Retail News CRM

Author: Mei Ling Tan

  • Decathlon signs up 2 new property leases in China

    Decathlon signs up 2 new property leases in China

    Decathlon, retailer of French sports apparel and equipment, recently signed two new lease agreements with property developer Goodman Group to set up two new warehouses at Goodman Citylink in Hebei Province, China.

    The new leases have a combined space 57,200 sqm, which the company expects to enhance its distribution capability in Northern China.

    Goodman Citylink is located at the Yanjiao Economic and Technological Development Zone in Langfang and has a total gross floor area of 130,000 sqm. Strategically located in close proximity to the 6th Ring Road which links to downtown Beijing, it is an ideal location for international brands to set up their regional distribution centres for Northern China.

    “The retail sector in which Decathlon operates, requires the highest standards in logistics management and warehousing facilities. Goodman has the proven expertise, high quality offering and capability to meet the individual needs of customers operating within this specialized industry sector,” said Philip Pearce, Managing Director Greater China for Goodman.

    Decathlon joins BMW Brilliance Automotive, which last year signed an agreement for Goodman to develop a 33,300 sqm built-to-suit facility at Goodman Citylink for its regional distribution centre for car auto parts in Northern China.

    Goodman currently has 786,580 sqm of developments underway in key cities including Shanghai, Nanjing, Shenyang Tianjin, Chongqing, Langfang, Changzhou and Hefei, and a 800,000 sqm development target for the next 12 months.

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  • Thailand’s Siam Center, Siam Discovery launch Siam Gift Card for easy gift giving

    Thailand’s Siam Center, Siam Discovery launch Siam Gift Card for easy gift giving

    Siam Piwat Co. Ltd., the owner of Siam Paragon, Siam Center and Siam Discovery, recently launched the Siam Gift Card, which will provide shoppers a greater shopping convenience and make it easy to send or receive gifts.

    Mayuree Chaipromprasith, Senior Vice President of Siam Piwat, based on their consumer survey on shopping behavior at year end, many customers buy products as New Year gifts.

    “Therefore, in late November, Digimedia Marketing Co., Ltd., subsidiary of Siam Piwat Group, introduced the Siam Gift Card, which offers better benefits than other cards in the market so that the customers can use it themselves or give it as a gift,” she said.

    The Siam Gift Card serves as cash card that allows the customers to top up the minimum of THB1,000 (USD30.3) to purchase any products from more than 50 leading fashion boutiques, cosmetic flagship stores and many more in Siam Center and Siam Discovery. It integrates the strategy of seasonal marketing, solution marketing, E-payment and CEM (Customer Experience Management).

    In addition, the card keeps record of the customer behavior so that the company can come up with the marketing promotion activities that truly meet their needs.

    For security purposes, customers must key their own code every time they buy products at the stores. Besides reward points, the shopping history will be recorded in the database so that customers will receive customized news about new arrivals and promotion that fit their own needs in the future.

    Mayuree said Digimedia Marketing Co. Ltd. invested more than THB15 million (USD455,843.31) in the Siam Gift Card campaign and expects to sell more than 20,000 cards in the first three months.

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  • Australia no longer sweet spot for Asos

    Australia no longer sweet spot for Asos

    Australia was once Asos’ largest market outside Britain. In 2012, the British online fashion retailer was flying four jumbo jets of clothing to this country each week.

    But Asos revealed this week international sales, comprising 57 percent of its total sales, were down 2 percent in the first quarter to GBP145.5 million (USD228.6m).

    And “rest of world” sales, of which Australia is estimated to comprise half, fell by 6 percent to GP58.5 million in the three months ended November 30.

  • CUCKOO Electronics opens second store in Vietnam

    CUCKOO Electronics opens second store in Vietnam

    Korea’s home appliances company Cuckoo Electronics Co. Ltd. recently opened its second branded shop in Vietnam.

    The store is located in Hanoi Trung Hoa, a high-density residential city as well as a hub of business, administration, commerce, industry, culture and education.

    The company’s first shop in Vietnam opened in July in Phu My Hung, Ho Chi Minh City.

    “By opening this second branded shop in Hanoi after the Ho Chi Minh shop, Cuckoo Electronics is expanding its distribution channels and increasing brand awareness throughout major cities in Vietnam,” a company spokesperson said in a news release.

    “We will continue to enhance our reputation in Vietnam through Cuckoo’s exclusive strengths, such as high quality products, technology and localization strategies,” he added.

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  • Fossil to invest USD6.3m to open 25 outlets in India

    Fossil to invest USD6.3m to open 25 outlets in India

    US-based watchmaker Fossil will invest up to INR40 crore (INR400 million, USD6.3m) to open 25 retail outlets in India by 2017 as it aims to reposition itself from a watch brand to a fashion lifestyle brand.

    The company, known for its range of watches, will sell non-watch products such as leather bags for women and men, wallets, eye-wear and jewellery through its retail outlets in the country.

    “We want to re-position Fossil from a watch brand to a fashion lifestyle brand. We will focus on developing non-watch categories. We will sell these products only through our retail stores. We plan to open 25 outlets by 2017 and will invest INR35-40 crore,” Fossil India Brand Head Sumit Ghosh told PTI.

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  • Fashion SMEs in Thailand to get boost

    Fashion SMEs in Thailand to get boost

    The Industry Ministry of Thailand has earmarked THB120 million to support small and medium-sized fashion enterprises wanting to explore opportunities in neighbouring countries next year.

    Thailand’s fashion cluster, covering apparel, jewellery and leather products, has the potential to compete with Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, says Arthit Wuthikaro, director-general of the Industrial Development Department.

    “SMEs in other industry clusters will obtain the same support for expanding business abroad, notably in ASEAN, if they have strong business potential,” he said.

  • Indonesia’s rubber exporters hopeful on automotive recovery

    Indonesia’s rubber exporters hopeful on automotive recovery

    Indonesia’s rubber businesses are eyeing a boost in sales and exports next year as the global automotive industry, one of the sectors that the rubber industry relies on, has begun recovering after being hit hard by the global economic downturn.

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  • Peugeot and China Changan Automotive in joint venture

    Peugeot and China Changan Automotive in joint venture

    French car giant Peugeot has agreed a new joint venture to manufacture light commercial vehicles and cars in China.

    Peugeot has signed an initial agreement with domestic carmaker China Changan Automotive Group. If it goes ahead, the deal will give Peugeot a bigger foothold in the fast-growing Chinese car market.

  • Synovate strengthens automotive research team in Asia

    Synovate strengthens automotive research team in Asia

    China’s Global market research company Synovate announced the appointment of Klaus Paur as Managing Director for Synovate Automotive Vertical for its automotive research unit in Korea and Greater China, which includes the markets of China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. He will join Synovate on 1st January 2011 from TNS.

    His addition supports the expected strong growth of the automotive industry in China, which has been changing its role from a global manufacturing centre to a significant market player.

    Based in Shanghai, Paur will be responsible for leading automotive market research in Synovate China and Korea. Paur brings over 20 years of experience in marketing and market research, 15 of which have been spent specifically in the automotive industry. Paur started his automotive research career in 1995 as a senior researcher for quantitative and qualitative ad-hoc studies in Paris. In 1997, he began leading international advertising effectiveness tracking surveys across Europe and Latin America, and then relocated to Shanghai in early 2003 to head the TNS Automotive research practice in China.

  • More room to develop for Thai automotive sector

    More room to develop for Thai automotive sector

    The automotive industry is on a roll, particularly in Thailand, which recorded a 47-month high domestic automobile sales last November. With the economic recovery and increasing purchasing power of consumers, the automobile market have been registering high growth and this in turn give rise to the need for adequate level of aftermarket service care.

    According to the latest findings of market research company GfK, there are a total of 3,200 shops in the country selling passenger car tires in the aftermarket. While tire specialist shops are uniformly spread out across the country, fast fit outlets make up a third of all shops and are more commonly found in Bangkok and vicinity area where demand tends to be higher compared to the other regions. Within the central region alone, more than one in two tire specialist shops are fast fitters.

    The 160 exhibitors from 40 countries in this year’s Tyrexpo Asia exhibition make it the largest in its 15 year history, attesting to the vibrancy of the automotive sector, according to the event organiser ECI International.

    Some other key automotive trends were uncovered by GfK Thailand’s automotive retail audit, such as the dominance of six main starter battery brands, which contribute nearly 95 percent of the total market sales. In addition, GfK findings reveal that conventional lead-acid batteries still take up the lion’s share of 80 percent sales in the replacement market as compared to maintenance-free batteries which form the remaining 20 percent.

    “The Thai automotive sector is already thriving, but looking at the current market situation, there is definitely still more room for development; to allow for more players to enter the field. Having said this, automotive is big business in Thailand, and there is no doubt that the industry will remain very competitive and continue its upward growth trend for many years to come,” said Wichit Purepong, general manager of GfK Thailand.

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  • China’s JD.com vying with Alibaba to woo Western brands

    China’s JD.com vying with Alibaba to woo Western brands

    China’s JD.com Inc has partnered Gap Inc to sell the US clothing retailer’s apparel online in China, as the Beijing-based e-commerce company goes head to head with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd to woo big foreign fashion names.

    Alibaba and JD.com, China’s number one and two e-commerce companies respectively, are vying to ink deals with some of the world’s most recognised brands, which offer big boosts in both sales and image at home and overseas.

    By announcing its partnership with JD.com in a joint statement on Thursday, Gap, which already has a store on Alibaba’s Tmall website, would be the latest foreign company to sign with some of China’s biggest Internet firms, including Tencent Holdings Ltd.

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  • Myanmar’s automotive market to grow nearly 8pc in 2019

    Myanmar’s automotive market to grow nearly 8pc in 2019

    Myanmar’s automotive market is likely to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.8 percent from 2013 to 2019, driven by a growing economy, infrastructure development and increasing income, new analysis from Frost & Sullivan showed.

    Currently dominated by used vehicles, the market is expected to reach 95,300 in 2019 also due to greater integration with ASEAN.

    Dushyant Sinha, Associate Director, Automotive Practice, Asia-Pacific at Frost & Sullivan, however, said that factors such as unpredictable regulatory changes, high car prices, under-developed auto service market and inadequate road infrastructure might hinder the potential growth.

    Myanmar is highly dependent on two-wheelers, accounting for more than 80 percent of the market while passenger cars represent 11 percent. Meanwhile, trucks and buses only make up 3 percent and 1 percent, respectively. A young labour force with a high two-wheeler ownership promises a potential car buying group in the long term.

    Dushyant said Japanese brands are expected to continue dominating the passenger vehicle market even in 2019, with Honda, Suzuki and Nissan gaining popularity thanks to their small car offerings (such as Honda Fit/Brio, Suzuki Swift, and Nissan March) which would appeal to Myanmar customers. Chinese and Korean brands will also see growth due to their more affordable prices and smaller engine sizes compared to their Japanese counterparts.

  • China Mobile eyes 250 million 4G customers next year

    China Mobile eyes 250 million 4G customers next year

    China Mobile, China’s largest telecommunication service provider, has forecast that it will have 250 million 4G customers in 2015.

    The company has experienced robust 4G business growth in 2014 and had more 50 million 4G users as of the end of October, China Mobile chief executive officer Li Yue said on Friday.

    China’s 4G is powered by the homegrown technology, Time-Division Long-Term Evolution (TD-LTE), one of the two major international standards in the mobile telecom industry, the other being Frequency Division Duplex.

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  • Zalora offers same-day delivery in 5 ASEAN nations

    Zalora offers same-day delivery in 5 ASEAN nations

    Zalora, Asia’s online fashion destination, on Thursday announced its new same-day delivery service, making it the only regional online fashion retailer to offer such a facility.

    Its regional managing director Michele Ferrario said in a statement that customers can choose the same-day delivery option at checkout on selected items for a nominal fee.

    “With the new service, we are further committing ourselves to customers who lead busy lives. It also comes with other customer-centric services such as free shipping for orders over a certain amount, self-collection and cash on delivery.”

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  • Samsung to hit back at Xiaomi with budget phone

    Samsung to hit back at Xiaomi with budget phone

    Samsung Electronics is gearing up to release a low-cost Tizen-powered smartphone in the USD100 price range, according to local media reports, responding to intensifying competition from Chinese budget smartphone makers shaking up the market.

    The phone will be launched in India, the world’s third largest smartphone market, by end-January, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported on Sunday, citing industry sources.

    Tizen is Samsung’s homegrown operating system which seeks to lessen its reliance on Google’s Android. While the majority of Samsung’s mobile devices run on an Android platform, the Tizen platform has been used to power some of its wearables, including its first smartwatch products.

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