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Category: General

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

  • Zhongshuge Minhang bookstore announces grand book hall

    Zhongshuge Minhang bookstore announces grand book hall

    new bookstore in Shanghai’s Minhang District has been featured on designboom.com for its remarkable design.

    The Zhongshuge Minhang store was created by Chinese architectural firm X+living and installed in a third-floor business park location. The store features a black book wall with groups of peg-top bookshelves under a soft light, as well as a text-covered curtain wall with balanced geometric bookshelves inspired by spinning ballet dancers.

    The store’s grand book hall features bookshelves stretched outwards on both sides towards a mirrored ceiling with symmetrical designs resembling a British church. Low-profile reading booths allow visitors to enjoy private and quiet escapes during their reading.

    Readers may buy a cup of coffee while reading their selected books in an atmosphere that emphasizes the beauty of books and reflects a cultured and multidimensional design vision.

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  • International economy seeks master franchisees in Indonesia

    International economy seeks master franchisees in Indonesia

    Indonesia’s economy is projected to be three times the size of Australia’s by 2030 – and the GDP of the world’s most-populous Muslim population will rise from $3.2 trillion to $10.1 trillion by the same year*.

    Those figures are driving top international franchise businesses to seek master franchisees in Indonesia.

    The nation already has the largest market for foodservice in ASEAN, and with a fast-rising middle class and even faster growth in middle-class incomes, there continue to be significant changes in lifestyles.

    “The prospects for food franchises in Indonesia look very good as Indonesia continues to outpace many of its neighbors in ASEAN,” says Sean T Ngo, CEO of VF Franchise Consulting, who will be hosting a series of one-on-one meetings between international franchisors and local prospective partners on Friday (September 13).

    “A recent study by Nielsen showed that 11 percent of Indonesians eat out at least once a day, which is higher than the global average of 9 percent. Another lifestyle change supporting the growth of the food franchise sector is a growing trend among workers in big cities is to work long hours either due to obligation or to avoid traffic jams.

    “Thus, the practical solution for eating dinner is to eat out more often and closer to their workplaces. This fact is supported by the Nielsen study mentioned earlier with eating out occurrences being higher in Indonesia than the rest of the world.”

    Trends like these are fuelling growth in Indonesia Food Service Industry by 7.06 percent on a compounded annual growth rate basis, between last year and 2023.

    There are already more than 700 franchise businesses operating nearly 30,000 outlets across Indonesia. Most of these are in foodservice and located in Java, primarily Jakarta, West Java, and East Java provinces. Approximately 400 of the 700 are foreign franchisors, while the rest are local brands.

    Among the top international businesses to seek master franchisees in Indonesia that VF Consulting will introduce to prospective partners this week are:

    • Little Caesars, known for its Hot-N-Ready pizza and Crazy Bread, is the world’s largest carryout-only pizza chain with locations in eight Canadian provinces, all 50 US states along with 26 other countries and territories worldwide.
    • Mango Tree, one of the world’s best-known Thai culinary lifestyle brands, serving contemporary Thai cuisine.
    • Coca, a pioneer in the hotpot-restaurant sector, serving nutritional Thai and Chinese a-la-carte dishes, seafood and the signature hotpot with a variety of broths.
    • Mango Chili, a fun, vibrant social dining space where groups of friends and families can enjoy simple, easy yet original Thai street food.
    • The Belgian Waffle Co, which in just four years has grown to more than 210 outlets in 55 Indian cities and Nepal.
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  • Lululemon launches free coursed for store managers

    Lululemon launches free coursed for store managers

    Lululemon is partnering with Swinburne University of Technology to offer a free diploma of business for store managers, regional managers and training managers.

    The course, which Lululemon is fully funding, is comprised of eight units covering personal skills for leaders, HR and staff management, marketing, operations, finance, and strategic skills.

    The units have been adapted from Swinburne’s existing course, so content can be immediately applied to participants’ day-to-day work at Lululemon, and employees are able to take the 18-month course on a 21-month time-frame to focus on their business during the busy peak trading period in Q4.

    Lululemon Australia and New Zealand managing director Paul Tinkler said the course provides an opportunity for its team leaders to develop long-term retail careers.

    “The course reinforces the skills they already demonstrate and addresses any potential gaps in their learning, setting them up for success over the long term,” Tinkler said.

    The move follows a similar partnership between Battery World and TAFE institutions in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria to make it easier for staff to earn a Certificate II qualification in auto electric technology.

    The franchisor worked with TAFE to develop an accelerated course that takes into account the practical tasks staff do in-store on a daily basis and offers classes outside of normal office hours, so employees can continue working while earning the qualification.

    Battery World expects the tailored courses to lead to an increase in the number of qualified employees in its franchise network and higher staff retention rates, as employees get the opportunity to upskill and feel more valued.

    “We know that employees who feel valued and are given the chance to extend their knowledge tend to want to stick with an employer,” Coralee Haskew, Battery World’s operations trainer said.

    “It’s not just younger staff who want to extend their skills. We have younger and older staff who want to grow their strength in the business. It’s not just a millennial thing.”

    The Lululemon x Swinburne diploma of business was offered for the first time this year, with a total of 14 eligible managers commencing study in March. They are expected to graduate at the end of October 2020.

    Intake will occur yearly and will be available to Lululemon store managers, regional managers and training managers who have been with the business for a minimum of 12 months.

    Following the successful completion of the course, students are eligible to apply for an undergraduate degree with up to eight credits. Store managers who successfully complete the course and have three years of full-time employment will be granted entry into Swinburne’s graduate certificate of business administration, which leads directly into a master of business administration.

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  • Sigma half-year profit falls on restructure costs

    Sigma half-year profit falls on restructure costs

    Sigma Healthcare half-year profit tumbled 81.2 percent to $2.52 million, due to reduced input from its expiring Chemist Warehouse supply deal, as well as one-off restructuring costs tied to the commencement of its transformation program.

    The pharmaceutical retailer, which runs Amcal, Chemist King, Discount Drug Stores, Guardian pharmacies and PharmaSave, said on Thursday revenue fell 4.1 percent to $1.88 billion in the first half of FY20, while EBITDA fell 19.8 percent to $25.3 million.

    Shares in the business had fallen more than 3 percent on Friday morning to 58 cents per share.

    Sigma’s restructuring efforts have so far seen approximately 370 staff members removed, after closing its Shepparton, Newcastle and Launceston distribution centers.

    “We are… very aware of the personal impact such a transformation can have on our people and customers,” Sigma chief executive Mark Hooper said in a note to investors.

    “We have implemented a number of communication and change management programs to support those who are unfortunately impacted, and to ensure focus and resilience to drive our business.”

    According to Hooper, Sigma is entering a growth phase, though expects the ongoing progress of Project Pivot to see underlying EBITDA for FY20 hit the lower end of the previously stated guidance of $55 to $60 million.

    FY21 will remain in line with previous expectations of 10 percent growth, however.

    “Sigma’s fundamentals remain in strong shape as well continue to implement the changes to deliver sustainable benefits for our business medium to longer-term,” Hooper said.

    “We have made good progress on our business transformation program, and we are on track to deliver the $100+ million efficiency gains in line with previous guidance.”

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  • Chinese discount merchandise chain Miniso plans 100 stores in Australia

    Chinese discount merchandise chain Miniso plans 100 stores in Australia

    Chinese discount merchandise chain Miniso says it expects to have 100 stores trading in Australia by the end of next year.

    “Australia is a key country in the world for the rapid expansion of Miniso,” said Miniso Australia VP Richard Li.

    “Our chain of stores opened in Australia include outlets in some of the country’s top shopping centers, including Chadstone in Melbourne and Westfield Parramatta, with a further 68 openings planned over the next 15 months.”

    So far the company has 32 stores trading Down Under. It recently reached the 100-market milestone in its global rollout program. It has 3869 stores open worldwide, and last year posted turnover of US$2.5 billion.

    Miniso has just launched a range of up to 600 lines of Marvel merchandise.

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  • Vietnam’s Vingroup buys Queensland mart

    Vietnam’s Vingroup buys Queensland mart

    Vietnamese business empire Vingroup has acquired local supermarket business Queenland Mart via its retail unit Vincommerce.

    The move will expand the firm’s retail market share, following its recent purchase of the Shop&Go convenience store chain that brought 87 new locations under Vingroup’s wingspan. Queenland Mart has eight stores located in the city’s more affluent neighborhoods. The stores will now be rebranded as Vinmart outlets, as were the 23 Fivimart stores the group acquired last year.

    Following the deal, Vingroup has 120 Vinmart supermarkets and 2122 retail locations in total. The conglomerate is targeting 200 supermarkets and 4000 retail outlets by next year.

    The financial terms of the deal remain undisclosed.

     

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  • Google Assistant adds new WhatsApp integrations

    Google Assistant adds new WhatsApp integrations

    WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app in the world, although in the U.S. it is third. No matter how you slice it, the Facebook-owned app is extremely popular. And so is Google Assistant. The virtual digital assistant can send text messages through WhatsApp (just say “O.K. Google, send WhatsApp message”) which comes in handy if you are sending a message that you want encrypted. Of course, the recipient of your message must be a WhatsApp member.

    But suppose you want to make a video or voice call using Assistant? Well, it used to be that video calls would automatically go through Duo or even Hangouts. Voice calls simply go through your carrier’s network. But as we pointed out, WhatsApp has a lot of pull. Remember, Facebook paid $21 billion for the messaging app in a deal that closed in 2014. So today Google announced that Assistant will now make voice calls and video calls through the WhatsApp Android app.

    To make a video call through WhatsApp, you can say “Hey Google, WhatsApp video John.” Google didn’t say how to initiate a voice call, but we would guess that it would go something like “Hey Google, WhatsApp call John.” Unfortunately, Google doesn’t go into great details about this with its announcement today, and neither WhatsApp video calls or voice calls worked for us. It could be that Google jumped the gun and let the cat out of the bag too early, or the new WhatsApp integrations are slowly rolling out to Android phones. Regardless, it is the little touches like this that help make Google Assistant the most useful of smartphone-based virtual helpers.

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  • Cost-cutting, focus on profitable sales drive ‘modest improvement Myer

    Cost-cutting, focus on profitable sales drive ‘modest improvement Myer

    Myer saw a “modest improvement” in its first full year under CEO and managing director John King’s turnaround plan, despite challenging trading conditions in the second half which tempered some of the department store’s first-half gains.

    Most of the improvement came from reduced costs, primarily rent and wages, rather than an increase in sales, with roughly $33 million cut out of the business over the year ended June 30, 2019.

    Total sales fell 3.5 percent year on year to $2.99 billion in FY19, and comparable-store sales were down 2.9 percent.

    Excluding sales in Apple products, which Myer exited in May, comparable store sales were down 1.3 percent. Both total sales and comparable store sales fell at roughly the same rate as they did in FY18.

    An increased focus on profitable sales, including a shift in the sales mix away from concessions and towards Myer ‘exclusive brands’, contributed to an improvement in operating gross profit margin 38.85 per cent, up 65 basis points year on year. Operating gross profit was $1.2 billion, down 1.9 per cent year on year.

    Excluding implementation costs and individually significant items related to redundancies and lease provisions, Myer posted a 7.2 percent improvement in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization.

    Net profit after tax was up 2.2 per cent year on year to $33.2 million.

    King made it clear during an earnings call with analysts and investors that the department store is sticking to the customer-first plan he laid out last September.

    “We will continue to focus on the customer, we’ll continue to deliver against this plan in the best interest of our customers and shareholders,” King said on the call on Thursday.

    “The plan we started is a plan we’re delivering against today, and will be the plan we’ll be delivering against in the coming months.”

    King also announced the appointment of Tony Carr as the company’s new executive general manager of supply chain. Carr was previously head of logistics at ASOS.

  • AirAsia India Airbus A320 Aborts Takeoff Due To Dog On The Runway

    AirAsia India Airbus A320 Aborts Takeoff Due To Dog On The Runway

    An AirAsia Airbus A320-200 aborted its take-off on Sunday (01/09/19) due to a dog appearing on the runway. The flight from Goa to Delhi was delayed by 50 minutes while the aircraft’s braking systems were checked.

    Reports Aviation Herald, Flight I5-778 was cleared to take off at around 08:25 local time. The A320 (registration VT-IXC) began rolling but its crew was instructed to abort a few seconds later. The A320 rejected the take-off at a relatively low speed and returned to the apron.

    Following normal procedure, the flight crew assessed the effect of the aborted take-off on the aircraft’s systems. After 50 minutes the plane was again cleared to take-off, and this time did so successfully.

    Flight I5-778 landed at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport just 30 minutes behind schedule. Writes News in Flight, a spokesman for Goa airport said,

    Goa’s Dabolim civilian airport operates within an Indian military base called INS Hansa. The airport is jointly used by civilian and military jets. With over seven million passengers passing through the terminal each year the airport’s airside aprons suffer severe congestion.

    A second airport is in the process of being built in Mopa, north of Dabolim. The Indian government intends this airport to become the main civilian hub for Goa’s burgeoning tourist trade, thereby easing congestion at GOI.

    Dabolim will continue to receive civilian passengers.

    An investment in the old airport of around Rs.4 Bn (US$60 million) is set to improve the passenger facilities by the provision of a larger terminal and more adequate parking. Whether the expansion works will also include better perimeter security is yet to be seen.

    The sight of dogs on Indian runways is all too common. In 2018, the Directorate of Civil Aviation identified at least 20 airports that were at risk of canine incursions. At all 20 of these sites, animals could enter freely through perimeter barriers.

    Passenger safety at these sites was deemed to be compromised by the number of animals accessing the operational areas.

    On August 13th, a similar incident at Goa was reported by Aviation Herald. This time an Air India Airbus aborted its landing due to the pilot’s reporting a group of dogs on the runway.

    The flight crew of the A320-200N Flight AI-33 from Mumbai to Goa performed a go-around due to the animals being on the ground, although the Tower Controller did not see the dogs. The aircraft landed safely on the second attempt.

    History: What Happened To Singapore Airlines Boeing 747’s?

    According to reports, there are an estimated 200 dogs in the vicinity of the airfield.

    In response to public concern about the safety of passengers arriving and departing at Goa, the AAI revealed their intention to be more pro-active.

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  • AirAsia X orders 42 new long-haul Airbus jets

    AirAsia X orders 42 new long-haul Airbus jets

    AirAsia X, the long-haul part of the AirAsia Group, has now finalized a major order with Airbus for 12 more A330-900 and 30 A321XLR aircraft.

    The contract was signed today by Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz, chairman of AirAsia X, along with Guillaume Faury, CEO of Airbus, in KL, in the presence of Mahathir Mohamad, the Malaysian PM.

    Tony Fernandes, the CEO of the AirAsia Group, says the two aircraft are the perfect equipment for long-haul, low-cost operations.

    “This order reaffirms our selection of the A330neo as the most efficient choice for our future wide-body fleet. In addition, the A321XLR offers the longest flying range of any single aisle aircraft and will enable us to introduce services to new destinations.”

    Aziz says the order showed the airlines’ commitment to long haul air travel.

    “This will move our long-haul service sectors up to a higher level and allow AirAsia X to look at expanding beyond the eight-hour flight radius, such as to Europe for example.”

    The new contract increases the number of A330neo (new engine option) aircraft ordered by AirAsia X to 78, reaffirming the carrier’s status as the largest airline customer for the type. Meanwhile, the A321XLR (long range) order sees the wider AirAsia Group strengthen its position as the world’s largest airline customer for the A320 “family”, having now ordered a total of 622 aircraft.

    AirAsia X currently operates a fleet of 36 A330-300s on services to points within the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East. In addition, in August the first A330neo joined the fleet of AirAsia’s Bangkok-based long haul affiliate, AirAsia X Thailand. The aircraft is the first of two leased A330neos joining the airline’s Thai affiliate by the end of the year.

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  • Oracle Cloud Accelerates Expansion to Bring Infrastructure to Customers

    Oracle Cloud Accelerates Expansion to Bring Infrastructure to Customers

    To support its customers around the world, Oracle today announced, at the annual Oracle OpenWorld, that it plans to launch 20 new Oracle Cloud regions by the end of 2020, for a total of 36 Oracle Cloud Infrastructure regions. This expansion includes regions in new countries and dual, geographically separated regions in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, U.K., EU, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and new government regions in the U.K. and Israel. In addition, Oracle is announcing updates to its roadmap for its interconnect with Microsoft Azure.
    More customers and partners can harness the power of Oracle Cloud to unlock innovation and drive business growth. With these dual regions, customers can deploy both production and disaster recovery capacity within their country or jurisdiction to meet business continuity and compliance requirements. Customers will now have access to all Oracle Cloud Infrastructure services including Oracle Autonomous Database; as well as Oracle Fusion Applications, in these regions.

    “Enterprise customers worldwide require geographically distributed regions for true business continuity, disaster protection and regional compliance requirements. Multiple availability domains within a region will not address this issue,” said Don Johnson, EVP, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. “Unlike other cloud providers, Oracle is committed to offer a second region for disaster recovery in every country where we launch Oracle Cloud Infrastructure services, a strategy that’s aligned with our customers’ needs.”

    Oracle Cloud has opened 12 regions in the past year and currently operates 16 regions globally—11 commercial and five government—the fastest expansion by any major cloud provider.
    Available regions include:

    • Americas: Phoenix, Ashburn, Toronto, Sao Paolo
    • Europe: Frankfurt, London, Zurich
    • Asia: Tokyo, Seoul, Mumbai, Sydney
    • Government: two U.S. Government regions, three U.S. DoD regions

    Rapid expansion in commercial and government regions
    Oracle expects to open an average of one region every 23 days over the next 15 months for a total of 20 additional regions (17 commercial and three government). As planned, 11 of the countries or jurisdictions served by local cloud regions will have two or more regions to facilitate in-country or in-jurisdiction disaster recovery capabilities. Oracle’s Gen 2 Cloud Infrastructure makes this possible through highly-optimized region deployment technologies, which can implement an entire software defined data center and customer-facing cloud services in days.
    Oracle Cloud is scheduled to build new cloud regions in the U.S. (Bay Area, CA), Canada (Montreal), Brazil (Belo Horizonte), U.K. (Newport, Wales), European Union (Amsterdam), Japan (Osaka), Australia (Melbourne), India (Hyderabad), South Korea (Chuncheon), Singapore, Israel, South Africa, Chile, two in Saudi Arabia and two in the United Arab Emirates. Oracle also intends to open two regions for usage by the U.K. Government and one for the Government of Israel.
    Microsoft Interconnect expansion in new locations, including government regions
    Oracle is expanding its regions interconnected with Microsoft Azure. Since June 2019, Oracle has announced two commercial regions that are interconnected with Microsoft Azure—Ashburn and London. In the next few quarters, it is globally expanding the interconnect to U.S. West, Asia and Europe. Similar to commercial regions, Oracle Cloud and Microsoft Azure will extend their interoperability into government regions. This will now enable joint Oracle and Microsoft government customers to more easily move applications to the cloud, preserving their existing technology investments while taking advantage of next generation cloud native technologies.

    Oracle Cloud meets needs of the enterprise

    “As the cloud is now being used by enterprises globally for more mission-critical workloads, Oracle is demonstrating that its enterprise-grade credentials are resonating with customers, leading to a combination of customer retention and growth. According to Oracle it is seeing more and more existing customers committing to the Oracle Cloud, as well as growth in new customers moving to the Oracle Cloud,” said Roy Illsley, distinguished analyst, infrastructure solutions, Ovum. “Oracle’s aggressive global data center expansion plan is helping in its growth. With its reputation for reliability, high performance and security, we believe Oracle is increasingly becoming an influential enterprise-class cloud provider.”

    Today, Oracle is the only company delivering a complete and integrated set of cloud services and building intelligence into every layer of the cloud: from cloud infrastructure, to tools for application development and integration, to cloud applications for finance, enterprise resource planning, customer experience, and analytics. Oracle Autonomous Database and Oracle Analytics, and platform services for application development and integration will be available in these regions. Oracle Fusion Applications now run on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure in five data center regions, and will be available in all global regions within a few months after each region’s launch. This will be the most distributed cloud application platform in the market, able to satisfy in-country and in-jurisdiction data sovereignty requirements. Customers requiring integration between Oracle Cloud Applications and on-premise applications will also benefit from the global availability of cloud-based integration services.

    Specifically architected to meet the needs of the enterprise, Oracle’s Generation 2 Cloud offers customers a compelling array of advanced Cloud Services. With Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, customers benefit from best-in-class security, consistent high performance, simple predictable pricing, and the tools and expertise needed to bring enterprise workloads to cloud quickly and efficiently.

  • Walmart cuts back ammunition sales

    Walmart cuts back ammunition sales

    US department store chain Walmart has taken a stand on gun sales in the United States, announcing it will no longer sell handgun and certain rifle ammunition, as well as finalizing its exit from handgun sales by discontinuing sales in Alaska.

    The decision comes after 22 people were killed in a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, as well as further killings in Dayton, Ohio, and Midland and Odessa, Texas, with Walmart chief executive Doug McMillion stating it was clear the status quo was unacceptable.

    “We know these decisions will inconvenience some of our customers, and we hope they will understand,” McMillion wrote in a letter to associates.

    “Our remaining assortment will be even more focused on the needs of hunting and sport shooting enthusiasts. It will include long barrel deer rifles and shotguns, much of the ammunition they require, as well as hunting and sport accessories and apparel.”

    While Walmart’s short-barrel rifle ammunition range is more commonly used in hunting rifles, it can be fed into larger capacity clips for use in military-style weapons.

    According to McMillion, the follow on effect of this decision would likely result in a loss of market share in the ammunition space, from Walmart’s current 20 percent to approximately 6 to 9 percent.

    McMillion also expressed intentions to send letters to the White House and the Congressional leadership, pushing for stronger background checks, and to remove weapons from those who have been determined to be dangerous.

    “As we’ve seen before, these horrific events occur and then the spotlight fades. We should not allow that to open,” McMillion said.

    “In a complex situation lacking a simple solution, we are trying to take constructive steps to reduce the risk that events like these happen again.”

    Additionally, after open carrying customers brandished firearms in a way that frightened or concerned staff and customers around them, McMillion has asked customers to no longer openly carry firearms into Walmarts and Sam’s Club stores with open carry laws – unless they are authorized law enforcement officers.

    “We believe the opportunity for someone to misinterpret a situation, even in open carry states, could lead to tragic results,” McMillion said.

    “We hope that everyone will understand the circumstances that led to this new policy and will respect the concerns of their fellow shoppers and our associates.”

    The business has faced immense pressure to take a stand on the issue, and remove firearms from its physical stores, following the El Paso shooting.

    According to CNN Business several presidential candidates, the American Federation of Teachers, as well as gun safety groups have all pressed the retailer.

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  • Costco China plans more store openings

    Costco China plans more store openings

    Within days of opening its first warehouse store, Costco China is already talking about its plans to expand the new network.

    As happens in many new market Costco enters, the new Shanghai store grew thousands of people, some of who queued for hours to shop, and then check out, while others spent a similar time in their cars circling the suburb seeking somewhere to park. In the afternoon, the store was closed due to crowding.

    Costco CFO Richard Galanti confirmed with analysts a second store is already in advanced planning and he hopes construction will start as soon as possible.

    The first store opened on August 27 in Shanghai’s Minghang district. It followed a four-year program by Costco to build brand awareness among local consumers through a presence on Alibaba’s Tmall Global. The company has a target of signing up at least 100,000 members to make the venture viable.

    While Costco expected to draw large crowds to the opening, the sheer numbers exceeded even the company’s most optimistic projections. A record number of customer membership registrations were taken for an opening day, however Galanti did not release the actual number.

    Costco China is looking to establish a beachhead in Shanghai before expanding into other tier-one cities.

    Trade tensions between China and the US appear not to be affecting the store’s early success, with Costco switching sourcing of some products from the US to Australian suppliers.

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  • Lucasfilm to launch LEGO Star Wars Battles mobile game

    Lucasfilm to launch LEGO Star Wars Battles mobile game

    To be successful, you’ll have to collect and upgrade characters and vehicles, build LEGO towers to combat, defend and capture territory, as well as create both light and dark side armies.

    LEGO Star Wars Battles includes heroes and villains that have never been featured in any other LEG Star Wars game, such as Rey and Kylo Ren, the First Order’s BB-9E, and a Duros rebel trooper inspired by Star Wars Battlefront.

    There will be more than 40 units featuring characters, vehicles, and troops from Star Wars films and animation that can be collected in LEGO Star Wars Battles. Now, the bad news is the game won’t be available any time soon, as Lucasfilm announced LEGO Star Wars Battles will be available in 2020 on the App Store and Google Play, so we’ll just have to wait at six months.

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  • Nearly 70 Percent of Singaporeans Registered to National E-Payment System

    Nearly 70 Percent of Singaporeans Registered to National E-Payment System

    Singapore’s national e-payment system, «PayNow», currently boasts a nearly 70 percent penetration of the city-state’s population with monthly volumes exceeding S$1 billion, an MAS board member recently shared with parliament.

    Ong Ye Kung, minister of education and Monetary Authority of Singapore board member noted that take-up was «encouraging» with more than 65 percent of Singaporeans aged between 20 to 75 years old having already registered, representing 2.8 million accounts.

    Transaction volumes have also increased significantly. Two years ago, PayNow registered 150,000 transactions totaling S$24 million ($17 million) and in July this year, the figures rose to over 5 million and S$1 billion ($720 million), respectively.

    Despite PayNow’s success, Ong noted that Singapore made a conscious decision to keep the playing field open for all.

    «We made a deliberate decision not to have one player dominate the landscape and grow up very quickly,» he said, citing other channels like Apple or Google Pay.

    «Instead, we put in place the backbone infrastructure so that multiple providers can compete and innovate to increase consumer choice while encouraging interoperability. As a result, Singaporeans can now make e-payments in multiple ways which are simple, swift and secure.»

    Although corporate adoption has lagged its retail counterpart, Ong remains optimistic. Its corporate business currently serves entities representing half of the total unique entity number (UEN) issued in Singapore, an ID number required to interact with government agencies. It has 20 percent penetration rate of retail acceptance across hawker centers, supermarkets, healthcare and various F&B businesses.

    As a result, the ratio of cash and cheque’s relative usage to e-payments have decreased significantly. Cheques have fallen 8 percent per year over the past three years while the cash ratio dropped from 53 percent to 33 percent in the same period.

    When asked about pushing greater usage from banks, Ong agreed that the MAS should encourage the sector to promote PayNow corporates while also charging for cheques.

    «And I think having this carrot-and-stick, push-and-pull approach will continue to see higher take-up of pay now corporate,» he said.