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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.

  • Thai AirAsia X flies to Tbilisi

    Thai AirAsia X flies to Tbilisi

    Thai AirAsia X will operate six Christmas and New Year scheduled charter flights to Tbilisi Georgia from its home base Bangkok Don Mueang airport.

    Bookings are mainly generated by Thai outbound travel agents promoting tour packages to Georgia for the festive season. Flights will use an Airbus A330-300 with 377 seats.

    Based on Airlineroute timetable information, the first flight will take off 25 December from Don Mueang Airport at 1455 arriving in Tbilisi at 2040.

    The remaining five flights depart from 28 December to 6 January.

    According to a report in GT Georgia Today news service, Thai AirAsia X carried out two test flights in October before it was awarded a permit by Georgia’s  Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development  on 27 November 27

    Wikipedia describes “Tbilisi the capital of the country of Georgia as a cobblestoned old town that reflects a long, complicated history, with periods under Persian and Russian rule. Its diverse architecture encompasses Eastern Orthodox churches, ornate art nouveau buildings and Soviet Modernist structures. Looming over it all are Narikala, a reconstructed 4th-century fortress, and Kartlis Deda, an iconic statue of the “Mother of Georgia.”

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  • Vietnam’s Vingroup to complete retail exit by closing VinPro chain

    Vietnam’s Vingroup to complete retail exit by closing VinPro chain

    Vingroup is to complete its exit direct retail businesses, shutting down its electronic business VinPro within this month.

    The closure of Vinpro is considered a sudden decision as the group acquired electronics chain Vien Thong A last year with more than 200 stores to strengthen VinPro’s presence. Recently, Vien Thong A’s website and Facebook page changed branding identity to VinPro.

    “VinPro outlets have very good locations in the Vincom shopping centre system,” said Quang Viet Nguyen, CEO of Vingroup. “It will be very easy to rent these premises after VinPro stops operating, without affecting the operation of Vincom centres.”

    The company has also announced the merger of its e-commerce platform Adayroi with e-payment unit VinID. According to Quang, the merger is not because its e-commerce segment was under pressure of losses as the company’s first goal is to create a platform to support the Vingroup ecosystem.

    “Merging Adayroi with VinID not only helps store data about customer behaviour but also creates a new platform where customer needs are better predicted,” Quang said.

    Earlier this month, Vingroup announced an agreement with consumer products manufacturer Masan Group, to move its VinMart supermarket and convenience-store business into Masan in a new company in which Vingroup will hold a minority stake.

    The company has said it wants to focus on industrial and manufacturing business including its motor vehicle, television, tourism and smartphone businesses. It is also about to launch an airline.

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  • c is developing an Android replacement since it doesn’t trust Google

    c is developing an Android replacement since it doesn’t trust Google

    You don’t need to be a Chinese smartphone manufacturer cut off from the Google Play services version of Android to start developing an alternative operating system. You can also be a large global social-media company headquartered in the U.S. that seeks to control all personal data and aspires to world domination. The former, of course, is Huawei whose placement on the U.S. Commerce Departments entity list prevents it from accessing the U.S. based supply chain that it spent $11 billion on last year.

    Without being able to include the Google Play Store on its new phones, Huawei’s new handsets cannot run Google’s core Android apps like Search, Maps, Gmail and more. That doesn’t matter in China where most Google apps are banned, but does hurt Huawei’s international shipments. The company developed its own operating system called HarmonyOS as an alternative to the licensed version of Android. Ironically, the OS is not for smartphone use, at least not yet. So for now, Huawei is using an open-source version of Android for its phones.

    Can you guess the second company we outlined in the first paragraph? If you guessed Facebook, you’re 100% correct. The company is building a new campus where it will design new hardware. And to make sure that it is completely self sufficient, Facebook is working on making its own Android replacement; the social media giant has named Mark Lucovsky as General Manager of Operating Systems; Lucovsky was part of the team that developed Windows NT for Microsoft. Facebook also wants to design its own chips and create a new virtual assistant. Currently, its Portal smart display uses Amazon’s Alexa to handle complex tasks thrown at it by users.

    While Facebook will continue to offer Android-based apps, the problem is simply a matter of trust. Ironically, the company that allowed 87 million user profiles to be used without permission (resulting in a violation of a signed FTC consent decree and a $5 billion fine) says that it doesn’t trust that other tech companies like Google will work with it. Facebook’s VP of hardware, Andrew ‘Boz’ Bosworth said, “We really want to make sure the next generation has space for us. We don’t think we can trust the marketplace or competitors to ensure that’s the case. And so we’re gonna do it ourselves.”

    Facebook is also concerned that if it has any issues with Google, it could lead to product delays and other issues. Facebook is said to be is extremely concerned about the augmented reality glasses that it is developing. And by using its own hardware and software in a range of products, Facebook could make it difficult for the government to force it to spinoff some of its acquisitions. For example, if Facebook decides to use the Instagram name on its AR glasses as rumored, it could be harder to request that Instagram be spun off as an independent outfit if it is using Facebook’s parts in such a device.
    Facebook hasn’t proven yet that it can produce a smash hit tech device. Besides the Portal smart display, sales of its Oculus VR headsets are not exactly soaring. Still, the company is taking its self-sufficiency seriously as seen by discussions it reportedly held to acquire Cirrus Logic. The latter makes digital signal audio chips (DSP) for Apple and has a market cap close to $4.7 billion. And that is the problem with Facebook. The firm has billions of dollars available for it to spend on its most devious plans. Consider that the company has a brain-scanning system that uses optical scanning to figure out what words someone is thinking of and turn it into text. And Facebook has been shrinking the size of this down to that of a handheld device and hopes to eventually include it on smartphones.
    But hasn’t that been Facebook’s goal all along? The social media company wants to know exactly what you’re thinking at all times and profit from this knowledge.
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  • Hamleys brand set for shakeup under new owner

    Hamleys brand set for shakeup under new owner

    New Hamleys toy store owner Reliance Industries plans to revamp the brand, according to a report in The Guardian.

    The article reveals that the new owners “have ambitious plans for the toy store” which has been passed “from one absentee foreign owner to another over the past 16 years”. Reliance is currently turning to the US market in the wake of the Toys R Us collapse, having already firmly established the brand in India with more than 100 stores.

    The firm is also planning to revamp its London flagship.

    “We’re not going to put Swarovski chandeliers in, which can cost a lot of money, because that’s not required,” Reliance CEO Darshan Mehta told The Guardian. “You have to be careful not to create something that is intimidating because one of the Hamleys’ secret ingredients has been that it welcomes all and sundry, from the super-rich – someone recently bought a £5000 reindeer – to someone buying a £5 soft toy.”

    “If your proposition is price as the only lever then you will lose the game,” said Mehta. “We are not selling the cheapest toy from a box.”

    Mehta also added that the store revamp has to focus on providing a better experience than online shopping.

    “As a brick-and-mortar retailer I have to stand up to that onslaught,” he said. “People will not remain closeted in their homes. They go out for experiences. A visit to a Hamleys store is an experience.”

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  • AirAsia names new boss in Japan

    AirAsia names new boss in Japan

    AirAsia has appointed Jun Aida as representative director and COO to lead AirAsia Japan, effective 1 January 2020.

    Jun will take over from Jenny Mayuko Wakana who will be stepping down 31 December.

    As a member of AirAsia’s senior leadership team, Jun will be responsible for the company’s airline operations in Japan and its future growth.

    AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes said: “Jun brings with him extensive management experience across various industries. We see tremendous potential in Japan and now is the time to catapult AirAsia Japan into its next phase of growth and success.”

    Jun joined AirAsia Group as a senior advisor in 2017. Prior to joining AirAsia, he was managing director for Phoenix Resort Co Ltd besides holding senior management roles in various multinational companies.

  • Thailand’s Nok Air seeks to raise $73.5mn from shareholders

    Thailand’s Nok Air seeks to raise $73.5mn from shareholders

    Nok Air is seeking to raise THB2.22 billion bahts (USD73.5 million) from existing shareholders through a new share issuance, the Thai low-cost carrier said in a stock market filing.

    The Thai carrier’s Board of Directors proposed issuing 888,147,358 new shares nominally valued at THB1 (USD0.03) each. If the proposal is approved by an Extraordinary General Meeting on January 14, existing shareholders will be offered purchase rights to buy one new share per 3.5 existing shares. The purchase price has been set at THB2.5 (USD0.08) per share.

    The offering period will run from February 3 to February 7, 2020.

    Nok Air said it will allocate shares not taken up in the first round to any oversubscribing shareholders but it does not foresee allocating any shares to investors who are not shareholders at the moment.

    Simultaneously, the Board of Directors proposed decreasing the number of shares in circulation by 99,030,527 shares which were not sold during previous equity increases. This will result in a decrease of the total number of shares, equivalent to the registered capital, to 3,309,019,273 prior to the new issuance planned for early February.

    Nok Air is currently controlled by the Jurangkool family, with three of its family members controlling a combined 67.4% stake in the airline. Thai Airways International owns a 15.9% stake with the remainder held by small shareholders with less than 0.5% each.

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  • Airlines Cebu Pacific becomes latest IATA member

    Airlines Cebu Pacific becomes latest IATA member

    Philippines low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific has joined IATA, becoming the second carrier from the country to be part of the trade association.

    Cebu Pacific says IATA membership will help it “gain access to expertise and learnings” about best practices and innovation.

    Conrad Clifford (left), IATA regional vice president for Asia-Pacific presents the IATA Certificate of Membership to Cebu Pacific president and CEO Lance Gokongwei.

    Cebu Pacific chief Lance Gokongwei adds: “Moreover, we will also be able to share our own operational experience and contribute to further developing the airline industry as a whole.”

    IATA says the low-cost carrier has achieved full compliance with its’ Operational Safety Audit (IOSA), which assesses a carrier’s operational management and control systems.

    Cebu Pacific currently flies 121 routes, with more than 2,600 weekly flights. Cirium fleets data indicates the carrier operates 54 aircraft, including a mix of A320 family jets and A330s, and has 44 aircraft on orders.

    Cebu Pacific joins a growing number of low-cost carriers added to the IATA fold. In November, Indian carrier IndiGo joined the association.

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  • AirAsia launches bundle deals

    AirAsia launches bundle deals

    AirAsia Group Bhd has continued its journey to becoming the fastest-growing travel and lifestyle platform in Asean with the launch of AirAsia Bundle Deals, through its airasia.com platform.

    AirAsia group chief executive officer (CEO) Tan Sri Tony Fernandes said this launch would further diversify the group’s offerings apart from selling airline tickets, restaurant business Santan, hotel platform, as well as its own music label Red Records.

    “AirAsia has grown a lot from becoming a one-trick pony,” he told reporters at the launch here today.

    With over 100 merchants for the AirAsia Bundle Deals in the Klang Valley currently, he said this would be expanded to other cities and countries including Penang, Singapore, Thailand, and beyond starting next year.

    Fernandes said customers would be able to unlock various lifestyle deals comprising food and beverages (F&B), beauty and services through bundled deals by geo-location for a 90-day pass at only RM20, or easily redeemable with only 2,500 BIG Points.

    Airasia.com CEO Karen Chan said the AirAsia Bundle Deals was not only limited to the general public who visit airasia.com, but in the next phase, it would have a corporate reward solution and corporate purchases for organizations that would like to reward employees.

    “We are pleased to introduce another new lifestyle product as part of our journey in becoming a lifestyle brand. As AirAsia envisions to being beyond just an airline, we are now offering travel, lifestyle, logistics, financial services and more to cater to your lifestyle needs.

    “Customers can indulge with deals such as free hair cut, free facial, free manicure and many buy-one free-one deals made available in different locations,” she added.

    Meanwhile, in conjunction with the launch, airasia.com is offering a 24-hour launch promo of only RM1 from midnight tonight for purchases of AirAsia Bundle Deals. Simply log on to airasia.com/deals to grab the deals.

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  • First Best Mart 360 Macau store opens

    First Best Mart 360 Macau store opens

    Best Mart 360, the Hong Kong-listed ‘leisure-food retailer’ opened its first store in Macau yesterday.

    The company – which has suffered vandalism to some 75 of its Hong Kong stores during recent protest activity – believes there is potential for as many as 15 stores in Macau.

    In an interview with the South China Morning Post, chairman and co-founder Lin Tsz-fung said the expansion into the new territory was planned many years ago.

    “We hope to diversify our markets to Macau and Mainland China. We think Macau has a lot of tourists,” he said.

    A significant expansion in Best Mart 360’s store network helped boost sales in the first half of this year, despite the company being heavily impacted by protests since June.

    As at the end of September, Best Mart 360 operated 98 stores, a net 21 more than the same time a year earlier. Most of the new outlets are on the mainland.

  • Instagram will now shame you before you post something offensive

    Instagram will now shame you before you post something offensive

    Instagram prides itself on actively fighting against bullying through numerous features that prevent people from trolling and/or shaming users of the social network. Instagram announced yet another feature that’s meant to prevent users from posting messages that could be considered offensive.

    Several months ago, Instagram launched a tool that notifies people when their comments may be considered offensive before they’re posted. The most recent feature expands on that tool by using the social network’s AI to detect a potentially offensive caption.

    Those who write such messages will receive a prompt informing them that their caption is similar to those reported for bullying and that they might want to reconsider their message. Instagram will let users edit messages before they are posted if they’re flagged as potentially offensive.

    The new feature is meant to educate Instagram users and prevent them from breaking the social network rules and potentially lose their accounts. According to Instagram, the new caption-warning feature will be rolled out in select countries, then expand across the world in the coming months.

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  • Update to Google Maps solves issue with gesture navigation

    Update to Google Maps solves issue with gesture navigation

    One thing that Android users are appreciative of is Google’s desire to keep tinkering with its apps. And once again, it is Google Maps that is the beneficiary of the latest update to come from Mountain View. The new Maps UI eliminates the side menu. Swiping to the right from the left edge will also no longer bring up the side menu, which is a boon to those who use gesture navigation on Android 10. That’s because opening the side menu can accidentally trigger the “back” gesture on the latest Android build. And the three-bar hamburger menu no longer appears on the left side of the search bar.
    The three tabs found on the bottom of Google Maps (Explore, Commute, For you) now number five and include Map, Commute, Saved, Post and Latest. Once your Google Maps app has been updated to the new UI (and it hasn’t yet on our Pixel 2 XL running Android 10), you can find the settings and some of the other options that were on the side menu by tapping on your avatar. A box will open that allows you to switch the account linked with the app, enable incognito mode (so that your travels and location searches won’t be recorded by Google), view the app’s settings and more.
    The latest version of the Google Maps app is 10.31.2, but even if you have just updated the app (as we did right as we started writing this article), there is no guarantee that the new UI will appear. Nope, you are going to have to wait since this is a server-side update that cannot be triggered by Android users.
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  • Skype’s latest new feature lets you invite non-Skype users to meetings

    Skype’s latest new feature lets you invite non-Skype users to meetings

    Skype is clearly not the best messaging apps out there, but Microsoft is adding more features and improvements with every update. The mobile and desktop versions of Skype usually receive different updates, but many times they share some features.

    The latest Skype update brings one feature that’s common to both mobile and desktop versions – Meet Now. Up until now, you could only invite fellow Skype users to meetings created with the messaging app, but there are a lot of people who don’t have a Skype account.

    Meet Now allows Skype users to create a meeting and invite anyone just by sharing a link, including non-Skype users. Microsoft is rolling out the new feature to all users on Android, iPhone, and iPad since last week, so if it’s not yet available for you, then give it a few more days.

    Apart from the new Meet Now feature, the most recent Skype update adds a few camera improvements for Android users, such as the ability to scan and send documents. Also, Microsoft mentions the update includes some photo and video personalization enhancements, along with many bug fixes and stability improvements.

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  • Bonjour Holdings warns of substantial loss

    Bonjour Holdings warns of substantial loss

    Beauty retailer Bonjour Holdings has warned shareholders of a “substantially increased loss” for the current year as the social unrest and falling Mainland Chinese visitor numbers take their toll.

    Last year, Bonjour Holdings reported a net loss of HK$39.6 million (US$5 million). In a letter to shareholders, chairman Wilson Ip did not put a figure on the loss anticipated in the year to December, but his words were ominous.

    “The group’s turnover has deteriorated severely and is expected to record a double-digit year-on-year decline for the year,” he said. “The average gross profit margin also decreases mainly due to the change in sales mix, consumer’s spending patterns and the increase in the promotion to attract customers.”

    He said Hong Kong’s economy suffered “an abrupt deterioration” in the second half of the year when consumption and tourism-related sectors were hit hard by local social incidents.

    “Moreover, the global economic slowdown and escalated US-Mainland trade tensions weighed further on the Hong Kong economic outlook.

    “Facing such an economic downturn, in a view to ease the difficult situation, the group now has key focuses on cost optimization and value creation by streamlining operational efficiency and better business planning to build or sustain our competitive advantage.”

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  • Philippines’ Cebu Pacific stops flights to Siem Reap

    Philippines’ Cebu Pacific stops flights to Siem Reap

    Budget carrier Cebu Pacific has stopped its flights to and from Siem Reap, leaving only one Philippine carrier servicing the Cambodia-Philippines air route.

    Difficulties in turning out a profit was the main reason for Cebu Pacific’s departure from the Kingdom, according to Philippine media reports last week. Cebu Pacific ended its Siem Reap flights yesterday.

    Cebu Pacific spokesperson Charo Logarta-Lagamon was quoted as saying by Philippine Star that “route viability became a concern” for its Siem Reap service.

    The reports confirmed rumors that have been circulating as far as back last year that the Gokongwei-owned airline was contemplating such a move.

    The difficulties faced by Cebu Pacific were also a topic of discussion among Filipinos who attended the 3rd Cambodia Travel Mart.

    Then last week, Dirk Salcedo, an aviation blogger based out of the Philippines, reported that closure of the route was imminent, citing its online booking platform and data from FlightRadar24.com that show no Cebu Pacific flights beyond Dec 7.

    The news saddened many Filipinos in Cambodia. The Kingdom is host to more than 6,000 Filipino nationals.

    Cebu Pacific started flying to Siem Reap in 2012 amidst a growing number of Filipinos visiting Angkor Wat, the Kingdom’s leading tourist destination.

    The thousands of Filipinos working and residing in Cambodia also factored in Cebu Pacific’s decision to establish a direct flight to Siem Reap, becoming the first such carrier from the Philippines to do so.

    Since then, the airline has been flying three times a week from Manila to Siem Reap and vice versa using an Airbus A-320 aircraft.

    Cebu Pacific’s decision to close the Siem Reap route means that Philippine Airlines (PAL) will be the sole Philippine carrier with direct flight to Cambodia.  PAL re-opened the Phnom Penh-Manila air route last year and now flies five times a week to Cambodia.

    A few other Philippine carriers like Royal Air Philippines operate charter flights servicing the Cambodia route.

    The Siem Reap service was not the sole casualty of Cebu Pacific’s decision to focus on more profitable air routes. The budget airline also ended its flights to Guam, a United States territory in the Western Pacific.

  • Cebu Pacific announces Chinese New Year seat sale

    Cebu Pacific announces Chinese New Year seat sale

    Cebu Pacific is offering promotional fares for the Chinese New Year, the airline said Sunday.

    The country’s largest carrier is offering P99 base fare for flights originating from Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Clark, and Davao, while passengers can book a Manila to Kota Kinabalu flight for as low as P149.

    For the complete list of promotional fares, click here.

    Promotional fares are available from Dec. 14 to 16. Travel period for domestic flights is from January 15 to March 31, 2020, while travel period for international flights is from January 1 to March 31.

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