Retail News CRM

Author: Mei Ling Tan

  • MPH Bookstore may quit Singapore

    MPH Bookstore may quit Singapore

    Malaysia’s MPH Bookstore may exit Singapore, closing its last outlet by September.

    The chain announced its plan to close Raffles City and Parkway Parade outlets on July 28 and September 1 respectively. But the company signalled it is open to replacing the two outlets with a single store if it can find the right location at the right rent.

    MPH is closing the stores due to high rental costs and intense competition from online booksellers.

    As a result, the chain has plans to “restructure and streamline its resources for new business plans”.

    “Most of these online retailers give between 15- and 25-per-cent discount. Another unfair advantage is they don’t have to charge GST,” MPH Bookstores area manager Ismail Osman said in April.

    He also revealed that sales at MPH had declined by 40 per cent over the last 10 years.

    MPH Singapore’s first flagship on Stamford Road closed in 2003, after nearly 100 years, due to declining sales.

    MPH’s closure news came one month after other bookstore chains such as Popular and Japan’s Books Kinokuniya also closed their outlets after more than 30 years trading.

    Lees ook:

  • Singapore retail sales slip again

    Singapore retail sales slip again

    Singapore retail sales slipped 1 per cent year on year in May, after motor vehicles were excluded from the data. The month-on-month decline was the same.

    Statistics Singapore estimated total retail sales in May (including motor vehicles) at $3.7 billion, with online retail sales accounting for 5.3 per cent of that figure.

    Year-on-year, furniture and household equipment was the category showing the greatest decline –  7.5 per cent – while sales of computer and telecommunications equipment, of optical goods and books, and by department stores, fell by between 4.7 per cent and 7 per cent.

    Categories to improve in May included watches and jewellery, up by 4.1 per cent, partly due to higher demand for gold jewellery during the Akshaya Tritiya festival.

    Sales of food and beverage services grew by 2 per cent year on year to n estimated $849 million.

    Turnover of restaurants, other eating places (such as cafes) and fast-food outlets increased by between 1.8 per cent and 2.7 per cent in May.

    In contrast, sales by food caterers decreased by 1.2 per cent.

  • Firs Innisfreet Canada store opens in Toronto

    Firs Innisfreet Canada store opens in Toronto

    Innisfree Canada has chosen Toronto for its first standalone store.

    The South Korean natural cosmetics brand’s new store will cover around 2500sqft of Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre according to designs. It will use a direct-to-consumer retail model designed to meet a competitive marketplace.

    The “plant-to-bottle” brand, operated by Seoul’s Amorepacific Corporation, partnered with CBRE to enter Canada, with initial targets being major mall space in Toronto and Vancouver. Amorepacific currently owns 33 health, beauty and personal brands.

    Innisfree Canada is not alone in targeting the North American nation, with US company Ulta Beauty and French chain Sephora among prominent names in the beauty products industry recently moving in.

    Over the past five years, more than 150 international brands have opened stores in Canada, more than 50 in 2017. Last year more than 30 brands brought a direct-to-consumer retail model to Canada.

  • Australia’s Oporto to open 24 stores in Vietnam

    Australia’s Oporto to open 24 stores in Vietnam

    Restaurant chain Oporto has launched in Vietnam under local franchisee Ben Thanh Group, with plans to open 24 restaurants across the territory in the next 10 years.

    The brand’s CEO Craig Tozer indicated the Vietnamese expansion provides a further gateway to a new market of potential consumers.

    “Vietnam is an ideal market for Oporto with nearly 100 million people and more than 60 per cent in our core demographic of under 35,” said Tozer. “Vietnam is experiencing double-digit growth in the retail and consumer sector and GDP has steadily grown at over 6 per cent. Consumers are urbanising and have an appreciation of quality food.”

    The announcement solidifies Oporto’s international growth strategy and follows a string of global signings. Three international master agreements have been secured in the last 14 months, with Oporto Vietnam following Singapore and Sri Lanka.

    Back home, Oporto is also forecasting an additional 20 plus restaurant openings in Australia for FY20, along with one in Vietnam, a second store in Singapore and further Asian expansion.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Luckin Coffee to launch tea brand Xiaolu

    Luckin Coffee to launch tea brand Xiaolu

    Luckin Coffee, the Chinese cafe startup that has directly taken on Starbucks in the territory, is moving into the takeaway tea market with its new Xiaolu brand.

    “Coffee and tea are the two most popular drinks in the office,” said Luckin VP Jinyi Guo. “However, there are currently few renowned brands of milk tea in China, the quality of franchise stores is inferior, and supply chain management is deficient.”

    The new brand, launched this week, is targeting young Chinese white-collar workers and offers cheese foam tea, fresh tea and milk tea, among others.

    “We want to transform the tea series from traditional tea drinks into creative ones and we hope people drink it in the offices instead of streets,” said the brand’s chief marketing officer Fei Yang.

    Luckin completed its New York IPO this May, raising US$561 million.

    Lees ook:

  • BMW Group’s Global Sales Grow Marginally By 0.7% In June

    BMW Group’s Global Sales Grow Marginally By 0.7% In June

    Though sales of cars have taken a hit globally, the BMW Group sales continued their positive trend in June. The Group saw a marginal rise of 0.7 per cent in sales compared to the same month last year, with a total of 2,40,674 BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce vehicles sold worldwide. This brings the company’s total sales for the year to date to 1,252,837 which is up by 0.8 per cent. This is the first time the company has sold more than 1.25 million vehicles in the first half of the year.

    Overall sales of the BMW brand grew by 1.4 per cent in June, with a total of 2,03,523 delivered to customers worldwide in the month. That result brings the brand’s sales total for the first half of the year to 10,75,959 a growth of 1.6 per cent. Both these figures are a new record high for the brand. The new or revised BMW X vehicles continue to be the brand’s biggest growth drivers, with global sales of the BMW X2 up 19.1 per cent in June, while sales of the BMW X3 rose by 66.6 per cent and deliveries of the BMW X4 increased by 70.8 per cent. Less than three months after market launch, a total of 13,555 BMW X7 vehicles have been sold globally and now India too will get the car very soon. In the first half of the year, a total of 4,67,134 BMW X vehicles were delivered to customers worldwide, accounting for 43.4 per cent of the brand’s overall sales; that figure was just 35.8 per cent in the same period last year.

    As far as electric cars are concerned, BMW i sales increased by 22 per cent in the first half of the year, with demand for the BMW i3 increasing by 21.2 per cent in the same period. Sales of the BMW 5 Series plug-in hybrid models increased by 43.4 per cent in the first half-year, while deliveries of the plug-in hybrid MINI Cooper SE Countryman ALL4 rose by 55.8 per cent

    MINI brand sales in the first half of the year decreased slightly. Deliveries in the year to date were down by 3.9 per cent while sales in June decreased by 3.5 per cent.

    Rolls-Royce too delivered a total of 2,534 cars across the globe which showed a growth of 42.3 per cent. Growth was seen in every region worldwide, with sustained demand for all model families. Exceptional customer demand for Cullinan continues, resulting in a strong order book, already stretching into the first quarter of 2020. The marque remains on track for a strong year in 2019.

    BMW Motorrad sales continue to grow strongly, with year-to-date deliveries up 7.1 per cent. In June, a total of 18,230 premium BMW Motorrad motorcycles and maxi scooters were delivered to customers around the world which is a growth of 7.4 per cent.

    As far as regions go, the brand continued to buck the trend in USA, achieving growth of 7.5 per cent in the month, while strong growth of 21.8 per cent was achieved in China. Despite a decline in the premium market in Germany in June, deliveries of BMW vehicles were up 0.5 per cent in the month. The Asian market too showed a strong growth of 6.9 per cent (year-to-date) thanks to all the new launches by the group in various countries.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Superdry spins into loss as new management tries to restore sales

    Superdry spins into loss as new management tries to restore sales

    Struggling lifestyle-fashion label Superdry has reported a loss of £85.4 million for the year to March, a sharp turnaround in fortune after the £65.3 million profit of the prior year.

    The results were heralded by the company in a series of profit warnings and follow turmoil on the company’s board. Founder Julian Dunkerton has retaken the reins of the business and a raft of directors and senior management have left.

    James Yacoub, a retail analyst at GlobalData, says the disappointing results have been spurred on by a poor performance in the second half “which Superdry has put down to the unimaginative excuse of a ‘difficult retail climate’”.

    “Of course this may have been convincing had competitors experienced similar misfortunes, however this has not been the case for those innovating and who are in tune with customers, with online pureplay Boohoo achieving exponential revenue growth of 47.8 per cent while sports and athleisure retailer JD Sports achieved 49.2 per cent revenue growth over the same financial period,” said Yacoub.

    “Superdry is suffering from deep-rooted issues relating to its inability to remain relevant and ultimately differentiate itself from more nimble, innovative and the latest lifestyle brands.”

    Although Dunkerton’s return to Superdry will not have an immediate impact on performance, Yacoub says one would hope to see an improvement in results in 12 to 18 months when his influence on product, channels and brand has had a chance to filter through.

    Incoming chairman Peter Williams described the Superdry results as “clearly very disappointing”.

    “However, everything I have learnt since joining the business in April has reinforced my view that Superdry is a powerful brand with great people across the organisation.

    “While we have been clear it is going to take time, I remain convinced that continuing to work closely with Julian and the leadership team, we are building the right plan to deliver long-term sustainable growth for shareholders,” Williams said.

    However Yacoub says that while Dunkerton has announced plans to ‘bring back design excellence’, reset store profitability and to build a cohesive team to stabilise the business, these plans are rather vague and have not instilled any real confidence in investors, as Superdry’s share price continues to tumble.

    “It is imperative, however, that investors provide Dunkerton with sufficient time to implement his transformation plan, though more detail on product range development and margin control would help alleviate some concerns.”

    Yacoub says Superdry must find a way to breathe new life into its brand, it must define and capture its target audience through effective social-media campaigns and ensure that it is resistant to changes in fashion and seasonal trends.

    “Ultimately Dunkerton must futureproof the business by expanding its design range to appeal to a wider target segment and also innovate to maintain customer loyalty and increase engagement.”

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Belgian fashion chain Jean Paul Knott to enter China

    Belgian fashion chain Jean Paul Knott to enter China

    Belgian designer brand Jean Paul Knott will open its first Chinese flagship in Beijing next month.

    The designer behind the eponymous label, which emphasises high-quality fabric and minimalist design, revealed the plans at a recent conference marking the brand’s 2019 Autumn/Winter collection, inspired by the classic French 1960s romantic film A Man and a Woman, and featuring a natural and smooth linear beauty of cuts and edits.

    In a dialogue with local fashion writer and translator Gu Chenxi, Knott revealed that he has refocused on the “design of the clothing itself” in an attempt to introduce a “new sincerity to the Chinese market”.

    At the conference, Knott introduced a creative artistic and visual immersive experience designed around brand’s signature blue element, representing “the infinite possibilities of Jean Paul Knott in China”, and featuring stills and clips from A Man and a Woman.

    Knott studied fashion design in New York and worked in Paris with legendary designer Yves Saint Laurent.

  • Indonesia’s Wake Cup Coffee & Eatery makes Indian debut

    Indonesia’s Wake Cup Coffee & Eatery makes Indian debut

    Indonesian coffee chain Wake Cup Coffee & Eatery has launched in Mumbai.

    The franchise opens in India in partnership with local franchisee Gobble Me Good, its first international location after opening 13 outlets back home.

    The firm is the newest player in India, the world’s 10th fastest-growing coffee market currently valued at ₹2570 crore (US$374 million), according to a recent Euromonitor International report that estimated industry growth at 6.9 per cent a year by 2023.

    “Consumers frequenting cafes in India are primarily 18-35 years old, which comprises the country’s primary working force with higher disposable income and fast-paced lives,” said the

    Large food companies such as local giant ITC are also making moves in coffee retail to compete with the likes of Nestle and Unilever.

  • Canberra Airport announces new retail partners

    Canberra Airport announces new retail partners

    Canberra Airport is overhauling its terminal retail offering, with construction set to begin on more than 1000sqm of new shops in the coming months.

    On Friday, the airport announced Airport Retail Enterprises (ARE) has been awarded the food and beverage component of the new terminal retail, and Australian Way Pty Ltd (AWPL) has been awarded the news, books and gifting component.

    “We are excited about these new partnerships as we work through the last piece in our terminal puzzle,” Richard Snow, head of property at Canberra Airport, said in a statement.

    “We have worked for years, focusing on making the travel experience for Canberrans and our visitors as seamless and efficient as possible. Now we are proud to be able to add in more restaurants and café options as well as retail that helps visitors remember their trip with local produce and gifts.”

    ARE, which also manages food and drink offerings in Sydney Airport, Melbourne Airport, Brisbane Airport, Gold Coast Airport and Gatwick Airport in the UK, will create a new cafe, City Hill Coffee, featuring locally-roasted Ona coffee, an Asian noodle and sushi offering called Noodles XO and a health food offer on the Western Concourse.

    Several existing food and drink options on the Southern Concourse, will be replaced by Capital Brewing Co Bar, through a partnership with the local brewery of the same name. ARE will also add a mixed news, books, travel essentials and cafe space on the ground floor in the arrivals baggage hall.

    “Canberra has a fantastic local food scene, and we are very pleased to be partnering with many local producers to bring this to the airport,” John Chapman, CEO of ARE said in a statement.

    “The new terminal will become a fantastic showcase of the region’s produce.”

    AWPL, which operates stores in numerous domestic and international terminals around Australia and New Zealand, will initially bring a news, books and travel essentials offering called News@CBR to the airport.

    Following this, it will open a second store called Merchant Canberra, which will showcase iconic gifts from the city, surrounding region and Australia.

    “It is our absolute focus to connect with the local community, deliver a retail offering that brings commercial growth to Canberra Airport, and also significantly enhances the customer experience,” AWPL managing director Costa Kouros said in a statement.

    Construction of the new retail offerings is expected to begin in the coming months, with stage one to be finished by the end of this year. The second and final stage is expected to be complete by Easter 2020.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Amazon expands anti-counterfeit program

    Amazon expands anti-counterfeit program

    Amazon is expanding its successful anti-counterfeiting program to more countries.

    Transparency is now available to sellers and customers in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, India and Canada, the e-commerce giant announced on Wednesday. Previously it only operated within the US.

    Online marketplaces are rife with counterfeit products sold cheaper than the genuine product, though often at a much lower quality.

    Fellow online marketplace Alibaba revealed its ‘Anti-Counterfeiting Alliance’, launched in early 2017, has resulted in the arrests of 1277 suspects, the shutdown of 524 manufacturing and distribution locations, and product seizures totalling US$536.2 million.

    EBay, as well, launched a program known as ‘eBay Authenticate’ which allows sellers to have items examined by a third-party to ensure the consumers can be confident they’re getting the real thing.

    Amazon’s Transparency program enables marketplace sellers to apply unique codes to their products when they are manufactured. These codes are scanned before orders are shipped to ensure the products are authentic. Online shoppers can also check the unique codes to verify the products they buy.

    “Counterfeiting is an industry-wide concern – both online and offline,” said Amazon customer trust and partner support vice president Dharmesh Mehta.

    “We created Transparency to provide brands with a simple, scalable solution that empowers brands an dAmazon to authenticate products within the supply chain, stopping counterfeit before it reaches a customer.”

    According to Amazon, more than 4000 brands are enrolled in the initiative in the US, and have generated more than 300 million unique codes, stopping over 250,000 counterfeits from reaching customers.

    The program also allows customers to scan products using a Transparency app, and see unit-level information about a product – though currently the app is only available in the US.

    Inside Retail has reached out to Amazon to see if this initiative will be expanded to Australia.

    Lees ook:

  • Don Quijote Hong Kong opens first store

    Don Quijote Hong Kong opens first store

    Don Quijote Hong Kong has opened its first store, in Mira Mall at Tsim Sha Tsui.

    The Japanese bargain retailer will sell a full range of discount merchandise as in Japan, as well as ready-to-eat meals and Japanese specialty products.

    Regional operator Pan Pacific International Holdings, which has three stores in Singapore and also plans to make its Thai debut in Bangkok this year, has leased a 15,000sqft space at the mall. The store is the sixth in its regional network, which also trade under the Don Don Donki brand. It has operated in Singapore since 2017, and has close to 40 stores in the US.

    The company is hoping to target Mainland Chinese tourists with its distinctively Japanese product range.

    “Don Quijote’s Tsim Sha Tsui location can attract mainland tourists who travel via the high-speed rail and mega bridge,” said senior director and head of retail services at Knight Frank Helen Mak. “Instead of shopping for luxury items, these same-day visitors usually spend money on cosmetics, health care items and food, products that are most celebrated at [Don Quijote].”

    Besides its general merchandise and fresh food offer, the Don Quijote Hong Kong store features a cafe.

  • TerryWhite Chemmart appoints new CEO as Anthony White steps down

    TerryWhite Chemmart appoints new CEO as Anthony White steps down

    TerryWhite Chemmart (TWC) announced Duncan Phillips as the new chief executive of the pharmacy retailer on Tuesday, following Anthony White’s decision to step down after 11 years at the helm.

    White said in a statement on Tuesday that it has been “an absolute privilege” to lead the company but that the time is right for fresh leadership. He will remain with the business, moving into the role of executive director of pharmacy network development, which includes more than 450 pharmacies across Australia.

    “I’m very fortunate to have worked with so many talented pharmacy owners and the dedicated team at the support centre over the years,” White said.

    “It’s been an absolute privilege and I look forward to supporting the further
    development of the network in my new role. In particular, it’s been great working closely with Duncan on a wide range of initiatives to grow the Group substantially over this period and I wish him every success in the future.”

    White ic credited for leading TWC through a dramatic period of change and growth including the network rebrand and sale to EBOS Group.

    White’s successor Duncan Phillips, who takes up the role effective immediately, has up to now held the chief operating officer role at TWC.

    The retailer said in a statement that Phillips brings both domestic and international experience as well as strong industry contacts.

    The company said its core focus now is building further value for network partners.

    Chief executive of EBOS Group John Cullity paid tribute to White on Tuesday.

    “Anthony has decided after 11 exciting and demanding years as CEO for TWC that it’s time for a change. He has worked tirelessly in his tenure as CEO and leaves the TWC network in great shape and on the cusp of further growth” Cullity said.

    Ebos Group took full ownership of Terry White Group in December 2018.

  • Precision marketing set to surge in Apac

    Precision marketing set to surge in Apac

    Asia Pacific is poised for growth in data-driven marketing (“precision marketing”) given the increasing base of 2 billion online users and expected rise of advertising budgets in the next five to 10 years.

    The conclusions arise from the latest report by research company Nielsen, A Digital Giant Awakens, which surveyed marketing leaders across Asia-Pacific markets on their next-level strategy and implementation road-map, revealing investments in precision marketing are likely to increase in the next year from 14 per cent of marketing budgets to about one-fifth of spends (19 per cent) going beyond social, search and mobile toward newer applications.

    In the next six months the top three platforms where advertisers across the Asia Pacific region will be allocating their marketing spends are Facebook/Instagram (60 per cent), Google/Youtube (43 per cent) and mobile (42 per cent). Meanwhile, investments in advanced applications are increasingly gaining pace, particularly for data-science/modelling (36 per cent), high-quality third party data (32 per cent) and analytics to measure ROI (28 per cent).

    The survey, conducted across top leading advertisers in the region, found precision marketing is enabling advertisers to understand consumers’ purchase journeys, personalised communications and consumer profiling.

    Key factors accelerating the progress of precision marketing include better quality and reliability of data, clear demonstration of ROI for advertisers and further education to stay ahead in the game.

    “With advancements in technology and popularity of digital media there is tremendous headroom for growth in precision marketing across Asia Pacific,” said Nielsen’s MD media North Asia Ranjeet Laungani. “Precision marketing is capable of driving marketing applications out of predictive analytics and forecasting results and it is strongly recommended for advertisers to consider in their repertoire of new-age tools.”

    The report spotlights Data Management Platforms (DMPs) as pivotal technology enablers for advertisers to successfully implement precision marketing in their overall strategy. Such platforms manage and unify multiple streams of disparate consumer data and assist in consumer profiling and targeted messaging, thereby limiting spends on media waste.

    The challenge for advertisers remains to show quick wins during early stages of DMP engagement.

    Data science and analytic prowess are top attribute advertisers in Asia Pacific look for while evaluating a data management platform.

    “Currently the space is under-invested, however, broadening expert ecosystems, presence of higher quality datasets, and presenting more success stories will drive up confidence and adoption in the industry,” added Laungani.

    “The void in awareness and education can be filled by agencies, media owners and advertisers by maintaining an eye on the long-term and short-term potential of precision marketing.”

    Lees ook:

  • Kia Seltos SUV Pre-Bookings To Start

    Kia Seltos SUV Pre-Bookings To Start

    Kia Motor India has revealed that pre-bookings for the Seltos SUV will start from July 16, 2019. The bookings will start online as also across its 206 sales points in India. The company has started its innings in India with 265 touchpoints across 160 cities, thus enabling customers from across the country to gain access to its product. The pre-bookings for the Kia Seltos SUV will be made for a token amount of ₹ 25,000. The Seltos will be launched in two trims GT Line and Tech Line and there will be five variants on offer.

    Manohar Bhat, Vice President and Head – Sales and Marketing, Kia Motors India said, “The Kia Seltos has been built from ground-up, keeping Indian customers in mind and is equipped to redefine the segment. I am proud of the hard-work and dedication put in by all our team in the development of the Seltos, and that has paid off in the way the car has come about to be. We are confident that the customers will be equally delighted by the specifications combination and our wide-spread network of 265 touchpoints in 160 cities that will instill confidence and recognition of the brand. We can’t wait for India to experience the stylish Seltos.”

    Under the hood, the Kia Seltos will get the third generation Smartstream engine that will come in three iterations: 1.5-litre petrol, 1.5-litre diesel and the 1.4-litre turbo petrol. There will also be three 3 automatic transmission options alongside the 6-speed manual transmission options – 7DCT, IVT, and 6 AT . The vehicle also sports 3 traction modes – Mud, Snow/Wet and Sand, for a greater grip and control on all surfaces.

    Visually, the Kia Seltos gets the brand’s signature Tiger Nose grille with chrome surrounds, flanked by inverted L-shaped LED headlamps with LED daytime running lights. The SUV also gets a muscular bumper with another set of LED DRLs with chrome bezels, a wide central airdam, and silver skid plate. The top-end model will also get a set of new diamond cut alloy wheels, with the shark-fin antenna and silver roof rails. The rear features a pair of sharp-looking LED taillamps and a beefy rear bumper with brushed silver styling element and a large diffuser.

    There are a host of segment first features that have been included in the Kia Seltos and yes, the list is an exhaustive one. We already told you about the trim levels, it also gets a first in segment 10.25-inch touchscreen infotainment system with navigation. Adding to the premiumness, is an 8-speaker sound system by Bose. Kia has also provided an air purifier which has been placed between the front two seats and provides for an AC vent for rear seat passengers.

    In terms of features, the Seltos will also come with connected technology, which Kia calls UVO, which can be controlled a segment-first 10.25-inch touchscreen infotainment system. The SUV also comes with an 8-speaker sound system by Bose, a 360-degree surround camera, and a 7-inch colour TFT unit for the instrument console. With UVO, you can use your phone to operate the car’s ignition, AC controls and more. UVO can also be accessed via a dedicated button on the IRVM, which also has dedicated roadside assistance and SOS buttons that alert the dedicated call centre- in case of an emergency. Safety features include 6 airbags, ABS with EBD, ESC, HAC, VSM and is built using advanced high strength steel (AHSS).