions based in London and Asian financial hubs with a primary focus on trading roles, according to a report citing anonymous sources. The cuts are already underway and the report named the departures of Jonathan Kitei, Americas head of securitized product sales; Tim Johnston, EMEA head of cash high-touch trading and sales; and Anindya Das Gupta, India head of treasury.

    Whilst the cuts would impact dozens of positions in Asia, it will not result in an exit of any business line or market in the region, one of the sources said.

    Global banks continue to pare down costs with the broader industry having announced nearly 80,000 job cuts last year – a record high since 2015. At Barclays where headcount totaled 83,000 in 2018, the bank said it had cut 3,000 jobs in the second quarter last year. More headwinds can be expected with Barclays chief executive Jes Staley saying in October that the 2020 outlook would be «unquestionably more challenging now than it appeared a year ago.

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  • StanChart to Boost Limited 25 Percent Youth Market Share

    StanChart to Boost Limited 25 Percent Youth Market Share

    Standard Chartered aims to boost its market share amongst next-generation users with the launch of its digital bank.

    The bank has three times more market share amongst older clients than those in their twenties and thirties, according to a report citing Standard Chartered chief executive Bill Winters, who hopes that its upcoming digital lending business will help change the mix.

    Our virtual bank can help expand our market share of the younger generation, Winters said. We are very focused on developing digital services. The launch of our Hong Kong virtual bank will be a key strategy for our business.

    Digital rivals entering the market and are attempting to initially lure clients with attractive pricing on deposit rates. For example, ZA Bank – the first virtual lender to launch – made its entrance in grand fashion with a 6.8 percent three-month deposit offering, significantly higher than the 2-3 percent offered by traditional competitors. Hong Kong’s central bank said last week that the remaining seven virtual banks are earmarked to launch this year.

    We will offer an attractive package which is not purely based on pricing but also exceptional convenient services for customers,» Winters explained. «Our team has been testing some good, innovative products with a small group of customers.

    Standard Chartered will enter the market with considerable experience managing an online-only banking business having launched eight such outfits over the last 18 months in Africa. Its inaugural digital lending entrance occurred in Ivory Coast in mid-2018 where it attracted 18,000 new accounts in the first year. Within the region, the bank has also launched in Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Ghana, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

    Whilst Africa has undoubtedly very different characteristics when compared to Hong Kong due to the latter market’s high population of unbanked individuals, the technological benefits gained from digitally acquiring clients was self-evident.

    The number of new customers we have in Africa over the past 12 months is more than what we had in the prior 12 years, Winters explained.

    Although Standard Chartered is undergoing major transformational changes to both its business model and infrastructure, Winters underlines that components of the old regime will remain such as the bank’s branch network.

    Brick-and-click is a good business model, he said. Our branch network gives confidence to people as they continue to serve customers who never want to pick up a mobile phone app to do their banking.

    Hong Kong too is facing changes after experiencing unprecedented political unrest that has threatened the city’s status as a global financial hub. But this is another area Winters sees no need to rewrite the strategy for.

    We will not change our view on Hong Kong, which remains our regional hub, acting as a gateway to mainland China, he said. These have been very difficult times during the past six months. But I am confident in Hong Kong, whose fundamentals are still resilient. Hong Kong’s capital markets – including IPOs, equities trading and debts, remain very active. It remains a regional financial hub.

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  • UBS in Asia Undergoes Major Khan-Led Shakeup

    UBS in Asia Undergoes Major Khan-Led Shakeup

    UBS’s wealth management arm undergoes a major restructuring exercise led by the business’ global co-head Iqbal Khan and Tom Naratil. Through the reorganization, Khan will make his mark on the wealth management business’ highest growth market by region with the goal of improving costs and efficiency at the bank.

    According to a report, the bank has appointed LH Koh, head of the China business, as the APAC co-head of the global family office, alongside the current head of the unit, Anurag Mahesh. David Man, a UBS veteran since 1996 credited for building a sizable international wealth business in Taiwan, was also appointed as vice-chairman of wealth management for Greater China.

    Post-restructuring, the Asia Pacific wealth business will be led by co-heads Amy Lo and August Hackete. In Hong Kong, Marina Lui will be sector head for China likely absorbing Koh’s former responsibilities overseeing the bank’s international China business. Succeeding Man to man the Taiwan helm is Francis Liu who was previously focused on the ultra-wealthy segment for Greater China. Also joining them in the city is Adeline Chien, sector head for Hong Kong and Southeast Asia.

    And in Singapore, the bank named Patricia Quek, as sector head for Singapore and Malaysia; Tian-Ong Foo, sector head for Thailand and Philippines; and Raymond Ang, sector head for Indonesia, Greater China and offshore Japan.

    Asia’s restructuring follows EMEA where Khan and Naratil divided the business into three parts to better responds to changing client needs. The restructuring is reportedly expected to help shed 500 jobs globally with affecting management layers in Asia alongside noteworthy portions of Europe. Switzerland and the U.S. are expected to be less impacted by the cuts.

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