Retail News CRM

Author: Mei Ling Tan

  • Cebu Pacific cautiously optimistic on 2022 recovery

    Cebu Pacific cautiously optimistic on 2022 recovery

    Budget carrier Cebu Pacific, operated by Cebu Air, Inc., is sticking to its forecast of returning to pre-pandemic levels next year, saying it is “cautiously optimistic” given the current pace of vaccine rollout in the country.

    “To be honest, initially, when it started rolling out and we were monitoring the inoculation rate, we were pleasantly surprised with the 130,000 a day. Now, with the A4 (priority) and private vaccinations, we’re cautiously optimistic,” Candice A. Iyog, Cebu Pacific vice-president for marketing and customer service, said at an online briefing on Thursday.

    “We’d like to stick to what we’ve said before, 2022, but again so many things can still happen,” she added.

    Cebu Pacific currently operates flights to 32 domestic destinations.

    To recall, the number of flights Cebu Pacific had in 2020 was 71% lower at 41,804. The number of passengers it carried last year also dropped 78% to five million.

    Ms. Iyog said flights from Manila to Boracay will be five times daily starting June 21, while flights to Bohol will also operate daily.

    As of June, it operates flights to Dubai, Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo, and Singapore.

    “When demand comes back, there will be higher expectation from us to be more digital and to provide more contactless options for our passengers because we understand that ‘contactless’ is somehow part of safety,” Ms. Iyog noted.

    “Yesterday (June 16), we successfully launched our new website and our iOS and Android booking channels,” she added.

    The airline has partnered with GCash, GrabPay, and PayMaya for cashless payment options for new bookings.

    The budget carrier will be implementing starting July this year a new policy for passengers who want to make voluntary changes to their flights.

    “Starting July 1, the travel fund option for voluntary flight changes will only be available for passengers who pre-purchased the CEB Flexi add-on during initial booking as this new and improved product allows passengers to cancel their flights for free, up to two hours before departure, and store the value of the booking in a Travel Fund for as low as P499,” Cebu Pacific said in a statement on Wednesday.

    “The amount in this virtual wallet is valid for two years and may be used to book new flights or purchase other add-ons such as seat selection, additional baggage allowance, or travel insurance,” it added.

    As for passengers who want to change their bookings voluntarily without purchasing CEB Flexi, the budget carrier said: “They can make use of the Unlimited Rebooking option of CEB and rebook as many times as they want up to two hours before their scheduled time of departure.”

    The low-cost carrier said it permanently removed change fees since March.

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  • Burberry CEO resigns to lead rival luxury retailer

    Burberry CEO resigns to lead rival luxury retailer

    Marco Gobbetti is to give up his role as CEO of Burberry after leading the brand and business for almost five years.

    According to a report, Gobbetti will return home to Italy to lead rival luxury goods group Ferragamo.

    Gobbetti will stay with Burberry until the end of this year while the company searches for a successor, and to ensure an orderly transition.

    “Gobbetti has had a transformative impact and established a clearly defined purpose and strategy, an outstanding team, and strong brand momentum,” said Gerry Murphy, chairman of Burberry. “The board and I are naturally disappointed by Marco’s decision but we understand and fully respect his desire to return to Italy after nearly 20 years abroad”.

    Gobbetti became CEO and joined Burberry’s board in 2017, succeeding Christopher Bailey who left the group the following year. Prior to Burberry, Gobbetti was chief executive of Moschino and Givenchy before holding executive positions at French brand Celine in 2008.

    “With Burberry re-energised and firmly set on a path to strong growth, I feel that now is the right time for me to step down,” said Gobbetti. “I would like to thank my colleagues as well as Gerry and the board for their partnership.

    “I am fully committed to supporting them through the transition and I have every confidence that the creativity and strong values that define Burberry will continue to drive the company’s future success.”

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  • Google Messages will become the default messaging app for AT&T Android users

    Google Messages will become the default messaging app for AT&T Android users

    RCS (Rich Communication Services) is not something new, it’s just that many smartphone users don’t have access to the feature. AT&T and Google want to change that by making Messages the default messaging app for all the carrier’s customers in the United States who use Android phones.

    Google announced that it has teamed up with AT&T to upgrade the SMS experience with enhanced messaging features included in Messages. That means that AT&T Android users will benefit from expanded chat features based on RCS, as well as other enhanced features.

    Just to recap, RCS makes it possible for users to send higher-quality videos, share full-resolution pictures, send and receive messages over Wi-Fi or data, as well as participate in group chats that are easy to manage. Also, with the Messages app, users can see when someone is replying to a text.

    But wait, there’s more! Google confirmed that it’s now rolling out end-to-end encryption for one-on-one RCS conversations between people using Messages and those who have chat features enabled, another step forward to making messaging more secure for everyone using Android devices.

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  • Bauhaus ekes profit out of store closures, refocuses on profitability

    Bauhaus ekes profit out of store closures, refocuses on profitability

    Fashion group Bauhaus saw turnover fall 58.1 percent to $47.9 million during the year to 31 March 2021, pushing gross profit down 55 percent to $31 million.

    The group was able to deliver a net profit result of $12.8 million – a vast improvement on last year’s $18 million loss – though this was primarily attributable to government subsidies and the cash gained in selling off over half of its retail stores.

    “The novel coronavirus outbreak in 2020 has severely hit not only local retail sectors but also depressed many economic activities worldwide,” the business wrote in an update to its investors.

    “The same-store-sales growth rate fell to about -40 percent for the year under review. In addition, to confront with ongoing challenges brought on by Covid-19, the group made essential strategic moves to refocus resources on its familiar markets.”

    In December, Bauhaus said it would close all stores in all markets outside of Hong Kong and Macau by the end of March 2021 in order to focus on profitability. This has led the brand’s store count of 102 in 2020 to plummet to 49 in 2021.

    During FY21, its Hong Kong and Macau segment saw sales fall 45.6 percent, compared to its other regions which fell by 89 percent. Hong Kong and Macau accounted for approximately 92 percent of the group’s total turnover.

    Given that the threat of Covid-19 still resonates in many parts of the world, the business expects strong headwinds for the year ahead, and is anticipating a “prolonged path to thorough recovery”.

    “The group will maintain a manageable scale of operations at a reasonable profitability level and does not intend to aggressively do fast and quantitative expansion in the near future until seeing strong signs of sustainable economic activity,” the business said.

    Instead, Bauhaus will focus on making its now-lean business profitable.

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  • Playboy owner to acquire Aussie lingerie brand Honey Birdette

    Playboy owner to acquire Aussie lingerie brand Honey Birdette

    PLBY Group is to buy racy Australian luxury lingerie brand Honey Birdette for approximately US$333 million. PLBY Group CEO Ben Kohn said he is “thrilled by the brand’s potential to become a multi-million-dollar luxury lifestyle franchise”.

    “Our plan is two-fold: to leverage PLBY Group and the Playboy brand’s global operations to accelerate Honey Birdette’s expansion into new territories and product categories, and to take advantage of Honey Birdette’s superior product design, sourcing, and direct-to-consumer capabilities to accelerate our Playboy-branded lingerie, loungewear, swimwear, and sexual wellness go-to-market plans targeting the masstige consumer,” Kohn said.

    “This acquisition is expected to further our mission to become the leading pleasure and leisure lifestyle platform and our commitment to deliver long-term value to our shareholders.”

    Honey Birdette is forecast to generate $73 million in revenue this financial year, representing growth of over 40 percent. The acquisition will help the brand expand its leadership in the sexual wellness category and its shared sourcing and product design capabilities. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021.

    Honey Birdette was first launched in 2006, when its first boutique opened in Brisbane, selling glamorous lingerie and adult toys. It has since expanded to more than 60 stores across Australia, the US, and the UK, and flagship stores are slated to open in the coming months in Dallas, Miami, and New York. Meanwhile, loungewear and swimwear will soon be added to the Honey Birdette product range.

    “When I founded Honey Birdette 15 years ago, my ambition was to build a brand for women, by women; a brand that would serve as a platform for confidence and sexual and body empowerment,” said Eloise Monaghan, founder and managing director of Honey Birdette.

    “Today is a momentous and proud day for the Honey Birdette team as we enter into partnership with one of the world’s most iconic brands and the lifestyle platform it represents. I’m thrilled to join Ben and the whole PLBY Group team on a mission to build a lifestyle of pleasure for all.”

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  • AT&T to move its 5G mobile network to Microsoft’s Azure cloud

    AT&T to move its 5G mobile network to Microsoft’s Azure cloud

    Microsoft and AT&T announced they inked a deal to provide the carrier with increased productivity and cost-efficiency of its 5G network services. Under the new partnership, AT&T will move its 5G mobile network to the Microsoft Azure cloud, while the Redmond-based company will gain access to the carrier’s intellectual property and technical expertise to grow Azure for Operators, its top-tier telecom offering.

    Furthermore, Microsoft confirmed that it will purchase AT&T’s Network Cloud platform technology, which the carrier’s 5G core network runs on. Furthermore, Microsoft will buy AT&T’s engineering and lifecycle management software that is typically used to design and deploy network cloud platforms specifically made for carriers.

    Regardless of the acquisitions announced today, AT&T will continue to operate its network and manage customer relationships, it’s just that it will now use Microsoft’s infrastructure.

    Naturally, Microsoft will be responsible for deploying both the software development and the carrier’s Network Cloud, as well as for bringing AT&T’s existing network cloud to Azure over the next three years. The announcement mentions that neither company is disclosing details on financial terms.

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  • Another forex trading platform swindles hundreds of thousands of dollars

    Another forex trading platform swindles hundreds of thousands of dollars

    Yet another fraudulent foreign exchange trading platform that cheated people out of hundreds of thousands of dollars has been exposed in HCMC. Nga, a resident of HCMC’s District 7 spends most of her time these days reading updates about FXTradingMarkets in a Facebook group with 4,200 members.

    On June 25, the group received a screenshot of a notice believed to be from the Lion Group, which ran the platform, that it would cease to operate from the next day onwards. Nga has invested VND1.4 billion ($60,700) in the platform; and many others have also invested billions of dong. Now, they do not know how they can get back the money.

    A month earlier, the HCMC police had warned people not to trade on currency trading platforms, saying there was a high risk of losing their money. They had found that four people from the Lion Group were hosting forums in various places to talk about how to get rich quick.

    Since 2019, the group has been advertising FXTradingMarkets as a platform headquartered and licensed in the UK and linked to another platform called UKTrade.

    An investor had to deposit at least $1,000 and would get its equivalent in FXT, a cryptocurrency the platform uses to trade.

    Investors would bet on whether a currency would rise or fall within the next 30 seconds. If they were right, they got 95 percent of the bet as profit, but lose everything if they were wrong.

    However, the platform also advertised that everyone could earn one percent a day on their investment if they allowed “experts” to make the bet on their behalf.

    Investors also got a commission if they introduced new clients.

    At first, the investors could trade the FXT currency with their leader for cash, but starting at the end of February, the platform no longer allowed this trade, and investors had to trade in other cryptocurrency markets with a rate of 1 FXT equals $0.3, meaning a 70 percent loss.

    “When similar platforms crashed, we were concerned, but the managers told us not to worry,” Nga said.

    Many celebrities endorsed FXT and so investors continued to place their trust in it, she said.

    Earlier this month the platform posted a notice saying “upgrade ongoing” and did not allow investors to see their account balance. On June 25, when the leaders gave their final notice, 1 FXT was worth $0.0022.

    That means Nga’s investment of $60,000 was then worth only $133, or a 99.78 percent loss.

    The other platform UKTrade also crashed on June 26.

    Tam of Thu Duc District said he invested VND2.8 billion in UKTrade in April but “most of the money is now gone,” adding that thousands of investors lost 95 percent of their money on May 10.

    “Because of the pandemic, our experts were not able to analyze the market,” the leaders told investors, asking them to either pour more money in to recover the loss or be removed from the system.

    Tam and around 10 other investors joined together to report the platform to the police. Together, they have lost a total of VND6 billion.

    Vo Thi Dieu Hien in the central province of Binh Thuan in early May invested VND319 million, but in less than a week she saw all her cryptocurrency gone.

    The leaders asked her to submit another 30 percent of her capital to “save” her account and promised higher profits. She did not, and her account was locked right after.

    “That’s when I realized I was tricked, so I reported it so others won’t fall into the same trap.”

    HCMC and Binh Thuan police said they have received the reports and have done initial investigations. They found that FXTradingMarkets was registered and has servers in the U.S.

    There are signs that the administrators are setting up a new website with similar user interface and functions at sp500stock.com, the police said. The website was no longer available at the time of publishing.

    This is the latest of many of forex trading platform frauds that have been uncovered in Vietnam of late. Thousands of investors have been duped, even though authorities have repeatedly warned them that these platforms are illegal and highly risky.

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  • Gentle Monster opens another flagship store

    Gentle Monster opens another flagship store

    South Korean luxury eyewear brand Gentle Monster has unveiled its latest themed store in Starfield Hanam, Seoul.

    Dubbed ‘Self Similarity’, the theme reinterprets the mathematical concept through visual and spatial elements. The Starfield Hanam storehouses various artwork, images, and installations representing “the infinite possibility of ‘expansion’” through repeating geometric structures, such as fractals, Mandelbrot sets, and Julia sets.

    The newly opened flagship features The Probe, the brand’s six-legged walking robot which can also be seen in the Haus Dosan outlet.

    “The kinetic installations located at the facade, repeatedly expanding and contracting, and artwork that expresses infinite proliferation show Gentle Monster’s unique and artistic perspective on the concept of self-similarity,” the company described.

    Meanwhile, Gentle Monster chose Starfield Hanam to land Nudake’s second store in South Korea, offering a range of artistic desserts.

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  • SoftBank-backed Dingdong raises US$95.7 million in downsized US IPO

    SoftBank-backed Dingdong raises US$95.7 million in downsized US IPO

    Chinese grocery app Dingdong, backed by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, raised about $95.69 million in its US initial public offering (IPO) on Tuesday after slashing the size of the IPO to almost a fourth of its earlier target.

    Dingdong sold more than 4 million American depositary shares (ADSs) priced at $23.5 apiece, the lower end of its indicative price range.

    The company had earlier planned to raise up to $357 million in its IPO by selling 14 million ADSs priced between $23.5 and $25.5.

    Established in 2017 and also backed by Tiger Global Management and Sequoia Capital, Dingdong operates mainly in China’s first-tier cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, and Hangzhou.

    Rival online grocery company Missfresh Ltd, which is backed by Tencent Holdings Ltd, slumped in its Nasdaq debut last week. It was trading almost 17 percent below its IPO price until Monday’s close.

    Morgan Stanley, BofA Securities, and Credit Suisse were the IPO’s lead underwriters.

    Dingdong’s ADSs are set to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange later in the day under the ticker symbol “DDL”.

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  • Hong Kong retail sales rise 10.5 percent in May

    Hong Kong retail sales rise 10.5 percent in May

    Hong Kong retail sales rose 10.5 percent in May from a year earlier, the fourth consecutive monthly gain, boosted by an easing Covid-19 threat. But the growth lagged pre-pandemic levels as inbound tourism is at a halt and global travel restrictions linger.

    Sales climbed to HK$29.6 billion (US$3.81 billion), government data showed on Wednesday. That compares with a 12.1 percent rise in April, a 20.21 percent rise in March, and 30 percent growth in February.

    “The near-term operating environment of the retail sector will remain challenging given the lack of visitor spending,” a government spokesman said.

    In volume terms, retail sales in May jumped 7.8 percent year-on-year, compared with a revised 11-per-cent surge the previous month.

    Online retail sales in May soared 53.1 percent in value year-on-year, compared to revised 26.9-per-cent growth in April and a 44-per-cent rise in March.

    Sales of jewelry, watches, clocks, and valuable gifts, which depend heavily on mainland tourists, surged 54.8 percent in May versus a revised 93.9 percent rise in April, the data showed.

    Clothing, footwear, and allied products rose 12.1 percent in May, compared to a revised 61.2 percent in April.

    Tourist arrivals fell 34.8 percent year-on-year in May to 5305, after posting a 38.3-per-cent jump in April in the city’s first growth in arrivals after 21 consecutive months of declines.

    Hong Kong’s seasonally adjusted unemployment was 6 percent in the March-May period, against 6.4 percent in February-April, as the labor market was boosted by economic recovery and as the novel coronavirus outbreak receded.

    The government saw some sectors to take longer to return to pre-pandemic levels because of an uneven pace of recovery.

    The city’s economy grew by a revised 7.9 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, snapping six consecutive quarters of annual contractions. Official forecasts are for the economy to grow between 3.5 percent and 5.5 percent in 2021, after a 6.1-per-cent contraction last year.

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  • Vietnam to trial virtual currency

    Vietnam to trial virtual currency

    The Vietnamese government has ordered its central bank to study virtual money using blockchain technology over three years amid rising interests in this type of currency.

    The State Bank of Vietnam will be in charge of studying and trialing the use of virtual money from this year until 2023 as part of key objects in mastering core technologies, according to a government decision.

    The government does not give a clear definition of virtual currency and assets.

    For now, cryptocurrencies remain an illegal means of transaction in Vietnam. However, the trading of Bitcoin and the like is popular with many investors using foreign platforms and social media to make money from this asset.

    Vietnam has the second-highest rate of cryptocurrency usage among 74 economies, according to a survey by market researcher Statista.

  • Global delivery firms increase flights to Vietnam amid e-commerce boom

    Global delivery firms increase flights to Vietnam amid e-commerce boom

    Express delivery giants like DHL and UPS are increasing their transport capacity to Vietnam thanks to rising demand due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

    Germany-headquartered DHL Express recently announced a new delivery route from Hong Kong to Ho Chi Minh City using wide-body Airbus A330 aircraft.

    There would be six one-way trips a week, each with a capacity of up to 62 tons of cargo, it said.

    This is to mainly serve the rising online shopping demand, it added.

    It will also upgrade the aircraft used on the Hanoi – Hong Kong route from Boeing 737-400s to 737-800s to serve Vietnam’s surging exports.

    Most consumers are now looking at delivery speed as a key component of their shopping experience, Bernardo Bautista, CEO of DHL Express Vietnam said.

    Last year U.S.-based UPS launched its first service to Vietnam from its hub in China to increase delivery speed.

    Vietnam does not have a dedicated cargo airline, and industry insiders estimate foreign companies hold an 80 percent aviation logistics market share.

    Johnathan Hanh Nguyen, chairman of retail company Imex Pan Pacific Group, recently announced plans to establish a cargo airline at an investment of $100 million.

    Vietnam’s e-commerce market expanded by 18 percent last year to $11.8 billion, the only country in Southeast Asia to record double-digit growth amid the pandemic, according to the Vietnam e-Commerce and Digital Economy Agency.

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  • Nissan Will Build The First EV Factory In UK

    Nissan Will Build The First EV Factory In UK

    Japanese automotive giant Nissan will be making the first battery facility in the UK as per Sky News. The factory is slated to open in Sunderland in 2024 and is expected to produce batteries in 200,000 electric cars every year. Nissan will be partnering with Chinese specialist Envision AESC to build the batteries. It will produce 6 gigawatts of battery capacity per year which is far more than 1.9-gigawatt-hours of capacity that an existing Envision AESC Sunderland plan has. Of course, all of this is made to look tiny compared to what Tesla has in the US with the 35-gigawatt hour Gigafactory in Nevada.

    Of course, the cost is in the hundreds of millions and the British government will be contributing to the cost. The cost, however, is not known.

    “It is hoped the new plant will be producing batteries in time for 2024 when the level of UK-made components in UK-made cars is required to start increasing in line with the terms of the UK’s trade deal with the European Union – where most of Nissan’s Sunderland-assembled cars are sold,” reported the BBC.

    “Industry sources expect the scale and size of the new facility may closely match that of a new facility in Douai, France, recently announce by Renault – which is a major shareholder in Nissan and a partner in a global manufacturing alliance,” the report added.

    Nissan of course is known for the Leap EV which is also made in Sunderland. It could be there is a new electric car launch on the cards.

  • Singapore Leads Banking-as-a-Service Adoption

    Singapore Leads Banking-as-a-Service Adoption

    Almost half (47 percent) of all financial institutions in the republic have invested in banking-as-a-service in the last year, and 45 percent are looking to do so in the next 12 months, according to a new survey by Finastra.

    Financial institutions (FIs) in Singapore are among the most confident in BaaS globally, with 87 percent saying they expect to see benefits in the coming year, Finastra said in its Financial Service State of the Nation Survey 2021, published on Tuesday.

    At the same time, 97 percent said open banking is important to their business, with 56 percent calling it a must-have and highlighting its ability to deliver new services.

    Hong Kong FIs are also some of the most optimistic towards BaaS, with 42 percent deploying or improving BaaS in the last 12 months and 92 percent expecting to see positive impacts from BaaS and embedded banking (89 percent) in the next 12 months.

    Covid-19 Boost

    Singapore financial institutions had the largest increase in digital banking investment (25 percent) in response to COVID-19 among markets surveyed, and the highest proportion of respondents globally saying their bank increased overall investment/budgets in response to the pandemic (84 percent).

    The study was conducted in March 2021 among 785 professionals at financial institutions and banks in France, Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore, the U.A.E., U.K. and U.S.

  • Huawei CFO’s Lawyers Refute U.S. Claims with HSBC Document

    Huawei CFO’s Lawyers Refute U.S. Claims with HSBC Document

    Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou’s lawyers claim that HSBC’s internal documents contradict U.S. claims that could result in extradition from Canada.

    HSBC’s own records reflected Huawei’s continued control over dealings with Iran-linked Skycom, Meng Wanzhou’s lawyers told a British Columbia court, including control over its accounts held at the British lender.

    According to Meng’s lawyer Mark Sandler, HSBC had conducted risk assessments with full knowledge of Huawei’s relationship with Skycom, adding that the latter’s financial statements were even included in a report on the Huawei account to the bank’s head office.

    We’re now in a different universe, Sandler said at the hearing yesterday. There is no plausible case for committal.

    Meng is approaching the final round of extradition hearings scheduled for August.

    If admitted by the court, the HSBC documents which were obtained in a deal overseen by a Hong Kong court in April will be usable for the hearing.

    Acting on behalf of the U.S. in the case, lawyers for the Attorney General of Canada have yet to respond to the submissions.

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