Retail News CRM

Author: Mei Ling Tan

  • Goldman Sachs enters Singapore retail fund market

    Goldman Sachs enters Singapore retail fund market

    Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM), the asset management arm of Goldman Sachs Group Inc, is making its foray into the local unit trust industry with the launch of 13 retail funds in 1Q 2016.

    The new GSAM unit trusts, previously available only to private banking and institutional clients, will consist of fundamental and quantitative equity funds as well as those that invest in fixed income and multi-assets, according to the fund house which manages assets in excess of US$1 trillion ($1.4 trillion).

    These 13 Goldman Sachs funds approved for retail sales in Singapore include the Goldman Sachs Asia High Yield Bond Portfolio, Asia Portfolio, European Equity Partners Portfolio, European High Yield Bond Portfolio, Global Core Equity Portfolio, Global Equity Partners Portfolio, Global High Yield Portfolio,

    Global Income Builder Portfolio, Growth & Emerging Markets Broad Equity Portfolio, Growth & Emerging Markets Corporate Bond Portfolio, India Equity Portfolio, Japan Portfolio and US Real Estate Balanced Portfolio.

    “The global market volatility we are seeing right now underscores the need for world-class investment solutions that deliver highly differentiated strategies with real diversification benefits. We look forward to meeting the needs of Singapore retail investors through this range of funds,” says Sheila Patel, who is Singapore CEO of GSAM, in a statement.

    Singapore is GSAM’s Asia regional investment hub. The fund house’s team of Singapore-based investment professionals has been providing investment and advisory solutions to institutions including pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and financial intermediaries in the city state and across Asia since 1991.

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  • CITS forecasts Thai wholesale and retail markets to grow by one percent

    CITS forecasts Thai wholesale and retail markets to grow by one percent

    The Center for International Trade Studies (CITS) has predicted that the wholesale and retail markets in Indonesia and the Philippines will score the highest growths among the ASEAN countries in 2020.

    Indonesia and Vietnam will have higher growth rates than all other countries due to a relatively large number of foreign investments and an increased income per head, the center forecast.

    Meanwhile, Thailand’s wholesale and retail markets are expected to grow by just one percent this year and 10 percent in the next five years, according to CITS. However, that will largely depend on the people’s incomes and domestic consumption. Thailand’s modern-day trading is expected to grow while traditional retail trading will be gradually closed down like in other countries.

     

     

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  • Ayala eyes expansion of healthcare business

    Ayala eyes expansion of healthcare business

    The country’s oldest conglomerate Ayala Corporation plans to expand its investments in the healthcare sector with the roll out of 100 retail clinics under the brand-name FamilyDoc over the next 3 years.

    Ayala Managing Director Paolo Borromeo said in an interview that the conglomerate, through its unit Ayala Healthcare Holdings Incorporated, experimented on developing a smaller primary care clinic in December last year.

    Borromeo said the proposed clinic will house a pharmacy, a diagnostic center, and physicians to handle consultations.

    So far, it has two FamilyDoc clinics located in Las Piñas and Imus, Cavite.

    “If this becomes successful, we plan to build 100 clinics over the next 3 years,” Borromeo said.

    The initial investment for a 100-square meter clinic is from P6 million ($124,879.86) to P7 million ($145,693.17).

    Borromeo said Ayala plans to build this chain of retail clinics in middle income communities across the Philippines.

    Each clinic will have one doctor, two nurses, one pharmacist, and one radio technician.

    Operating hours are between 7 am to 9 pm. The consultation fee is P350 ($7.28) per patient.

    In 2015, the Ayala group entered the affordable retail healthcare space with the acquisition of a 50%-stake in the Generika group.

    Generika is one of the pioneers in the retail distribution of quality generic medicines in the Philippines, with 570 stores nationwide to date.

    The conglomerate entered the health care sector in 2014 through QualiMed, Ayala Land, Incorporated’s chain of hospitals and satellite clinics, in partnership with the Mercado medical group.

    Ayala had said it plans to invest $50 million in healthcare and education business over the next few years to make the most of the growing Philippine population and rising consumer spending.

    Ayala is one of the country’s largest conglomerates, with investments in banking, real estate, telecommunications, water utility, infrastructure, and power generation.

  • Standard Chartered names James Dolphin as its CIO for retail banking

    Standard Chartered names James Dolphin as its CIO for retail banking

    Standard Chartered Bank has appointed James Dolphin as its Chief Information Officer (CIO) for retail banking. From March 2016, Dolphin will report directly to the bank’s Group CIO, Dr Michael Gorriz, and be based in Singapore.

    Prior to this role, Dolphin was Capital One’s CIO for retail and direct banking for since 2012. In that role, he led Capital One’s digital transformation strategy for the retail business by building strong engineering teams, and instilling a software development culture. He also redesigned and rewired Capital One’s retail channels to deliver market-leading digital experiences during his time there.

    Besides Capital One, Dolphin has held senior technology leadership roles at Bank of America too.

    “James brings with him a strong reputation as a technology leader and innovator. He is highly experienced in leading large teams and driving an agile culture that is innovative and customer-centric. I am confident that he will be a valuable addition to Standard Chartered,” said Dr Gorriz.

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  • Asahi Glass begins shipment of PVC from Indonesian plant

    Asahi Glass begins shipment of PVC from Indonesian plant

    AGCAsahi Glass (AGC), a world-leading manufacturer of glass, chemicals and high-tech materials, has begun supply of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) from the Anyer plant of P T Asahimas Chemical (ASC), one of its consolidated subsidiaries in Indonesia.

    With the aim to meet the growing demand for caustic soda and polyvinyl chloride in Southeast Asia, the production facility enhancement at the Anyer plant was launched in 2013 to significantly boost the output of caustic soda and vinyl chloride in Indonesia. The construction project has been completed as scheduled and commercial production will start in the first quarter of this year.

    The caustic soda and PVC markets in Southeast Asia are projected to grow at over 5 percent per year. Of the demand in the market, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, where AGC has production bases for the chlor-alkali business, account for 70 percent. By capturing growing demand in the region, the AGC Group will move forward toward its long-term goals under Vision 2025.

  • Indonesia central bank seen cutting key rate again

    Indonesia central bank seen cutting key rate again

    Indonesia’s central bank, which kept its benchmark reference rate unchanged for nearly all of 2015, is expected to make its second cut this year on Thursday as it tries to bolster the country’s sluggish growth.

    South-East Asia’s largest economy grew 4.8% in 2015, the fifth straight year of slowing and the weakest pace since 2009. But growth picked up in the final quarter, showing some signs of recovery.

    Bank Indonesia (BI) trimmed its key rate by 25 basis points last month. Thirteen of 19 economists in a Reuters poll predict a same-size cut on Thursday, reducing the rate to 7%.

    Many economists believe BI is at the start of an easing cycle, as there’s room for monetary easing that there was not in 2015, when inflation sometimes topped 7% and anticipation of higher US interest rates pressured the fragile rupiah, which was emerging Asia’s second worst performing currency last year.

    The rupiah was not rattled by the Federal Reserve’s hike in December, and it has strengthened more than 2% against the dollar this year. BI deputy governor Perry Warjiyo said last week the rupiah is heading towards a level reflecting the country’s economic fundamentals.

    ROOM TO EASE?

    The rupiah’s appreciation gave “room for BI to ease its monetary policy even further. BI will make use of this opportunity to do just that, in a bid to help sustain the upward momentum in GDP growth,” said DBS’ economist Gundy Cahyadi.

    Low inflation and a deep slump in January exports and imports also support the argument for early rate cut, economists said.

    “Weak exports and capital goods imports mean further policy boost to aid economic recovery is warranted,” said Credit Suisse economist Santitarn Sathirathai.

    Not all agree. Six analysts surveyed by Reuters said the central bank will hold the benchmark at 7.25%.

    “BI is keen to avoid a repeat of the 2013 ‘Taper Tantrum’, which saw the central bank having to hike rates aggressively to support the struggling rupiah,” said Capital Economics in a note projecting no second rate cut until the second quarter.

    CIMB Niaga economist Winang Budoyo, who has pencilled in a hold this week, predicted that BI will lower the rate in March instead.

    BI has a policy meeting scheduled for March 17-18, right after the Fed’s next policy meeting on March 15-16.

  • Motornation.tv launches its VOD Website & Roku Channel powered by Muvi Studio

    Motornation.tv launches its VOD Website & Roku Channel powered by Muvi Studio

    Muvi Studio, a popular cloud-based Video Streaming Platform by New York-based tech company Muvi LLC, announced the launch of Motornation.tv (https://www.motornation.tv), a new Multi-Screen VOD service. It is available across on Web and also on Roku (https://channelstore.roku.com/details/82006/motornation.tv) powered by its Video Streaming Platform – Muvi StudioMuvi Studio.

    Motornation.tv is a free and premium subscription-based (SVOD) streaming TV network that specializes in Traditional Hot Rod, Kustom, Motorcycle, Instructional, Culture and Classic Films as well as Original Series. Motornation has some of the best films and film makers coming together to produce the best in the Hot Rod, Kustom, and Motorcycle world. They pride themselves in bringing the nation great,out well produced independent films as well as original content.

    Motornation.tv stands for and comes from the people that actually are involved in this Partnering with Muvi and using Muvi StudioMuvi Studio has allowed Motornation.tv to launch their Video-on-Demand (VOD) Website and Roku Channel in less than a month’s time, without having any coding knowledge or hiring any IT or Technology Technical Teams, thus allowing them to purely focus purely on content and business strategy.

    “Muvi Studio is a single platform solution for the video industry when it comes to Video Streaming (Live or on-demand) and provide an out-of-the-box experience as well as end-to-end solution for launching Multi-Screen Platforms in record time” – explains Viraj Mehta, Head – International Business, Muvi LLC

    Muvi StudioMuvi Studio is a one-stop user friendly solution that handles everything from provisioning of the IT Infrastructure like Servers and CDN, to front end applications like Website, Mobile and TV Apps at a click of a button. This makes sure thatso that the content owners do not need to worry about any IT and Technology hassles and focus purely

    About Muvi LLC & Muvi Studio

    Muvi is a New York based Technology Company behind the popular cloud based Video Streaming Platform – Muvi Studio which caters to video content owners, and enables them to launch their own-branded Multi-Screen Video Streaming Platform (Live Streaming and Video-on-demand) across web, mobile and TV at a click of a button instantly, without any coding knowledge or IT teams. Muvi Studio includes everything required to launch a VOD platform from IT Infrastructure to Online Video Player and front end apps like website and

    Visit https://studio.muvi.com www.studio.muvi.com for more information.

  • Genesis Luxury takes on Coach India

    Genesis Luxury takes on Coach India

    Indian fashion conglomerate Genesis Luxury Fashion has formed an exclusive partnership to New York design house Coach to introduce it to the Indian market.

    The first Coach India store will open to coincide with the brand’s 74th anniversary this year.

    “We are confident the brand’s commitment to heritage and innovative design will be warmly embraced by the growing number of Indian luxury consumers, who are innately drawn to craftsmanship, ” says Genesis Luxury MD Sanjay Kapoor.

    “Coach has tremendous potential in our market, and with our shared vision and well-defined strategies, we are focussed on accelerating its retail presence and visibility across key cities in India over the next few years. ”

    Coach international group president Ian Bickley says the company is confident its luxury store environment featuring designer Stuart Vevers will be “embraced and coveted” by fashionable Indian buyers.

    Established in New York City in 1941, Coach is known for its leather goods.

    After consolidating the Indian fashion market with such designer labels as Bwitch and Satya Paul, Genesis Colors (established in 2001) moved into marketing and distributing global luxury brands through its subsidiary Genesis Luxury Fashion in 2008. Its portfolio includes Burberry, Bottega Veneta,Canali, Giorgio Armani, Emporio Armani, G-Star Raw, Hugo Boss, Jimmy Choo, Michael Kors, Paul Smith, Tumi and Villeroy & Boch.

  • PVH takes control of Tommy Hilfiger China

    PVH takes control of Tommy Hilfiger China

    PVH Corp, the parent of the Tommy Hilfiger brand, is to take full control of its China business.

    PVH, together with funds advised by Apax Partners, will acquire the 55 per cent interest in TH Asia Ltd, their joint venture for Tommy Hilfiger China, which PVH does not already own.

    The purchase price for the transaction is about US$172 million, net of cash of approximately $100 million, subject to adjustment.

    The closing, which is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, is expected to occur early in the second quarter of 2016.

    “Today’s announcement represents a significant development for our company as we continue to execute against our key strategic priorities and demonstrates our commitment to making strategic investments to support the long term growth of PVH and our Tommy Hilfiger business,” said Emanuel Chirico, chairman and CEO of PVH.

    “This transaction enables the Tommy Hilfiger business to directly operate its fastest growing market, while leveraging our well-established infrastructure in Asia, our regional leadership expertise and strong brand momentum across both our Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein businesses in the region.”

    This transaction has been envisioned since PVH and the funds advised by Apax Partners established the Tommy Hilfiger China joint venture in connection with the Tommy Hilfiger acquisition in 2010.

    Since 2012, the first full year of operations after the joint venture acquired the Tommy Hilfiger China business from the former licensee, the Tommy Hilfiger business in China has doubled from approximately $70 million in revenue to a projected $140 million in 2015, with over 350 stores, of which 65 are directly operated.

    Daniel Grieder, CEO of Tommy Hilfiger, commented: “We are looking forward to executing a more fully integrated strategy for China that takes advantage of our current momentum in the region. This will allow us to further realise the growth opportunities that exist for the brand by offering consumers a greater breadth of Tommy Hilfiger product lines and a more elevated brand presentation. Building on our strong existing regional foundation, we plan to accelerate the growth of the Tommy Hilfiger business by increasing our brand marketing in China and capitalising on our strong market positioning and price, value proposition. We plan to invest further in driving the expansion of the brand through new store openings (both company-operated and franchised stores) and improved productivity in existing stores, while rapidly expanding our traditional and digital marketing initiatives to further reinforce the brand in this exciting market.”

    PVH Corp owns and markets Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger brands worldwide. It is the world’s largest shirt and neckwear company and markets a variety of goods under its own brands, Van Heusen, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Izod, Arrow, Warner’s and Olga, and its licensed brands, including Speedo, Geoffrey Beene, Kenneth Cole New York, Kenneth Cole Reaction, Michael Michael Kors, Sean John and Chaps.

    The other shareholders in the China joint venture include an affiliate of Silas Chou and, indirectly through an investment vehicle controlled by funds advised by Apax Partners, members of Tommy Hilfiger management at the time of the acquisition in 2010, such as Fred Gehring (former CEO and executive chairman, Tommy Hilfiger and current vice chairman of PVH), Daniel Grieder (CEO, Tommy Hilfiger), and Tommy Hilfiger himself.

  • ShopBack Malaysia Hosts Biggest Cashback Sale to Encourage Malaysians to Shop and Save via Cashback

    ShopBack Malaysia Hosts Biggest Cashback Sale to Encourage Malaysians to Shop and Save via Cashback

    ShopBack Malaysia, the top Cashback site in Southeast Asia, will be offering up to 100% Cashback to supplement Malaysians’ online shopping on its first birthday, 22 February 2016. From everyday essentials to quirky gadgets, Malaysians are encouraged to get the 24-hour exclusive deal from over 500 online retailers through Shopback.my.

     Gil Carmo, Country Head of ShopBack Malaysia says: “Cashback is a very popular saving tool for online shoppers in the West. Ever since ShopBack introduced the concept in Southeast Asia, many shoppers have benefitted from it whereby Malaysian shoppers have cashed out more than RM 4M in 2015 alone.

    Our current pool of local shoppers makes up about 1% of Malaysia’s population – that means there are still enormous opportunities for us to reach out to the rest and educate them to utilise ShopBack to earn more savings.”

    Popular online retailers such as Agoda, Booking.com, Groupon, HappyFresh, Hermo, Lazada, Qoo10, Photobook Malaysia, Supermodel’s Secrets, Taobao, and Zalora are joining this biggest cashback sale from past midnight (00:01) on 21 February 2016 till midnight (00:00) on 22 February 2016.

    Shoppers can expect discounted deals, exclusive promo codes, contest, and Cashback from 50% to 100% on special home electronics, mobile gadgets, travel packages, hotel accommodations, beauty and fashion, as well as grocery items on the event day.

    “More Malaysians are buying online nowadays and similar to the traditional retailers’ loyalty programme, ShopBack Malaysia helps shoppers to save even better because we reward with cash rather than credit. Registration is free and shoppers can get Cashback in just two simple steps – sign up/log into your account, select online retailers and proceed to shop. Shopper will receive an email on the earned amount within one day, and it can then be transferred to local bank account once the status becomes redeemable. It is a totally hassle-free process.” Gil added.

    ShopBack entered Malaysia on 22 February 2015 and it has emerged as the top Cashback site in the country, as well as in the SEA region. It works together with a comprehensive range of over 500 international and local online retailers to reward shoppers with hard cash after they made a purchase online through the platform.

    For more information, please visit www.shopback.my or follow us at Facebook www.facebook.com/shopbackmalaysia.

  • Dior Homme Kuala Lumpur debut

    Dior Homme Kuala Lumpur debut

    The first Dior Homme Kuala Lumpur boutique has opened, inside Suria KLCC shopping centre.

    While Dior has several boutiques in the Malaysian capital, this is the first store dedicated to the French luxury label’s men’s range.

    White dominates the new boutique’s interior design, contrasting with hardwood floors and black accents, all of which allow the product to be the hero.

    The store stocks ready-to-wear collections, leather goods, footwear, eyewear and jewellery.

    To mark the Dior Homme brand’s arrival in Malaysia, a limited edition clutch numbered from 1 to 10 was released.

  • Interview with Richard Cogswell – Head of Sales Asia Pacific – DHL Global Mail

    Interview with Richard Cogswell – Head of Sales Asia Pacific – DHL Global Mail

    The 10th Annual SCM Logistics and Manufacturing World 2014 is Asia’s largest supply chain and logistics event. Hear from industry leaders and professionals from manufacturing, retail, FMCG, automotive, high-tech, chemicals, and oil and gas industries, as they come together to discuss strategies that can help businesses to capitalise on Asia’s growth opportunities and achieve long-term profitability amidst tough competition.

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  • Singapore Post Diversifies into E-Commerce Solutions for Asian Retailers Using AWS

    Singapore Post Diversifies into E-Commerce Solutions for Asian Retailers Using AWS

    Singapore Post served as Singapore’s traditional mail service, but diversified in the past few years to include its SP eCommerce division, which provides e-commerce solutions for online retailers across Asia. It chose to run its services with AWS, using products such as Amazon EC2, Amazon S3, Amazon Virtual Private Cloud, Amazon Route 53, and Auto Scaling.

    It quickly ramped up to serve more than 1,000 retail brands, and can scale up or down to meet fluctuating retail activity during peak seasons like Christmas, Chinese New Year, and Black Friday.

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  • Norbreeze Retail Specialist of Lifestyle and Luxury Brands

    Norbreeze Retail Specialist of Lifestyle and Luxury Brands

    Norbreeze Group is a retail specialist based in Singapore, operating more than 40 of direct and indirect retail stores in South East Asia. They carry famous international brands such as Cath Kidston, Pandora, Philip Stein and Bering, with flagship stores in the highest profile shopping malls in Asia. SaaSplaza is the cloud partner of Ibiz Consulting Services in Singapore, who is the IT business solution partner for Norbreeze Group.

  • How expansion is impacting retail design trends in APAC

    How expansion is impacting retail design trends in APAC

    Adam Cook, Asia-Pacific retail lead for PDS at JLL comments on the effect that retail expansion into the region is having on design trends for luxury and mid-tier brands.

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