Retail News CRM

Author: Mei Ling Tan

  • Volkswagen to invest Rs 7,600 crore to launch new models

    Volkswagen to invest Rs 7,600 crore to launch new models

    The Volkswagen Group plans to invest 1billion euros more in India, several people in the know said, as the world’s largest carmaker seeks to launch a flurry of vehicles and expand capacity to shrug off its underperformance in one of the fastest-growing markets.

    The group will spend the money to set up a new manufacturing line at its existing facility at Chakan in Pune, build an engineering centre and develop products, these people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Developing electric vehicles is also under consideration, they said.

    The German auto major is reworking its India plan after an aborted attempt for a partnership with Tata Motors to make products for emerging markets, where the most crucial factor that sells a vehicle is its affordability. Despite the group being present in India for more than a decade and half, it could garner only a less than 2% market share between the Volkswagen and Skoda brands.

    Positioning as a premium brand that sits above the likes of market leaders Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Motor has hurt its performance. The group has now decided to come out with an affordable portfolio on its own for emerging markets, based on the MQB-A0 platform. The new models will be heavily localised to keep the cost low.

    Czech unit Skoda Auto is driving this India and emerging market strategy for the group. Skoda chairman Bernhard Maier visited India towards the end of October, followed by a contingent of 40 senior engineers who came to understand the critical issues here before executing the plan. The group has also conducted one-on-one workshops with over a dozen-and-half vendors to put finishing touches to its emerging market strategy, the people said.

    The Volkswagen board discussed the progress of the plan on December 19 and is hopeful of finalising a blueprint within a quarter, they said. About half a dozen cars are planned with the new MQB-A0 underpinning, including a hatchback each from Skoda and Volkswagen positioned in the Maruti Baleno and Hyundai Elite segment, a mid-size sedan that will replace the Rapid and Vento, and a B-segment SUV that will be benchmarked against the Volkswagen T Cross to take on the Hyundai Creta. Discussions are currently ongoing on the SUV project, codenamed VW216.

    “We believe we are in a good position to tackle new segments in the Indian market now,” Skoda chairman Maier told ET in a statement. “We will invest a substantial amount into the Indian market. We are in the process of ascertaining the total investment,” he said, but declined to get into the specifics. The company is studying volume scenarios of 1,80,000, 2,50,000 and 3,20,000 units for capacity expansion. A chunk of the production will go towards exports.

    Till the time the MQB-A0 car project goes fully on stream by 2022-2023, an existing platform is being upgraded to meet requirements in overseas markets.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Ooredoo launches 1.2Gbps mobile speeds in Qatar

    Ooredoo launches 1.2Gbps mobile speeds in Qatar

    Qatar-based Ooredoo has announced it has broken the 1Gbps speed barrier using commercial smartphones and a live network.

    The company said the company has made speeds of up to 1.2Gbps commercially available to customers in Qatar as it works to be one of the earliest adopters of 5G technology.

    Tests conducted on live sites across Ooredoo’s network achieved speeds exceeding 1Gbps.

    As well as its consumer operations, Ooredoo revealed that Qatar Airways has arranged become the first corporate 5G customer.

    When launched, Ooredoo’s 5G connected corporate commercial services will provide an alternative to wired networks for corporate customers in hard to reach or remote areas.

    In November, Ooredoo completed testing of massive multiple-input multiple output (Massive MIMO) technology in partnership with the airline.

    “Ooredoo will continue to invest heavily in our networks to make sure that everyone across our global footprint can enjoy the internet and its life enhancing benefits,” Ooredoo Qatar CEO Waleed Al Sayed said.

    “There is no doubt that 5G services will have a huge impact on businesses and people, unlocking speeds for seamless browsing, next-generation business applications, and more. We are committed to being one of the first operators globally to make this service commercially available to our customers.”

    Lees ook:

  • Open standards key to tapping IoT value chain

    Open standards key to tapping IoT value chain

    Operators must adopt an open standards approach if they are to make the most of the revenue opportunities presented by IoT applications that use low power wide area (LPWA) networks.

    A common IoT service layer will result in increased cost-effectiveness, improved scalability and greater confidence that today’s IoT deployments will be future-proof.
    This is the key finding of a new white paper published today by oneM2M, the global IoT standards initiative. This most recent white paper is part of oneM2M’s ongoing work to accelerate mass deployment of the IoT which will bring value to both operators and end-users.

    “While the latest figures from Analysys Mason suggest there could be 3.4 billion LPWA connections by 2025, the forecasted revenue per connected device is relatively low unless CSP strategies to tap into the larger revenue opportunity provided through application enablement become mainstream,” oneM2M’s Technical Plenary Chair Dr Omar Elloumi said.

    “With the recent ramp-up of LPWA deployments worldwide, we have seen an increasing number of CSPs adhering to the oneM2M value proposition, but they will need to expedite their strategies to improve the value they are seeing from the IoT. oneM2M provides a great opportunity to monetize LPWA, effectively making it application developer-centric.”

    Open standards for the IoT were developed after enterprises that deployed the early wave of IoT connections found themselves restricted by a vertical approach to platform management. Working in this way restricted the applications’ scalability, limited cost-effectiveness and stifled interest from device manufacturers and app developers, who found themselves repeating efforts to integrate different connections and device management protocols.

    “The need for interoperability is what drives oneM2M’s architecture, which allows CSPs to break down the silos that inhibit growth and creates a single, horizontal platform for data sharing between applications,” said oneM2M’s Regional Marcom Vice Chair Chris Meering, of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE). “This not only delivers OpEx savings from not having to manage multiple horizontal silos, but also opens up new service innovation opportunities. LPWA provides the means to deliver the IoT and a standards-based, horizontal approach makes it a stronger business case.”

    The white paper discusses the importance of normalizing data from different devices within a single platform – a common IoT service layer – that is agnostic of hardware and connectivity type. This gives app developers the confidence to create new and innovative services through easy-to-use application programming interfaces, knowing that they will work with all service provider networks and IoT deployments. By forming partnerships with these developers and device manufacturers through the use of oneM2M, operators can create value in the app space and ultimately via data analytics.

    “Using oneM2M makes it possible for app developers to build once and reuse often,” said Andreas Neubacher, Technology Innovation at Deutsche Telekom. “This creates a win-win situation – developers can create tailor-made apps that can easily be scaled, while CSPs and platform providers have a larger pool of resources as the developers reuse code and avoid duplication of efforts.”

    HPE’s Universal IoT Platform and InterDigital’s one TRANSPORT concept – an open service that enables public and private sector organizations to take advantage of shared data for use in intelligent transportation – or demonstrations like Orange and Deutsche Telekom’s smart home application portability are cited as examples of where oneM2M has encouraged IoT growth through a horizontal approach. The use of an open standards approach based on oneM2M by the South Korean government as the underlying principle for smart city deployments is also explored.

    The white paper concludes that oneM2M offers CSPs the ideal way to boost LPWA connectivity volumes by attracting device and application providers onto their networks. Examples of LPWA networks referred to by the white paper include NB-IoT, LTE Cat-M, and LoRa.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • AirAsia India Offers Flights To Goa

    AirAsia India Offers Flights To Goa

    AirAsia India is offering flight tickets starting below Rs. 1,400 on select routes in a limited-period sale. AirAsia India is offering tickets starting at Rs. 1,399 on flights from Bengaluru to destinations including Goa under a promotional scheme, according to the airline’s website – airasia.com. The AirAsia India offer requires flyers to make advance bookings, which are open till December 31, 2017, the airline noted. The all-inclusive fares offered under the scheme are applicable on travel till June 30, 2018, AirAsia India noted on its website. Flight tickets starting at an all-inclusive Rs. 1,399 are also available on flights from Bengaluru to Hyderabad and Kochi, it noted.

    AirAsia India offers on flights come days before New Year 2018, amid high competition in the domestic civil aviation market. Many airlines operating in the domestic market offer discounts around the New Year holiday season to attract passengers during a period marked with high demand, say analysts.

    A search on the AirAsia bookings portal on Friday showed tickets for flights from Bengaluru to Goa on January 17 were available for booking at Rs. 1,899.

    Lees ook:

  • Kushikatsu introduces new skewer options

    Kushikatsu introduces new skewer options

    A Japanese chain known for its fried food skewers, Kushikatsu Tanaka, has launched a Singapore outpost at Clarke Quay.

    It sprang from the Lehman Brothers collapse in 2008, when Hiroe Tanaka and her business partner Keiji Nuki decided to end their food business ventures in Tokyo. While packing to return to Osaka, Tanaka stumbled upon her late father’s kushikatsu recipe, and convinced Nuki they should open a kushikatsu outlet.

    Nine years later the business, which became a listed company last year, is valued at US$82 million (S$110.6 million). It has 167 outlets across Japan, with four more opening this month. It also has a branch in Hawaii.

    Tanaka and Nuki were both in Singapore for the opening of Kushikatsu Tanaka, a franchise outlet managed by Suntory Food & Beverage International, a subsidiary of the Suntory Group, which runs eateries such as Japanese restaurant Sun with Moon at Wheelock Place and the Pepper Lunch chain.

    Secret sauce

    A speciality street food from Osaka, kushikatsu features skewered items battered in fine panko crumbs and fried in a blend of oil and beef fat. Diners dip the skewers into a “secret recipe” sauce. There is even a dessert version.

    Other dishes on the menu include chiritori hotpan (beef or pork). To finish the broth, diners can cook curry cheese risotto on the pan. Other hands-on dishes include DIY (do-it-yourself) onigiri and DIY potato salad.

    While kushikatsu goes well with Jim Beam highballs, the alcohol menu also includes sake, shochu and wine. Diners can also play a variation of the Japanese drinking game Chinchirorin by throwing two dice into a bowl. If they roll doubles, they score a free highball; an even number earns a half-priced highball, while an odd number means they pay double the price (but for a double-sized highball).

    Meanwhile, other skewered foods have arrived in Singapore including Ginza Rokukakutei at Odeon Towers and Panko in Haji Lane.

  • Louis Vuitton Singapore makes splash in airport

    Louis Vuitton Singapore makes splash in airport

    Louis Vuitton Singapore has opened a spectacular duplex store taking centre stage in the new Crystal Garden in the Terminal 3 departure transit hall at Changi Airport.

    The first-ever airport store of its type in south Asia, the store has a theme of travel and features a full-size model of a 1930s French plane suspended from the ceiling, plus “flying machines” carrying the French luxury brand’s signature trunks and suitcases.

    A giant digital display surrounds the entrance, and the store has a translucent facade of glass and copper-diamond mesh. Inside, tiered garden beds feature a flowers and spheres containing glass sculptures.

    For the opening, an exhibition space on the second floor features antique objects from the Louis Vuitton archives displayed alongside more contemporary pieces.

    On the ground floor there is a range of travel-related offerings including men’s and women’s leather goods, ready-to-wear, accessories, shoes, watches and fragrances.

    Covering 530sqm, it is the first airport store in Asia Pacific to be directly managed by Louis Vuitton, which has had a 37-year presence in Singapore.

    Lees ook:

  • Starbucks opens largest store yet in Korea

    Starbucks opens largest store yet in Korea

    Starbucks Korea opened its largest store yet in Seoul’s Jongno district today, in a move to solidify the brand’s already strong presence in an increasingly competitive market.

    The coffee shop, at Jongno Tower, covers 1097sqm on the first and second floors of the building – making it four times bigger than the chain’s typical 264sqm store size.

    The latest move by the US coffeehouse chain comes on the heels of low-cost coffeehouse Ediya Coffee’s decision to open a flagship store of a similar size last year in Gangnam District.

    A wide range of menu items and premium services to differentiate from other locations will be on offer, such as herbal teas ‘Teavana Blueberry Bliss’ and ‘Teavana Citrus Lavender Sage’, which will be available at four of the Teavana-inspired stores across the country including the Jongno location.

    Some 100 beverages and 60 bakery products will be available at the new location, 30 per cent more than the average number of items available at other stores.

    Siphon coffee makers will be used to brew some of the drinks at the new coffee shop, while an exclusive trial program available at the store’s community room will introduce some completely new offerings such as Origin Flight and Brew Comparison.

    In addition, seven types of rice products made in South Korea using Starbucks coffee grounds as a fertiliser will also be on sale, including beans & sweet potato rice chips.

    A large-scale artwork installed on one side of the store uses traditional Korean fabric to recreate the coffee chain’s signature Siren logo with a Korean touch, a fitting addition for Jongno District, a neighborhood boasting traditional venues such as Gyeongbokgung Palace and Insadong.

    Starbucks currently operates about 1100 stores across South Korea.

    Earlier this month, the American coffeehouse opened its largest store in the world in Shanghai, China

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Prada Silver rolls out a new line in Macau

    Prada Silver rolls out a new line in Macau

    Adopting a rail theme, Prada has unveiled an itinerant retail project, “Prada Silver Line”, at Galaxy Macau.

    It runs until January 4, then will steam off to other destinations around the world. Different items will be developed for each city the Silver Line visits.

    With an illuminated platform, the pop-up draws inspiration from American train sets of the ’30s to ’50s. The imaginary railway station includes a train coach with metal outer shell that houses the main product display space. Floral-patterned red silk brocade tapestry and black-and-white checkered marble flooring, as appears in all the brand’s boutiques, embellish the space.

    Around and outside the coach are rail-inspired installations including life-size Prada robots and a ticket booth, which serves as a concierge service where customers can arrange delivery of purchases to their homes.

    A “Macau St” sign marks the retail space, a reference to the first stop for the train on its international journey. Throughout next year the retail project will travel throughout Asia, Europe and the US, starting with Dubai late next month.

    To mark the project, the brand presents a range of exclusive products including women’s bags and accessories. In particular, the Prada Cahier bag is reinterpreted in three new styles using exotic leathers.

    Lees ook:

  • Major International Bubble Tea Restaurant Opening in Mississauga

    Major International Bubble Tea Restaurant Opening in Mississauga

    Have you always wished for more bubble tea options in Mississauga? Of course you have—and now it looks like your wish is about to come true.

    If you’ve recently driven down Hurontario Street in the Cooksville area, you might have noticed some stylish signage indicating the upcoming arrival of Ding Tea. For those who are unaware, Taiwanese franchise Ding Tea was founded in 2004 and quickly spread throughout Asia and beyond.

    As of now, there are Ding Tea locations in Taiwan, China, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, the U.S.A. and Hong Kong. The only other Canadian location listed on the brand’s website is one in Victoria, B.C.—meaning Mississauga will be home to the brand’s first Ontario store.

    As far as the menu goes, the resto offers oolong milk tea, brown sugar milk tea, jasmine green milk tea, bubble milk tea, coconut jelly milk tea, pudding milk tea, taro milk tea and more.

    An exact opening date has not been revealed.

    We’ll keep you updated as more details emerge.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Ola Cabs merges with Foodpanda in India

    Ola Cabs merges with Foodpanda in India

    Uber rival Ola Cabs has merged with food-delivery platform Foodpanda India, taking control from Delivery Hero Group of Germany.

    Under the terms of the deal, as well as a handover of shares, Ola has committed to investing US$200 million into Foodpanda’s India business.

    With Foodpanda India CEO Saurabh Kochhar having moved on, Ola founding partner Pranay Jivrajka will be interim CEO.

    Rocket Internet-backed Delivery Hero last year pulled out of Indonesia after tough competition, while Foodpanda wound up its Vietnam business in 2015 and scaled back in India.

    “The partnership with Ola will allow us to further consolidate markets where it strategically makes sense to collaborate with local players,” says Delivery Hero CEO/co-founder Niklas Östberg.

    The acquisition comes shortly after Ola raised $1.1 billion in funding from Japanese telco SoftBank Group and Chinese internet giant Tencent.

    Uber Eats launched in India a few months ago.

    Lees ook:

  • Bukalapak teams up with TIKI to ease delivery

    Bukalapak teams up with TIKI to ease delivery

    E-commerce platform Bukalapak kicked off on Wednesday the expansion of its partnership with courier service and logistics company TIKI to facilitate small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in selling their products.

    The new partnership will enable vendors to accelerate product delivery.

    For instance, TIKI provides a “booking code” feature in which vendors can fill in the data of senders and receivers online before sending the packages. When vendors arrive at a TIKI branch, they do not need to wait for TIKI employees to fill in the information anymore.

    “There will be [system] integration between Bukalapak and TIKI. The new features will be launched soon,” Bukalapak co-founder and chief financial officer Muhammad Fajrin Rasyid told at its headquarters in Kemang, South Jakarta.

    Another new feature offered to vendors is pick-up service that allows TIKI couriers to pick up goods from the vendors’ locations. Bukalapak has more than 1.7 million vendors with more than 38 million products offered on its online marketplace. About 500,000 vendors at Bukalapak use TIKI’s services.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Jollibee is Hiring For its Upcoming Mississauga Location

    Jollibee is Hiring For its Upcoming Mississauga Location

    You’ve waited so patiently for Mississauga’s very first Jollibee location and while you will have to wait a little longer to chow down on its extremely popular offerings, you can apply to work there now.

    The soon-to-open Jollibee restaurant, a popular fast food brand from The Philippines, will take shape inside the recently opened Seafood City Supermarket in Heartland Town Centre. But while the resto isn’t slated to open until 2018, the brand is already hiring.

    According to Jollibee’s website, it’s currently looking for a restaurant manager for the Mississauga location (it’s also looking to hire for the same position in Scarborough, so let your east end friends know if they’re in the market for a foodservice position).

    The brand is also looking for a store supervisor and general “crew members” to help with the day to day work of running a bustling quick-service joint.

    Note that restaurant managers and store supervisors must have some academic and professional credentials.

    Part-time and full-time positions are available and all applicants must present proof that they are eligible to work in Canada.

    As for exactly when the resto will open, Heartland Town Centre and Seafood City representatives say that Jollibee is slated to open early in the New Year, which means you’ll get to warm up with a burger this coming January or February.

    The brand offers a range of Asian and North American staples, boasting traditional fast-food hamburgers, spaghetti (which is definitely an unusual find at quick-service chains), fried chicken, garlic pepper beef, spring rolls, corned beef breakfast dishes and more.

    As for Seafood City, that was exciting opening in and of itself.

    For those who don’t know, Seafood City is a Filipino supermarket with over 20 locations in the U.S. The brand specializes in Filipino food and products and Mississauga is now home to the chain’s first Canadian location. The store officially opened its doors in September.

    Jollibee will joint a host of other quick-service spots inside the supermarket, including Grill City, Noodle Street, Crispy Town and Valerio’s Bake Shop (which just opened this month).

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • AirAsia X appoints a new CFO for its Operations

    AirAsia X appoints a new CFO for its Operations

    AirAsia X, The leading low-cost, long-haul carrier today appointed Wong Mee Yen as chief financial officer (CFO) effective Jan 1, 2018.

    She is replacing outgoing CFO Cheok Huei Shian, who has led the AirAsia X finance team since Feb 25, 2015. Cheok, who is leaving the company to pursue personal interests, will continue with through December 2017 to ensure a smooth transition.

    Wong will report directly to chief executive officer Benyamin Ismail and will be responsible for corporate finance, treasury, financial planning and analysis as well as investor relations.

    “We are pleased to bring back Mee Yen to join our management team at AirAsia X,” group CEO Datuk Kamarudin Meranun said in a statement.

    “She was part of the core team in the early days of AirAsia and has played an instrumental role in the success of AirAsia and getting the company listed on the Bursa Malaysia,” Kamarudin said.

    he also thanked Cheok for her contributions towards realising the company’s transformation.

    “Her hard work helped us to return to the black, and she will always be the paragon of an Allstar to us,” Kamarudin said.

    Wong was with AirAsia between 2004 and 2007 as group financial controller. Prior to AirAsia X, she was chief financial officer (MRT project) at LMG Rail Car Sdn Bhd.

     

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Star creates stir as Adidas Neo ambassador

    Star creates stir as Adidas Neo ambassador

    After scarcely a month, Chinese entertainer Jackson Yi from boy band TFBoys has already created a stir as brand ambassador for clothing and footwear label Adidas Neo.

    Following his appointment, on his birthday, Adidas Neo launched three online and offline interactive marketing activities targeting his fans.

    His first assignment was a Jackson Yi gift box, awarded to 1128 winners of a draw on the Adidas Neo online store (the number references his birth date). Photos of the winners combined with a Yi poster went viral when posted on Weibo.

    Lees ook:

  • Levi Strauss merges with MENA markets

    Levi Strauss merges with MENA markets

    US denim giant Levi Strauss has merged its South Asia market business with the Middle East and North Africa.

    And the company has appointed its India head Sanjeev Mohanty to spearhead the consolidated Levi Strauss Asia-MENA business.

    The company cites common consumer preferences and synergies across the three regions as the reason for the restructure.

    Mohanty joined Levi’s India little more than 12 months ago after about nine months at troubled fashion e-tailer Jabong, and previously ran Benetton India.

    The Middle East, North Africa  and South Asia account for around US$200 million in wholesale turnover for Levi’s. Based in Bengaluru, Levi’s India reported revenue of more than Rs 842 crore (US$130 million) at the end of March, with a net profit of almost Rs 58 crore.

    Lees ook: