Retail News CRM

Author: Mei Ling Tan

  • Singapore feeds first solar power into retail grid to reduce emissions

    Singapore feeds first solar power into retail grid to reduce emissions

    Singapore on Monday announced it had begun to feed solar power into its retail electric grid for the first time, as it seeks to reduce emissions and prepares to fully liberalize its electricity market.

    Singapore, one of the sunniest cities in the world, generates almost all its power from imported natural gas, with solar fuelling less than 1 percent.

    In countries like Germany and Japan, rooftop solar panels have helped boost capacity and bring record levels of renewable energy into the power mix.

    Under Singapore’s plan, commercial and industrial power users can purchase solar-generated power from the power grid. The power is generated through rooftop solar panels owned and operated by Singapore’s Sun Electric, the first solar company given an electricity retail licence, it was announced at an event held by Sun Electric and Singapore’s electricity regulator, the Energy Market Authority (EMA).

    Building owners can agree to place Sun Electric panels on their sites and the power generated can be sold onto the electric grid.

    “The EMA will continue its efforts to facilitate the entry of independent electricity retailers,” said Loh Khum Yean, chairman of EMA.

    Singapore aims to fully liberalize its electricity retail market in the second half of 2018.

    Singapore’s installed photovoltaic capacity has increased from just 1.5 megawatt (MW) in 2009 to 43.8 MW by the end-2015, enough to power around 14,000 four-room flats.

    The government aims to increase capacity to 350 MW by 2020, or about 5 percent of projected peak electricity demand, up from less than 1 percent now, according to EMA.

    At the Paris climate change summit in December, Singapore pledged to reduce its emissions intensity by 36 percent from 2005 levels by 2030.

     

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  • Apple Pay gets off to a fast start in China

    Apple Pay gets off to a fast start in China

    China this month became the fifth country where consumers can use smartphones to pay with Apple Pay, and Chinese shoppers quickly embraced the Apple Inc. payment system.

    In the first two days after the Feb. 18 launch, 3 million consumers linked their bank cards to Apple Pay according to China Merchants Bank, one of 19 Chinese banks involved in the rollout. The payment method can be used to pay in stores with compatible terminals and in mobile apps that link to Apple Pay.

    Every Chinese consumer with a debit card and many with credit cards are eligible to use Apple Pay because Apple is collaborating with the country’s sole debit card network, China UnionPay. Banks have issued 5 billion cards that are accepted on the China UnionPay network, including 500 million credit cards, UnionPay says.

    China Merchants Bank says its customers connected 1 million bank cards with Apple Pay in the first two days of the launch, representing 35% of cards connected with Apple Pay in China. Apple and China UnionPay both declined to confirm this data from China Merchants Bank.

    Apple did say it is quite happy with the launch. “I would rate our first-day performance as 1,000, if the full score is 100,” Jennifer Bailey, vice president of Apple Pay, said at a mid-February press conference in China. Apple also has rolled out Apple Pay in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.

    Apple says the 19 Chinese banks offering Apple Pay, including such major institutions as Bank of China and the Agricultural bank of China, represent about 80% of bank cardholders in China.

    In addition, 16 retail chains, restaurants and online retailers in China have begun accepting Apple Pay. They include Starbucks, McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Circle K and the French department store chain Carrefour. Almost all of those merchants have launched promotions for Apple Pay users. For example, Starbucks offered a 15 yuan ($2.30) discount to Apple Pay users who spend 65 yuan ($10) or more.

    But consumers used Apple Pay the most on the first day of its introduction to pay on the mobile app of Meituan.com, a Groupon-like Chinese service in China, according to China UnionPay. Apple says the new payment method may double the conversion rate for e-commerce apps.

    Starbucks came in second in terms of Apple Pay payments on the launch day, followed by convenience store chain FamilyMart, McDonald’s and another daily-deal site, Dianping.com.

    China UnionPay reported that Apple Pay users’ spent 101 yuan ($15.5) on average on the first day of the service and about 47% of purchases were above 10 yuan ($1.5).

    Web-only e-retailer Vipshop, No. 4 in the Internet Retailer 2015 China 500, is among of retailers accepting Apple Pay in its mobile app, and says it received 10,000 Apple Pay orders on the first day. The company says Apple Pay could help Vipshop offer faster services to online shoppers.

    Apple Pay is hardly the first payment method in China based on mobile phones and wallets. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s payment affiliate Alipay says there are about 300 million bankcards linked to its mobile wallet app, and Chinese online game and social media powerhouse Tencent Holdings Ltd. says the number of banking cards connected with its mobile apps has topped 200 million.

    However, Apple Pay requires fewer steps when paying in a store. An Alipay user must open the app on her phone and then click several times to generate a bar code that the cashier scans. With Apple Pay the consumer need only place her iPhone near a terminal and verify the payment by touching a finger on a button on the phone or by inputting her password. Apple Pay users don’t need to open an app or access the Internet to make a payment, Apple says.

    In stores, Apple Pay runs on China UnionPay’s Quick Pass service network, launched in 2013, which uses wireless Near Field Communication technology to establish a connection between a mobile phone and a terminal. There are 4 million NFC-compatible terminals in the Quick Pass network that can accept Apple Pay, of the 20 million payment terminals that accept UnionPay cards, according to China UnionPay.

    Besides Apple’s iPhone, other smartphones that consumers can use on the Quick Pass network include NFC-enabled phones from manufacturers like Samsung Group and Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.

    Apple Pay works on the iPhone 6 or 6S, the Apple watch and some versions of the iPad. Consumers can use Apple Pay with an iPhone 5 and 5S if they pair the phone with an Apple Watch.

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  • Singapore’s First Online Store for Luxury Aussie Fashion Launched

    Singapore’s First Online Store for Luxury Aussie Fashion Launched

    TheWellDressedSociety.com began with one dream– to evolve the Singapore fashion scene by bringing the best of Australian designers to Singapore and the rest of Asia.

    The site has launched with leading Australian designers that are few to be seen in the Asian market. In fact – the site is the sole distributor in Singapore for global success stories such as Sass & Bide, Camilla and Marc, FELLA Swim and Bec and Bridge – four of the most renowned brands in Australia known for their unique design and quality.

    Pieces were carefully selected to fit the South East Asian climate – breathable, light and chic. A combination of swim, resort, evening and work wear is on offer, so there’s something for every occasion. As the year goes on, the online store will be adding more brands to their portfolio so watch this space!

    The website was founded by a Sydney-sider now living in Singapore, with the aim of providing easy access and a seamless shopping experience to Asia’s discerning fashionistas. ‘Having lived in Singapore for over 3 years, it became apparent that the most loved brands from home were not available or easily accessible in Singapore. Friends would often go back home for shopping trips and bulk buy clothes for the next few months,” says Catherine Shen, founder of The Well Dressed Society. “There had be an easier way to shop!”

    With the world shifting more towards online shopping, The Well Dressed Society aims to deliver a simple and seamless shopping experience with same and next day deliveries in Singapore so buyers will always be able to get the outfit for that special occasion in time.

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  • Singapore economy grew 2% in 2015, weakest since 2009

    Singapore economy grew 2% in 2015, weakest since 2009

    The Republic’s economy expanded by 2 per cent in 2015, the weakest annual growth since 2009 when the economy was hit by the global financial crisis, according to figures released by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) on Wednesday (Feb 24).

    The figure was a sharp drop from the 3.3 per cent growth the previous year, and was revised downwards from the 2.1 per cent growth initially projected.

    Growth was mainly supported by the wholesale and retail trade, and finance and insurance sectors, according to MTI.

    For the fourth quarter, the economy expanded by a slower-than-expected 1.8 per cent from a year ago, after industrial production in December suffered its biggest year-on-year slump in eight months. The initial estimate was for a growth of 2 per cent.

    On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally-adjusted annualised basis, the economy expanded by 6.2 per cent in the fourth quarter, MTI said.

    The MTI has maintained its forecast of growth between 1 per cent and 3 per cent this year.

    “Even though global growth is expected to improve, the continued slowdown in China, the services-driven nature of growth in the US, as well as the trends of in-sourcing in China and the US, may mean that external demand for our exporters may not see a significant boost this year,” said MTI’s Permanent Secretary Ow Foong Pheng.

    “Lower oil prices have weakened the prospects for new rig orders for firms in the marine and offshore segment, and heightened the risks of further deterrents and cancellations of existing orders,” she added.

    The economic data also showed that labour productivity, as measured by value added per worker, grew by 0.5 per cent in the fourth quarter – the first improvement since the first quarter of 2014 – driven by the wholesale and retail trade, and construction sectors.

    For 2015 as a whole, overall labour productivity fell by 0.1 per cent, marginally improving from the decline of 0.5 per cent in 2014.

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  • Watsons pioneers cosmetics takeaway in China

    Watsons pioneers cosmetics takeaway in China

    Watsons has kicked off an initiative for selling and delivering cosmetics and groceries as takeaway via Baidu Waimai (takeaway in Chinese).

    Expanding online to boost sales

    The initiative has been launched in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou and will be extended to all the cities that Watsons operates in. Products on Baidu Waimai include personal care, snack and beverages.

    As the leading Health & Beauty chain in China, Watsons has launched various online initiatives, such as its own online shop, stores on online platforms Amazon, Alibaba and JD.com, as well as Watsons app. The launch of takeaway service aims to attract more customers and generate new revenue streams for the retailer.

    Other initiatives to drive growth

    As the growth slows down and margins being squeezed, Watsons has been focusing on satisfying the needs of the ever-changing consumers.

    • store expansion, especially in third and fourth tier cities to reach more shoppers
    • introducing more local brands to lift profitability
    • launching more loyalty schemes and membership cards to attract young shoppers
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  • SM Prime sees e-commerce more as a challenge than a threat

    SM Prime sees e-commerce more as a challenge than a threat

    The Philippines’ biggest retail property developer is not at all bothered by the emergent e-commerce, not even considering the latter as a latent competitor but more as a shot in the arm.

    “I am very bullish about that—I mean, SM’s commercial buildings and shopping centers,” SM Prime Holdings Inc. President Hans Sy told reporters Tuesday on a sidelines of the SM Group of Companies’ turnover of a P400-million building to the new University of the Philippines campus in the uptown Bonifacio Global City.

    SM Prime Holdings is the SM Group’s property arm, the biggest integrated property developer now in the Philippines, and the builder of about a hundred malls and shopping centers all over the Philippines.

    Sy said the SM Group had anticipated the growth of e-commerce, noting that more shops have been going online.

    In response, SM rebranded its ubiquitous SM Department Stores into SM Stores, to make its brick-and-mortar business more lifestyle-oriented, given the emergence of the now influential millennial market.

    Sy said such rebranding strategy would attract consumers to visit the malls instead of shopping online.

    “Even if there’s e-commerce, you cannot see people just staying in the house, so they definitely gotta do something and that’s what we’re trying to do,” Sy said.

    He cited the current transformation of the SM Mall of Asia as an example of the firm’s lifestyle mall initiative.

    “We are going to introduce a lot of lifestyle features,” Sy said.

    He clarified that the firm does not see e-commerce as a threat to its retail business.

    “No, we don’t look at it as a threat,” he stressed. “When we see these things, we look at it as a challenge and we find means and ways to go around the challenges. We do not let it top us or slow us down. We have to evolve into these things. That’s the reality.”

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  • Japan manufacturing output up in January, retail sales fall

    Japan manufacturing output up in January, retail sales fall

    Japan’s industrial production rose in January from the month before, beating forecasts, while retail sales fell, suggesting the recovery of the world’s third-largest economy is still on the ropes.

    January’s increase in factory output was a turnaround from month-on-month declines in November and December. But production was down 3.8 percent from January 2015, and is forecast to fall by 5.2 percent month-on-month in February, partly due to weak demand as the world economy slows.

    Marcel Thieliant of Capital Economics said in a note that the economy would likely remain in the doldrums in this quarter.

    “The rebound in industrial production in January is unlikely to assuage concerns about the health of Japan’s economy as firms are predicting a renewed slump in February,” he said.

    Japan’s central bank recently began a negative interest rate policy aimed at getting banks to lend more to help spur business activity and fend off deflation. Japan’s inflation rate was flat in January, according to data reported earlier.

    Finance ministers and central bank governors of the Group of 20 rich and developing economies called for using all policy tools available to help fend off recession as they wrapped up a meeting in Shanghai over the weekend.

    Data released Monday showed Japan’s manufacturing index was at 99.8 in January compared with a base of 100 in 2010. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has sought to rekindle growth with a three-pronged approach of monetary stimulus, government spending and reforms.

    Retail sales fell 1.1 percent in January from the month before and were down 4.3 percent from a year earlier. Other key data, such as wages, household spending and the jobless rate, are due Tuesday.

    So far, the “Abenomics” strategy has leaned heavily on the Bank of Japan’s unprecedented barrage of monetary stimulus through massive asset purchases. The injections of trillions of dollars into the economy each year have helped weaken the yen, boosting the profits of corporations and, for a time, pushing share prices higher.

    But since companies have shied away from raising wages or making sizable investments in operations in Japan, growth has remained tepid.

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  • Alibaba Group’s Quest for China’s $100 Billion Retail Drug Market Stalls

    Alibaba Group’s Quest for China’s $100 Billion Retail Drug Market Stalls

    Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has sailed into headwinds in its plans to conquer China’s medical market by prescribing and selling drugs through an online platform. Chinese officials shut down a government-owned drug tracking system that was created and operated in partnership with Alibaba’s health-care division, Alibaba Health Information Technology Ltd.

    The news saw the unit’s shares take a hit, falling 14% to 4.10 Hong Kong dollars (HKD) on Monday, before rising slightly to close at 4.17 HKD Tuesday.

    The system is owned by China’s Food and Drug Administration, which helps it monitor drugs’ manufacturing, regulatory, expiration and composition data. However, the FDA suspended the system due to complaints from pharmaceutical companies that are jittery over Alibaba’s involvement.

    Meanwhile, the FDA has said that it is reviewing drug-monitoring rules to accommodate the dissenting voices, reported Wall Street Journal.

    Alibaba teamed up with a private-equity startup linked with its founder, Jack Ma, known as Yunfeng Capital Ltd to purchase a controlling 54 percent share in Citic 21CN, which dealt in management of pharmaceutical products data. The new company, Ali Health, subsequently started dealing in Alibaba’s e-commerce sales of over-the-counter drugs.

    It also created an app that links patients with hospitals and community doctors.

    Cure for Country’s Ailing Healthcare Industry

    Ali Health has touted itself as the cure for most problems ailing China’s health-care industry, which is characterized by overcrowding in public hospitals and too much reliance on drugs.

    Data by management consulting firm Bain & Co. shows hospitals in mainland China rely on sales of drugs for 80 percent of their revenues, opening a loophole for corruption to thrive.

    Ali Health ensures local pharmaceutical industry players maintain standards of drug safety as it strives to gain an early market lead over potential rivals should China allow retailers to sell drugs through online platforms.

    This fact hasn’t escaped the eye of drugs firms, who have increasingly expressed dissatisfaction over Alibaba’s participation.

    A provincial pharmacy chain Yontinhe Group sued China’s FDA in January, saying it was creating an uneven playing field by co-operating with Ali Health. It cited provision of big-data view of all medicines produced by all pharmaceutical firms in China to Ali Health as one area it was favoring the latter in, among other accusations.

    Responding to Yontinhe’s claims, the FDA issued a statement on Jan. 26, saying that it backed the drug-monitoring system. Nonetheless, it appears to be responding to the complaints with its decision to seek views of all market participants concerning how to review the drug-monitoring system.

    China’s prescription drugs market is estimated to register sales valued at $100 billion, according to a study by consultancy firm Deloitte.

    Ali Health attributed its involvement in the tracking system for almost all the revenue of US$4.8m (37m HKD) it earned in the year through March 31, 2015. It says its role is to operate the system, while the FDA owns it in a partnership aimed at eliminating counterfeits in the Chinese health-care market.

  • China will bounce back and continue to drive global growth for decades

    China will bounce back and continue to drive global growth for decades

    Economists have often said “when America sneezes, the world catches a cold” reflecting the importance of the US to the global economy.  But the past 12 months suggest the world’s immune system is more sensitive to China’s sniffles than was previously thought.

    The country’s economic slowdown and the overdue lancing of the bubble in its stock market have made the world’s central bankers and policymakers realise that China now has a huge influence on global markets.

    I was in Beijing and Shanghai last week in part to attend the G20 summit in my role as a board member of the Institute of International Finance but also to see for myself what is happening in China. There is no substitute for visiting a country if you really want to understand what is going on there. Get there, meet companies and policymakers and listen to what the people you meet have to say.

    This is especially the case with somewhere like China because it can be opaque and a lot of what is written about the country is nonsense. You can only get so much information to form a view from sitting in an office 6,000 miles away.

    One of my most interesting meetings was with Dr Pan Gongsheng, deputy governor of China’s central bank. It is true that the economy is slowing. Never mind the validity of the official figures, the 6.9pc growth achieved last year is a far cry from the double-digit expansion achieved a few years ago.

    But is this slowdown really so bad? The change in the pace of growth is as much by design as by accident. China’s policymakers made a deliberate decision a few years ago, to move the economy away from an investment-led, export-driven model towards one in which domestic consumption plays the dominant role. The country’s leaders want growth that is sustainable.

    For a long time investors have focused on China’s manufacturing data as an indicator to how well or badly the economy is doing. Recent weakness in the manufacturing data has been interpreted as a big negative and has ignored the growth of service industries, especially in the private sector.

    Real estate, finance, hospitality, retail, transport, construction and other services accounted for some 55pc of GDP in 2014, up from 47pc in 2006, according to data compiled by CLSA and Citic Securities.

    As the economy continues to move to a more domestic focus, this share will continue to rise. This is not to say everything is rosy in China. In recent years, western leaders watched with wide-eyed wonder at their Chinese counterparts’ handling of the economy. They looked on in envy at Beijing’s ability to manage the economy at a time when the world seemed to be closing in.

    That reputation has taken a major dent recently. They successfully deflated a bubble in the property market but that meant that China’s army of retail investors piled into the domestic stock markets. The authorities should not have tried to prop this over-leveraged and speculative bubble. They should have let it pop but chose to intervene and then did so in a messy, unclear and unsuccessful way.

    While they were bungling the rescue of the stock market, the authorities made a mess of communicating a loosening in renminbi policy, which fuelled suspicions the country was seeking to devalue its way out of trouble. This is prompting wealthy locals to move their cash offshore and in response the government is making it harder for money to be moved overseas.

    Local government and corporate debt are big problems, the state sector is bloated and inefficient, while the property market remains fragile. Whilst my trip provided comfort on the state of the economy, my views on the stock market remain unchanged. We have always been very cautious about investing in Chinese companies because so many are opaque and many have woeful corporate governance.

    It’s obvious if you spend time in China to see that the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets operate like casinos. Trading activity is dominated by retail investors who buy on rumours and flee at the first sign of trouble. It’s much more sensible to expose yourself to China’s growth by investing in companies which aren’t based there but do business there.



    It’s a much easier way of investing in companies with decent growth prospects, that have quality management and adhere to good levels of transparency and accounting standards. From speaking to companies, economists and analysts in China, it’s clear to me that the country is heading for a softer, rather than harder, landing. You need to look beyond the stock market for the clues of why, though. China’s consumer spending is still motoring. Consumers have taken to internet shopping at a startling pace.

    Barely 15pc of the population had shopped on the internet a few years ago. Now over 40pc have. Chinese shoppers spent nearly $8bn (£5.7bn) in the first 10 hours of the country’s equivalent of Cyber Monday or Black Friday. Chinese authorities might have lost some of their reputation for financial competency, but they have $3.4 trillion in foreign exchange reserves to soften the blow of a slowing economy.

    Unlike many policymakers in the West, those in Beijing still have plenty of tools at their disposal to avert economic disaster and to help the country to develop. The announcement last week of the opening up of the bond market to long-term international investors is a prime example and is a step in the right direction.

    Ultimately China will shake off its current sniffles to continue to be a driver of global growth for decades to come.

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  • Ecommerce is so huge in China that even the 2nd biggest store saw $71b in purchases

    Ecommerce is so huge in China that even the 2nd biggest store saw $71b in purchases

    You know ecommerce is insanely huge and fully ingrained in daily life in China when the country’s second largest online store booked US$71.6 billion in purchases in the past year. That’s the figure revealed today by JD, the closest competitor to Alibaba, in its newest earnings report.

    Alibaba, which posted financials a few weeks earlier, is well ahead with a total of about US$460 billion worth of purchases on its Chinese shopping marketplaces in 2015. JD now has 155 million active shoppers who collectively placed 1.26 billion fulfilled orders in 2015.

    JD, which differs from Alibaba in that it mostly ships items to shoppers from its own inventory rather than relying on a huge network of merchants, says that its 2015 expenditure tally was up 78 percent on 2014’s. The ecommerce firm, in which WeChat maker Tencent has a 20 percent stake, now has 155 million annual active customers, up from just over 90 million back in 2014.

    They collectively placed 1.26 billion orders that were fulfilled in 2015, which nearly doubled from the prior 12-month period.

    Trillion-dollar baby

    Ecommerce spending in China this year is expected to inch past US$900 billion, says Emarketer. The data revealed by Alibaba and JD, which together account for a very sizeable chunk of online shopping in China, seems to support that projection. By 2017, China’s appetite for buying stuff online will sail past a trillion, and it’ll be worth about US$1.57 trillion by 2018.

    Amazon does not reveal consumer expenditure figures – known in the industry as gross merchandise volume, or GMV – which makes it hard to see how Alibaba and JD stack up against the US-based ecommerce giant. Amazon operates in China, but it’s a minor player there.

  • Why are many Thai buyers in the Vietnam retail market?

    Why are many Thai buyers in the Vietnam retail market?

    Berli Jucker Plc (BJC), has taken over the Japanese chain of 42 FamilyMarts and renamed it as B’mart. The Vietnamese retail market recently witnessed a series of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in which the buyers were businessmen from Thailand.

    In mid-2014, BJC made a deal on buying Metro Cash & Carry Vietnam at $880 million, the biggest affair in the retail sector in Vietnam so far. The deal wrapped up 1.5 years later, in January 2016.

    In early 2015, Central Group successfully acquired a 49 percent stake of the Nguyen Kim home appliance distribution chain.

    Right after French Casino Group announced the plan to sell Big C Vietnam, analysts predicted that Big C chain in Vietnam was likely to fall into Thai hands. Later, BJC stated it was vying for Big C Vietnam.

    This is because, according to Phu, the Vietnamese market promises great potential: while other countries in the world focus on developing the home market, Vietnam has been gathering strength on boosting export, while paying less attention to the domestic market.Vu Vinh Phu, chair of the Hanoi Supermarket Association, who was deputy director of the Hanoi Trade Department, noted that only a few foreign retailers came to Vietnam in the past, but things are quite different now. Nearly all big retailers in the world are present in Vietnam, especially Thais.

    This explains why foreign investors have to spend several months only to find retail premises and penetrate the home market. Meanwhile, a domestic retailer told Phu that it took him three years to do this.

    “Business opportunities will be missed after such a long time,” Phu said, adding that domestic and foreign retailers are in an unequal competition.

    An analyst commented that many Thai businessmen eye Vietnam because Thailand is near Vietnam in geographical position. Thai businesspeople understand Vietnamese consumers’ taste and hobbies.

    “Thai businessmen kicked off plans to penetrate the Vietnamese market a long time ago. And they have been doing this in a methodical way and they have been step by step expanding both production and distribution in Vietnam,” he commented.

    At first, Thai businesses usually organize trade fairs in Vietnam to familiarize Vietnamese with Thai products.

    “I believe that 100 percent of families in Hanoi and HCMC use Thai products, from washing liquid to knives,” he said, adding that Thai products are present in every Vietnamese family.

    Phu commented that though Thai is less strong than Japanese and South Korean; therefore, they have been ‘waging guerilla warfare’ when attacking the Vietnamese market.

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  • Mohegan Sun-led scheme gets South Korean casino licence

    Mohegan Sun-led scheme gets South Korean casino licence

    The government of South Korea has awarded a licence to build a casino resort to a consortium between U.S.-based Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority (also known as Mohegan Sun) and South Korean chemicals manufacturer KCC Corp.

    The new property is to be located in Incheon, near the country capital Seoul, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said in a statement on its website on Friday.

    The country’s authorities had been reviewing an unspecified number of proposals for new casino resorts, submitted as part of an integrated resort licence bidding process initiated in 2015. There were up to two new casino resort licences up for grabs, but the South Korean government decided to grant only one.

    The licence allows the Mohegan Sun-KCC consortium to set up a foreigners-only casino.

    South Korea currently has 17 casinos, but the country’s nationals are only allowed to gamble at one of them – Kangwon Land in an upland area of Kangwon province.

    The winning bid (pictured in an artist’s rendering) has a price tag of US$1.24 billion and includes a hotel, retail areas, a concert arena and venues for conventions, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency. The scheme is scheduled to begin operations by 2020.

    “We will closely monitor the project to help support the [winning consortium] in building a world-class integrated resort,” the ministry said, quoted by the news agency. “It is expected to boost the competitiveness of the South Korean tourism industry with various tourism infrastructure, such as a K-pop arena, a theme park and a convention centre.”

    There are already two casino projects proposed for Incheon.

    South Korean foreigners-only casino operator Paradise Co Ltd has linked with Japanese pachinko operator Sega Sammy Holdings Inc for a project in Incheon referred to as Paradise City and already under construction. The scheme, with a total area of 330,000 square metres (3.55 million sq feet), is presented in its official website as having a price ticket of KRW1.3 trillion (US$1.05 billion) and featuring a foreigners-only casino with 160 live table games, 388 electronic table games and 350 slot machines. It is scheduled to open in 2017.

    The other announced project for Incheon is the result of a partnership between U.S. casino operator Caesars Entertainment Corp and Hong Kong-listed real estate developer Lippo Ltd. Construction has not yet started. Analyst Grant Govertsen from Union Gaming Securities Asia Ltd said in a note on Friday “there are uncertainties currently associated with the Caesars project”.

    No regional impact

    Mr Govertsen said in his note following the South Korean government’s announcement that construction for Mohegan Sun-KCC’s project should begin in early 2017. The project has the working title ‘Inspire Integrated Resort’. It will be Mohegan Sun’s first venture outside of North America.

    KCC in November announced it acquired a 24.5-percent stake in Inspire Integrated Resort Co Ltd – a South Korean subsidiary of U.S. regional tribal casino operator Mohegan Sun – for a total consideration of KRW203.8 billion, becoming a joint venture partner in the casino resort project.

    The consortium has a commitment to spend a total of US$5 billion in South Korea over the next 20 years.

    Mohegan Sun’s project includes a 20,000-square metre casino with 250 gaming tables – including 40 VIP tables – and 1,500 slot machines.

    The casino resort will have a two-tower luxury hotel complex with 1,000 rooms, a 20,000-seat arena, and more than 18,500 square metres of shops, restaurants, art exhibition and music entertainment areas, including “a Korean village celebrating Korean food and music, and a Native American cultural and arts experience”, according to Mohegan Sun.

    Union Gaming said in its note it did not expect the three new casino resorts in Incheon to pose a material threat to Macau, Singapore or the Philippines.

    Mr Govertsen noted the ongoing decline in Chinese high roller play around the region. He added that none of the U.S.-based casino operators entering the South Korean market had a significant built-in base of VIP customers, being largely reliant upon mass-market customers to generate a return.

    He said: “Importantly for Macau, its mass market gross gaming revenue is driven primarily by southern China meaning that related persons are unlikely to divert to [South] Korea for gaming. Rather we would expect Incheon integrated resorts to draw from northern Chinese cities (e.g. Beijing, Tianjin) and from Chinese visitors already going to [South] Korea for purposes other than gaming.”

    In a January note, Morgan Stanley said new casino supply did “not bode well” for South Korea’s foreigners-only casinos, especially as the investment bank expected the number of Chinese high rollers to South Korean casinos to continue declining.

    Union Gaming’s Mr Govertsen also noted that the three casino projects for Incheon are not close to each other. “This suggests that there is unlikely to be the natural benefit associated with the cluster effect seen in markets like Las Vegas and Macau (e.g. driving increased visitation and therefore increased revenue).”

    He added: “However, operators who do not have a presence in Asia, like Caesars (coming in capital light) and Mohegan Sun, seem to be less risk averse and could be beneficiaries should [South] Korea ever green light locals gaming beyond the lone locals gaming licence issued to Kangwon Land – although we find this scenario to be highly unlikely for the foreseeable future.”

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  • SGX proposes 10% minimum retail tranche for mainboard IPOs

    SGX proposes 10% minimum retail tranche for mainboard IPOs

    The Singapore Exchange is proposing that mainboard companies allocate to retail investors a minimum 10 per cent of shares in their initial public offers (IPOs), up to a maximum of $100 million.

    Between 2010 and last year, market debutantes on average set aside only 8 per cent of their IPO shares for retail investors, the SGX said.

    But over the same period, 90 per cent of IPOs received applications for their public subscription tranches amounting to greater than 10 per cent of the total offer size.

    “SGX’s proposal for a minimum 10 per cent retail allocation for shares of mainboard IPOs is aimed at giving individuals more investing opportunities in the Singapore equities market,” said chief executive Loh Boon Chye.

    “While market conditions may have been uncertain of late, this initiative is for the long term and is part of overall enhancements to the Singapore stock market.”

    This is the second time that the bourse operator has suggested introducing a minimum IPO allocation for retail investors. The first time it did so was in in 2012, when it proposed a 5 per cent retail allocation.

    Yesterday’s proposal is a recalibrated one that takes into account the feedback the SGX received from the 2012 consultation and data from IPOs launched between 2010 and 2015, it said.

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  • Market for Pico Projectors in South Korea Projected to Grow at a CAGR

    Market for Pico Projectors in South Korea Projected to Grow at a CAGR

    The market for pico projectors in South Korea is projected to grow at a CAGR of over 24% during 2016 – 2021. LCoS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon) technology garnered the highest share in South Korea pico projectors market in 2015, due to better image quality, high resolution and efficiency, less power consumption, etc., as compared to other display technologies.

    South Korea pico projectors market witnessed rapid growth over the past few years on account of their growing acceptability and rising usage in various end user segments such as consumer electronics, defense & aerospace, automotive, etc. Rising demand for pico projector integrated devices, growing IT investments and increasing mobile workforce is projected to propel growth in the country’s pico projectors market in the coming years.

    Additionally, growing penetration of various compact and small projection display technologies along with increasing demand for handheld and portable devices is projected to drive growth in South Korea pico projectors market during 2016 – 2021.

    Due to these advantages, LCoS technology is being increasingly used in smartphones, tablets, televisions, head up displays, etc. In 2015, the country’s southern region was the largest market for pico projectors, on account of the region’s high per capita GDP and high level of industrialization. Few of the leading companies operating in South Korea pico projectors market include SK Telecom and LG Electronics, among others.

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  • Christian Louboutin Tokyo pop-up

    Christian Louboutin Tokyo pop-up

    Christian Louboutin’s latest spring/summer bag collection is being showcased in a stunning pop-up boutique in Tokyo’s Isetan department store.

    Christian Louboutin pop-up opens in Tokyo 1

    Open on the second level until March 1, the Christian Louboutin Tokyo pop-up was inspired by showgirls and exotic birds and features feathered plinths layered with rich colours plus quirky details.

    Christian Louboutin pop-up opens in Tokyo

    It is the latest retail experience designed by the luxury label in conjunction with customer experience specialist Household, and the second within the Isetan store. Household has also created spaces forChristian Louboutin at Selfridges in London and Manchester in the UK, Brentwood Los Angeles, Printemps Paris, Seibu Tokyo and Osaka’s Hankyu and Daimaru department stores.

    Christian Louboutin pop-up opens in Tokyo 2
    Based in London and Los Angeles, Household works across Asia, Europe and the US for clients including Harrods, Tesco, Unilever and Vodafone.

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