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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.

  • Google plans a representative office in Vietnam

    Google plans a representative office in Vietnam

    A senior Google official says the tech behemoth is studying the process of opening a representative office in Vietnam. Google senior vice president Kent Walker told Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue at a meeting Tuesday that the opening of a rep office in the country would follow the principle of ensuring that host country regulations do not contradict the firm’s international commitments.

    A report on the government website chinhphu.vn also quoted Walker as saying that he agreed with the Vietnamese government on the need for cyber-security to ensure a stable society. Google will cooperate with authorities in achieving this goal, he said.

    The rep office announcement came as Vietnam’s cybersecurity law is set to take effect next month. The law requires digital businesses like Facebook and Google to open a representative office in Vietnam.

    Deputy PM Hue said that he appreciated Google’s contribution to a draft decree on guidelines to implement the law and ensure cyber-safety and security.

    “Vietnam’s market advantages and the adaptability of its young workforce will be attractive factors for Google to open a representative office in Vietnam,” he said.

    Meanwhile, a Google spokesperson said on Wednesday: “We remain very excited to see how technology is being used by businesses and people in Vietnam. There are a number of different factors we look at before opening an office, but we have nothing to announce at this time.”

    Vietnam’s Cybersecurity Law, which was passed in June, requires tech businesses to store the data of Vietnamese users in Vietnam, and to provide this data to the Ministry of Public Security upon receipt of requests in writing, in cases where any infringement of the cybersecurity law is being investigated.

    Seventeen U.S. lawmakers in July urged the CEOs of tech giants Facebook and Google to resist changes stipulated by the law.

    However, Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs reasserted that the cybersecurity law is designed to protect rights of organizations and individuals.

  • New Hanoi taxi merger to fight Grab on the streets

    New Hanoi taxi merger to fight Grab on the streets

    Three Hanoi operators have banded together to create the largest taxi business in the capital and compete with Grab. The union, named G7 Taxi, has been able to undercut the fares of Grab, at least over short distances, and it may be looking to bring still more players into its group.

    G7 was formed in October by Thanh Cong, Ba Sao, and Sao Hanoi. Together, they have about 3,000 cars, accounting for around 20 percent of taxis in the Hanoi area.

    The G7 base fare is VND9,900 (43 U.S. cents) for the first one km, while Grab charges VND20,000 (86 U.S. cents) for the first two km.

    The entrance of the new brand is expected to increase competition between traditional taxis and raid hailing firms like Grab.

    Earlier, Nguyen Cong Hung, chairman of the Hanoi Taxi Association, had said: “Traditional taxis, each with their own app, are now trying to compete with Grab. But we are divided, therefore we need to unite.”

    Before Thanh Cong, Ba Sao, and Sao Hanoi teamed up, annual sales at the three companies had declined by 10-15 percent on average over the past few years.

    The number of taxi companies in Hanoi has also fallen down to 70 taxi now, from 115 in 2010.

    Joining the fight

    The taxi trio is not alone in pushing back against the ride-hailing industry.

    In March, southern taxi firms ComfortDelgro Savico and Vinataxi had merged with the same purpose.

    Vinataxi, the third largest taxi firm in HCMC, was confident the merger would increase its growth six-fold this year.

    Mai Linh, Vietnam’s No. 1 taxi operator, has developed a smartphone app similar to that of Grab. Meanwhile, second-ranked Vinasun has launched a ride-hailing service using Facebook’s Messenger app, enabling customers to hail cars and make complaints and requests directly, much like Grab.

    But Grab, the dominant player in the ride-hailing business in Vietnam, is also working on strategies to compete better with local taxi firms.

    Several months ago, it introduced Grab for Business in Vietnam, a service that helps a company track the trips its employees make to limit unnecessary trips and control expenses.

    Grab is also deploying various policies to attract drivers by offering bonuses and opening stops with free wifi and coffee.

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  • Shanghai, Singapore is now Asia’s most expensive city

    Shanghai, Singapore is now Asia’s most expensive city

    Asia’s most expensive city for high net worth individuals is no longer Hong Kong. Both Shanghai and Singapore have overtaken it, with property costs alone pushing it beyond capital cities across the region. Wealth Report Asia, published annually by financial services company Julius Baer, measures the price of a basket of items including property prices, a degustation dinner, cars, a piano, wine, jewellery and even botox.

     

    Shanghai is now Asia’s most expensive city to buy six of the 22 items Julius Baer surveys (a hospital room, watch, handbag, wine, jewellery and skin cream). In addition, it has grown more pricey on a relative basis to buy property (from fifth to fourth most expensive), and legal fees have lept from 10th to second.

    Singapore is the most expensive city to buy a car or a degustation dinner, and ranks in the middle of the list on every other item, its best result eighth for a piano.

    Property prices and business class air fares have skewed Hong Kong’s position on the list – they are more expensive there than elsewhere. But in contrast, Hong Kong is cheapest city to buy skin cream, the second cheapest for wine and jewellery and the fourth cheapest for men’s suits, womens shoes and watches.

    The region’s least expensive city is Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital. According to Julius Baer, it is the most competitive city to buy property, wine, jewellery, a piano and cigars or to rent a hotel suite.

    Price deflation of items onshore such as legal fees (down four spots) and jewellery (down three spots) offset a recovery in the value of the ringgit against the US dollar.

    The data was calculated on a price-weighted basis.

    Chinese luxury consumption slowing

    Meanwhile, the report says the “China express” driving the world’s luxury retail market is slowing.

    Chinese nationals accounted for just 2 per cent of luxury spending in 2003 yet by last year that share had soared to 32 per cent – and they account for more than 70 per cent of global growth.

    But Julius Baer says recent signs “are pointing to an outlook that will be less spectacular”.

    “Amid the ongoing trade conflict with the US and a softening growth dynamic, the Chinese stock market has come under significant selling pressure this year. Chinese consumer confidence, which has been a good leading indicator for luxury goods performance trends, appears to have rolled over.

    The weakness in Chinese consumer confidence has weighed on the sector of late, and is likely to remain a drag going forward if Chinese consumption trends continue to slow.”

    The report also noted that Chinese retail sales growth has also been moderating in recent months.

    “We believe China is going through a self-induced slowdown as the economy transforms from investment-led to consumption-led growth. Reforms are currently taking a back seat in favour of selective and measured easing but [we] still expect 6.5 per cent growth this year, before a slowdown to 6.2 per cent next year.

    “Following a strong recovery since 2015, it is reasonable to expect global luxury consumption to slow in the near-term from a high base and moderating Chinese demand. Yet we remain upbeat in the longer term premised on structural growing demand from Chinese millennials and a more prominent female presence in the luxury market.”

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  • Spending Power of a Secretive Billionaire

    Spending Power of a Secretive Billionaire

    The lifestyles of the world’s billionaires reflect celebrity status globally, with the super-wealthy amongst us as scrutinized for their ability to perform as athletes, actors and politicians. The best in the business are some of the richest, most powerful people on the planet, yet many billionaires are reserved when it comes to the media spotlight, managing to stay below the public radar. We’re not talking about being famous and reclusive. We’re talking about being flat-out unknown among the masses.

    For example, in the finance world few can boast the spending power of Calvin Lo (盧啟賢), the CEO of life insurance broker, R.E. Lee international. His company regularly places around $1 billion of premiums annually, making it one of the most successful in the world.  Lo has amassed an estimated personal fortune of around $1.7 billion, yet despite being supremely wealthy and successful, Lo has managed to stay under the radar.

    Calvin Lo. Photograph: Apple Daily Hong Kong


    It was only when the Hong Kong press uncovered Lo’s visit to Champagne, France, earlier this year that the world start noticing him. His most recent purchase was forking out $250 million for his champagne collection.

    How did Lo travel to France? In his Gulfstream G650 of course. There are less than 20 of these extremely luxurious planes registered in Asia—with a list price of nearly $65 million, you’ll have to wait for nearly four years to get one after you sign up. Even though Lo does travel commercial (first class of course) every now and then, the billionaire prefers to enjoy his success in anonymity. His G650 allows him to fly without being recognised.

    Even though Lo lives his life in secrecy, the public managed to get a glimpse of his glamorous lifestyle when he dated Hong Kong actress, Bernice Liu (廖碧兒). They were spotted enjoying exotic holidays around the world, drinking the rarest vintage champagnes and driving in a collection of limited hypercars.

    Aside from this, Lo appears to live a normal life, just like most of us do (with varying degree of luxurious perks). That is why you’ve never heard of him. No interviews. No attention-seeking habits. Just a simple person with a lot of money.

    Billionaires are not just people who make money, they are equally influential in their social lives as they are in business. We watch their talks, follow their lives and read their books. But unknown billionaires like Lo are staying surprisingly low profile in today’s connected world. He is highly dedicated to his businesses and investments and has no desire to be famous. Traits like these make him a rare breed—one in a billion.

    Editor’s note: This article originally appeared on Forbes

     

  • October retail sales tide in Hong Kong turns up

    October retail sales tide in Hong Kong turns up

    October retail sales in Hong Kong rose by 5.9 per cent year on year, more than double the pace of September, which was affected by Typhoon Mangkhut. A government spokesman indicated that growth in retail sales picked up somewhat in October after a deceleration in the preceding month, supported by the faster increase in visitor arrivals and continued income growth.

    The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) estimated the total value of October Hong Kong retail sales at HK$39.7 billion.

    After netting out the effect of price changes over the same period, the volume of October retail sales in Hong Kong increased by 5.2 per cent.

    C&SD’s revised estimate of the growth in the value of retail sales in September was unchanged at 2.4 per cent, the lowest figure year to date.

    For the first 10 months of this year retail sales rose by 10.6 per cent year on year, while the volume (netting out inflation) rose by 9.1 per cent.

    The spokesman strong inbound tourism and favourable job and income conditions should continue to support the retail sector in the near term.

    “Yet, consumer sentiment could increasingly be affected by the external uncertainties and weaker asset markets.”

    By broad type of retail outlet (in descending order of the category’s impact on the overall figure) sales of jewellery, watches and valuable gifts increased by 3.3 per cent in October. This was followed by electrical goods and other consumer durable goods, not elsewhere classified (up 16.1 per cent); commodities in department stores (up 3.5 per cent); apparel (up 2.3 per cent); medicines and cosmetics (up14.9 per cent); other consumer goods, not elsewhere classified (up 12.7 per cent); motor vehicles and parts (up 13.6 per cent); fuels (up 10.3per cent); footwear and accessories (up 9.3 per cent); books, newspapers, stationery and gifts (up 5.8 per cent); furniture (up 0.8 per cent); Chinese drugs and herbs (up 0.6 per cent); and optical shops (up 3.2per cent).

    The only categories to record a decline in sales were commodities in supermarkets, down 0.9 per cent, and food, alcoholic drinks and tobacco, down 2 per cent.

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  • Restructuring continue benefits 7-Eleven Malaysia

    Restructuring continue benefits 7-Eleven Malaysia

    New store openings are maintaining a modest 7-Eleven Malaysia sales growth rate – but improved margins are driving solid profit improvement. The listed convenience store operator released its third-quarter results on Friday, which showed third-quarter sales growth of 1 per cent and year-to-date growth of 1.3 per cent. But net profit was up 4.1 per cent for the quarter and 13.3 per cent year to date.

    CEO Colin Harvey said net profit grew 27.6 per cent quarter on quarter.

    “However, this is only the first step in the right direction towards where the organisation should be, and there is scope for improvement. I am confident that our strategy roadmap focussed on strengthening the key areas of, assortment, supply chain, operational excellence, store base, and digitally enabling the organisation will bear fruit in terms of financial performance, and overall customer shopping experience.”

    He said the group’s net revenue of RM1.66 billion year to date was driven by growth in new stores and consumer promotion activity.

    Continued store expansion has taken the network to 2259 stores.

    7-Eleven Malaysia expects trading conditions for the next quarter to improve with the anticipated heightened consumer sentiment.

    “We expect to see further improvements in the next quarter by pursuing our core strategy pillars of operations excellence, cost management and commercial innovation,” the company said.

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  • LG Electronics supports Ethiopian entrepreneurs

    LG Electronics supports Ethiopian entrepreneurs

    LG Electronics announced on Thursday that it has opened an entrepreneurship center for young people at an existing technical and vocational education center run jointly by LG and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (Koica) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

    The existing job training center, the LG-Koica Hope TVET (Technical and Vocational Education and Training) College, was established in Addis Ababa in 2014 to help Ethiopia achieve economic growth by offering quality education to young Ethiopians and helping them acquire the foundations of financial independence.

    The new center has been named the LG Social Campus Business Incubator Center. It provides graduation candidates of LG-Koica Hope TVET with the opportunity to receive help building a business model and launching their own company. The center will offer office and co-working spaces, as well as training in law, marketing, leadership and business administration.

    “We hope that a socially-recognized company will be born in Ethiopia with the support of the LG Social Campus,” said Yoon Dae-sik, president of the government relations division at LG Electronics.

    “We will keep up with efforts to help Ethiopian youngsters step up their competitive edge and independence.”

    The Korea International Cooperation Agency is a state-run organization devoted to supporting socio-economic development in developing countries.

  • Fung Group launches Explorium in Hong Kong

    Fung Group launches Explorium in Hong Kong

    Fung group has opened an innovation hub in Hong Kong for co-creating, learning, experimenting and scaling the ideas, opportunities and business models that will shape the future of supply chains. Explorium Hong Kong – taking its name from an earlier project in Shanghai which tested retail technologies – was opened this week with Dr Victor Fung hosting a housewarming party.  Product recognition system using AI technology and developed by Circle K and JD, one of the first prototypes from the partnership between JD’s AI lab and the Fung Retailing Group, was on show along with other technology innovations.

    Among the highlights of the AI tech showcase were:

    ZhuiYi Technology, one of the top AI companies in China has integrated deep learning and NLP to help enterprises improve customer experience and business efficiency.

    WhatsSquare has produced chatbots and digital workspace tailored for SMEs with advanced Software as a Service (SaaS) technology.

    Zhulke Engineering Hong Kong specialises in the design and development of technology in collaboration with corporate partners.

    Virtual Control is an SaaS company that has developed a digital solution to analog processes in modern global supply chains. Its software will pull together a range of digital tools to maximise the impact on efficiency and automation, such as augmented reality, machine learning, photo recognition, and data analytics.

    Beijing MeShow Digital Technology has taken the lead in 3D virtual-human modelling technology. Using MeShow’s mobile app, users can create their 3D model simulating their own face and body, try out types of makeup looks, enjoy virtual fitting services and realise apparel purchase needs concurrently in a single app.

    WildFaces Technology offers a vision-based AI software system that can recognise and track faces anonymously from moving cameras, including on drones, walking robots, PTZ cameras, mobile phones and wearables such as glasses and body-worn cameras. This world-first “on-the-move” recognition technology requires only one low-resolution camera to be able to recognise hundreds of faces in real-time in large uncontrolled crowds and at far distances, replacing at least 50 more high-resolution but fixed cameras from other traditional facial recognition systems.

    Hampen Technology provides deep learning-based biometric authentication and video analytics solutions for fintech, security and retail applications.

    Find Innovation Lab’s Find Retail Suite uses AI and machine learning to offer retailers products that change the way purchasing departments buy merchandise and how the marketing department sells it.

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  • Big success for Korean retailers during shopping festivals

    Big success for Korean retailers during shopping festivals

    South Korean retailers enjoyed a big sales boost from annual shopping extravaganza they launched in November to join the world’s major shopping events like Black Friday in the U.S. or Single’s Day in China. According to industry sources on December 2, Lotte Department Store, one of the country’s retail majors saw its sales from Nov. 1 to 29 grow 1.1 percent against the same period last year. Sales of its hypermarket affiliate Lotte Mart also gained 1.7 percent over the same period.

    Home appliance sold especially well during the big sales period, recording a 12.5 percent jump in revenue compared to the same period last year. High-end products were also showed sharp growth – sales of expensive hanwoo or Korean beef soared 25.8 percent on year and luxury fashion items up 9 percent.

    E-Mart., another leading big-box store chain also held a mega sales event in November, slashing prices of nearly 2,000 items worth 300 billion won (US$267.4 million). It sold 180 tons of hanwoo in just four days, doubling sales against the same period last year.

    Online retailers enjoyed even bigger growth in sales through major discount events. G Market and Auction hosted Big Smile Day sales event from Nov. 1 to 11 and their sales transaction amount more than doubled compared to the same period a month earlier.

    11st.com that runs its biggest sales event on Nov. 11 every year said its daily transaction amount on this year’s big sales day reached a record high of 102 billion won. Last year, it recorded 64 billion won through the same event.

    WeMakePrice Inc. also held bargain sales from Nov 1 to 11 this year. It said the transaction amount over the period jumped 77 percent to 230 billion won compared to the same period last year. By volume, it was up 15 percent on year. The company estimated transaction amount to hit a record high of 600 billion won in November.

  • LNG Canada investor Petronas signs gas supply deal with Vitol

    LNG Canada investor Petronas signs gas supply deal with Vitol

     LNG Canada, the US$30 billion (RM125.7 billion) liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project, has bagged another client after project shareholder Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) signed an initial sales deal with trading house Vitol.

    Royal Dutch Shell decided in October to construct the export terminal. It was the first major investment decision in a new North American LNG export project for two years and was expected to launch a new wave of such projects in the region.

    Petronas, the Malaysian state-owned oil and gas company that bought a 25% stake in the project in May, will supply Vitol with 0.8 million tonnes per year (mtpa) of LNG starting from 2024 for 15 years, Vitol said in a statement.

    “The primary supply to Vitol will come from LNG Canada as well as from (Petronas’) other global LNG supply portfolio,“ Vitol said.

    Vitol joins Asian utilities Tokyo Gas, Toho Gas and Korea Gas Corp (Kogas) as buyers, committing to offtake around 2.4 mtpa collectively.

    Such long-term agreements normally underpin project finance and are critical before a final investment decision is taken. But because Shell and partners Petronas, PetroChina, Mitsubishi and Kogas are such large players in the LNG market, they can absorb the output into their global portfolios without needing to find significant other buyers.

    Under previously announced deals, Toho Gas will buy 0.3 mtpa, Tokyo Gas 0.6 mtpa and Kogas 0.7 mtpa from LNG Canada.

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  • Q3 Macau retail sales rise

    Q3 Macau retail sales rise

    Third-quarter Macau retail sales surged 12.8 per cent year on year to 18.19 billion patacas (US$2.26 billion), according to data from the SAR’s Statistic Department. However, possibly reflecting the timing of typhoons last year and this year, sales rose only 1 per cent quarter on quarter. Watches and jewellery accounted for 21 per cent of total spending during the quarter. Department stores accounted for 16.3 per cent of the market and apparel 13 per cent.

    The increase in third-quarter Macau retail sales was driven by department stores, up 23.1 per cent, communications equipment (up 19.8 per cent) and pharmacy goods, up 19.4 per cent.

    For the first nine months of this year, Macau retail sales rose by 20.8 per cent.

    However the Statistics Department’s data suggests retailers have modest expectations for the rest of the year. Just 16 per cent of retailers questioned expect an increase in sales for the three months to December, compared with 38.2 per cent who expect a decline and 45.8 per cent who expect sales to remain steady.

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  • Malaysia projected 4.9% retail sales growth for 2018

    Malaysia projected 4.9% retail sales growth for 2018

    The Malaysia Retail Chain Association (MRCA), which expects retail sales growth to come in at 4.9% for 2018 in line with the country’s gross domestic product growth, has pointed out that some of its members face difficulties in retailing online amid the push for e-commerce.

    MRCA, in releasing its first quarterly retail sales survey for the third quarter (Q3) today, highlighted that online sales make up only 3.9% of its retail revenue.

    The sample of respondents for the survey include 10% of MRCA’s members, representing 59 brands and 2,266 stores across a variety of trade categories, including food & beverage (F&B), fashion, health & beauty, supermarket & department stores, entertainment, optical, education, home improvement and more.

    MRCA president Datuk Seri Garry Chua said the association constantly reminds members to bring their businesses online and be part of the digital ecosystem, adding that MRCA also has digital membership for players like Lazada, Lelong and 11street, which are all its members.

    “We can also work closely with them (digital players) to reinforce and increase the market share for online. We’re confident the (industry) sales from online retail is going to be double-digit growth every year as more brick and mortar retailers go online, as with many start-ups,” Chua said.

    MRCA vice-president Datuk Liew Bin said although all members have an online presence, most of its members rely on the brick and mortar model and “survive happily on brick and mortar”, whereby online sales is regarded as a bonus to them.

    “With so many years in brick and mortar, it’s difficult for our members to turn to online. This is one of the challenges that our retailers face because (the) online (wave) is coming on strongly. This should be an alert to our members, as 3.9% is still a small figure,” Liew said, adding that MRCA expects online sales to grow 5% next year.

    Individually, he said some retailers have seen a 20% growth in their online retail sales.

    MRCA projected retail sales growth to grow 6.1% year-on-year in Q4 this year as year-end school holidays and the festive season are expected to bolster consumer spending; while an increase in the number of outlets is also expected to boost sales growth.

    It said retail sales grew 5.7% year-on-year in Q3 with the tax holiday between June and August that had encouraged consumers to spend.

    In Q2, retail sales grew at a slower rate of 2.1% year-on-year, affected mainly by the general election in May, where consumers held back on spending due to economic uncertainty.

    Retail sales grew 5.7% year-on-year in Q1 due to Chinese New Year sales and promotions.

    F&B, health & beauty and other retailers reported encouraging growth rate of 5.4%, 3.1% and 21.3% year-on-year respectively. However, fashion retailers suffered a negative growth in Q2 and Q3 at -2.2% and -2.8% year-on-year respectively.

  • Online Black Friday runs lackluster campaign in Vietnam

    Online Black Friday runs lackluster campaign in Vietnam

    Online Black Friday retailers failed to enthuse customers with usual discounts, while brick and mortar stores saw heavy traffic. E-commerce giant Lazada combined its Black Friday and Cyber Monday into a four-day promotional event, offering discounts of up to 70 percent, mostly on cosmetics and fashion items.

    New items were discounted by 15 percent, and the strongest price reductions were offered on low-value items of unpopular brands.

    Other e-commerce services claimed to offer bigger discounts, of up to 91 percent on Tiki and 99 percent on Shopee, but these were restricted to a particular time frame after which the discounts passed on to other items.

    However, such “flash sales” are familiar to online shoppers as daily offerings made by most e-commerce services.

    Thus, retailers failed to enthuse customers with the discounts.

    Minh Tien, an office worker in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 1, said that he regularly checks flash sale items on these websites. “It’s the same method this time, and I’m in no rush as the event will last three to seven days.”

    Market observers said another reason that Black Friday online sales in Vietnam failed to catch fire was the Chinese Singles’ Day promotional event held earlier this month and the upcoming Online Friday hosted by the Vietnam E-commerce and Digital Economy Agency (iDEA), under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, on December 7.

    But in contrast to the online market, the shopping atmosphere was vibrant at brick-and-mortar stores. People started to queue up at large shopping centers in Hanoi and HCMC early Friday.

    A large fashion store on Ba Trieu street in Hanoi offered a discount on all items for five hours, attracting a large number of customers.

    In other stores, customers had to wait for up to two hours to buy household items. Office workers joined the shopping frenzy at lunch time, only to find out they were late because shops stopped letting new customers after 11 a.m.

    As of 10 p.m. Friday night, customers were still queuing up at major shopping malls in Hanoi.

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  • India’s Spencer’s opens 9 stores in 90 days

    India’s Spencer’s opens 9 stores in 90 days

    Spencer’s Retail, the multi-format retailer from RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group is on an expansion spree. It is presently focussing to expand the store count in existing clusters in east, south and north of India.nIn this effort, Spencer’s essentially opened one store in every 10 days and thereby augmented the retail network of the chain recently by adding 9 new stores in 90 days. With this expansion, the store count of Spencer’s has now reached 146 across 37 cities.

    The strength of Spencer’s lies in its retail network which is constantly growing. It is an endeavour of Spencer’s to become more accessible to the customers and after receiving positive feedback from the clusters it operates in, the chain is poised to explore new territories.

    In this phase, Spencer’s launched stores in existing cities and its adjoining areas like Rajarhat in Kolkata, Maheshtala (South 24 Parganas), City Mall (Gomti Nagar) in Lucknow, Raheja Mall (Sector 47) in Gurugram, Sector 48 in Noida, Madeenaguda in Hyderabad, and at Howrah’s Aurobindo Mall.

    The size of these stores varies between 2,000 sq. ft. to 15,000 sq. ft.. The stores offer a wide range of assortment from different categories including Fresh Fruits & Vegetables, Fish & Meat, Staples and Groceries, FMCG, Dairy and Frozen products, Organic Food items, Dry Fruits, Apparels, Electronics and Electricals and Home Essentials. The product range in each of the new store has been meticulously planned to suit the tastes and preferences of the local neighbourhood.

    According to the Spencer’s spokesperson, “To consolidate the business, Spencer’s is dedicatedly selecting 360 degree catchments where the customers are looking for aspirational products in an affordable range. The expansion of Spencer’s currently is focussed at metros as well as in Tier I and II cities. In this FY we are further concentrating at spreading our network in the profitable zones like West Bengal, Delhi NCR, East UP and down south in Hyderabad and Chennai. In terms of product range, with more than 25,000 SKU’s (Stock Keeping Units), Spencer’s is constantly evolving in terms of its offing at each store. It is not only limited to food category but Spencer’s has extended a similar experience in the non-food and general merchandise space.”

    Spencer’s has been redefining the Indian retail landscape since 1863 and with the brand proposition ‘Makes Fine Living Affordable’, it continues to inculcate the same kind of trust and patronage among its millions of consumers across India.

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  • The Powerful Tycoon You Have Never Heard of Before

    The Powerful Tycoon You Have Never Heard of Before

    Many billionaires have no problem flaunting their wealth, whether through naming skyscrapers after themselves, yacht parties on the other side of the world, fancy ostentatious car collections and private jets, fake rehearsed smiles on camera and lots of media coverage.  But a subset prefers the trappings of obscurity, content to preside over their empires away from the public’s gaze.

    Reading the recent Entrepreneur piece on Calvin Lo, the CEO of R.E. Lee International and Founder of R.E. Lee Capital, one theme emerges: he hates fame.  Even though Forbes estimates Lo’s personal networth at $1.7 billion, he manage to elude any wealth rankings and live his life in what seem like secrecy.


    Life insurance tycoon Calvin Lo, CEO of R.E. Lee International. Photograph: Apple Daily Hong Kong

    The intriguing thing about Lo is not that he’s a billionaire, but a billionaire who managed to slip under the radar for so many years.  Like many wealthy people, he is very private, avoiding public scrutiny of any sort. Hong Kong media describes Lo, known as 盧啟賢 in Asia, as “supremely private” because he doesn’t need a glitzy public persona to help impress anyone, and because he loathes self-promoting egomaniacs.

    That is not uncommon among the upper echelon of the world, where it’s better to be anonymous and rich than loved and famous. That is the hierarchy in the finance culture: the more important you are, the less you need to be seen.

    Garden-variety fame? That is a nasty symptom of being very wealthy that unfairly puts you in the same category as reality TV stars. Those who work at the top of their industry are not that, certainly not in their minds.  That sort of fame is like a skin rash that needs to be treated. And as with all things billionaires, that treatment comes by throwing money at the problem. Not only does Lo never allow his picture be taken in public, there are reports that he has attempted to buy up the rights to photographs of himself, limiting their availability.


    The rarely seen Lo (right) travels with his own security whenever possible. Photograph: Apple Daily Hong Kong

    Many in the financial sector have a similar policy, especially top CEOs.  They flee from cameras, flee from being interviewed, and certainly flee from ever being on Page Six.  Unflattering news, unflattering photos, are either bought with money, or buried via legal action. But even media-shy billionaires will occasionally surface in the public eye.  Earlier this year, Lo was romantically linked to Hong Kong actress Bernice Liu, better known as 廖碧兒, and it piqued the interest of many people across Asia. After all, everyone loves a fairytale story where an unknown billionaire and a famous former beauty pageant can go hand in hand.  With the combination of extreme wealth, good looks and killer work ethics, it’s safe to say Lo and Liu redefined the meaning of “power couple” making them a perfect match. But true to form, Lo never did any interviews or made any statements regarding the matter.

    Hong Kong actress Bernice Liu (left) romantically linked to media-shy billionaire Calvin Lo (right). Photograph: Oriental Daily

    The distaste of fame often morphs into outright secrecy, especially amongst the mega rich.  If fame is a sign of weakness then secrecy is a sign of success. True masters of the markets don’t need anyone else’s help. They can divine the secrets behind the frenzy of blips on the screen, finding the hidden order in randomness, and turning that into gold. If you think you have that secret it’s nonsensical to tell others about it for free. Much better to charge huge fees to share in the benefits of your special knowledge. People on TV giving investment advice? Either they are fools who don’t know anything and pretend to know it all, or they’re fools who know something and are giving it away for free. Either way, fools.

    Every generation or two produces a mysterious, behind-the-scenes tycoon of enormous power and influence, fundamentally different from even the wealthiest corporate titan. Lo is most certainly one of them who is mastering and reshaping entire economic landscape right under all our noses.

    Editor’s note: This article originally appeared on The London Economic