Retail News CRM

Author: Mei Ling Tan

  • BT, Microsoft “simplify” hybrid cloud

    BT, Microsoft “simplify” hybrid cloud

    BT has announced the availability of BT Compute for Microsoft Azure, a new service that allows BT customers to order Microsoft Azure alongside BT’s own cloud services.

    The service enables customers to build hybrid cloud infrastructure with a single service wrap, contract and on a single bill.

    BT customers already use private and public cloud services – also known as hybrid cloud – hosted in BT Compute’s 48 data center globally.

    With BT acting as their cloud services integrator, and by using CMS, customers can manage their cloud services end-to-end from data center to network, maximizing the benefits and minimizing the complexity, risk and costs of moving to the cloud. Using local delivery with global scale allows BT to meet the evolving needs of organizations for cloud services and at the same time address the complexity of regulatory requirements.

    Integration of Microsoft Azure into the CMS expands the choice for BT customers. They gain access to Microsoft’s rapidly growing collection of integrated cloud services, including Infrastructure as a Service (Iaas) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) computing capabilities.

    Neil Lock, VP BT compute at global services, said “Hybrid cloud has become a major focus for many large enterprises as they choose a variety of cloud solutions to suit their complex business needs.”

    “In fact, BT research suggests that 90% of its largest customers expect to be using a combination of public and private cloud in the next few years. Through our relationship with Microsoft, customers can build their own hybrid cloud environment and enjoy the benefits of Azure whilst removing costly management concerns from the equation,” the executive said.

    The service will be available during the final quarter of the year.

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  • Property Report Congress Indonesia 2016 to debut in Jakarta

    Property Report Congress Indonesia 2016 to debut in Jakarta

    With Indonesia’s affluent middleclass and millionaire population growing rapidly amidst a temporary slowdown in the property market, there is great interest from local and regional industry players and experts on how Indonesia’s property sector can face its current challenges and how it will evolve in the future.

    Some of these experts will be at the inaugural Property Report Congress Indonesia 2016 , the acclaimed conference series hosted by Property Report, Asia’s leading luxury real estate, architecture and design media platform.

    The wholeday event will bring together experts from Indonesia and around the region to discuss the current state of the Indonesian real estate market. It will be held on 13 October, from 08:00 to 16:00 at the Fairmont Jakarta, supported by official property portal Rumah.com , Indonesia’s leading property website.

    Confirmed speakers include the who’s who of the industry and the government, including conference chairman Todd Lauchlan, country head of Jones Lang LaSalle Indonesia.

    The opening keynote address will be given by Hendra Hartono, chief executive officer of Leads Property Services Indonesia and chairman of the Indonesia Property Awards 2016 judging panel. Hartono has been tapped to give a 2016 market overview and lead a panel discussion called “What it takes to develop a luxury project.”

    Mr Bambang Brodjonegoro, the Minister of National Development Planning of Indonesia, will talk about how Indonesia’s government is supporting the real estate industry in his keynote speech.

    Panel moderators at the Jakarta leg of the conference series include: Mina Ondang, director, Cushman & Wakefield (“How the MRT could transform Jakarta real estate”); Mink Tan, chief designer/registered architect, MINKKE Architects (“The rise of stateoftheart architecture in Indonesia”); and Paulius Kuncinas, regional editor, Oxford Business Group (“What tax and the law can do improve the Indonesian real estate market”). In addition to the panel sessions, there will be a workshop on “The content marketing sweet spot and how to find it,” to be facilitated by digital strategist Ian Payton, founder of Hashtagcontent.com. Paynton

    has shared his content marketing insights at the previous Property Report Congress events in Vietnam,Myanmar and Malaysia.

    Jaime Rivera, Asia regional director at Crystal Lagoons, official sponsor of the Indonesia Property Awards 2016, in turn will talk about waterbased technology and how it can increase interest in property developments in the region. A worldrecord holder for the largest manmade lagoon, Crystal Lagoons’ first project in ASEAN was in Bali.

    Conference delegates will have a chance to meet and learn from Asia’s industry leaders who are redefining the Indonesian property landscape. Panelists will be coming from Jakarta and overseas. As always, the opening and closing remarks will be given by Liam Aran Barnes, brand director and editor in chief of Property Report. “We’re bringing our conference series to Jakarta at a time when the Indonesian government is looking for various means to implement programmes to boost the sluggish domestic market ,” Barnes said. “This is

    one of the ways that our publication can support Indonesia’s property sector apart from the annual Indonesia Property Awards.” Since debuting in Singapore in October 2015, five successful Property Report Congress events have been held in Manila, Ho Chi Minh City, Yangon, Kuala Lumpur and most recently in Bangkok, which welcomed the series’ biggest audience in 2016 of about 140 delegates, speakers and media.

    Property Report Congress has been described as “a great networking event and platform for people in the real estate industry to come together and share ideas,” according to Bertil De Kleynen, sector director for Architecture, Interiors & Landscape at Atkins Global, and featured speaker at the Ho Chi Minh City conference.

    Organised by PropertyGuru, Asia’s leading online property portal group, the Property Report Congress will be followed by the annual Indonesia Property Awards 2016 blacktie gala dinner in the evening, from 18:00 to 22:30, which will be attended by 300 of the country’s top real estate developers, executives and industry professionals.

    For registration and enquiries, email conference director at Amy@propertyguruinternational.com or visit

    the official website: https://www.AsiaPropertyAwards.com/Congress/

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  • Amazon launches new Fire TV stick with Alexa remote

    Amazon launches new Fire TV stick with Alexa remote

    Amazon has unveiled the all-new Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote, touted as the most powerful streaming media stick available.

    The company said the next generation Fire TV Stick is up to 30% faster than the original version, and offers access to over 300,000 movies and TV episodes, and includes the Alexa Voice Remote.

    The only streaming media stick with a voice remote, the new Fire TV Stick is available for pre-order and will begin shipping to United States customers on October 20.

    Eligible customers who purchase and activate their device by October 31 will also receive a free content package worth up to$65, including one month of Sling TV, two months of Hulu, and a $10 credit for Amazon Video to rent or purchase new releases or old favorites.

    “With more than 120,000 reviews and a 4.2 star rating, our customers made the Fire TV Stick the most reviewed product ever on Amazon,” said Marc Whitten, VP at Amazon Fire TV.

    “The new Amazon Fire TV Stick has been completely redesigned with incredible performance, powerful voice search and the included Alexa-powered remote to deliver instant access to a vast selection of movies, TV shows, games and Alexa skills,” said Whitten.

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  • Lee Gardens Unveils Hong Kong’s First Floor-Less “Tennis in the Air”

    Lee Gardens Unveils Hong Kong’s First Floor-Less “Tennis in the Air”

    As the official shopping mall partner of the Hong Kong Tennis Open 2016, the entire Lee Gardens is transforming into Hong Kong’s Coolest Tennis Court from 30 September to 16 October. Throughout this period, you will have the opportunity to experience an exciting array of tennis-related activities and kick off your start to a healthier and active lifestyle. Thanks to the joint efforts of Lee Gardens and its merchants, over HK$1,000,000 worth of prizes are up for grabs!

    Lee Gardens (including Hysan Place, Lee Garden One – Six, 25 Lan Fong Road, Lee Theatre, Leighton, I.T Hysan One) is dedicated to providing the best work-life balance in town.

    Air Tennis Mobile Game – Swing and Win (27 September – 16 October)

    Warm up with the Air Tennis Mobile Game, where you can use your cell phone to “serve” a tennis ball and try to hit prize targets. Successful hits will help win instant reward e-coupons for exciting gifts or shopping discounts or tickets for the VR 360 Tennis in the Air, or. You can play the game at airtennis.leegardens.com.hk.

    VR 360 Tennis in the Air – Be the First to Play a Match Mid-Air, High Above Victoria Harbour (30 September – 16 October)

    With the assistance of a VR headset and two hand-held controllers, this game will “transport” you from the 1/F Atrium of Hysan Place to a tennis court high in the skies above Victoria Harbour. With 360º views of Hong Kong’s beautiful scenery during the day, an intoxicating night view after 6pm, and the sound of a gentle breeze in the background, you and your opponent will experience a thrilling simulated game of “tennis in the air”. You can enjoy this VR experience either by using a prize ticket or upon spending HK$100 at Lee Gardens.

    Bounce for Tennis – Create Fun Mementos and Contribute to Children’s Sports Education (30 September – 16 October)

    Lee Gardens invites you to create mementos of your experience by uploading a photo and designing your own personalised tennis ball via the airtennis.leegardens.com.hk. For HK$50, you can print out your customised tennis ball at the Lee Theatre. The proceeds of the Bounce for Tennis programme will benefit the Hong Kong Tennis Association, a non-governmental organisation and organiser of the Hong Kong Tennis Open, to help support their initiative to popularise sports education in under-resourced districts by teaching local children to play tennis.

    Special Tennis-Themed Food and Drinks – Enjoy the Tournament as a Foodie (30 September – 16 October)

    During this event, many of Lee Gardens’ exciting dining venues, including Shelter Italian Bar & Restaurant, Wired Café, Seasons, Smile Yoghurt and Habitu, will be serving up tennis-themed delights for their visitors.

    Fan Zone – Cheers for the Climax (15 – 16 October)

    Besides enjoying the live matches at Victoria Park Tennis Stadium, tennis fans can make their way over to a specially designated Fan Zone on Pak Sha Road to take part in live-streamed matches, extending the excitement from the Tennis Stadium to “The Coolest Tennis Court” in Causeway Bay. Organised by Hong Kong Tennis Association and supported Wan Chai District Council’s Cultural and Leisure Services Committee, as well as by  Lee Gardens Association, the fan zone will be open to the public during the Semi Finals and Finals of the tournament, which will take place on 15 and 16 October.

    Instant Rewards

    Lee Gardens has joined hands with its merchants to give out coupons and gifts valued at more than HK$1,000,000, including a Fila gift set (value over HK$1,800), UNIQLO gift set (value HK$1,000), Pressed Juice One Day Cleanse (value HK$550) and more. Rewards are available for all players, so come down to Lee Gardens and have fun playing!

    FILA Exclusive Pop-up Store

    FILA will set up a Pop-up store decorated as a container house exclusively for the event, displaying its distinguished history of tennis culture since 1911. You can appreciate the precious Settanta Polo T-shirt co-designed by FILA and Wallpaper saluting Björn Borg, one of the greatest tennis athletes from 1970s to 1980s. Printed between every stripe on the Polo T-shirt is the score of his champion matches. Various pieceis of other tennis apparel are also available in the exclusive Pop-up store.

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  • GMR Hyderabad International Airport Hosts Island Café & Bar

    GMR Hyderabad International Airport Hosts Island Café & Bar

    GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd. (GHIAL) offers a new and exciting chill-out zone for passengers at Hyderabad Airport. Island Café & Bar by HMSHost is now available at International departures offering passengers the exciting options of food and beverages (F&B) in an innovatively carved out ambience making their visit at Hyderabad Airport worth cherishing. Island Café & Bar offers the customers delectable coffee, fresh juices, snacks, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks & light bites.

    Uniqueness of Island Café & Bar lies in the fact that it is an in-house brand conceptualized and created jointly by HMSHost and the Commercial Team of GHIAL. HMSHost operates F&B outlets at Hyderabad Airport at Departure (International and Domestic) levels. HMSHost is a part of renowned global conglomerate Auto grill SPA and is the leading F&B Operator at hundreds of Airports across the globe.  They offer expertise in travel F&B and presence only in Airports. 

     Speaking on the occasion, Mr. SGK Kishore, CEO, GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd, said, “Island Café & Bar at Hyderabad Airport is a novel platform for passengers to enjoy F&B options. I appreciate GHIAL team and HMSHost for innovatively creating this platform for our customers. Island Café & Bar gives our visitors a whole new experience while they can enjoy the myriad options of food & beverages. The tastefully designed ambience of Island Café & Bar makes the passengers’ visit to the Hyderabad Airport even more memorable.” 

    Island Café & Bar is a new and exciting concept at Hyderabad Airport. It has been creatively designed keeping the interests of all segments of visitors at the airport offering a vast range of food, coffee and alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. There is an aesthetic play with lights in this section of F&B. Embellished by a combination of pendants lighting subdues the brightness level in this space, which evokes an intimate and cozy feeling during the day and creates a bar type ambience by night.

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  • Nokia boosts True’s broadband network

    Nokia boosts True’s broadband network

    True Group in Thailand has deployed Nokia’s IP/MPLS routing technology to upgrade its broadband infrastructure in Bangkok.

    Surging demand for ultra-broadband fixed and mobile services, such as high-definition video and business services, have helped drive a dramatic increase in data traffic across True’s converged network, both in the city and its surrounding area.

    True is using Nokia’s IP routing technology to modernize its broadband infrastructure to improve the quality of experience and better support the growing high-bandwidth content demands of consumers and businesses.

    Nokia’s Service Router portfolio helps True to provide 4G LTE and 3G coverage to its 18 million mobile subscribers, high speed broadband to its 2.5 million broadband subscribers, and pay TV service to its 3.2 million TrueVision customers. The network upgrade was completed in May 2016.

    True can leverage Nokia’s infrastructure in the future to evolve to more dynamic agile services powered by Software Defined Networks and Network Functions Virtualization.

    True is using Nokia 7750 Service Routers (7750 SR) in Bangkok with the 7210 service access switch (SAS) being deployed in the northeast, east and central west regions of Thailand.

    “By leveraging Nokia’s expertise and leading routing technology,  we are able to provide seamless 4G LTE and 3G coverage along with quality, high-speed broadband data, voice and TV services to our mobile and fixed customers,” said Vichaow Rakphongphairoj, deputy CEO of operational development at True. “We can also deliver advanced high-speed residential, business and mobile services even more quickly and efficiently.”

  • New MoU Promotes Hong Kong-India Business Links

    New MoU Promotes Hong Kong-India Business Links

    The Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with its counterpart in India, the India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) to strengthen economic partnership between Hong Kong and India and increase bilateral commercial activity, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises from both places.

    Win-win for Hong Kong and India

    “This MoU reflects the growing desire for deeper business links between India and Hong Kong, with our city serving as the gateway to the Chinese mainland and Asia for Indian companies. At the same time, Hong Kong enterprises see huge opportunities in India,” said Margaret Fong, Executive Director, HKTDC. “Closer cooperation between the HKTDC and ITPO will produce a win-win result for our business communities.”

    Ms Fong and LC Goyal, Chairman and Managing Director, ITPO, signed the MoU in Hong Kong. The agreement fosters cooperation in areas of mutual interest, including providing each other with information related to trade promotion activities, encouraging businesses to join events organised by the HKTDC and ITPO and identifying potential products and markets.

    “Both organisations reaffirmed their resolve to identify and promote key sectors under the ambitious ‘Make In India’ flagship initiative of the Government of India,” said Mr Goyal. “The partnership will also open new areas of growth for trade with ASEAN countries.”

    Long and strong business links

    Hong Kong and India enjoy close and strong bilateral ties formed over more than 150 years of business and cultural links. In 2015, India was Hong Kong’s fourth-largest export market with total exports to India expanding 8.1 per cent year-on-year to US$13.1 billion. On the other hand, India was Hong Kong’s ninth-largest source of imports in 2015, amounting to US$10.6 billion. India is Hong Kong’s seventh-largest trading partner globally with bilateral trade of US$23.7 billion last year.

    HKTDC & ITPO: a mutual mission to promote trade

    Established in 1966, the HKTDC is a statutory body in Hong Kong dedicated to promoting Hong Kong’s trade in goods and services. The HKTDC organises more than 30 major international trade fairs in Hong Kong each year. ITPO is the trade promotion agency of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of India. ITPO provides a wide spectrum of services to trade and industry and acts as a catalyst for growth of India’s trade.

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  • NBTC to auction Dtac’s 1800-MHz spectrum early

    NBTC to auction Dtac’s 1800-MHz spectrum early

    Thai telecoms regulator NBTC plans to hold an auction for Dtac’s 1800-MHz spectrum in July 2018, three months before the operator’s concession expires.

    The auction of 45MHz of 1800-MHz bandwidth is expected to raise at least 135 billion baht ($3.89 billion) in revenue for the state, citing NBTC secretary general Takorn Tantasith.

    Dtac is using the spectrum under a concession arrangement with CAT Telecom. This concession is due to expire in September 2018 under the new licensing regime.

    The reserve price for the auction will be based on the winning prices of the previous 1800-MHz auctions in 2015, factoring in inflation. Takorn told the Postthat the winning prices must not be lower than the 2015 auction of two 15MHz 1800-MHz licenses.

    While Dtac CEO called it a good sign that the regulator plans an early auction, he said a lead time of three months is not enough time for a network installation. In other countries spectrum must be auctioned at least 1-2 years before a license expires.

    Dtac itself has the most invested in winning the 2018 license, the report notes. If the operator fails to reacquire the spectrum, it will be left with only 15MHz of 2100-MHz spectrum to serve over 25 million subscribers.

  • Accessible Tourism – Huge Potential for More Growth

    Accessible Tourism – Huge Potential for More Growth

    Accessible travel is perhaps the travel industry’s greatest untapped opportunity. There are millions of people worldwide looking for accessible travel options. The demand will continue to grow due to demographic aging.

    MyTravelResearch.com has released a new and free insight report on accessible travel, which is also known as inclusive travel, disability travel, barrier-free travel, and access travel. In short, accessible tourism means everyone can enjoy travelling.

    The market is big, says the report. Around one in five people have a disability. Around 88% of people with a disability take a holiday each year. In the USA the Open Doors Organization estimates that US$17.3 billion is spent by adults with disabilities on travel each year. In Australia, around eight billion dollars a year is spent by travellers with disabilities. Around 12% of the European market is dedicated to people with disabilities.

    Perception Issues

    Our perceptions of accessible travel may be outdated. Bill Forrester in his Travelabilty blog writes: “Accessible tourism is no longer about building ramps and accessible bathrooms. It’s about building products and services for a larger and rapidly growing market. This is no longer a niche, but rather, a segment that is approaching 25% of total tourism spend.”

    Indeed, people traveling with a disability are more likely to take longer trips. And if you provide a great product or a service, accessible tourists will be extremely loyal and sing your praises on review sites and through word of mouth.

    While some travellers may have disabilities, their passion for travel is undiminished. Many focus groups have been conducted with traveling seniors. “The one thing in common with them all is that they don’t want to stop travelling,” says Bronwyn White co-founder of MyTravelResearch.com and author of the report. “They recognize, however, that the way that they travel may need to incrementally change as they age.”

    Around one in five tourists have a disability. The majority of those disabilities are not visible. Some people may not identify has having a disability. For example, a person may find it harder to see or hear, but may not tell you. A disability may be temporary, for example, someone on crutches.

    Impairment Varies

    Types of impairment vary. For example in the UK long term illness accounts for 50% of disability travellers; 26% are deaf or have partial hearing loss; 23% have mobility impairment; 7% are blind or partially sighted; 6% are mobility impaired; 5% have learning difficulties.

    Seniors often have disabilities, but they retain a sense of travel adventure, with attitudes often younger than their age. “You realize you can’t do things as confidently as you used to, but you don’t want to stop travelling. There are trade-offs, but a coach tour trade off isn’t so bad,” said one MyTravelResearch.com focus group respondent aged over 65.

    Many tourists have intellectual disabilities. It may take longer to learn things. They may have difficulty reading and writing. They may struggle to adapt to new or unfamiliar surroundings. They almost always travel with a companion.

    People with disabilities are generally tech savvy with over 58% using mobile devices to support their travel needs.

    Cruising

    Cruising is becoming more popular for people with disabilities. In the past five years, 10% of adults with disabilities in the US have taken a cruise, amounting to almost four million travellers taking seven million trips, generating US$11 billion in spending on fares and US$1.5 billion on excursions.

    Cruise line, Holland America has the award winning Access to Excellence as part of its cruise program. Most cruise lines now have accessible programs in place.

    Practical Tips

    Visit Britain says there are three aspects that all businesses need to address to provide access for all:

    • Information and Marketing – providing detailed information on the accessibility of your facilities and services, making this information easy to find.
    • Customer Service and Training – being disability aware with the right attitude and confidence to serve all customers
    • Physical Facilities – making reasonable adjustments to buildings and facilities so that they are ways for everyone to enter and move around.

    For tourism destinations and services seeking to improve their service to disability travellers, the MyTravelResearch.com Accessible Tourism Report is full of practical tips and links to extra resources. To download the report for free visit https://mytravelresearch.leadpages.co/accessibletourism/

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  • China Mobile joins OpenDaylight Project

    China Mobile joins OpenDaylight Project

    The OpenDaylight Project, an open source platform for programmable, software-defined networks, has announced that China Mobile has joined the project at the Silver Level.

    China Mobile joins Tencent and Alibaba, also members of OpenDaylight, as part of a growing number of Chinese internet players and telecoms operators that actively participate in open networking projects and leverage open source SDN to support their extreme scalability demands.

    The operator wants to standardize and also customize their environments to improve automation. OpenDaylight provides a means for China Mobile to build on well-tested, foundational capabilities, which would otherwise take far too long for them to develop entirely in-house, said Wang Jinzhu, project manager of China Mobile Research Institute.

    Recently, China Mobile released its commercial OpenDaylight-based data center SDN controller named “AERO,” currently in trial.

    Additionally, China Mobile has also initiated the “SPTN” project within OpenDaylight, which evolves the packet transport network (PTN) toward SDN.

    As early adopters of OpenDaylight, China Mobile is leveraging the platform with OpenStack to deploy enterprise service offerings under its NovoDC program, which offers both a telecom infrastructure as well as virtual public or private cloud services.

    NovoDC has helped China Mobile to gain significant data center opex savings and can now deliver new services in minutes rather than weeks.

    The OpenDaylight Project meanwhile also announced the launch of its “Powered by ODL” program, which signals high technical standards and quality expectations for commercial products or services based on the platform.

    With increasing numbers of solution providers incorporating OpenDaylight code into downstream commercial offerings, the program is created to help end users identify quality OpenDaylight-based solutions while supporting vendors with their go-to-market strategies.

    Any individual or organization offering an OpenDaylight-based product or service may apply for the trademark. Products that are “Powered by OpenDaylight” must include specific core components from a recent release of the OpenDaylight code base, as approved by the OpenDaylight’s board of directors.

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  • Uniqlo Canada takes it slowly

    Uniqlo Canada takes it slowly

    After the Japanese apparel retailer decided to open its first shop in Canada, Uniqlo Canada COO Yasuhiro Hayashi visited Toronto every month for nearly a year.

    During each visit he would spend the week taking notes on what people were wearing.

    “I didn’t expect that everyone was so unique and multicultural,” says Hayashi, who previously helped launch Uniqlo in Singapore and Indonesia. “That was very surprising in a very positive way. We don’t have a specific target customer – that’s our uniqueness. We say we are made for all.”

    Finally, the company is opening its first store in Canada on Friday, a 28,000-sqft (27,989 sqm) space in the Toronto Eaton Centre, between fast-fashion rival H&M and the newly arrived luxury retailer Nordstrom. A second store opening is planned at Yorkdale Shopping Centre in north Toronto on October 20.

    Even with more than 1000 stores worldwide, Hayashi says Uniqlo may not have the same name recognition in Canada as some of its international rivals before they entered the country. It is a challenges that needs to be overcome if it wants to continue expanding in Canada, but Hayashi says there is no rush.

    “We want to be very cautious,” he says. “Of course, I don’t want to give a name, but some other brands have had ambitious plans that didn’t work out. We want to make sure we serve the customers well and fine-tune the merchandise mix as well.”

    US retailer Target last year abruptly announced it was shutting down all its 133 Canadian stores only two years after arriving. Since then, several international retailers such as Muji, Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue have taken a slower approach to opening locations in Canada.

    Hayashi says Uniqlo’s Toronto stores will largely be the same as its other locations, with a few nuanced differences for Canadian shoppers. Customers can expect more than usual plaid and flannel shirts. Most sizing will be for a North American fit, but there will also be some smaller sizes to reflect Toronto’s multicultural population.

    Uniqlo will also sell house slippers, commonplace in its stores in Asia.

  • Korea’s Etude House refreshens image

    Korea’s Etude House refreshens image

    With a new brand positioning, Korea’s Etude House has been making inroads in the global cosmetics market this year.

    Previously tagged Princess Fantasy, its new positioning line is Sweet Dream. Its makeover includes more sophisticated visuals in its advertisements and packaging designs, plus a new slogan, “Life is Sweet”. The aim is to symbolise the positive energy and values of people in their 20s as Etude House works toward its vision of becoming the “global No. 1 young makeup brand” through overseas expansion, digital content development, new services and innovative products.

    Etude House, owner by Amorepacific has about 230 stores in 12 Asian countries, and by 2020 aims to have increased its number of overseas stores by 50 per cent.

    From June, Etude House has been managing a multi-channel network, the Beautizens Club, to support the development of new beauty content creators. This has led to 25 content creators from Asia being chosen as “beautizens” to receive makeup tutorials.

    Etude House also has a new mobile app that lets customers administer their account. It also contains digital content that analyses purchasing patterns and draws on age-group general preferences to suggest colours.

    In co-operation with the Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit Corporation, the brand offers customers the option to pick up their online-ordered products at lockers inside subway stations.

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  • Jimmy Choo Asia sales rises

    Jimmy Choo Asia sales rises

    Jimmy Choo Asia sales are soaring, despite the downturn in the luxury market.

    While the company does not break down its Asian sales figures by market, analysts are reporting “record growth” in Hong Kong and China, in part aided by the opening of a new store in Macau.

    Total revenues from Asia (excluding Japan) rose 22.1 per cent on a reported currency basis in the six months to June 30, reaching £27.1 million. Jimmy Choo opened two new stores of its own in Asia during the six months and six franchised stores.

    Next year the company plans new flagships in Tokyo, Shanghai and Beijing.

    Sales in Japan increased by 18.2 per cent on reported currency basis with men’s footwear sales and the strong yen driving growth.

    The company plans 200 stores Asia-wide to take advantage of the region’s “untapped growth potential”.

    The UK-based company recently marked 20 years since it was founded by Malaysian cobbler of the same name, who was later forced out of the business in controversial circumstances and now runs his own exclusive, unrelated Jimmy Choo Couture boutique in London.

    One of the reasons for the brand’s success in Asia is its unconventional marketing activities.

    Last September, brides in the Philippines were able to order customised shoes from its stores, selecting texture, style and colour and adding a personal monogram. This year, the concept was expanded to include handbags.

    In Malaysia, customers can customise the color, texture and finishes of their heels and add names, initials or even dates to their handbags.

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  • Hermes Malaysia pops up in Pavilion

    Hermes Malaysia pops up in Pavilion

    Parisian luxury goods brand Hermes Malaysia has opened a pop-up store in Fashion Avenue in Pavilion KL in Kuala Lumpur.

    It showcases the brand’s latest autumn/winter Hermesistible accessories collection, featuring bracelets and necklaces in bold, bright prints and colour.

    Hermes Malaysia pops up in Pavilion

    Hermèsistible also offers a new dictionary of moods introducing such terms as “compliclarity” (a capacity for adding complexity in the search of well-ordered life), “hyperstition” (being spellbound to the point of indecision) and “bijourmandise” (insatiable appetite for the perfect fashion jewellery).

    Hermes Malaysia pops up in Pavilion 2

    On level three, the store will be open until October 9.

    For more great pictures of the Hermèsistible Pop Up Store @ Fashion Avenue, Pavilion KL, visit Sarah’s blog here.

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  • PJ’s Coffee expands to Vietnam

    PJ’s Coffee expands to Vietnam

    The New Orleans chain PJ’s Coffee has opened its first shop in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

    The cafe is located in the Union Square shopping mall, while a second shop is planned to be opened in December. Within five years, PJ’s plans to open 10 more shops in Vietnam and 10 more in other Southeast Asian markets  before moving into the Middle East.

    The company says the Vietnamese population’s passion for coffee – with similar daily consumption habits to people in New Orleans – has encouraged the expansion plan.

    The Vietnam PJ’s Coffee shop menu features pastries, teas and iced, frozen and hot coffee drinks.

    PJ's coffee Vietnam

    PJ’s, now under the management of Ballard Brands, was founded in 1978 by Phyllis Jordan and operates 85 coffee shops in seven states of the US.

    In Vietnam, the chain is managed by master franchisee Rick Yvanovich.