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Category: E-Tailing

Retail News Asia is committed to providing both local and global retailers with the latest E-Commerce & Etail news throughout the Asian market. This on a daily base.

  • Capistar loyalty scheme to broaden reach

    Capistar loyalty scheme to broaden reach

    CapitaLand is to expand its Capistar loyalty scheme into three more nations as the program’s membership surpasses 1.5 million.

    CapitaLand properties in Malaysia, Japan and India will be included by the end of this year.

    The Capitastar loyalty scheme is now benefitting 1.5 million members across 60 malls in Singapore and China where the program was launched in 2011 and 2013 respectively.

    In those two markets, more benefits will be offered to members from this year. From May, Capitastar members in China can exchange Star$ for credits on a prepaid card, ‘Expresspay Card’ issued by Bank of China, in addition to the current gift redemption benefits.

    The largest rewards programme by any mall manager in Singapore, Capitastar is available across 17 shopping malls in Singapore since 2011 and 43 malls in China since 2013. To date, shoppers in Singapore have redeemed more than S$1 million worth of CapitaVouchers through the Capitastar programme.

    Jason Leow, CEO of CapitaMalls Asia, CapitaLand’s wholly-owned shopping mall subsidiary, said tenant retailers have been supportive of Capitastar.

    “The rewards program is one way in which we add value to our tenants. It enables our tenants to better understand their customers through their purchase patterns and to tailor products to shoppers, who then get to enjoy more varied and customised experiences.

    “We currently have over 7000 tenants participating in Capitastar in Singapore and China,” he said.

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  • Fashion startup LimeRoad wins funding

    Fashion startup LimeRoad wins funding

    Suchi Mukherjee gave birth to both her second child and her start-up in 2012. In fact, she was on maternity leave when she started up LimeRoad, a fashion eCommerce site targeted at Indian women. Today, it is one of the biggest success stories by a woman entrepreneur in India.

    LimeRoad has just raised US$30 million from Tiger Global, Matrix Partners, and Lightspeed Venture Partners in series C funding. The same investors had pumped US$15 million into the fast-growing fashion portal less than a year ago. Earlier, at inception, Matrix and Lightspeed had invested US$5 million.

    LimeRoad combines fashion eCommerce with social discovery. The site features user-generated ‘looks’ which mix and match interesting combinations of apparel and accessories. It encourages users to experiment with ‘looks’, such as a fusion of Indian and Western styles in wearing a modern crop-top with a traditional saree or finding a dupatta [light Indian women’s scarf] to go with denims and T-shirt.

    A user can build collections of styles in scrapbooks on the site, which others can browse for ideas. LimeRoad’s algorithms rank the scrapbooks to make the most relevant and popular of them easier to find.

    Limeroad-scrapbook 315

    “Women from across the country are using scrapbooks as a medium for self-expression… As a result, over 80 per cent of our orders come from organic traffic,” says LimeRoad CEO and co-founder Suchi Mukherjee, in a statement on the funding.

    “The uniqueness of LimeRoad lies in the passionate user base and the mission of providing an engaging platform for smaller brands to thrive,” adds Lee Fixel, managing partner at Tiger Global.

    Suchi Mukherjee, who studied finance at the London School of Economics, worked for eBay in London before becoming an entrepreneur. Her co-founders in LimeRoad include Prashant Malik, who was earlier with Facebook, and Ankush Mehra, who headed the supply chain at Reliance Hypermarkets.

    Fashion discovery is a hot space in India. Just last week, another fashion portal Roposo raised US$5 million in series A investment. This too was led by Tiger Global, along with participation from Binny Bansal, co-founder of eCommerce biggie Flipkart.

    Started by three IIT Delhi alumni, Roposo is derived from ‘apropos’, alluding to its pitch on making the search for fashion products more relevant to user needs.

  • JD.com crowdfunding concept launched

    JD.com crowdfunding concept launched

    Chinese eCommerce company JD.com, has unveiled a series of initiatives to help finance, develop and promote the creation of start-ups in China.

    The new JD Equity Crowdfunding platform, which builds upon JD.com’s success in internet finance, is expected to be China’s largest equity crowdfunding platform upon its launch this week.

    “JD Equity Crowdfunding, which expands the range of offerings from JD Crowdfunding, will leverage JD.com’s nationwide brand and reputation for authenticity in the eCommerce space to give China’s entrepreneurs access to a broad set of potential early-stage investors,” the company said in a release.

    “The new platform will provide a unique range of training and support options for companies throughout the entire start-up lifecycle, giving entrepreneurs a greater chance at success.”

    JD.com says the initiatives, anchored by JD Equity Crowdfunding, will help to create an ecosystem supporting start-ups from the funding through the online sales stages of development. In addition to capital through crowdfunding, companies will have access new training courses provided by JD.com and seasoned investors and entrepreneurs, as well as to the company’s broader Internet financing tools. I

    And they will be able to sell their products through the company’s eCommerce platform, leveraging JD.com’s last-mile delivery network and reputation for trust and reliability.

    The first 11 companies to raise funds on the JD Equity Crowdfunding platform include Thunderobot, Fastwheel and WeBuzz, which respectively focus on the areas of gaming laptops, personal transportation devices and social media.

    “I know from personal experience how important it is for entrepreneurs to have access to knowledge and early funding,” said Richard Liu, founder and CEO of JD.com. “As the leader in Chinese e-commerce, JD.com is ideally positioned to create a premium platform to give China’s early-stage companies access to resources and seed capital from a broad range of investors. We look forward to creating innovation and value for investors, consumers and start-ups.”

    Under the JD Equity Crowdfunding model, each investment project will be led by a professional investment manager, from either a venture capital (VC) firm or from a company with similar experience, who will be responsible for working directly with the investee companies and ensuring clear and transparent communications with investors. Participating VCs who will help develop JD.com’s ecosystem for start-up companies include Capital Today, ZhenFund and Sequoia Capital. As part of the program, JD.com will take a small equity stake in the projects that successfully raise funding through JD Equity Crowdfunding.

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  • Korean online sales overtake stores

    Korean online sales overtake stores

    The total trade volume of online retailers for 2014 surpassed that of large retail stores and department stores for the first time, said Statistics Korea.

    Although the overall trade volume through Korean online retailers stood at 45.24 trillion won (US$ 41.62 billion), which is slightly lower than the 46.63 trillion won (US$ 42.90 billion) trade volume for offline retailers, sales through foreign online retailers in 2014 reached 1.66 trillion (US$ 1.54 billion), which resulted in combined overall online sales 46.90 trillion won (US$ 43.14 billion).

    The figures are due to aggressive marketing strategies from local online retailers to boost Korean online sales – such as G-Market, Auction, 11st Street and Interpark, and large growth rates for social commerce companies such as Ticket Monster, Coupang and Wemap. 11st Street, one of the most successful online shopping portals, saw its trade volume surpass 5 trillion won (US$ 4.6 billion) in 2013, six years after its launch.

    The total trade volume through department stores decreased 1.9 per cent to 29.23 trillion won (US$ 26.88 billion) compared to last year.

    Although department stores and large retailers have been trying to attract customers by holding sales and the improving quality the merchandise on their shelves, their sales have continued to decrease. Lotte, Hyundai and Shinsegae Department Stores saw their March sales decrease 1 per cent, 0.8 per cent and 1.3 per cent year-on-year.

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  • Robinsons expands loyalty card program

    Robinsons expands loyalty card program

    Filipino retailer Robinsons Retail Holdings expects to boost the ranks of its loyalty program membership beyond 1 million by the year’s end after forging a new partneship with Caltex.

    Robinsons, the Philippines second largest retail group, says its Robinsons Rewards Card membership has grown rapidly throughout the last year to about 850,000 now. At the current growth rate, it is on track to reach the new milestone within this year.

    RRHI president and COO Robina Gokongwei-Pe said a new  partnership with Chevron Philippines (Caltex), will help build critical mass. It is the first non-Robinson retail brand to join the program.

    Robinsons Rewards Card holders can now earn points through purchasing fuel and other products at Caltex stations and points can be redeemed and used as a discount card to 21 Robinsons Retail brands as well as in Caltex stations nationwide.

    The other Robinsons Retail brands are Robinsons Department Store, Robinsons Supermarket, Robinsons Selections, Robinsons Easymart, Robinsons Appliances, Toys “R” Us, Handyman, True Value, AM Builders Depot, Daiso Japan, Topshop, Topman, Dorothy Perkinsm Miss Selfridge, Warehouse, River Island, Shana, G2000, Shiseido, and Benefit.

  • Fashion-conscious can rejoice as online retailer Zalora promises to absorb Malaysia’s GST

    Fashion-conscious can rejoice as online retailer Zalora promises to absorb Malaysia’s GST

    Online fashion retailer Zalora has promised to absorb the 6% goods and services tax (GST) on all its items if customers use a special voucher code.

    Overall, it said that its prices would be lower by 5%, even with GST, because it was only raising the prices on its website by less than 1%.

    “We decided to go all in, with the new ‘GSTOFF’ voucher, prices on Zalora will be lower than they were before GST,” the online retailer’s managing director for Malaysia Giulio Xiloyannis said in a statement today.

    “Not only has Zalora decided not to increase its prices by the 6% new GST levels, with prices pre-voucher rising less than 1% across the whole website, (we) decided to also apply a storewide 6% discount available to all customers, hence actually lowering prices for all by 5% compared to pre-GST prices,” he added.

    “GSTOFF” is an online voucher that will be activated March 31, a day before the GST takes effect on a broad range of goods as part of Putrajaya’s move to increase government revenue.

    “It will be guaranteed by Zalora for the whole month of April 2015,” said Xiloyannis.

    He said the voucher would apply to all Zalora in-house labels and international brands, and to 90% of the other brands on the online retailer.

    The fashion retailer joins local hypermarket chain Mydin as one of the few retailers so far who have announced that they will absorb the GST

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  • WeChat makes e-commerce push to serve growing users in Indonesia

    WeChat makes e-commerce push to serve growing users in Indonesia

    The developers of the popular multi-platform messaging app WeChat have rolled out an e-commerce offering through the app to tap the boom in the number of Indonesians using smartphones and engaging in online transactions.

    The app now offers a new feature called Official Account, which provides digital marketing platforms for companies that makes it easy to promote information and services to customers through the application.

    Through these features, WeChat users can reserve a hotel room, order a take-out meal, sign up for a coupon program, or carry out a financial transaction, according to Benny Ho, the Hong Kong-based director of business development at Tencent, the Chinese internet giant behind WeChat. Ho said the possibilities were “limitless”, depending on what service a company wanted to provide to its customers.

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  • Convenience stores in Taiwan look at mobile app potential

    Convenience stores in Taiwan look at mobile app potential

    Two major convenience store chains in Taiwan are trying to introduce mobile apps to give customers access to a greater range of services and boost sales as e-commerce could soon revolutionize the convenience store industry.

    President Chain Store Corp, which operates Taiwan’s largest convenience store chain, said it is currently building a big data and cloud computing system and developing omnichannel payment solutions. These solutions, including ibon, icash 2.0 and iChannel digital media platforms, will enable delivery of products ordered online through its 5,000 outlets, the company said.

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  • Lazada sees healthy online retail growth

    Lazada sees healthy online retail growth

    Thailand’s online retail market is expected to grow by up to eight times in the coming years, the same pace as China’s.

    The proliferation of inexpensive mobile devices and the growing number of internet users will be the main contributors.

    Riccardo Basile, chief executive of online shopping mall Lazada Thailand, said the local online retail market excluding food and travel would account for 1 percent to 1.5 percent of the country’s retail market this year.

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  • Flipkart to create 2 million jobs in 2015

    Flipkart to create 2 million jobs in 2015

    Indian leading e-commerce company Flipkart on Wednesday said it would directly and indirectly create about two million jobs in 2015 through its marketplace and ancillary services.

    Among other segments, logistics and warehousing would be key employment generators, the company said. In 2014, the e-commerce industry created about half a million jobs, according to Flipkart.

    The Bengaluru-based company employs about 33,000 people. Earlier this week, Flipkart said it planned to double the size of its technology team in 2015 to 2,000.

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  • New stores, eCommerce drive Gome growth

    New stores, eCommerce drive Gome growth

    China’s Gome Electrical Appliances boosted online sales by 84 per cent last year helping fuel a 43.5 per cent boost in annual profit.

    The full year surplus was 1.28 billion yuan, (US$206.2 million).

    The booming online operation is clearly still growing with a quarter on quarter sales boost of 117 per cent in the three months to December 31.

    At the same time, Gome says it continued to refurbish its bricks and mortar store network and revamp its supply chain, procurement and distribution operations.

    In annual figures released Monday, Gome said it continues to pursue its goal of becoming an ‘Open Omni-channel Retailer’ by optimising its open supply chain platform, driving further improvements in the areas of procurement, logistics, information system and financial services, and building an open omni-channel platform encompassing ‘online + offline + mobile terminal + other socialised channels’.

    “The group has managed to provide cross-regional and cross-channel full services to consumers as a whole. The launch of this strategic transformation, supported by the low-cost highly-efficient open supply chain, has enabled the group to achieve year-on-year growth in key financial indicators for eight consecutive quarters and increase its operating efficiency,” the company said in a statement.

    As well as renovating 100 existing stores, Gome continued its push into tier 2 markets, strengthened partnerships with supermarkets and department stores and promoted its eCommerce development. Last year it opened 145 new stores, 78 of them in tier 2 cities. A further 154 concessions were opened.

  • Zara Asia boosts online presence

    Zara Asia boosts online presence

    Spain’s Inditex Group is expanding its online shopping reach in Asia as it builds the profile of its brands in the region.

    Last year, flagship brand Zara added a South Korea store to its existing stores in Japan and China.

    And the company opened online stores for three of its other brands in China: for Pull&Bear, Massimo Dutti and Bershka.

    In the year ahead, the group says it will add online storefronts in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.

    Inditex owns the Zara, Zara Home, Pull&Bear, Bershka, Oysho, Stradivarius, Massimo Dutti and Uterque brands.

    Last year the company said online sales growth was positive and that it was committed to progressively rolling out an eCommerce offer in markets where it had a presence.

    Earlier this month, Inditex’s Singapore partner Al-Futtaim Group announced it would open a bricks and mortar store in Changi international airport.

     

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  • Six percent of Apple Pay purchases believed to be fraudulent

    Six percent of Apple Pay purchases believed to be fraudulent

    When Apple introduced its pay-by-smartphone feature last year , the company touted the simplicity of the setup. All shoppers needed to do was wave their iPhones in front of a special scanner at the cash register – no need to fumble through pockets and purses for plastic cards or identification.

    But a sharp rise in reports of fraudulent Apple Pay transactions is now raising questions about the security of the first mobile payment system to find a measure of popular success. One payments analyst, Cherian Abraham, estimated that as many as 6 per cent of Apple Pay purchases are completed with stolen credit cards, or 60 times the rate of the old-fashioned plastic swipe.

    The problem is Apple Pay may be too simple to set up, security analysts said. Fraudsters have been loading stolen cards onto iPhones to buy things in shops. As it turns out, it may have been better if Apple Pay required users to do more to prove their identities when they sign up for the service, these experts said.

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  • HK shopping mall partners with Variably to launch automated price negotiation system

    Hong Kong shopping mall The Arcade, Cyeberport has partners with a tech startup Variably to launch a personalised automated price negotiation system accessible via WeChat and QR Code Scan, allowing retailers and customers to negotiate the best possible price that is satisfactory for both.

    By scanning at the QR code of your favourite items with WeChat app, shopper can direct contact the retailer and negotiate the best possible price privately and automatically.

    In retail commerce, prices are fixed and cannot be negotiated. That has often left customers passively waiting for discounts, or skipping purchases altogether. For a seller, this is a tricky situation: set a price too low and they’ll lose profits; set the price too high, and risk losing customers. Finding the right price has proved to be a major challenge.

    The price negotiation platform empowers users to bargain the best possible price privately and automatically, breaking the traditional mold of retail operations and giving buyers and shoppers an innovative and efficient way to negotiate.

    A tenant at Cyberport, Variably is founded by a team of experts in the field of data, statistics, and computing. They are the only non-Chinese team included in Alibaba’s Baichuan developer services, with seed funding of more than USD900,000.

    In a pioneering move, the system will be available from now on to 15 April to give shoppers the chance to experience the future of interactive commerce.

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  • UnionPay joins hands with 80 airport duty free shops to expand cardholder privileges

    UnionPay joins hands with 80 airport duty free shops to expand cardholder privileges

    UnionPay International, a unit of China UnionPay Co Ltd, said on Friday that it launched a new privilege program featuring special discounts at 80 duty free shops in 70 airports by partnering with 16 world-renowned duty free groups. Holders of UnionPay cards (card number starting with 62) are able to enjoy exclusive discounts of at least 5 percent while shopping at the airport.

    “As China becomes the world’s second largest tourism source country, we’re keeping up with the trends that individual and in-depth tours have become more popular to continuously enrich our global cardholder privilege system,” said Dong Li, Chief Branding Officer of UnionPay International.

    “Airport duty free shops are must-visit shopping sites for many during their travel, we wish to provide both domestic and overseas cardholders with better card-using experiences at airports around the world by rolling out the latest privilege program.”

    The program is an upgrade of the one of last year that features exclusive discounts at 60 airport duty free shops with many highlights.

    It covers a wide range including popular destinations such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East. A total of 17 airports among the top 20 global ones in terms of passenger flow participate in the program.

    Cardholders can enjoy discounts of at least 5 percent. In the meantime, the program covers the Labour Day and the summer vacation during which Chinese tourists prefer to travel. Around 30 percent of the duty free shops, including those in Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, Toronto Pearson International Airport and Ngurah Rai International Airport, will extend the offers to the end of 2015.

    A large number of new merchants are involved. International airports in emerging tourist destinations including Russia, Italy, Qatar, South Africa, Finland, Belgium and Fiji participate for the first time. UnionPay International also offers privileges in 5 domestic airport duty free shops in Guangzhou, Hangzhou and Kunming to overseas UnionPay cardholders.

    Currently, the overseas UnionPay acceptance network has expanded to 150 countries and regions. UnionPay cards are accepted by 26 million merchants and 1.8 million ATMs worldwide. UnionPay has become the preferred payment service provider of Chinese outbound tourists. Since last year, UnionPay International has launched privilege programs featuring discounts at airport duty free shops, core business districts and tourist destinations.

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