Retail News CRM

Author: Mei Ling Tan

  • YouTube Music adds a new Recently Played widget for Android users

    YouTube Music adds a new Recently Played widget for Android users

    Google has been pushing its YouTube Music service hard in the past couple of months, adding new features and updating existing ones. Earlier in November, the platform received a useful “Play My Station” shortcut on Android, and a month prior to that Google announced that YouTube Music’s free version will be getting background playback – a feature normally reserved for premium users.

    Now there’s another update to YouTube Music and this time it’s a new “Recent Played” widget for Android. This feature was previewed back in October but now it is rolling out with version 4.55.55 of YouTube Music for Android, available on the Play Store.

    The widget takes 5×2 spaces on your home screen by default and it is divided into two main sections. The top part gives users the ability to play and pause songs, give them a “thumb up”, and it also shows the album art of the current song playing with some basic information such as the name and the artist.

    The bottom part is a grid layout shortcut that gives you “quick access to your recently played videos, albums, playlists, and more.” In the largest 5×4 configuration you can cram up 10 elements in that particular section, and you can also resize the widget to be 5×1 or 4×1 but doing so will hide the bottom element and will leave only the barebone play/pause part hiding the thumb button too.

    The Recently Played widget follows Android 12’s Material You design philosophy, supporting also the Dynamic Color feature. If you don’t see the widget after updating to version 4.55.55, force stop the app and relaunch again.

  • DLA Piper Bolsters Asia Capabilities

    DLA Piper Bolsters Asia Capabilities

    The global law firm is has made a senior energy partner hire in Hong Kong.

    DLA Piper has appointed Russell Wilkinson as a partner in its Finance, Projects, and Restructuring (FP&R) practice, based in Hong Kong, the firm announced on Thursday.

    Wilkinson joins the firm from Baker Botts in Hong Kong, where he has been a senior energy partner since 2006. He focuses his practice on the development, acquisition/divestment, and financing of energy businesses and infrastructure, and the commercialization of energy resources. He has extensive experience in upstream and midstream petroleum projects, power generation, and transmission projects.

    He is widely recognized as an authority in the energy, oil, and gas markets, with rare expertise in liquefied natural gas, making him one of only a handful of specialist energy practitioners in Asia. He regularly advises national oil companies, oil majors, regional energy players companies, and energy traders across the region.

    Wilkinson’s arrival closely follows that of capital markets partner George Wu, announced earlier this week. The firm has been growing its corporate practice in Hong Kong, with Kristi Swartz joining in November as a partner in its Intellectual Property and Technology (IPT) practice, and the addition of capital markets partner Arthur Tso in March 2021.

    Over the past couple of years, DLA Piper has also welcomed partners Philip Lee and David Kuo in Singapore, and Samata Masagee in Bangkok.

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  • Thai AirAsia X looking for new investors

    Thai AirAsia X looking for new investors

    Thai AirAsia X needs a major restructuring and new investors to prep the airline to resume international routes next year, after Thai AirAsia (TAA) already secured additional funding for the carrier last week.

    Thai AirAsia X, a long-haul, low-cost carrier under the AirAsia group, has been grounded for almost two years since the pandemic emerged in 2020. The 11-aircraft fleet was reduced to seven earlier this year, said Tassapon Bijleveld, executive chairman of SET-listed Asia Aviation (AAV), the majority shareholder in TAA.

    Mr Tassapon, also a shareholder in Thai AirAsia X, said the airline had to switch its wide-body Airbus A330 jets to cargo service to stem financial losses. Thai AirAsia X requires additional liquidity to prepare for passenger flights, which are expected to resume next year, he said.

    Tourists have started asking when international flights will resume and the airline responded by launching ticket sales for the Bangkok-Incheon (South Korea) route from April 2022 in the hope that borders will reopen by then, said Mr Tassapon.

    “Border closures should not be an option to prevent the spread of the Omicron variant as the national economy and cash-strapped tourism sector in particular cannot afford to survive another lockdown,” he said.

    Mr Tassapon said it has been over two years since the pandemic broke out and the government should learn to live with it by sourcing sufficient immunity, by using vaccines and medicines, for local communities in order to let economic activities run as usual.

    He said Thai AirAsia X, which is not yet listed on the stock market, is in negotiations with a few potential investors and will enter the restructuring process by next year.

    TAA was given approval by shareholders at a meeting on Nov 26 to commence the restructuring plan, enabling the airline to raise an additional 14 billion baht.

    Under the new structure, Mr Tassapon will hold 18% of the shares, down from 40.52% at present, while AirAsia Aviation, the investing company under AirAsia Group Berhad, will hold 40.7%, followed by commercial banks at 5.3% and new individual Thai investors at 5.2%.

    However, even though TAA is expected to receive the first allotment of fresh capital by mid-December, the cost-cutting measures have to remain until air travel fully recovers.

    On announcing massive layoffs last month, Mr Tassapon said TAA would have to bid farewell to more than 400 employees from its total workforce of 5,000. Some employees decided to join the early retirement program offered by the firm, he said.

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  • Honda Sets Up Battery Sharing Subsidiary In India

    Honda Sets Up Battery Sharing Subsidiary In India

    Honda has announced setting up a new subsidiary in India, which will focus on the supply chain side of the electric vehicle industry. Called Honda Power Pack Energy India Private Limited, the new subsidiary for battery sharing service in India will offer service for small mobility players. In a statement, Honda has said that the company plans to start battery sharing service for electric auto-rickshaws from the first half of 2022 in Bengaluru, Karnataka, and expand the operations in other Indian cities in a phased manner.

    Swappable batteries will offer subscribers fully-charged batteries at the stations which can be swapped in a matter of minutes, instead of waiting to charge the vehicle.

    “The company will offer battery sharing service for small mobility, which will accelerate the penetration of electric vehicles by solving three issues of electric vehicles: limited range, long charging time, and high cost of batteries,” Honda said in the statement.

    Honda’s all-new portable and swappable batteries will be called “Honda Mobile Power Pack e,” and the company’s battery sharing service subscribers can avail of the services from the nearest battery swapping station. At the battery swapping station, subscribers can swap the used batteries with fully charged ones, and need not wait for charging and can get back on the road in marginal time.

    The company has invested ₹ 135 crore, and will work closely with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) who wish to integrate Honda’s battery into their vehicles, by providing necessary technical information for an interface. By expanding vehicle OEMs, applications, and service areas, the company aims to onboard more drivers which will further enhance service convenience.

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  • UniTeller Grows Remittance Network Across APAC

    UniTeller Grows Remittance Network Across APAC

    The U.S. based cross-border and remittance payments processor is extending its remittance services to more customers in the Asia Pacific under a partnership with Tranglo.

    UniTeller has announced a partnership with Tranglo to further expand its services in 13 Asia Pacific markets, including Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Nepal.

    The partnership will add more than 58,000 cash pick-up points, more than 1,100 account deposit banks, and nine e-wallet platforms to its existing paying network of 90,000 paying locations in the region, according to an announcement on Thursday.

    UniTeller CEO Alberto Guerra said the partnership is a great step forward in the company’s expansion plan for the Asia Pacific this year.

    Founded in Malaysia in 2008, Tranglo operates a cross-border payment hub that provides smart services for mobile airtime top-ups, as well as foreign remittance and business payments.

    Earlier this year, Ripple acquired a 40-percent stake in Tranglo, to allow the blockchain payments company to meet growing customer demand in APAC, one of the fastest-growing regions for RippleNet. As such, UniTeller’s partnership with Tranglo also gives it access to RippleNet.

  • Cebu Pacific receives first Airbus A330neo; targets all-neo fleet by 2027

    Cebu Pacific receives first Airbus A330neo; targets all-neo fleet by 2027

    Philippine low-cost airline Cebu Pacific received its first Airbus A330neo on November 28,2021 as it begins its widebody fleet modernization program.

    The aircraft features 459 lightweight Recaro seats, which have been ergonomically designed, and offer versatility for a wide range of routes from shorter regional services to medium and long-haul operations. The Airbus A330neo will be used to operate trunk routes within the Philippines and the rest of Asia, as well as on longer-range services to Australia and the Middle East.

    The A330neo brings a step-change in efficiency, consuming 25% less fuel than previous generation aircraft and a similar reduction in CO2 emissions. The efficiency of the A330neo also ensures compliance with current and future sustainability requirements in terms of noise and emissions.

    “Cebu Pacific’s first A330neo brings us closer to our target of having an all-Neo fleet by 2027, and shows our commitment to making air travel accessible while ensuring environmental and social sustainability,” Cebu Pacific chief strategy officer Alex Reyes said in a statement.

    Reyes added: “We believe that growth and sustainability are not mutually exclusive and should in fact be inclusive if we want to work towards the greater good. This is why we will always choose the greener options – increased aircraft efficiency, reduced noise, and carbon emissions, to ensure that lower fares will be available for every Juan.”

    In total, Cebu Pacific has ordered 16 A330neo, and also has 16 A320neo and 22 A321neo still to be delivered. The low-cost carrier currently operates 50 Airbus aircraft, comprising 43 A320 families and 7 A330ceo.

    “We thank and applaud Cebu Pacific for selecting our latest-technology A330neo as part of its fleet modernization drive to fly the greenest aircraft for a sustainable future. The A330neo is the first aircraft in the world already certified to comply with ICAO’s CO2 emissions standards beyond 2028. The airline will benefit from the aircraft’s step-change in performance and economics while maintaining passenger comfort and lowest operating costs,” said Airbus Asia-Pacific President Anand Stanley in a press statement.

    The aircraft is powered by Rolls-Royce’s latest-generation Trent 7000 engines and features a new composite wing with increased span for enhanced aerodynamics.

    The A330 remains the most popular widebody family aircraft for Airbus, with an order book of more than 1,800 aircraft at the end of October 2021.

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  • AirAsia CEO ‘bullish’ on beating Omicron as airline announces resumption of Phnom Penh flights

    AirAsia CEO ‘bullish’ on beating Omicron as airline announces resumption of Phnom Penh flights

    AirAsia Group chief executive Tony Fernandes has urged governments to stop “overreacting” to the emergence of the new Omicron variant of Covid-19 and focus on reducing the cost of PCR testing instead.

    “It’s a huge overreaction. We don’t know anything about this variant yet. Let’s wait and see before we jump the gun,” Mr. Fernandes said at a virtual address at Bangkok Post’s International Forum 2021 dubbed “Unleashing the Future: A Glimpse into 2022 and Beyond” on Thursday.

    Air Asia has also hinted that Cambodia is one potential market for new ventures. Current group president for airlines Bo Lingam says: “We will continue to review new markets to operate from in the future, like Cambodia for example when we can connect Southeast Asia once again with the best value fares and lifestyle offerings.”

    The chief executive of the low-cost carrier said the world is more equipped and better prepared to deal with Omicron — first detected in South Africa — than previous strains.

    Air Asia is also reportedly looking at resuming Kuala Lumpur-Phnom Penh flights in January 26 to take advantage of Chinese New Year travelers. During its heydays prior to COVID-19, it used to mount three flights a day.

    “There are Merck pills, and Pfizer pills are coming out. We are vaccinated. There are boosters available. I’m feeling much more bullish, and I am not doom and gloom,” he said.

    “Governments need to use common sense and see what is needed. I think travel restrictions and such measures are temporary, and the world is global. No matter how much we close the borders, the viruses will travel.”

    He criticized the pricing and frequency of the PCR tests required by many governments, including Thailand, when travelers enter their borders. He said this risks deterring passengers from taking a vacation despite the pent-up demand to venture overseas.

    “No government has looked at the cost of the PCR test. PCR tests in Southeast Asia are extremely [expensive]. It’s unfair for passengers to pay that kind of cost. Of course, we want to be safe, but make it as simple as possible.”

    He praised Thailand for planning to reduce some of these charges and procedures.

    “Thailand is ahead of the rest of ASEAN, which are still quite draconian,” he said, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

    “In Malaysia, we have a seven-day quarantine. It’s a start. At least we are opening up borders, but there’s a long way to go before we get to where we used to be.”

    As for AirAsia’s operations and outlook for 2022, Mr. Fernandes said he had restructured the company and pivoted to more digital businesses.

    So far, the low-cost carrier has launched three logistics businesses — a food delivery super-app, online bank BigPay, and parcel delivery service Teleport. The company has no plans to cut routes yet, it said.

    The group CEO was optimistic about the future of the aviation industry. He said he expects low-cost carriers to bounce back faster than full-service airlines as most passengers prefer to travel short distances. Moreover, business travelers are getting used to attending meetings virtually instead of in person, he said.

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  • BSA Motorcycles Returns To Life, Reveals New Gold Star Retro Motorcycle

    BSA Motorcycles Returns To Life, Reveals New Gold Star Retro Motorcycle

    Iconic British bike maker, BSA Motorcycles has come back to life, and the brand was resurrected at a special event in Birmingham in the UK. Classic Legends, part of the Mahindra Group, revived the classic motorcycle brand, and also showcased the first model that will be sold under the BSA name. The BSA Gold Star was originally sold between 1938 and 1963 and was powered by a range of engines between 350 cc and 500 cc. The 2022 BSA Gold Star retains much of the classic lines of the original but power is likely to come from the newly-developed 650 cc single-cylinder DOHC engine.

    More details on the new BSA Gold Star will be revealed during the public debut on December 4, 2021, at the Motorcycle Live Show in the UK. The new BSA motorcycle has been designed and developed in the UK and will also be built there, confirmed Anupam Thareja, co-founder, Classic Legends Pvt. Ltd. Thareja also revealed that special attention was given to every detail right from the lines to the font to the tires.

    “We’d spend hours, in the end, looking at the font, the size, the color, the shape. How it looks in the day and the night. And all I can say is it went into a dizzy. But what came out of this harmonious chaos is this absolutely stunning, beautiful piece of artwork,” said Thareja.

    Classic Legends plans to produce the BSA Gold Star in Birmingham itself, the brand’s original home. Plans for the same were previously disrupted due to the pandemic. The company has already set up a technical center in Coventry to develop motorcycles. The brand is also working on electric offerings at this facility. It was also awarded a 4.6 million pound grant from the UK government for the development of zero-emission motorcycles.

    Birmingham Small Arms Company Ltd or BSA was founded in 1861, for the production of firearms. The brand’s motorcycle division was set up in 1903, and the first motorcycle was introduced in 1910. The brand went on to become the largest supplier of motorcycles to the Allied Forces during the Second World War. By the 1950s, BSA was the world’s largest motorcycle maker, with one in every four motorcycles sold worldwide sporting the BSA badge. BSA ceased operations in the 1970s after going into bankruptcy. It was acquired by Classic Legends in 2016.

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  • Darrell Lea cooks up 70 tonnes of Christmas Puddings

    Darrell Lea cooks up 70 tonnes of Christmas Puddings

    Calm down, Australia. It might have been a tough, tough year… but at least Darrell Lea Christmas puddings have returned to supermarket shelves to make things feel joyful again.

    Handcrafted in Australia, these puddings have a light and fluffy nougat center, are smothered in creamy milk chocolate, and topped with edible Christmas holly.

    Darrell Lea made over 70 tonnes of puddings this year, using 25 tonnes of milk chocolate and 10 tonnes of desiccated coconut!

    These legendary nougat treats were first launched by the Aussie confectionery company in the 1940s and have been selling out yearly ever since.

    It goes without saying that the $10 puddings are still Darrell Lea’s best-selling Christmas product.

    The nougat pudding isn’t the only item on our Christmas list this year. Also returning are their (completely addictive) Crunchy Christmas Balls, their famous Rocklea Road, ginger pieces smothered in dark chocolate, and Caramel Snows (featuring caramel fudge drizzled with white fondant and dark chocolate).

    It’s beginning to taste a lot like Christmas.

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  • Mondelez falls short in China with Zero-sugar Oreos pitch

    Mondelez falls short in China with Zero-sugar Oreos pitch

    Initial reaction from the launch of Oreo Zero sugar-free cookies in China has been disappointing, Mondelez International Inc’s CEO said, underscoring some of the challenges facing the global snack giant as it makes a big push in the market.

    Mondelez launched Oreo Zero in China in August, taking a cue from social media trends showing reduced-sugar and sugar-free diets as a key trend, and the limited availability of zero-sugar biscuits in the country.

    “The reaction of the consumer has been a little bit disappointing … for one reason or the other, the consumers feel it is not the real thing,” Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Dirk Van de Put told Reuters.

    “This indicates the dilemma,” he said. “We can offer the products to the consumer, but it’s not given that the consumer will buy and eat them.”

    Mondelez, which also makes Ritz crackers, belVita biscuits, Cadbury chocolates and Trident gum, has set a target to grow Oreo sales by $1 billion by the end of 2023. The brand surpassed $3 billion in global sales in 2019.

    Oreo Zero cookies contain maltitol instead of traditional sugars like sucrose and glucose, and the tweak gives a very slight difference in taste that only heavy consumers of regular Oreos would be able to identify, according to the company.

    The lukewarm consumer response underscores a challenge for global snack firms with a well-known brand and product. Mondelez varies the amount of sugar it includes in Oreos in different markets around the world. In China, Oreos have less sugar than do Oreos in the United States, which could make for an easier transition to no-sugar cookies.

    Chinese consumers, however, remain cautious about packaged foods’ no-sugar claims, said Michael Norris, research and strategy manager at Shanghai-based consultancy AgencyChina.

    For example, sugar-free drinks commanded only 1.25% of China’s soft drinks market in 2019, according to a June Dongxing Securities report, though Genki Forest’s sugar-free fizzy drinks and Suntory’s Oolong tea are gaining popularity.

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  • 7-Eleven Malaysia ventures into Indonesia’s pharmacy market

    7-Eleven Malaysia ventures into Indonesia’s pharmacy market

    7-Eleven Malaysia Holdings Bhd has teamed up with a listed company on the Jakarta Stock Exchange to set up a retail pharmacy chain in Indonesia.

    SEM, in a filing today, said its 75% owned Caring Pharmacy Retail Management Sdn Bhd has entered into a joint venture with PT Era Prima Indonesia (EPI) to establish the business.

    Caring would take a 50.1% stake in the JV.

    SEM said the total funding of the proposed JV was about RM8.55mil. “The proposals represent an opportunity for the SEM Group to venture into the pharmaceutical industry in Indonesia,” it said.

    EPI is a subsidiary of listed firm PT Erajaya Swasembada Tbk, a distributor and retailer of mobile communication products.

  • Prada sees second-hand fashion as opportunity, weighs partnerships

    Prada sees second-hand fashion as opportunity, weighs partnerships

    Italian fashion group Prada sees opportunity in the booming second-hand fashion sector which it can develop both in-house and through partnerships, marketing chief and heir designate Lorenzo Bertelli said.

    The market for pre-owned chic bags and clothes has surged over the last three years, driven by younger, more environmentally conscious shoppers looking for affordable high-end goods.

    It is expected to reach 33 billion euros ($37.2 billion) in size this year after growing by 65% between 2017 and 2021, according to consultancy Bain. This compares with 12% growth for brand new luxury goods.

    Some rival luxury companies are already exploring the sector. Earlier this year, French conglomerate Kering took a 5% stake in Vestiaire Collective, a leading platform for second-hand clothes and handbags. Kering’s star brand Gucci also formed a partnership with U.S.-based resale platform The RealReal last year.

    “Second hand is a strategy we have been investigating for more than a year,” Lorenzo Bertelli, the eldest son of co-Chief Executives Patrizio Bertelli and Miuccia Prada, and the future brand leader, said in an interview.

    “I cannot disclose too much but for sure second-hand is there. We will take it as an opportunity.

    “It can be a partnership with a player or it can be something more in-house, or both of them, a sort of hybrid solution like for e-commerce,” he said.

    The heir to Prada’s empire, who said he wants to keep the family-controlled group independent when he takes the reins in a few years, doesn’t seem fazed by the future challenges of the ever-changing luxury sector.

    “Rallying and sport, in general, taught me a lot. (It) teaches you to never give up and also a lot of humility, in the sense that you have to learn,” he said. “Sometimes sport is cruel when you want to measure yourself.”

  • Armani banning angora wool from next winter season

    Armani banning angora wool from next winter season

    The Italian luxury company joins a string of brands banning the extremely soft wool removed from live rabbits, under pressure from animal rights organizations and more environmentally conscious shoppers.

    Last month, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) announced that luxury e-commerce platform Farfetch would stop selling angora wool by April 2022.

    The organization launched a campaign years ago to ban angora wool, which is mainly produced in China, describing the techniques used to strip the fur from rabbits as cruel.

    Armani’s move marks another step towards sustainability after the group banned animal fur in 2016 and signed in 2019 the ‘Fashion Pact’ with other major industry players to address climate change, the company said in a statement.

  • Uber Eats leaving Hong Kong at the end of 2021

    Uber Eats leaving Hong Kong at the end of 2021

    Food delivery giant Uber Eats revealed on Tuesday it would wind down its Hong Kong operations by year’s end after seeing slower-than-expected growth.

    “Uber Eats has unfortunately not grown as expected in Hong Kong,” the company said in response to a Post inquiry. “This decision has been made independent of the global pandemic, and is in line with our broader strategy on Uber Eats.”

    One of the city’s three main food delivery platforms – along with Deliveroo and Foodpanda – Uber Eats launched in Hong Kong in October 2016 and has seen a sharp rise in orders throughout the coronavirus pandemic over the past two years.

    “After five years of partnering with restaurants and delivery people in Hong Kong, we have made the difficult decision to discontinue Uber Eats in Hong Kong on December 31, 2021,” the company said earlier in the day.

    Uber Eats said its priority was now to support its employees, restaurant partners, delivery people, and customers as it moved towards shutting down, but added it was “more committed than ever” to growing its ride-hailing services in the city.

    “We will keep investing and serve more riders and drivers in coming years by bringing the very best technology to Hong Kong,” the company, which operates in a legal grey area in the city, said.

    The spokesman said the company would continue providing support to customers and partners until the end of January.

    Uber Eats employs 5,000 delivery workers, some of whom signed up after losing their jobs amid the pandemic, and its service covers 16 of the city’s 18 districts.

    In July, Uber Eats launched a campaign in support of the small and medium-sized restaurants that use its platform, snagging celebrity endorsements from singers Alfred Hui and Joyce Cheng.

    In recent months, with almost no local transmission of the coronavirus, Hong Kong’s restaurant industry, along with other businesses such as hotels, have seen signs of recovery, and bookings are healthy for the year-end holiday season.

    Although social-distancing restrictions limiting the number of people permitted at venues such as bars and restaurants remain in place, about a third of the city’s 16,000 restaurants can now seat up to six per table, as long as diners have received at least one dose of a vaccine and use the government’s “Leave Home Safe” risk-exposure app.

    The latest data from SevenRooms, a booking platform used at more than 350 of Hong Kong’s high-end restaurants, showed people were dining out and spending more this year when compared with two years ago, before the pandemic hit.

    Earlier this month, Foodpanda couriers, upset with a cut to their delivery fees and other issues, went on strike for two days.

    The strike ended after the company agreed to make changes to its mobile app and fee calculation system as well as look into other demands

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  • Chubb Appoints Division Head

    Chubb Appoints Division Head

    The property and casualty insurer is bolstering its International Personal Lines (IPL) division in Singapore.

    Chubb has appointed Tulio Puente as division head of IPL in Singapore, effective 22 November 2021, the firm announced on Thursday in a statement.

    Puente, a former economist for the Central Bank of Mexico and in the telecommunications industry in China, joined Chubb in 2014 and has held various roles at the company in Latin America and Asia Pacific, most recently underwriting for Speciality Personal Lines.

    In his new role, Puente will be responsible for the overall growth and management of Singapore’s IPL division, which includes personal risk services, residential insurance, and specialty coverage. He will also focus on growing the firm’s partnerships and driving multi-channel distribution opportunities. He reports to Scott Simpson, country president for Chubb in Singapore.

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