Retail News CRM

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.

  • Japanese used goods seller Bookoff to double outlets in Malaysia

    Japanese used goods seller Bookoff to double outlets in Malaysia

    Japanese second-hand retailer Bookoff is planning to double its outlets to 10 locations in Malaysia.

    It’s fifth Jalan Jalan Japan store is due to open in Vandal Baru Bangui near Kuala Lumpur at the end of the month.

    “Local people have a preference for new and used products made in Japan,” said Bookoff Group spokesman Takaharu Kominato in an NNA Business News report. “Japanese products have a reputation for reliability.”

    The 1875sqm KiP Mall store will sell roughly 200,000 SKUs from apparel and household sundries through to baby supplies and sporting goods.

    The firm is considering further outlets beyond Malaysia in other Asean territories within the next few years.

  • Vietjet CEO among world’s 100 most powerful women

    Vietjet CEO among world’s 100 most powerful women

    Vietjet Air CEO Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao is one of 100 most powerful women in the world this year, according to a Forbes listing. The only Vietnamese woman on the list, Thao was placed 52nd, down eight places from last year. This is the third year in a row she has been included in Forbes magazine’s list of 100 most powerful women in the world.

    The list was compiled based on assets, impact, spheres of influence and media presence, the magazine said.

    It estimated that the budget carrier CEO and the richest woman in Vietnam to have a net worth of around $2.7 billion as of December 13.

    Thao, 49, has done business in Vietnam and abroad in many fields, including finance, banking, aviation, real estate, and retail.

    She launched Vietjet in 2011. The airline now leads the domestic market with a 45 percent share. It operates 385 flights daily within Vietnam and to Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, mainland China, Thailand, Myanmar, and Malaysia.

    The carrier launched its IPO on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange in February 2017, becoming the first airline in Vietnam to list publicly.

    Vietjet has now surpassed national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines in terms of passengers carried. It has a fleet of 80 aircraft flying to 120 destinations.

    German Chancellor Angela Merkel was adjudged the most powerful woman in the world for the ninth consecutive year. She was followed by French politician Christine Lagarde, who serves as the President of European Central Bank, and Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi.

  • Ankur Garg appointed as chief commercial officer at AirAsia India

    Ankur Garg appointed as chief commercial officer at AirAsia India

    AirAsia India on Sunday announced the appointment of Ankur Garg as its chief commercial officer (CCO), a role in which he will be in-charge of areas such as network and revenue management, marketing and sales, and cargo.

    Garg had quit as the vice-president of revenue management at IndiGoNSE -1.82 % a few weeks back. “Ankur Garg takes over from Mr Sanjay Kumar, AirAsia India’s Chief Operation Officer (COO)…Garg will report to Sunil Bhaskaran, MD and CEO, AirAsia India,” the airline said in a statement.

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  • Japanese airline ANA uses avatar robots to let customers shop remotely

    Japanese airline ANA uses avatar robots to let customers shop remotely

    Japanese airline ANA has opened a pop-up shop equipped with avatar robots that enable customers to shop remotely.

    ANA said it’s pop-up at Coredo Muromachi 3 shopping mall in Nihonbashi which will remain open until December 24, is fitted with stick-shaped robots called ‘Newme’. Through the robots, shoppers will be able to browse and buy products as if they were physically at the shop.

    Online registration is required to be able to use the avatar in-store and all purchases will be shipped and delivered to the address provided at registration.

    “With its potential to increase connectivity and help people forge long-lasting bonds no matter the distance between them, avatar technology is well-aligned with ANA HD’s core values,” said Kevin Kajitani, ANA avatar division co-director.

    “Avatar technology is a significant component in our plans to help create ‘Society 5.0’, a world where interactions with technology and other humans are seamless and intuitive. Instead of supplanting the human connection, avatars will make it deeper and create a whole new range of experiences that were never possible before,” he added.

    Once the pop-up shop ends, shoppers will be able to continue to use the avatar technology as ANA plans to deploy 100 Newme avatar robots across Nihonbashi including department store Isetan Mitsukoshi and Mitsui Fudosan ́s retail properties next year.

    The use of avatar technology across Nihonbashi is part of the district’s broader ‘Nihonbashi Revitalisation Plan Stage 3’ project, a joint public-private-community initiative aiming to preserve its unique heritage while promoting modernization through technology and urban development.

    ANA will also deploy avatar robots to workplaces such as at X-Nihonbashi, which provides multipurpose venues and workspaces. The robots will allow for full-remote participation that goes beyond traditional teleconferencing, the company says.

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  • Singapore’s Home-Fix hardware chain shutters its last stores

    Singapore’s Home-Fix hardware chain shutters its last stores

    Singapore hardware chain Home-Fix is closing its last physical stores this week as it restructures under interim judicial management.

    The home-grown chain was founded in 1993 and once had 20 stores across the city-state, but by the end of this weekend will have only an e-commerce site left, a victim of changing retail environment and price-focused rivals on and offline.

    Home-Fix has debts of almost S$20 million (US$14.8 million), however, local media report that the managers are endeavoring to refinance debts.

    The Straits Times newspaper observed that Home-Fix has had to deal with “high mall rentals, competition from e-commerce and neighborhood stores that sell the same wares at lower prices and a sluggish economy”.

    The retailer’s last two stores are at Tanglin Mall and Tampines One. Stores in Novena Square and Compass One have repossessed earlier this year and stores at Great World City and Thomson Plaza – once its two best-performers – were forced to close when renovations decimated foot traffic.

    Home-Fix creditors told Business Times that the owners, brothers Low Cheong Kee and Low Cheong Yew, plan to revive the company by focusing on services such as training courses and home repairs instead of retailing.

  • LightInTheBox sees strong third-quarter growth

    LightInTheBox sees strong third-quarter growth

    Beijing-based e-commerce retailer LightInTheBox achieved US$59.9 million sales in its third quarter to September, up 35 percent year on year.

    LightInTheBox said third-quarter net income was US$10 million, in contrast to a loss of US$17.8 million in the same quarter a year ago.

    Taking into account the change in fair value of the convertible promissory notes associated with the acquisition of Singapore-based e-commerce platform Ezbuy, net income stood at US$10.3 million.

    “Our results this quarter are a strong reflection of the significant progress we have made since we began implementing our strategy to turn the business around last year,” said CEO Jian He.

    The company attributed the strong growth to its focus on improving product optimization, driving customer engagement and expanding market scale.

    “We remain focused on executing our strategy to generate sustainable long-term growth and are very encouraged by our improvements to date. We will continue to implement our strategies in order to maintain the trend of improvement,” he added.

    The third quarter results have made the company’s outlook for the fourth quarter more bullish, expecting net revenue to rise up to US$75 million.

    LightInTheBox operates e-commerce sites including Light in the box, Mini in the box and Ezbuy.

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  • Singapore retail sales down, but car market exaggerates the decline

    Singapore retail sales down, but car market exaggerates the decline

    Singapore retail sales – excluding motor vehicles – slipped by 0.6 percent year-on-year in October. Including vehicles, the headline figure was down 4.3 percent.

    Month-on-month, sales declined by 1.5 percent, excluding motor vehicles.

    Statistics Singapore estimated the city-state’s retail sales were worth about S$3.6 billion (US$2.7 billion) in October, of which about 6.1 percent were conducted online.

    The impact of car sales on the overall figure is clear: that sector declined by 22.7 percent in October, due to reduced government quotas for new vehicle registrations, while the second-worst performing category was furniture and homewares, down by 10.6 percent.

    Sales of optical goods and books fell by 2.4 percent, and of recreational goods by 6.9 percent.

    Conversely, sales of watches and jewelry industry increased 7.2 percent, largely attributed to higher demand for jewelry. Apparel and footwear sales, and trade at supermarkets, hypermarkets, mini-marts and convenience stores improved by between 1 percent and 4.7 percent.

    Food and beverage services

    Meanwhile, sales of food and beverage services grew by 4.5 percent year on year.

    The total sales value of food & beverage services in October 2019 was estimated at $893 million, compared to $854 million in October last year.

    Turnover by fast-food outlets, restaurants and cafes, food courts and ‘other eating places’ increased by between 3.3 percent and 7.9 percent.

    In contrast, sales by food caterers decreased by 1.5 percent during the period.

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  • Muji loses Chinese trademark infringement case

    Muji loses Chinese trademark infringement case

    A Chinese court has ruled Japanese retailer Muji must pay RMB626,000 (US$89,000) and apologize to a local firm after losing a trademark-infringement case, according to the South China Morning Post

    Muji had appealed a 2017 ruling finding against its use of a trademark currently held by Beijing Cottonfield Textile Corp, which was registered four years before Muji entered China, its largest market outside Japan. The Chinese characters in the trademark translate as “Unbranded, quality goods”.

    The phrase was owned by Cottonfield subsidiary Natural Mill. Muji was sued by Beijing Cottonfield and the trademark’s original owner Hainan Nanhua in 2015.

    China’s appeals court ruled against Muji this week saying “Beijing Cottonfield Textile Corp has the exclusive rights to the trademark… others may not infringe on that right without permission,” according to the South China Morning Post report.

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  • 7-Eleven India plans 1000+ stores in Mumbai

    7-Eleven India plans 1000+ stores in Mumbai

    7-Eleven India is poised to launch in Mumbai, marking the first major international convenience-store chain to take on local players.

    Master franchisee Future Group’s founder and CEO Kishore Biyani said the firm will concentrate on development in Mumbai only for the initial few years of business, with the first outlets launching in March.

    “There will be a cluster of stores in Mumbai,” said Briyani in a Livemint report. “Only in Mumbai we can set up over 1000 stores… I don’t think we would be able to do anything beyond Mumbai for another two-three years.”

    Future has also recently partnered with a Japanese logistics expert Nippon Express who will help 7-Eleven develop a distribution network for perishable foods and groceries.

    “We will keep a lot of ready-to-eat Indian meals like dal-chawal, khichdi, poha, idli etc but it’s going to be fast eating,” Biyani told Livemint.

    “What 7-Eleven will bring in is technology and how to keep it fresh..there are going to be lot of in-house cooking as well, ” Biyani said

    7-Eleven operates more than 67,000 stores around the globe. Future Group operates 1440 stores in more than 400 cities under brands including Easy Day, Central, Big Bazaar and Nilgiri’s.

    In India, the chain will compete with local operators In&Out, Twenty Four Seven and J-Mart.

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  • Google Messages adds new feature that protects you from spam

    Google Messages adds new feature that protects you from spam

    In an attempt to make your conversations as safe as possible, Google is adding all sorts of security features. The last one comes is meant to protect you from spam and involves a new feature called Verified SMS that now rolling out to Messages app in several countries.

    The new feature adds another layer of security on top of Android’s Rich Communication Services (RCS) that Google tries to push out to all users. Anyway, it looks like with Verified SMS for Messages, the app will be able to confirm the true identity of the business that’s texting you.

    Yes, the new feature only works for businesses, but it greatly reduces the spam you received, so here is how it works. As the name suggests, Verified SMS will verify on a per-message basis that content is sent by a specific that that registered with Google. If it’s not, you won’t get the message, otherwise, you should see the business name and logo along with a verification badge.

    Google also revealed the first companies that are allowed to send messages with Verified SMS: 1-800-Flowers, Banco Bradesco, Kayak, Payback, and SoFi. Also, Google Pay India and verification codes from Google will be part of the Verified SMS program, but more businesses are signing up to use the new feature quite often.

    According to Google, Verified SMS for Messages is rolling out gradually in nine countries starting in the United States, India, Mexico, Brazil, the UK, France, Philippines, Spain, and Canada, but more countries will be added to the list in the future.

    In the same piece of news, Google announced that it’s adding Spam protection for Messages, a new feature that will warn Android users about suspected spam and unsafe websites it detects. This specific spam protection feature is now rolling out in the United States, but it’s been available in other countries for a while now.

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  • 7-Eleven Japan has been underpaying staff for up to 50 years

    7-Eleven Japan has been underpaying staff for up to 50 years

    Investigators have discovered 7-Eleven Japan to have been underpaying staff since the 1970s, according to a Nikkei report.

    The review uncovered inaccuracies in the formula used by the retailer to calculate overtime wages for part-time staff since the business was established. The error resulted in staff earning less than mandated by Japan’s Labour Standards Act. All staff payment calculations are performed by the 7-Eleven Japan’s head office, which guides payment levels for franchise operators.

    The company, which was first alerted to the problem in October, has responded by promising to compensate around 30,000 affected staff for underpayments going back as far as the company has kept its archives since March 2012. Staff seeking compensation for underpayments dating from before that time can be paid if they have preserved records.

    7-Eleven Japan could face a bill for compensatory payments of ¥490 million (US$4.51 million).

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  • Tesco Asia sale plan comes under fire

    Tesco Asia sale plan comes under fire

    A sale of the Tesco Asia business by its UK parent would prioritize shareholders over sound long-term economic strategy, says GlobalData.

    Over the weekend, Tesco announced it had received an expression of interest from an unnamed party to acquire the Tesco business in Malaysia and the Tesco Lotus operation in Thailand. The company has subsequently launched a review of options for the Tesco Asia operations.

    Hakan Demirci, a consumer analyst at GlobalData, described a sale as outgoing CEO Dave Lewis’s plan to appease shareholders with a reported valuation of £7.1 billion for the 2000 stores.

    However, he said this would neglect the long-term importance of Asia to Tesco.

    “Selling its Asian business would be welcomed by Tesco’s shareholders, who would be granted higher returns on their investments if it were to go through. Tesco has done this before, having sold its Chinese and Japanese stores in 2013 and most recently it’s South Korean business in 2015. However, these markets were relatively developed and consolidated, with little room for growth in the retail sector.

    “Tesco’s Malaysian and Thai sectors have been constant sources of sustained success, with profit margins the highest at 6 percent compared to the UK business’s margins of 3 percent.”

    He said the Malaysian food and grocery market is set to grow from now through 2022 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.9 percent. Likewise, the Thai food and grocery market will grow at a smaller, yet still significant CAGR of 4.5 percent over the same period – representing a significant opportunity for Tesco to expand its business.

    “If these markets were to be sold, Tesco would be left with operations in the UK, Ireland, and Central Europe. This would leave the group vulnerable as it loses its benefit of the regional diversification, resulting in a less dynamic and flexible company.

    “This vulnerability would leave the group exposed, as it continues to lose share against the meteoric rise of discounters in both the UK and Ireland such as Lidl and Aldi, which GlobalData expects will continue to gain market share throughout 2020,” he said.

    “Finally, Tesco’s operations in Malaysia and Thailand could serve as a springboard for emerging regional neighbors, namely Indonesia, the Philippines and the rest of south-east Asia. These markets offer Tesco the ability to become a truly global player outside of their strongholds in the British Isles and Central Europe.”

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  • Google fixes issue that kept new Android apps from being found in the Play Store

    Google fixes issue that kept new Android apps from being found in the Play Store

    So let’s say that you spent countless hours developing a new Android app that you believe will change the world. You submit it to Google and it passes with flying colors. The app is published but a bug prevents Android users from finding it and as a result, there are practically no installs. Is this the plot from a new Disney movie called Frozen…out of the Play Store? No, unfortunately, this is a real-life situation that was affecting Android developers.
    While Tire Valet can now be found, several Reddit posts revealed other examples of apps that were not appearing on the Play Store. Some with hundreds of thousands of installs failed to show up when users searched for them in Google’s Android app storefront. And the company’s initial response to complaining developers was just self-serving; Google told some of these developers that they should expand their marketing campaigns and spend more on Google’s AdWords. But some developers spent as much as $350 a day on the platform and their app (or apps) still were missing in action.
    A Reddit post by a user named omeysalvi sums up the typical reaction by affected developers. “Hi guys, I just launched an Android game a few days ago. The app is published and downloadable through its link. But I cannot find the game in the Google Play Store if I search for it by name. I even added the company name to the game name. Still couldn’t find it. It has 10 downloads so far. What am I doing wrong?” Another developer echoed the same complaint. Reddit user neupanedinesh wrote, “Same exact issue for me. I released a new game like a week ago and run an ad campaign just to index the app. I’ve done a lot of keyword research for it still it’s not ranked for any keyword, not even a single keyword. It’s so frustrating.”
    Google has apparently disseminated a fix exterminating a bug that prevented the Play Store from indexing these newly published apps. Once an app is indexed, the title and keywords associated with the app help it surface during a search. This process can take up to a couple of weeks; a good example of this is the Android version of the official Craigslist app which still does not appear when you search for it in the Play Store. And while this usually resolves itself after a few weeks, many of the developers complaining had published their apps months ago. The good news is that developers have been sending updated posts over the last 24 hours stating that their missing apps are now discoverable using the search tool in the Google Play Store.
    An indexing bug has affected Google before. Earlier this year, recently published webpages weren’t appearing on Google Search because of a software issue. At the time, the Google Webmasters Twitter account posted a tweet that said indexing issues were causing “stale” search results. Google’s recently published report, “How Google Play Works: 2019 Google Play Public Policy Report,” mentions how important the Play Store search tool is to users who are looking for an app with specific capabilities. “We want users to have a unique, personalized Google Play Store experience every time they visit the store, and the search functionality in the Google Play Store is an important tool for helping users find the apps and games they’re seeking,” the company wrote.
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  • Hanoi-Saigon flight time climbs 5 mins a month

    Hanoi-Saigon flight time climbs 5 mins a month

    Flying from Hanoi to Saigon takes five minutes more per month due to overload at Tan Son Nhat International Airport. Duong Tri Thana, Vietnam Airlines CEO, told a forum Wednesday continued delays at Tan Son Nhat could drag down flight quality and hamper economic growth.

    The route itself ranked as the sixth busiest domestic route in the world for 2019, up one spot from last year. Le Hong Ha, deputy general director of the flag carrier, said Tan Son Nhat has recorded low punctuality due to overload, with airlines forced to adjust flight times that cause take-off delays up to 15 minutes.

    Lai Xuan Thanh, chairman of the Airports Corporation of Vietnam, said this year, foreign airlines have struggled to find berths at Tan Son Nhat.

    The airport could only provide 2-3 percent more slots this year, meaning passenger growth is capped at 5 percent year-on-year, he added.

    However, the country is allowing the operation of new airlines despite the overload. Private carrier Bamboo Airways launched its first flights earlier this year, while three more airlines are awaiting licensing.

    Dinh Viet Thang, head of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV), said Vietnam still holds great aviation potential, with an estimated 150-180 million air passengers predicted by 2025.

    Only five airlines operate daily routes in Vietnam, with the figure in Thailand at 16, Indonesia at 12, the Philippines at 10 and Singapore at 6.

    Vietnam plans to upgrade existing and build new airports to accommodate surging travel demand, a third terminal proposed for Tan Son Nhat to up capacity by 20 million passengers a year. Tesla Plans Increasing Imported Model 3 Prices In China From January

  • Inmarsat has high hopes for fitting GX to carriers across Asia-Pacific

    Inmarsat has high hopes for fitting GX to carriers across Asia-Pacific

    Even as Indian carriers lag behind in introducing inflight connectivity for passengers, there is action in the Asia-Pacific region, which is expected to account for roughly 40% of new commercial aircraft deliveries over the next 20 years.

    Inmarsat, which has high hopes for the region, says six AirAsia aircraft have been fitted with its GX Aviation Ka-band connectivity system.

    The service offers an improved experience over the Inmarsat SwiftBroadband-powered texting solution on offer at AirAsia.

    Passengers can avail of MB packages of data for the GX service, a model that is being increasingly adopted by airlines but which is not without its detractors. A 200MB package for MYR58 (roughly $14US) is positioned by AirAsia as being the “best for streaming”.

    For its part, AirAsia is thrilled to be offering GX on half-a-dozen aircraft. The company’s RedBeat Ventures subsidiary, ROKKI, manages the service, which has been integrated into its broader entertainment and e-commerce platform.

    “Some people are noticing what we are doing,” enthused AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes in a tweet. He added: “Making products affordable and increasing quality. Bravo!”

    The service is slated to be implemented fleet-wide across AirAsia’s Airbus A320 and A330 models in 2020. This requires installation of the Honeywell JetWave terminals atop AirAsia’s fuselages, a time-consuming endeavor. But AirAsia may be compelled to quickly equip, as passengers are eager to get online.

    Other GX Aviation airline customers in the Asia-Pacific region include Air New Zealand, Singapore Airlines and Philippine Airlines.

    But new business opportunities abound. The Asia-Pacific region is expected to become the largest single market for broadband-enabled services in the next two decades, says Inmarsat regional vice president APAC Chris Rogerson, and Inmarsat believes it is in the right position to help them realize the full potential of a fully connected fleet today.

    “We foresee that by 2021 the majority of airlines will be offering inflight connectivity,” Rogerson tells RGN.

    Whether these carriers will ultimately offer free Internet browsing remains to be seen. Air New Zealand has already done it, and passengers are pleased. Inmarsat Aviation president Philip Balaam tells RGN that when a free WiFi service first goes live, passengers tend to push the system hard, but that “usage tends to settle back into more normal usage” thereafter.

    Regarding the free model, he says, “I strongly suspect that that’s a trend that we will see in general over time” or at least “a component of free. Now whether you provide full free and full free to everyone is something else. That’s more of a segmentation issue than anything else. But the idea of having ubiquitous free service to some level of SLA [service level agreement], I think we are on that journey.”

    In addition to supporting cabin connectivity and connected IFE, airlines are adopting GX for operational benefits, including real-time mapping for pilot electronic flight bags (EFBs) as well as other real-time crew and health monitoring applications.

    But GX is not the only service on offer for Asia-Pacific carriers. Among competitors in the space, Panasonic Avionics has an entrenched position in the region, counting several Chinese airlines as customers for its eXConnect-branded Ku-band connectivity solution, in addition to All Nippon Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Garuda Indonesia, Japan Airlines, Singapore Airlines, and Thai Airways.

    Last year, Panasonic further bolstered its connectivity portfolio by becoming a strategic value-added reseller for GX. Intriguingly, Rogerson tells RGN that the deal also enables Inmarsat to offer Panasonic’s NEXT IFE solutions to Inmarsat’s commercial aviation customers.

    “Over the past year, Inmarsat and Panasonic have made significant progress with aligning our processes and systems. This has been our core focus… [covering] important areas such as sales process, contracts, technology, and operations processes,” he says.

    India, meanwhile, one of the fastest-growing countries in civil aviation, is still in a huddle over inflight connectivity. Last year, licenses for In-flight and Maritime Communications (IFMC) were cleared by regulators.

    Inmarsat’s Indian teleco partner, state-owned telco BSNL, holds approval to offer connectivity to Indian airlines operating within and outside India, as well as foreign airlines transiting through Indian airspace. “As a result, Inmarsat will be set to begin offering GX Aviation services over Indian skies from early 2020,” assures Rogerson.

    Some carriers are already primed to offer the GX service to passengers. Indian budget carrier SpiceJet, for instance, has GX equipment installed on 13 Boeing MAX 737s. But these, like the rest of the MAX world fleet, have been grounded since last March.

    Even when the MAX is recertified, a hurdle awaits. Clearances are required from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for a foreign satellite to be used.