Retail News CRM

Author: Mei Ling Tan

  • Visitor downturn continues to hit Hong Kong retail sales

    Visitor downturn continues to hit Hong Kong retail sales

    Hong Kong retail sales fell again in August – largely due to declining visitor numbers.

    The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) says the value of retail sales in August, provisionally estimated at $33.9 billion, decreased by 10.5 per cent compared with August 2015. That’s sharper than the 7.7 per cent revised decline in July, and slightly above the year-to-date figure of 10.2 per cent.

    A government spokesman said the weak performance reflected the drag from the decline in visitor arrivals in August as well as the cautious consumer sentiment amid an uncertain economic outlook.

    Meanwhile, the HKRMA said most member retailers are “not optimistic” about sales recovering in September and October this year, but forecasting a lower percentage drop in the single digits.

    According to the C&SD, after netting out the effect of price changes year-on-year, sales in August decreased by 12.7 per cent.

    As usual, jewellery, watches and clocks accounted for the majority of the decline, that category down 26.6 per cent for the month. Department store sales fell by 10.7 per cent and electrical goods and photographic equipment (which account for a lower share of total retail sales) by 27.9 per cent. Apparel sales were down 3.4 per cent.

    Sales of food for consumption at home, alcohol and tobacco rose by 8.8 per cent. The HKRMA said this figure was buoyed by baked goods as people stocked up for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

    The government spokesperson said the near-term outlook for retail sales will still hinge on the performance of inbound tourism “and the extent to which local consumer sentiment will be affected by various external headwinds”.

  • Panda Express heading for Japan

    Panda Express heading for Japan

    US Chinese fast-food chain Panda Express, a staple of mall food courts in California, is about to launch in Japan.

    It will be in the hands of I&P Runway Japan, a joint entity set up last year between Panda Express owner Panda Restaurant Group and Chikara no Moto, the restaurant management group behind the tonkotsu ramen chain Ippudo. Originally formed to help Ippudo gain a foothold in the US, the JV is now aiming to open the first Japanese Panda Express before the end of the year.

    Other American fast-food chains such as KFC, Krispy Kreme and McDonald’s have had success in Japan, tweaking their menus to suit local tastes.

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  • Enhancing last mile delivery, consumer experience with SMS Services

    Enhancing last mile delivery, consumer experience with SMS Services

    E-commerce is a fast-moving game and major forces are changing the rules. Forward-thinking retailers are investing to maximize the potential of both physical and digital channels. Global players that once stood on the sidelines are now poised to compete in South East Asia. Just recently, Indonesian department store chain MatahariMal raised $500 million to develop their e-commerce venture. Alibaba too, has invested $249 million in SingPost to expand their delivery network in SEA.

    As the world’s fastest growing internet region with 260 million users, South East Asia is fast becoming a unique e-commerce market. Primed for tough competition, e-commerce companies are fast prioritizing customer service as a way to stand out from their competitors. Keeping customers at the heart of their business strategy, and delivering the best possible value to them is becoming more important than ever.

    Today, last-mile delivery has become a priority for both e-commerce companies and their customers. Ensuring speedy, but prompt delivery has been proven to give companies an edge in the competitive landscape, while showing customers that companies could go the extra mile for them.

    In fact, local and regional players have still emerged as early winners, largely due to their ability to provide a better-tailored experience for local consumers than what global competitors usually offer. For instance, Singapore-based Lazada built local logistics footprints in each market to increase delivery reliability, and added motorbike fleets to provide speedier options to traditional truck deliveries.

    That said, enhancing last-mile delivery for consumers in the region comes with its own set of challenges.

     Consumer trust, diversity, slow infrastructure serve as roadblocks

    Firstly, the lack of consumer trust is one of the challenges the Southeast Asian e-commerce market is facing. Consumers today are wary of making transactions online due to various security issues such as fraud. According to the e-conomy SEA report by Google and Temasek Holdings, 58 percent of citizens in South East Asia expressed concerns over financial information being shared online. With cyber attacks on the horizon, trust between customers and e-commerce companies have been shaken and today, assurances must be given to customers on a consistent basis to maintain strong relationships.

    The region also encompasses a wide range of ethnicities, languages, consumer preferences and regulations, coupled by a politically and economically complex landscape. With such diversity, consumers in different markets have conflicting preferences and expectations, which means more time and money must be invested carefully into business planning to ensure that this is addressed adequately.

    Despite the immensely positive steps taken towards ASEAN economic integration, there are still socio-political and economic issues that can put a dampener on overall business growth of regional delivery companies.

    Southeast Asia also lacks a solid regional payment and logistics infrastructure, which were the foundation for China’s astounding digital-retail growth. Even though larger businesses today are investing in the development of delivery infrastructure, they are still weak and getting your goods delivered affordably and efficiently may still be an issue. As a result, organisations often find it a challenge to make a scalable business model work, and to justify the high levels of initial investment.

    The use of SMS to represent reliability and optimization

    In order to manage deliveries in a reliable and robust manner while ensuring customer trust is being built, e-commerce companies are looking at the option of sending SMS notifications to customers, and are turning to SMS services to manage the surge in SMSs.

    SMS services have been selected over mobile apps as it is ideally equipped for both application-to-person (A2P) or machine-to-machine (M2M) applications. While not a popular choice of communication between people today, businesses still leverage SMS because it is always delivered even when customers do not have smartphones or data connection, representing reliability and consistency.

    This step is critical for business continuity as it helps to ensure continued trust with customers. To best manage their communication processes when it comes to delivery, e-commerce companies can consider working with a messaging solutions provider to create a reliable and efficient distribution process and enhance overall customer experience.

    By outsourcing their communication processes to messaging solutions, companies can efficiently manage the large volume of messages they send to customers and delivery partners, through unlimited scalability and transmission capacity.

    Through implementing SMS messaging services, delivery processes are more convenient and transparent for e-commerce companies, their business partners and customers. SMS services can not only be used during the registration process to authenticate customers’ account mobile numbers, but also more importantly, update recipients on specific parcel delivery information such as estimated time of arrival.

    By selecting a provider with high quality of service, reliability, security levels and transparency, e-commerce companies can experience increased customer and partner satisfaction as communication becomes more efficient with important messages being sent and delivered in seconds.

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  • Electricity consumption up 7.85 percent: PLN

    Electricity consumption up 7.85 percent: PLN

    The countries electricity consumption in the first half of 2016 reached 107.2 Terra What hour (TWh), up 7.85 percent from 99.4 TWh in the same period in 2015, state-owned electricity company PLN said.

    Senior Public Relations Manager of PLN Agung Murdifi said in a release here on Sunday that the consumption growth raised electricity sales revenue during the six months of 2016 by Rp3.2 trillion, or 3.15 percent, to Rp104,7 trillion over the same period in 2015 which amounted to Rp101,5 trillion.

    “The Increased consumption is in line with the increase in the number of subscribers to 62.6 million in June 2016 or additional 1.4 million customers from 61.2 million subscribers at the end of 2015,” he said.

    The Increase in the number of customers, he added, also raised the national electrification ratio of 88.3 percent in December 2015 to 89.5 percent in June 2016.

    Agung said operating expenses rose by Rp1.9 trillion (1.66 percent) to Rp119,7 trillion over the same period in 2015 which amounted to Rp117.8 trillion.

    Meanwhile, fuel expenses (BBM) fell by Rp8.4 trillion to Rp10.4 trillion, due to the decline of fuel consumption by 0.6 million kiloliters to 2.2 million kiloliters until June 2016.

    Realization of electricity subsidies in the first half of 2016 reached Rp26.6 trillion, down by Rp891 billion compared to the same period in 2015 amounting to Rp27.5 trillion.

    Agung added that in the first half of 2016 the EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) was recorded at Rp30,2 trillion, up 3.3 trillion compared to the same period in 2015 which amounted to Rp26.9 trillion.

    “Net profit in the first half of this year reached Rp7,9 trillion,” he said.

    However, public accounting firm Tanudiredja, Wibisana, Rintis & Partners still awarded the PLN the qualified opinion rating for its June 2016 financial report.

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  • Ten airports introducing Alipay for travellers

    Ten airports introducing Alipay for travellers

    Ten international airports will be offering Alipay for travellers by the end of next month.

    First up in Alipay’s new “Future Airport” program are Munich Airport, Singapore Changi Airport, Narita International Airport in Tokyo, Kansai International Airport in Osaka, Seoul Incheon International Airport, Auckland Airport in New Zealand, Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Hong Kong International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport in Taipei and Macau International Airport.

    “We see more Chinese tourists passing through our airport every year as they visit Japan, so becoming part of Alipay is a critical tool for our merchants,” says Kansai Airport executive officer Akihisa Tabe.

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  • Gravity’s transport app offers real time shipping schedules

    Gravity’s transport app offers real time shipping schedules

    Gravity Supply Chain, a developer of cloud-based apps that helps companies modernize the management of their global supply chains, released RTM (Route-to-Market), a new tile for its Transport app that provides up-to-date sailing schedules for over 50 major ocean carriers, over 250,000 port pairs covering over 90 percent of the world’s container capacity. Transport RTM is an advanced solution that enables logistics providers to deliver these capabilities directly to their customers as part of their end-to-end supply chain visibility and execution solution.

    The Transport RTM tile offers a sailing schedules search engine 3PLs and supply chain managers can use to select any global port pair and date range, and instantly see all sailing options. Uploading information related to contracted rates with various shipping lines enables users to create lists of routes that can be filtered by factors such as quickest sailing route and cost.

    “RTM is the newest feature of our mission to create one holistic data hub that provides our users with the real-time information they need to view, control, share and execute sourcing, supply, transport, inventory and selling activities anywhere in the world,” said Darren Palfrey, COO, Gravity Supply Chain. “This is especially valuable to 3PLs struggling to close the  technology gap between what shippers need, and what all but the industry’s largest players can offer.”

    The RTM tile is available today at no additional cost to all Transport app users. The Transport app integrates with your transportation partners and systems and automates the creation of packing lists, advance ship notices and compliance documents, and provides real-time tracking so retailers, brands and product companies know where their products are at all times with real-time tracking visibility. Transport is one app in Gravity’s suite of apps that make up its cloud-based end-to-end supply chain management and logistics platform.

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  • China Airlines Becomes 9th A350 Operator

    China Airlines Becomes 9th A350 Operator

    The carrier, which has 13 more on order, is the ninth airline operator of the new type.

    China Airlines will deploy the first A350 on regional routes such as Taipei-Hong Kong for crew familiarization towards the end of October 2016, before flying it to Amsterdam, Vienna and Rome from January 2017.

    According to the airline, it expects to receive three more A350s by the end of the year, with the other 10 scheduled to be delivered during the next two years.

    Airbus had originally planned to deliver the first frame to China Airlines in July 2016, but pushed it back due to production delays.

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  • Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors to resume sales after latest cheating scandal

    Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors to resume sales after latest cheating scandal

    Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors Corp (7211.T) will resume domestic sales of eight vehicle models on Oct. 1, the company said on Friday, after correcting overstated mileage readings in its second cheating scandal this year.

    Japan’s sixth largest automaker has admitted it falsified the mileage on 12 models, including the Pajero and Outlander SUV, taking a blow to its reputation.

    The latest suspension came after a two-month suspension in sales of four minivehicle models this year, including two produced for Nissan Motor Co. (7201.T), following the initial admission of incorrect fuel economy readings.

    The market value of the company has tumbled since that scandal broke, prompting it to seek financial assistance from Nissan, which agreed to buy a controlling one-third stake for $2.2 billion.

    Japan is Mitsubishi’s fifth-largest market, following markets including Asia ex-Japan, Europe and other regions. Its home country comprised roughly 10 percent of its vehicle sales during 2015/16.

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  • Tesla posts 70 percent rise in quarterly deliveries, backs 2016 target

    Tesla posts 70 percent rise in quarterly deliveries, backs 2016 target

    Tesla Motors Inc said on Sunday its third-quarter deliveries rose 70 percent to 24,500 cars, following production improvements, cheaper lease deals and reports of discounts on some vehicles.

    Deliveries are a key metric of performance for the luxury electric vehicle manufacturer, which had missed these targets in the previous two quarters.

    The improved deliveries for the third quarter bring Tesla closer to meeting its second-half 2016 target of 50,000 vehicles, which it reiterated on Sunday. It said in a statement that fourth-quarter deliveries would be “at or slightly above” the third quarter’s.

    However, the third-quarter figures included 5,150 vehicles in transit at the end of the second quarter, as Tesla reported in July. Another 5,500 cars in transit would be counted in the fourth quarter, it said.

    Meeting the third-quarter target was a priority for the money-losing Silicon Valley carmaker, which is hoping to raise funds from the equity market later this year for multiple efforts, including building out its factory for the Model 3 mass-market sedan due in late 2017 and the planned acquisition of SolarCity Corp (SCTY.O).

    Tesla experienced production problems earlier this year and began to resolve them in June. It said in July that production would improve from 2,000 cars a week to 2,200 in the third quarter and 2,400 in the fourth.

    Production rose in the third quarter to 25,185 vehicles, implying just shy of 2,000 vehicles per week.

    The company will release third-quarter financial results in early November.

    Chief Financial Officer Jason Wheeler said in August that if second-half production and delivery targets are met, the company had a “great chance of being non-GAAP profitable,” without specifying a time period.

    In September, Tesla began advertising its inventory cars, for showrooms or test drives, “at favorable prices and ready for expedited delivery.”

    Some analysts expressed concern that discounts, reported extensively on online Tesla forums, would undermine margins.

    Last week, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk published a memo telling employees to follow the company’s policy of not offering discounts on new cars.

    Musk was responding to a research note published on Tuesday by Pacific Crest Securities analyst Brad Erickson criticizing Tesla for offering discounts on Model S inventory cars, not those built-to-order for specific customers, to boost third-quarter sales.

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  • Huawei launches microwave solution for FTTx

    Huawei launches microwave solution for FTTx

    Huawei has announced the launch of the first Microwave solution for FTTx, to allow operators to deploy gigabit-capable broadband services over different access media.

    Operators will be able to use microwave links and existing fiber, copper and coaxial cables to expand Gigabit network coverage.

    The system combines a range of microwave technologies including large capacity E-band and super dual band (SDB) to offer a transmission capacity ranging from 1Gbps to 10Gpbs.

    Huawei said the system has already been commercially deployed in multiple markets including China and Greece.

    The technology is designed to address the problems of operators facing difficulty improving line speeds because of the poor quality of existing copper, as well as the difficulty of obtaining the required fiber resources.

    The product launch forms part of Huawei’s Gigaband strategy, which aims to achieve record levels of bandwidth and coverage.

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  • Vodafone Australia to switch off 2G network in a year

    Vodafone Australia to switch off 2G network in a year

    Vodafone Australia has revealed plans to switch off its 2G network in just under a year to free up spectrum for 4G.

    The operator will decommission its legacy 2G GSM network on September 30 2017, following a 12-month campaign to move its remaining 2G users off the network.

    Announcing the decision, Vodafone said its 2G network currently carries less than 1% of the operator’s data traffic and around 2% of its voice traffic. By contrast, Vodadone’s 4G network carries nearly 80% of the company’s total data traffic.

    Vodafone first launched 2G services in Australia in 1993. More than 600,000 customers have been migrated from 2G since January 2013, but the company did not state how many remain.

    “There has been a natural drop-off of 2G traffic as 4G smartphones have become more affordable. This has led to many customers upgrading their phones of their own accord,” Vodafone CTO Kevin Millroy said.

    “We are continuing to enhance our network with features including Voice over 4G which provides clearer voice calls, shorter call connection times and the ability to use 4G data while making or receiving a call. With the IoT on our doorstep, it is paramount we manage spectrum efficiently and reallocate capacity to our more advanced networks to help more of our customers have a better experience.”

    Vodafone will be the last Australian operator to shutter its 2G network – Telstra plans to switch off its own 2G network in December, and Optus plans to follow suit in April 2017.

  • Mandiri prepares syndicated loans of Rp4 trillion

    Mandiri prepares syndicated loans of Rp4 trillion

    State lender Bank Mandiri is preparing a syndicated loan of Rp4 trillion to build five airports in Indonesia in the fourth quarter of 2016, the banks corporate banking director, Royke Tumilaar, said.

    Bank Mandiri will lead the syndication of loans to state airport operator PT Angkasapura I which will develop the five airports, Royke stated here on Monday.

    “Syndicated loans worth Rp4 trillion will be extended for the purpose. The Kulonprogo airport in Yogyakarta will be among these five airports,” he added.

    The loans will be used to build new airports and expand the existing ones. The five airports include Ahmad Yani in Semarang, Syamsudin Noor in Banjarmasin and Kulonprogo in Yogyakarta. Also, the Terminal 3 at the Juanda Airport in Surabaya and Sultan Hasanuddin Airport in Makassar are to be developed with these loans.

    Other debtors that will be involved include Sarana Multi Infrastruktur (SMI), PT Bank Central Asia Tbk (BCA), PT Indonesia Infrastructure Finance (IIF) and PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia Tbk (BRI).

    Royke further syndicated loans will also be given in the fourth quarter of 2016 for the construction of toll roads in and around Jakarta.

    “We hope the process can be started in the fourth quarter of 2016, the construction of a new airport in Kulonprogo also begins by then,” he noted.

    Overall, the demand for loans to finance infrastructure development in the second semester of 2016 continued to increase, he noted.

    The state bank has also prepared loans worth Rs 20 trillion for the construction of power plants in the fourth quarter, he disclosed.

    As per the bank’s target, the credit extended to infrastructure development will grow 20 percent year on year by the end of this year.

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  • Making Great Singapore Sale great again

    Making Great Singapore Sale great again

    With the relevance of the Great Singapore Sale (GSS) in doubt, going by falling retail sales, questions have been raised about what went wrong with the sale.

    Many consumers have pointed out that the annual sale of 23 years is not that great, as the discounts offered here are not as steep compared with those in sales overseas.

    They also lamented that the discounts are mostly for older merchandise. A possible reason for this is that Singapore has no seasons.

    Associate Professor Prem Shamdasani, from the National University of Singapore Business School’s marketing department, said the summer sales in Tokyo and Hong Kong tend to be more successful than the GSS due to the seasonality of the products sold.”(This) encourages (their) retailers to offer deep discounts to clear inventory and make room for new arrivals, which are also attractively marked down to entice local shoppers and tourists,” he said.

    Offering steep discounts is also not sustainable for businesses here, said Singapore Polytechnic senior retail lecturer Sarah Lim.

    “(This) will eat into the retailer’s overall profit, and with rental and manpower costs all added in, the retailer may not be able to sustain the business,” she said.

    Singapore Retailers Association (SRA) president R. Dhinakaran previously said holding sales to clear old stock is common worldwide.

    The retail scene has been slow in recent months. Latest official statistics show that retail sales excluding motor vehicles in June and July each fell 3 per cent over the same months last year.

    This is despite the attempts for this year’s GSS – which took place from June 3 to Aug 14 – to draw tourists and residents with an extended sale, more payment options and a more targeted focus on tourists from China. The poor showing, and similar sales declines in June last year and 2014, prompted the SRA, which organises the GSS, to suggest a need to discuss with the Singapore Tourism Board about continuing the event or revamping it.

    Retailers and retail experts have pointed to the slowing economy here and overseas as a key factor for the slump this year, but there are other concerns as well.

    One issue raised about this year’s GSS is its length and timing.

    The event started in June – a week later than last year – and was extended to 10 weeks to cover the bulk of China’s summer holidays.

    In the past 12 years, the annual sale stretched over eight weeks.

    But a 10-week sale might have led to sale fatigue among Singaporeans inundated with “end-of-season sales” or “anniversary sales” year round, said retail experts.

    Research suggests that local consumers with strong spending power are disciplined spenders and tend to spend more during the early weeks of the GSS, said Dr Guan Chong, head of marketing programme at SIM University’s School of Business. “Thereafter, their spending pattern should likely stay low for the rest of the GSS period,” she said.

    GSS’ new sale period also clashes with big sales elsewhere such as Tokyo’s famous end-of-summer sales, which start around the third week of July, she noted.

    Then, there is the perennial problem of retailers holding their own sales earlier to beat their rivals, dampening the effect of the GSS.

    Department stores Robinsons, Metro and OG started their GSS sales in May this year, while baby supplies store Mothercare and hardware chain Home-Fix held pre-GSS sales. Robinsons said this was done in line with shoppers’ expectations for the GSS to start in May, as in previous years. Mothercare did so because its competitors were also holding their sales early.

    SRA cannot stop retailers from holding their sales earlier, or dictate the duration of their sales.

    There also appears to be a lack of awareness of the GSS and whether it was still going on, in part because of its length, said experts.

    Given this, events could be held every weekend during the GSS period to highlight store promotions by themes – such as food or children – to create buzz and remind people the sale is ongoing, said Mr Steven Goh, executive director of the Orchard Road Business Association.

    Another suggestion is not to focus on only discounts. Dr Lynda Wee, an adjunct associate professor at Nanyang Business School, said the GSS should add a lifestyle spin and combine shopping and dining promotions with leisure deals, such as those for spa sessions, movies and cooking lessons.

    Dr Chong said merchants can ride on the digital marketing wave to connect with an international audience, such as using popular social media platforms.

    Still, lower retail sales should not be blamed on the GSS alone, said Ms Lim, adding: “Orchard Road, Raffles City, Marina (Bay) and Suntec (City) lack strong positioning. Can our malls be differentiated so that tourists desire to visit each one of them because they are different?”

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  • Hong Kong to be world’s wealthiest by 2020

    Hong Kong to be world’s wealthiest by 2020

    Hong Kong is set to overtake Switzerland as the world’s wealthiest territory measured by savings per capita by 2020 thanks to its investors’ preference for near-cash products, according to a report.

    Verdict Financial’s latest report found with a forecast compound annual growth rate of seven per cent, Hong Kong would be the third quickest growing developed wealth market over 2016 to 2020.

    Verdict Financial’s senior analyst for wealth management, Bartosz Golba, said Hong Kong’s growing importance was no surprise.

    “The market is exemplary in regard to explaining why the majority of global wealth managers put Asia-Pacific at the centre of their growth strategies. In real terms — taking inflation into account — no other region will see its value of liquid assets grow at a greater pace,” Golba said.

    “What makes Hong Kong unusual is the local investors’ preference for near-cash products. Almost 85 per cent of liquid onshore assets of retail investors in Hong Kong are allocated to bank deposits, while the developed markets’ average stands below 62 per cent.”

    Golba said this strategy protected portfolios from capital markets volatility and provided a significant cross-selling opportunity for wealth managers operating in Hong Kong.

    The report also highlighted the unequal distribution of global wealth as developing countries often had a lower penetration of affluent individuals despite the country possibly holding more wealth than their developed nation counterparts.

    “In the US, almost two thirds of the population can be considered affluent. As a country in which almost two per cent of citizens are millionaires, it remains an attractive market for private banks and wealth manager,” Golba said.

    “While we are in a period characterised by volatile financial markets and wealth managers looking for optimal business strategy, there is one thing that remains constant. In aggregate terms, the US has been, and will remain, by far the world’s largest wealth market.”

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  • Experts at Property Report Congress hopeful about Thai real estate’s future

    Experts at Property Report Congress hopeful about Thai real estate’s future

    The overall theme of the conference was one of tempered optimism

    Speakers at the first Property Report Congress Thailand 2016 have tempered optimism on the market, as experts see potential and also challenges facing the country’s real estate sector.

    DDproperty.com, the conference’s official property portal, reported that Thailand’s commercial real estate is expected to witness an upward trend in the coming year as the market becomes stronger due to growing demand from consumers, according to local and foreign experts at the event.

    property-congress-thai

    The current market situation has been often been described as resilient, supported by the healthy luxury residential segment of Bangkok even as the overall state of the economy has caused some to be concerned.

    “Although having been affected by global volatility, the impact of China’s slowdown and weakening demand in general over the past year or so, Thailand will remain on an upwards course in 2016 with several property firms projecting growth of around 5-10 percent with the Greater Bangkok luxury market expected to lead the regional resort areas into positive growth,” Clayton Wade, managing director of Premier Homes and Property Report Congress Thailand conference chairman, stated.

    Thailand’s office sector could see an increase in both rental rate and occupancy rate, especially in Grade-A office space in Bangkok’s downtown area.

    Dr Theerathon Tharachai, chief financial officer of Project Planning Service, noted that there is a huge potential in the office space for sales in the suburb area as well, especially in certain growth areas such as Rama 9 or Ekamai-Ramindra.

    When it comes to Thailand’s retail and design, the focus is on quality rather than quantity as Thailand’s sluggish economy requires outlets to create special projects that connect with consumers.

    “I wish I could paint a more rosy picture, but I do feel things will be very competitive as consumption demands are likely to remain laggard for the remainder of this year and next,” Vicharee Vichit Vadakan, co-founder and managing director of The COMMONS, one of the retail nominees at the 11th Thailand Property Awards 2016, said.

    “In a weak economy, one is more likely to find stability and growth in more focused products. Truly understanding your customers and being honest and relevant to their needs is of essence.”

     

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