Volkswagen’s Porsche sports car brand is confident it can repeat last year’s record sales in 2018, the division’s chief executive told. Porsche sold 196,562 vehicles during the first nine months of the year, with Europe showing a 9 percent increase and China, the world’s largest car market, growing by 4 percent.
“In light of these good numbers we expect that we can reach last year’s record again,” Oliver Blume said in e-mailed comments on Thursday.
Porsche delivered 246,375 vehicles in 2017.
India’s Reliance Industries, parent company of operator Reliance Jio Infocomm, has announced strategic investments in two multiple system operators (MSOs) to accelerate the planned JioGigaFiber rollout. The company plans to invest 22.9 billion rupees ($311.48 million) to take a 66% stake in Den Networks Limited, India’s largest cable TV distribution company and a provider of high-speed broadband services in 100 cities nationwide.
Reliance Industries will also invest 29.4 billion rupees for a 51.3% stake in Hathway Cable and Datacom Limited, a cable TV company providing high speed broadband in 21 cities.
The company intends to make open offers for DEN and Hathway shares as well as two Hathway subsidiaries, as required by Indian takeover regulations.
Announcing the planned investments, Reliance Industries said the acquisitions will accelerate Jio’s efforts to bring the JioGigaFiber service to a potential 50 million homes across 1,100 Indian cities and towns as quickly as possible.
Jio will work with Hathway and DEN to bring the JioGigaFiber services to the two companies’ 24 million existing cable customers.
Jio plans to use the JioGigaFiber network to offer high-speed broadband, ultra high definition video streaming, multi-party video conferencing, VR gaming, smart home and AI virtual assistant and fixed mobile convergence services.
Reliance Industries chairman and MD Shri Mukesh said the acquisition is also expected to benefit the 27,000 local cable operators (LCOs) that are aligned with Hathway and DEN by enabling them to participate in India’s digital transformation. Indian LCOs provide coaxial cable connections on a per-neighborhood basis.
“With Local Cable Operators now as part of the Jio ecosystem, we look forward to bringing Jio’s advanced JioGigaFiber and Smart Home Solutions to more Indian homes, even quicker,” he said.
“We look forward to welcoming other MSOs and LCOs to be part of this partnership. This will result in growing wireline data connectivity in India and making state-of-the-art high-speed affordable internet and digital services accessible to the widest population in the shortest possible time.”
Singapore’s StarHub has started offering prepaid customers free outgoing local calls as long as they have an active data plan. The company will continue offering prepaid customers free local calls for the duration of their data plan, even if they run out of data.
StarHub offers customers a choice of six prepaid data plan over its Happy Prepaid app, starting at S$2 for 30MB of data and free outgoing calls for three days. An S$8 mid-tier option adds 1GB and free calls for seven days, while an S$25 plan offers 5GB of data and free calls for 30 days.
“Just by being on our new prepaid data plans, customers can enjoy the best of two worlds – surfing on Singapore’s fastest 4G network and chatting with family, friends and co-workers easily and affordably,” StarHub VP of marketing Donovan Kik said.
“Simplicity is key and we will continually enhance our services to ensure we deliver the best possible experience to customers.”
Popular hot pot franchise Hai Di Lao is finally coming to Malaysia. According to Makan Main Tengok’s Facebook page, the food chain’s first Malaysian outlet will be located at the ground floor of Sunway Pyramid Hotel. Known for its fragrant and flavourful soups, Hai Di Lao started off as a humble shop selling “Ma La Tang” (which literally means spicy-numbing soup).
The opening of Hai Di Lao also means there’s going to be a long queue and months of advance booking. On the bright side, the shop is known for offering free snacks, drinks, games and manicure services for those who are willing to wait for their table.
Hai Di Lao operates more than 300 branches worldwide.
The official opening date has yet to be announced.
Lotte Duty Free has opened a new 519 square meters area at its flagship store in Myeong-dong, Seoul, with a strong emphasis on promoting small and medium-sized Korean brands. A highlight of the zone, located in the store’s Star Avenue, is ‘Blooming Beauty’, a shop-in-shop that houses around 130 brands, 60 of them small, emerging brands and 30 of them independently owned. These include the Marvel collection from The Face Shop, Medicube, Miba, Cosmetea, Wakemake and others.
The company said it was “upgrading its incubation programme” for smaller brands, and would support them by distribution through its online sales channel and at its downtown Seoul outlets.
It said that these brands would “demonstrate their sales potential” in the new environment.
The store, it added, “will enhance customer convenience through brand diversification and space expansion”.
To celebrate the opening of the new Star Avenue area, Lotte Duty Free presented gifts from 20 brand partners in the Blooming Beauty zone to shoppers who spent more than US$1.
There are also special discounts for local residents until the end of October, and discounted sales of KT&G’s new ‘heat not burn’ product Lil will be available until 22 November.
Online food ordering and delivery platform foodpanda said Tuesday it has acquired Mumbai-based food-tech venture Holachef. According to report: Through this collaboration, foodpanda marks its entry into cloud kitchens and plans to launch its own brand of food products in different categories, it said. The company, however, did not disclose any financial details of the acquisition.
Commenting on the development, Pranay Jivrajka, CEO, foodpanda India said: “We aim to build India’s largest cloud kitchen network that will be a major step in further elevating the food experience for our customers.”
The company is committed to providing unique local tastes and palate choices to the Indian consumer, he added.
As part of the acquisition, foodpanda will take over Holachef’s business including its kitchens, equipment, as well as bring onboard the company’s employees. Holachef’s founders are set to join foodpanda’s leadership team, the statement said.
“Our mission with Holachef is to serve incredible food experiences to customers through kitchens with the highest quality and hygiene standards. We are delighted to join hands with Foodpanda, to accelerate our mission,” Saurabh Saxena, Co-founder, Holachef said.
Online fashion retailer Zalora is partnering with Blanc & Eclare by Korean-American singer and fashion icon Jessica Jung. The collaboration will involve a limited edition bag collection that will be available exclusively on the Zalora website and mobile app across Southeast Asia. It is Blanc & Eclare’s first bag product.
The “Poppy” bag reflects Jessica Jung’s understated design aesthetic featuring subtle unexpected elements.
Zalora’s CCO Saskia De Jongh said that as one of the region’s most fashionable and successful multi-hyphenated celebrities, Jessica’s style is admired across the world, and Zalora is proud to give fashion consumers in the region a piece of Jessica’s most coveted fashion must-haves.
“This collection is a testament to Jessica’s position as a formidable curator of style as she brought her modern interpretation of a classic bag design.”
Jung said of the collaboration: “I’ve always believed in the power of social media and technology to bring fashion closer to everyone. Zalora has transformed how people shop fashion in their part of the world, and we at Blanc & Eclare are fortunate to have the opportunity to reach consumers and fans across the region and offer them a beautiful and practical bag collection through our partnership with Zalora.”
The exclusive collection will be available on all Zalora websites and app from October 26.
Icicle Fashion Group has beaten out a phalanx of bidders to buy out French fashion brand Carven. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Despite Carven’s difficulty carving out a place in the modern fashion firmament, Icicle founder Shouzeng Ye said that the label offers considerable value to Icicle as a vehicle for global expansion, access to European design expertise and international luxury brand credibility.
“Our strategy is to expand internationally,” he said. “We started in 2013 by opening our design centre in Paris. We are going to open our first international flagship store in Paris next Autumn 2019. Carven is our third large-scale international investment. It helps us to accelerate Icicle Group’s expansion and development.”
Hung Huang, a long-time fashion identity in China, who last year wrote a book marking Icicle’s 20-year anniversary, sees overwhelmingly positive outcomes for both investor and investee as a result of the deal.
“So many Chinese companies are buying luxury brands from overseas, but this is the most promising of these acquisitions. Because Icicle is already a successful fashion brand in China, they have a deep understanding of manufacturing and operating in the Chinese market,” she explains, adding that Carven will benefit from the fact that Icicle is not acquiring the brand purely as an investment project, but has value beyond the monetary injection to offer the French brand.
Little known outside China, Icicle, known as Zhi He in its homeland, was founded by Shouzeng Ye and Shawna Tao in 1997 and has been a leading proponent of sustainable fashion in the country for more than two decades.
Turning over more than 1.6 billion RMB (a little over $231 million) annually through its network of 200 stores in Mainland China and e-commerce operations, the privately-owned Icicle is headquartered in Shanghai and has a workforce of more than 2,000 in China, but also opened a design centre in Paris back in 2012, where its top-tier collection is conceived.
On the other hand, according to Brock Silvers, managing director of Kaiyuan Capital, a China-based multi-asset advisory, a multitude of questions remain as to whether the partnership will indeed be a win-win for Icicle and Carven, especially given the premium price Icicle is paying and its reported promise to keep key Carven structures and people in place as part of the deal.
“Is China ready to manage French fashion? Is Icicle prepared to expand beyond its eco-friendly mandate? A successful bid may not translate into an easy victory and Icicle management may soon be put to the test,” Silvers says.
Icicle is among several peers from China ramping up their fashion portfolios through overseas acquisitions. Conglomerate Fosun Group purchased a majority stake in French brand Lanvin and textile giant Ruyi Group owns Bally, Aquascutum and Gieves & Hawkes.
“[This] will continue because the Chinese consumer is fuelling the growth of the luxury sector. Therefore, Chinese companies can acquire an international brand and extract its potential in China, leveraging knowledge of successful approaches to marketing, pricing and distribution in the domestic market,” says Mario Ortelli, managing partner of luxury advisors Ortelli & Co.
The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) estimates Chinese consumers already make up 32 percent of the global luxury market – a number predicted to rise to 40 percent by 2024. Data from McKinsey & Co. shows revenue growth in China’s luxury segment was around 15-20 percent for the first half of this year.
Another major factor is the urging of China’s government for corporate leaders to help push China’s economy towards a consumption model, away from its traditional manufacturing base, which continues to weaken due to lower-cost competitors elsewhere in Asia, rising wages, and more recently, pressure from China’s trade conflict with the US.
Two VeganBurg Indonesia stores planned for Jakarta and Bali mark the first steps in a Southeast Asian rollout for the brand after its Singapore success.
The plant-based burger restaurant chain says it plans to open stores in other Southeast Asian markets under a franchise model.
The chain, the world’s first of its kind, currently operates four stores in Singapore beyond its single-outlet San Francisco base. It chose Jakarta and Bali, because VeganBurg CEO Alex Tan considers the concept a “natural fit” due to Southeast Asia’s “love for sustainability and the desire for a more plant-based dining experience”.
“We made the concept work in Asia – specifically in Singapore – then we put it to the test in San Francisco and the result was exponential!”
VeganBurg Indonesia will exhibit at Jakarta’s Franchise and License Expo Indonesia this week, represented by World Franchise Associates (WFA).
WFA COO Troy Franklin said: “With their 100 per cent plant-based burgers served in an inviting and comfortable fast casual restaurant format, VeganBurg offers a unique and genuine high-quality product for a new generation of health conscious and socially minded consumers and a great opportunity for Indonesian investors looking for the next big thing in international franchising.”
VeganBurg also plans to expand in North America and globally.
Continuing his 50th anniversary celebration, Ralph Lauren is launching the Polo Bear Collection, which combines Swiss watchmaking with the Polo Bear — a favorite icon in the designer’s world. The collection represents the first time Lauren has created timepieces specifically for the Polo brand. The four bears that are featured are Flag Bear, Martini Bear, Preppy Bear, and Spectator Bear, each inspired by his personal style and retailing for $2,000 a piece.
In an interview at his Manhattan office last week, Lauren said the idea of the watches was just for fun. They’re not smart watches, nor are they rife with complications such as minute repeaters, chronograph, time zones or moon phase.
“It’s purely a fun project. It was not about who’s out there and what are they doing” said Lauren, chairman and chief creative officer of the $6.2 billion Ralph Lauren Corp.
Asked why he chose now to launch Polo Bear watches, Lauren said there was a lot of activity around the 50th anniversary, and it seemed like an appropriate time.
The Polo Bear has been a constant theme at the company for over 25 years.
In 1991, the Polo Bear was introduced with 200 limited-edition bears produced by Steiff, the German toy manufacturer, and dressed in miniaturized Polo Ralph Lauren apparel. Since then, the stylish bear has appeared as embroidery, prints and patches on a variety of items, from neckties to sweaters.
Lauren anticipates that these four unisex watches will evolve into other bears, as well as other designs under the Polo banner.
Taking a page from the first piece Lauren designed, the necktie, each watch can be customized with interchangeable straps crafted from necktie silk twill patterns as well as options in French calfskin or exotic alligator.
The buckles on all the watches are a stainless-steel pink buckle, engraved with Polo while the case includes a commemorative 50th anniversary plaque set over the rotary.
Manufactured in Switzerland in partnership with Compagnie Financière Richemont, the watches will be distributed exclusively to select Ralph Lauren stores and the Ralph Lauren web site, beginning next month.
A collection for kids could be a possibility down the road. “I’d like kids to have it. That might be next,” he said.
Lauren said they made the decision to put the Polo Bear watches into the new Polo watch division, rather than the Ralph Lauren watch division for a specific reason. “There is a charm to Polo watches and a price difference. The Polo Bear is a younger, more sporty, fun watch, and it felt more like Polo,” he said.
The price range of Ralph Lauren Watches is from $1,500 to $99,500.
With all the interest with Polo Bears, Lauren said he would consider doing stuffed animal bears as a category. “We might. It could be the beginning of something. You might see them on television,” said Lauren, but quickly added he has no plans to do a TV show with the Polo Bears.
Speaking of television, the conversation turned to a Lauren documentary that will appear on HBO early next year directed by Susan Lacy.
Having spent the last few months celebrating 50 years of the Ralph Lauren brand, the designer was asked what’s on deck for the next 50 years.
“I think I accomplished 99 percent or more that I ever dreamt of.” he said.
Superdry has issued a profit warning, saying an unseasonably warm European and US east coast summer together with foreign exchange costs will reduce income by about £10 million. “Superdry is a strong brand with significant growth opportunities, backed by robust operational capabilities, but we are not immune to the challenges presented by this extraordinary period of unseasonably hot weather,” said CEO Euan Sutherland in a statement.
“We are well prepared for peak trading, but the second half of financial year 2019 presents both risks and opportunities.”
The company’s share price fell a heavy 20 per cent in early trading after the announcement was made.
Foreign exchange costs are expected to be about £8 million higher this year and the collapse of department store chain House of Fraser has left the fashion retailer an estimated £236,000 out of pocket.
Sofie Willmott, senior retail analyst at GlobalData, said rival chains Quiz, Coast and Ted Baker have all been hit by the downfall of House of Fraser. “Superdry, the usually untouchable brand that consistently delivers double-digit sales growth, is the next to be affected.”
Willmott said Superdry has had an unhealthy reliance on autumn/ winter stock and was unable to trade in season.
“Given that the only certainty with weather is that it can be unpredictable, Superdry should have been better prepared to react to the prolonged warm summer, cutting back on volumes of jackets and coats to avoid overstocks and the need for markdowns.”
Superdry knows this is an issue and is five months into an 18-month product-diversification program to broaden its range.
The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge – the world’s longest sea bridge which has taken nine years to build – is expected to be officially opened by President Xi Jinping next Tuesday. Central government’s liaison office in Hong Kong has announced the event will take place in Zhuhai on October 23 but Xi will apparently not be crossing over to the Hong Kong side to mark the linking of the three cities through the mega project
The 55km bridge marks a new milestone in Beijing’s broader push to create the Greater Bay Area – a technology-led economic hub comprising Hong Kong, Macau and nine Guangdong province cities with aspirations to rival California’s Silicon Valley.
The bridge will put the three cities it links within an hour’s drive of each other and is expected to boost economic development and tourism in Hong Kong, which has invested HK$120 billion (US$15.3 billion) in the project.
The bridge will provide a fast lane to the western part of the Pearl River Delta, Guangdong and Guangxi. A trip between the Kwai Chung Container Port and Zhuhai would be reduced from about 3½ hours to an hour and 15 minutes.
And it would only take around 45 minutes to travel from Hong Kong International Airport to Zhuhai instead of the current four hours.
The presidential trip, the subject of much speculation this year, would be highly symbolic in marking the 40th anniversary of China’s landmark economic reforms and opening-up policy.
The southern economic powerhouse of Guangzhou was the lead runner in the reforms, with Shenzhen chosen as the first special economic zone to test out market-oriented policies.
It was also the destination of Xi’s maiden visit outside Beijing after taking power in late 2012, and was seen as a strong signal of his support for greater market-oriented reforms.
Skin-care retailer The Creme Shop has released a collaboration with Hello Kitty. The new product range features 51 items adorned with the world-renowned Sanrio character, including face masks, lip balms, hand creams and bath bombs.
The Creme Shop’s executive director Olive Kim said: “As a brand that loves to create fun and eclectic products for our customers, a partnership with Sanrio felt natural to us. We’ve always adored Sanrio’s whimsical aesthetic and feel that this collaboration will only enhance the enjoyment our customers receive from our products. The best news is, this is only the beginning of our collaboration, and we can’t wait to create more exciting beauty and skin-care products with Sanrio.”
While the products are currently only available online and at the Sanrio flagship Los Angeles store, they will eventually be made available for sale at a range of offline chain stores.
India’s leading natural beauty brand Lotus Herbals has unveiled Ikkai, a premium organic skincare brand. Ikkai is a fun beauty care brand for the youth that delivers awesomely convenient organic skincare products in single use packs. Considered to be the ‘Future of Skincare’, Ikkai consists of a range of adorably delicious, happy beauty products that include organic face masks, soufflés and scrubs. The entire range employs potent organic formulations that administer higher concentration of active ingredients in each product to provide safe and natural care effectively. It helps combat the effect of stress, pollution and environmental damage making it one of the finest natural care products available in the market place.
Speaking at the unveiling of Ikkai, Nitin Passi, Director, Lotus Herbals says, “It has been our endeavor to provide the Indian consumer the finest natural care products since we launched Lotus Herbals in 1993. Ikkai is a premium organic skincare brand that caters to the emerging skincare needs of today’s millennials and contemporary women. We are confident that our range of organic face masks, scrubs and soufflés packaged in one time use packs will appeal immensely to our target consumer.”
Ikkai offers an innovative range of skincare products that are made with naturally sourced ingredients and enzymes. Cusotmers can indulge in the goodness of acai berries, blueberries, papaya enzymes , extracts of orange, lemon, carrot oil, almond meal, walnut shell and lot more.
Ikkai products are available at leading e-commerce portals like Nykka, Amazon, Purple and Flipkart. These convenient one time use packs are priced between Rs 75 to Rs 325 for the combo packs.
Malaysian home improvement retailer Mr DIY has announced plans to open at least 1000 branches by 2020. The announcement was made at the opening of its latest outlet at Paradigm Mall, its 440th local branch and 600th global branch. The brand currently operates 120 stores in Thailand, 40 in Indonesia, four in Brunei, and one each in Singapore and the Philippines.
Mr DIY head of marketing Andy Chin said: “We feel that our home improvement retail business model, offering a variety of goods at affordable prices, is suitable for better business growth in the country as well as the Asean market. At the end of this year, we target 700 global branches, and the number may reach 1000 or more by 2020. These will be based on an organic growth.”
He added that the company’s prospect of Asean-level expansion will be focused on Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines,” said Chin.
Mr DIY is the largest home appliance retailer in Malaysia with more than 20,000 SKUs.