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Category: Fashion

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

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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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  • Tiffany to improve lustre in emerging Asia

    Tiffany to improve lustre in emerging Asia

    Tiffany & Co., the world’s second largest jewellery retailer by sales aims to improve its lustre in emerging Asia, where demand for gold and gems appears to be insatiable.

    While Americans and Japanese remain the high-end brand’s biggest customers, their share of sales has fallen to a combined 62 percent, from over 80 percent a decade ago. Asian shoppers, excluding Japan, now account for 23 percent of Tiffany’s total net sales. The company’s jewellery sales have more than doubled to USD4 billion over the past 15 years.

    China, where the Nasdaq-listed firm owns 24 stores and plans to open three a year for the foreseeable future, is the biggest sales generator. But Tiffany is not forsaking Japan.

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  • Wumei seals majority stake in B&Q China

    Wumei seals majority stake in B&Q China

    Beijing based supermarket chain Wumei Holdings will pay CNY1.4 billion (USD225 million) for a majority stake in home decorating chain B&Q China whose parent Kingfisher failed to spur growth in the home decoration market in the world’s second-largest economy.

    The all-cash takeover will be subject to approval from China’s Ministry of Commerce, and is set to complete in the first half of 2015, Kingfisher said in a statement yesterday.

    Xu Zhicheng, an analyst with Guotai Junan Securities, said Wumei could leverage its overall data management system and dealers’ network within the country to boost B&Q’s performance.

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  • Gucci to check Chinese suppliers after TV exploitation charges

    Gucci to check Chinese suppliers after TV exploitation charges

    Italian fashion house Gucci said on Monday it would strengthen controls on its suppliers after a television program showed Chinese employees working more than three times their official hours to assemble its handbags.

    The head of a Gucci subcontractor told an investigative program broadcast by RAI state television on Sunday that Gucci was aware it irregularly employed Chinese workers.

    Aroldo Guidotti of subcontractor Mondo Libero (Free World) said the employees toiled away for as long as 14 hours a day, while they were supposed to work only for four hours, to assemble handbags that he sold to Gucci for EUR24 (USD29).

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  • Online sites expand in China’s rural areas

    Online sites expand in China’s rural areas

    Plagued by poor transport and less purchasing power, rural buyers remained mostly untouched by the wave of online shopping that swept across China in recent years. However, the situation is changing as the burgeoning market in villages has shown great potential and intrigued the country’s major e-commerce businesses.

    China’s leading e-commerce giants have stepped up expansion of online retail business in rural areas in hopes of tapping the new territory to offset a saturated urban market.

    JD.com Inc, a Nasdaq-listed firm, announced they would set up a county-level operating centre in Guangdong Province. The move followed the e-commerce giant’s decision to open a physical shop in a small county in north China’s Hebei Province in November to help farmers purchase home appliances via its online shopping store.

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  • Chinese shopping “agents” cash in on ruble slide

    Chinese shopping “agents” cash in on ruble slide

    Chinese workers and overseas students in Russia have been snapping up goods at low prices caused by the steep fall in Russian ruble rates before brands can adjust them.

    These shopping “agents”, knows as “daigou”, stockpile the products before selling them at a profit to buyers back home.

    These shopping agents are not new for Chinese shoppers, who often look abroad to buy luxury items to bypass steep import taxes at home.

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  • Emporium reopens USD91m makeover

    Emporium reopens USD91m makeover

    The Emporium shopping complex in Bangkok will fully open in March after a major renovation.

    Voralak Tulaphorn, senior vice-president for merchandising of The Mall Group, operator of the upscale shopping venue, said 95 percent of total space at the shopping centre had been reopened to customers since last Monday. Only the cinema zone remains closed.

    The company spent THB3 billion (USD91.3 million) to make over The Emporium over the past seven to eight months in anticipation of fiercer retail competition in the Pathumwan, Ratchaprasong and Sukhumvit areas next year.

  • HK Fashion Week to feature fashion talents, new trends

    HK Fashion Week to feature fashion talents, new trends

    The 21st HKTDC Hong Kong Fashion Week for Spring/Summer will feature more than 40 events, including fashion parades, seminars and forums and demo sessions that highlight new fashion talents and trends.

    The fashion parades will showcase established designers and brands, as well as new design talents and creative student works, while seminars and presentations are hosted by international trend forecasting agencies and local industry bodies.

    Ten house shows will be staged at the fair, and young designers are ready to show their creativity to international buyers.

    Fashionally Collection #3, will showcase 11 past winners and finalists of the Hong Kong Young Fashion Designers Contest, such as designs from Nelson Leung, the Overall Winner and Contemporary Day-Wear Group Winner this year.

    Four shows from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Design Institute and Hong Kong Raffles School of Continuing Education will be staged to highlight collections of student designers.

    Moreover, international beauty brand NARS Cosmetics will unveil its nail collaboration with famed fashion designer Philip Lim – the 3.1 Philip Lim for NARS Nail Collection includes nine limited edition nail shades inspired by the “colours that exist in the shadows”.

    NARS will also collaborate with three local young designers – namely Elizabeth Lin, Mim Mak and Mountain Yam and launch its new Dual-Intensity Eye Shadow at Hong Kong Fashion Week.

    Buyers interested to learn more on technology advancement in the apparel industry should not miss the introduction of RFID solutions for production efficiency and energy-saving and the seminar on making use of accredited testing to tap into the global market.

    Always evolving, Hong Kong Fashion Week for Spring/Summer adds Activewear & Sportswear and Cashmere & Wool to its zones lineup. As its name implies, the former offers functional apparel to cater for dynamic market demand; while the latter gathers exhibitors with a wide range of cashmere and wool made outfits.

    Meanwhile, the small-order zone expects to feature 150 garment racks and showcases for buyers who require low volume supplies.

    The Hong Kong Fashion Week for Spring/Summer is expected to attract around 1,200 exhibitors from 18 countries and regions, with first time exhibitors from Madagascar, Morocco and Thailand.