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  • Rakuten Closes Marketplaces in South-East Asia

    Rakuten Closes Marketplaces in South-East Asia

    Japanese e-commerce platform Rakuten has announced plans to close a number of global operations as part of a new strategic focus.

    As of March 2016, the company will shutter its marketplaces in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. It is also looking to sell off its Thailand-based platform Tarad.com, which it acquired in 2010.

    The closures will mean the loss of about 150 jobs, although the company said it will provide redundancy compensation above the legal requirements and will help to find new jobs for those affected.

    Rakuten’s regional Asian headquarters in Singapore will remain operational, as will its e-commerce business in Thailand, which is reportedly performing well.

    According to Rakuten’s Vision 2020 statement, the closures are part of a strategy that will see the company focusing more on its stronger markets in Japan and Taiwan.

    In place of the South-East Asia marketplaces, Rakuten is looking to focus on a consumer-to-consumer app called Rakuma — a marketplace app that enables transactions between individuals (similar to Carousell).

    Rakuten is also an investor in Singapore-based C2C marketplace Carousell. It’s unclear at this stage how the company will integrate the competing Rakuma into the region. Rakuten has not yet commented on this rollout.

    As part of its strategy realignment, Rakuten’s operations in Brazil will shift from a marketplace model to a SaaS model.

    Rakuten’s Vision 2020 is focused on three core principles: strong, smart and speed. The decision to refocus the company’s strategy in the emerging markets of Brazil and South-East Asia may represent the still-evolving nature of e-commerce in these markets. By focusing on mobile apps and SaaS in emerging markets, the company looks to be shoring up its future in these uncertain markets.

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  • China’s Monkey Week Boost Demand as Retail Sales Increased

    China’s Monkey Week Boost Demand as Retail Sales Increased

    The gloomy Chinese economy has shown a sign of stabilization during “Monkey,” the lunar New Year celebrations as retail sales have surged, suggesting an improvement in domestic demand.

    During spring festival last week, China’s retail sales recorded 11.2% year-over-year (YoY) growth, fueled by cinemas, according to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce on Saturday. The retail and restaurant sales surged to $115 billion (754 billion yuan), showing a strong potential of the food industry in the world’s most-populated country.

    The Chinese economy last year grew 6.9%, slowest GDP growth rate since 1990, owing to the soft domestic demand in the country. The Chinese authority to uplift domestic demand undertook several measures. Despite the initiatives by Beijing, the Chinese economy is still on a bumpy ride as depicted by recent gloomy economic indicators.

    However, the jump in retail sales during spring festival last week depicts that policymaker’s efforts have started paying off. From January, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) performed massive open market operations to keep the market liquid. In January, it injected net liquidity worth about $188 billion (1.235 trillion yuan), to meet the cash demand during spring festival.

    The massive liquidity injections raised concerns among economists, who believe that this week would lead to tightening liquidity as the Chinese central bank has to mop liquidity from the economy. They also believe that increase in retail sales during the spring festival, which started on February 8-13, suggesting demand is picking up pace.

    Food demand remained strong during celebrations and medium-sized food retailers saw 10.6% YoY growth as Chinese families preferred to eat food from restaurants. Tourism also recorded modest demand during week-long holidays and nearly 1.62 million foreign tourists visited China in a week-long holiday. Mass catering services also posted record boom as Chinese families hosted reunion dinners.

    Analysts believe that the modest growth in demand shows the potential of Chinese consumers. However, they believe that the demand is seasonal and Beijing needs to devise an effective strategy to spur and sustain domestic demand in an attempt to streamline the world’s second largest economy.

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  • New EU funding to help boost Myanmar garment exports

    New EU funding to help boost Myanmar garment exports

    Myanmar’s garment sector is targeting a 300% increase in garment exports to the European Union (EU) by end of 2019 thanks to a EUR2.8m (US$3m) funding boost as the second phase of the SMART Myanmar project gets underway.

    The EU-funded SMART Myanmar project – SMEs for Environmental Accountability, Responsibility and Transparency – aims to build the sustainable recovery of the Southeast Asian country’s garment industry.

    Phase two of the initiative launched last week, with the goal of boosting productivity and creating over 300,000 jobs for low-skilled workers during the next four years. It has been implemented by a consortium of partners including Germany’s Sequa, the Foreign Trade Association of German Retail Trade (AVE), sustainable fashion group Made-by, the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association (MGMA), and the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP).

    More specifically, Jacob Clere, team leader with SMART Myanmar II, told just-style: “The project focus is on improving social and environmental compliance in garment factories, in particular, upscaling and mainstreaming some of the activities piloted and launched during the first project phase from 2013-2015. We’re targeting social compliance improvements in 100 factories during the next four years, as well as delivering HR management to 400 factory managers. As well, we plan to continue capacity building activities with the MGMA and with the training of local technical staff on compliance issues.”

    Other activities will include educating factory workers on labour and OHS laws, working with the government on public procurement procedures, and educating local banks on financial products and services – including introducing the concept of green finance.

    The ultimate goal of the SMART project, which has been running for three years, is to help Myanmar’s garment industry compete in the global market. At its inception, EUR2m was invested in a bid to improve the production and consumption of sustainably manufactured garments in the country.

    Project partners hope other results will be achieved, such as a 20% reduction in waste production in 100 garment factories. Garment exports are also targeted for a 300% increase from 2015 to the end of 2019.

    The consortium is also expecting that at least 150 garment factories will improve their working conditions as a consequence of participating in the SMART Compliance Academies, and that up to 30 banks will take part in at least eight workshops on green finance. In addition, the programme is targeting the training of 15 Safer Consumer Products (SCP) consultants to advanced level to deliver factory improvement programmes. And it is hoping the initiative will create new business opportunities, such as joint ventures between factories in Myanmar and EU brands.

    Speaking at the launch ceremony, EU Ambassador Roland Kobia celebrated the achievements of Myanmar’s garment industry, noting that the value of garment exports has more than doubled in recent years, making it “a catalytic sector of Myanmar’s economic transition”.

    SMART Myanmar is an EU-funded SWITCH Asia project, which, while promoting and supporting the sustainable production of ‘Made in Myanmar’ garments, strives to increase the international competitiveness of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the sector. It works alongside companies and business support organisations located in the country, helping build capacity and increase skills and knowledge in local partner organisations, facilitating the development of marketing and export strategies for the garment sector.

    From 2013-2015 the project engaged with dozens of local garment factories on social and environmental compliance issues, providing technical support and capacity building. The project also assisted in boosting the capacity of business associations, helping the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association (MGMA) draft a first-ever Code of Conduct for its members.

    Project director Simone Lehmann said at the press conference in Yangon that the focus of the next phase will be on “technical support and capacity building” through workshops engaging dozens of factory employers. She added that there will not be a focus on labour disputes in the sector, but instead, “developing the sector and providing professional support for MGMA”.

    She added: “The garment sector has quickly become Myanmar’s main export sector after oil and gas. The value of exports has more than doubled in less than two years and is projected to continue to grow almost exponentially for the next several years. The growth of the garment sector will contribute to the growth of the industrial sector and create many new jobs.”

  • Tesla Motors Wants Local Production in China

    Tesla Motors Wants Local Production in China

    It’s no secret that electric-car maker Tesla Motors is ramping up its efforts in China. Despite some initial challenges in the country when the company launched in the market in 2014, it still believes China could be one of its largest vehicle markets “within a few years,” according to its most recent 10-Q filing. And an update from Musk this week on Tesla’s plans in China, as well as a look at sales in Hong Kong, suggests it is as eager as ever to serve these important Asian markets.

    Tesla China

    Aiming to secure a factory location this year Tesla “aims to lock down manufacturing plans finding a local partner and a location for the plant — for the local market by the middle of this year,” wrote Engadget’s Richard Lai on Monday.

    The company plans to launch a factory in China “as soon as a year after” the Model 3 launch, which is set for late 2017, Musk said on Twitter last October. Securing a local partner and a location for its plant by the middle of this year would give Tesla plenty of time to meet this time frame.

    Musk hopes China will nix its “prohibitively high” auto import duties for the Model 3, making “a special category for EVs,” he explained last year on Twitter. Musk explained that these are natural moves for the company in order for it to “improve in-market affordability.”

    A China factory will be built to serve local Chinese demand and the company will continue to make cars and batteries in California and Nevada.

    Rising investments and rising demand
    Following its poor start in China in 2014, there was quite a bit of uncertainty about Tesla’s potential in the country last year. But a look at Tesla’s commentary on the market throughout 2015 suggests it experienced considerable growth in the market in terms of sales, demand, and investments.

    On a quarter-to-quarter basis, orders in Q2 “doubled” and orders in Q3 “increased substantially,” the company noted in its second- and third-quarter shareholder letters. Going forward, Tesla said in its third-quarter shareholder letter that it expected “order growth in China to remain strong.”

    Along with this rising demand, there are now over 340 Superchargers and 1,600 Destination Chargers in the country.

    One area of investment for the company in China has been with its retail stores. In August 2015, Tesla had just one retail store located in a high foot traffic area in the market and said it planned to have five by the end of the year. With 15 stores in the country now, the company appears to be exceeding its plans for a retail expansion there.

    Hong Kong First Tesla

    Tesla’s investments in Hong Kong, where it currently has three retail stores, are also surprising. Lai provides a glimpse of the company’s robust charging network in the market, along with a rare breakdown of sales for the region:

    Hong Kong in particular has 42 Superchargers, making it the city with the highest density of Tesla’s rapid charging stations; this is on top of the 75 destination chargers there. It’s no wonder that last year the company managed to sell 2,221 Model S in Hong Kong alone, which made up over 80 percent of the local electric vehicles that year. To put things into perspective, that’s also 4.39 percent of Tesla’s total global shipment in the same period.

    This is considerable progress considering the company didn’t launch in Hong Kong until the second half of 2014.

    China and Hong Kong both look poised to represent key catalysts for Tesla in 2016.

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    Daniel Sparks owns shares of Tesla Motors. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Tesla Motors. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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  • Korean beauty brands increasingly offering the interactive retail experience

    Korean beauty brands increasingly offering the interactive retail experience

    In a round-up of the immersive, hands-on retail offerings which beauty brands are increasingly offering in the country, the national paper highlighted the rise of smart technology and wearables as the key driver behind the trend.

    “Seeking to offer more interactive and tailored services to consumers, cosmetic brands in Korea are increasingly utilizing high technology and smart gadgets to satisfy diverse consumer needs at one of the largest, trend-sensitive beauty hubs in the world,” the newspaper notes.

    It highlights AmorePacific, Dior and SK-II as key examples of beauty players at the forefront of this retail trend.

    Magic Ring test

    SK-II’s Magic Ring test (a diagnostics testing process for consumers’ skin), uses a skin imaging machine that tracks details such as the direction and size of pores and wrinkles, offering consumers the personalised product recommendation service they increasingly demand.

    Amore Pacific and Dior are just two of several other major brands reportedly also offering interactive diagnostics services in Korea, and investing in developing bespoke technologies specifically for the immersive retail setting.

    Apps are another key channel boasting interactive opportunities for brands, with L’Oreal reportedly gearing up to launch its MakeUp Genius app (which allows consumers to virtually try on cosmetics) onto the Korean market in the coming months.

    A global trend

    Korea is just the latest in a string of countries in which the beauty industry is adopting the potential of interactive beauty with open arms, to meet the rising demand from young, tech-savvy consumers.

    The Korea Herald report comes hot on the heels of a recent study published by market research firm Euromontior International , which noted that younger generation consumers increasingly demand interactivity.

    Millennials seek out “a curated but interactive sales environment, whether retail or online”, the firm’s analysts confirmed, noting that cosmetics is a rare area in which the consumer group is willing to spend freely.

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  • Nation gets first crowdfunding platform

    Nation gets first crowdfunding platform

    As of 6 p.m. on Monday, Marine Techno, a cosmetics company that specializes in products made from marine collagen, successfully gathered 76 million won ($64,000) from retail investors on the nation’s first crowdfunding portal, which had opened earlier in the day.

    A total of 13 investors, including angel investors, the government-led Creative Economy and Innovation Fund, and other retail investors contributed to the biotechnology firm based out of the Jeonnam Creative Innovation Center in Yeosu, South Jeolla.

    Created in 2014, the start-up produces cosmetics by recycling marine byproducts. It owns as many as 30 patents for collagen-producing technologies.

    The company’s success on the crowdfunding platform meant it reached 110 percent of its investment target.

    “I was wondering about this, but we unexpectedly ended up with a good result,” said Hwang Jae-ho, founder of Marine Techno. “We rolled out investor relations activities at many events, and that’s what has led to the good result today.”

    Hwang said the new funds will be used to expand production facilities to meet growing demand.

    Individuals who want to invest in new promising businesses can log in to www.crowdnet.or.kr, operated by the Korea Securities Depositary, to connect with one of the five intermediary firms registered with the Financial Services Commission, the nation’s top financial regulator.

    The five intermediaries that can broker deals with the start-ups online are Wadiz, Ucanstart, OpenTrade, Yinc and Wealth Funding Management.

    On the first day, 18 start-ups, including Marine Techno, attracted investments through the intermediaries.

    The FSC introduced the crowdfunding system as part of its efforts to support the creative economy and financial technology initiatives. The regulator revised the nation’s Capital Market Act in July to provide start-ups with better access to financial resources, hoping to boost the fintech industry and create more jobs for young people.

    Crowdfunding platforms have become increasingly popular, with the U.S.-based Kickstarter attracting as many as 270,000 online investors in just two hours to raise 10.9 billion won for Pebble, a smartwatch maker.

    If they have a crowd funding account with any of the 18 securities firms offering them, retail investors can invest up to 2 million won in a single firm, and up to 5 million won a year. Start-ups are allowed to receive up to 700 million won in total every year through the crowdfunding portal. If a company fails to reach 80 percent of its target by the deadline it has set, the funding will be nullified.

    “There is some concern that the investment limit is too small, but we plan to support the regulator’s move to heat up the mood,” said Kim Young-soo, an executive at Korea Venture Business Association.

    Marine Techno was the only company that surpassed its goal on Monday, with crowdfunding still a foreign concept to many. On the homepage for Yinc, a message reading, “Please be my first investor,” was still flickering at around 5 p.m.

    Still, large financial groups are joining the trend. KB Financial Group launched a matching service for investors and start-ups on Monday. It began to attract investors by using the crowdfunding platform of OpenTrade to help fund four promising start-ups chosen by the group.

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  • Goldman Sachs enters Singapore retail fund market

    Goldman Sachs enters Singapore retail fund market

    Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM), the asset management arm of Goldman Sachs Group Inc, is making its foray into the local unit trust industry with the launch of 13 retail funds in 1Q 2016.

    The new GSAM unit trusts, previously available only to private banking and institutional clients, will consist of fundamental and quantitative equity funds as well as those that invest in fixed income and multi-assets, according to the fund house which manages assets in excess of US$1 trillion ($1.4 trillion).

    These 13 Goldman Sachs funds approved for retail sales in Singapore include the Goldman Sachs Asia High Yield Bond Portfolio, Asia Portfolio, European Equity Partners Portfolio, European High Yield Bond Portfolio, Global Core Equity Portfolio, Global Equity Partners Portfolio, Global High Yield Portfolio,

    Global Income Builder Portfolio, Growth & Emerging Markets Broad Equity Portfolio, Growth & Emerging Markets Corporate Bond Portfolio, India Equity Portfolio, Japan Portfolio and US Real Estate Balanced Portfolio.

    “The global market volatility we are seeing right now underscores the need for world-class investment solutions that deliver highly differentiated strategies with real diversification benefits. We look forward to meeting the needs of Singapore retail investors through this range of funds,” says Sheila Patel, who is Singapore CEO of GSAM, in a statement.

    Singapore is GSAM’s Asia regional investment hub. The fund house’s team of Singapore-based investment professionals has been providing investment and advisory solutions to institutions including pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and financial intermediaries in the city state and across Asia since 1991.

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  • CITS forecasts Thai wholesale and retail markets to grow by one percent

    CITS forecasts Thai wholesale and retail markets to grow by one percent

    The Center for International Trade Studies (CITS) has predicted that the wholesale and retail markets in Indonesia and the Philippines will score the highest growths among the ASEAN countries in 2020.

    Indonesia and Vietnam will have higher growth rates than all other countries due to a relatively large number of foreign investments and an increased income per head, the center forecast.

    Meanwhile, Thailand’s wholesale and retail markets are expected to grow by just one percent this year and 10 percent in the next five years, according to CITS. However, that will largely depend on the people’s incomes and domestic consumption. Thailand’s modern-day trading is expected to grow while traditional retail trading will be gradually closed down like in other countries.

     

     

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  • Ayala eyes expansion of healthcare business

    Ayala eyes expansion of healthcare business

    The country’s oldest conglomerate Ayala Corporation plans to expand its investments in the healthcare sector with the roll out of 100 retail clinics under the brand-name FamilyDoc over the next 3 years.

    Ayala Managing Director Paolo Borromeo said in an interview that the conglomerate, through its unit Ayala Healthcare Holdings Incorporated, experimented on developing a smaller primary care clinic in December last year.

    Borromeo said the proposed clinic will house a pharmacy, a diagnostic center, and physicians to handle consultations.

    So far, it has two FamilyDoc clinics located in Las Piñas and Imus, Cavite.

    “If this becomes successful, we plan to build 100 clinics over the next 3 years,” Borromeo said.

    The initial investment for a 100-square meter clinic is from P6 million ($124,879.86) to P7 million ($145,693.17).

    Borromeo said Ayala plans to build this chain of retail clinics in middle income communities across the Philippines.

    Each clinic will have one doctor, two nurses, one pharmacist, and one radio technician.

    Operating hours are between 7 am to 9 pm. The consultation fee is P350 ($7.28) per patient.

    In 2015, the Ayala group entered the affordable retail healthcare space with the acquisition of a 50%-stake in the Generika group.

    Generika is one of the pioneers in the retail distribution of quality generic medicines in the Philippines, with 570 stores nationwide to date.

    The conglomerate entered the health care sector in 2014 through QualiMed, Ayala Land, Incorporated’s chain of hospitals and satellite clinics, in partnership with the Mercado medical group.

    Ayala had said it plans to invest $50 million in healthcare and education business over the next few years to make the most of the growing Philippine population and rising consumer spending.

    Ayala is one of the country’s largest conglomerates, with investments in banking, real estate, telecommunications, water utility, infrastructure, and power generation.

  • Standard Chartered names James Dolphin as its CIO for retail banking

    Standard Chartered names James Dolphin as its CIO for retail banking

    Standard Chartered Bank has appointed James Dolphin as its Chief Information Officer (CIO) for retail banking. From March 2016, Dolphin will report directly to the bank’s Group CIO, Dr Michael Gorriz, and be based in Singapore.

    Prior to this role, Dolphin was Capital One’s CIO for retail and direct banking for since 2012. In that role, he led Capital One’s digital transformation strategy for the retail business by building strong engineering teams, and instilling a software development culture. He also redesigned and rewired Capital One’s retail channels to deliver market-leading digital experiences during his time there.

    Besides Capital One, Dolphin has held senior technology leadership roles at Bank of America too.

    “James brings with him a strong reputation as a technology leader and innovator. He is highly experienced in leading large teams and driving an agile culture that is innovative and customer-centric. I am confident that he will be a valuable addition to Standard Chartered,” said Dr Gorriz.

    1

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  • Asahi Glass begins shipment of PVC from Indonesian plant

    Asahi Glass begins shipment of PVC from Indonesian plant

    AGCAsahi Glass (AGC), a world-leading manufacturer of glass, chemicals and high-tech materials, has begun supply of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) from the Anyer plant of P T Asahimas Chemical (ASC), one of its consolidated subsidiaries in Indonesia.

    With the aim to meet the growing demand for caustic soda and polyvinyl chloride in Southeast Asia, the production facility enhancement at the Anyer plant was launched in 2013 to significantly boost the output of caustic soda and vinyl chloride in Indonesia. The construction project has been completed as scheduled and commercial production will start in the first quarter of this year.

    The caustic soda and PVC markets in Southeast Asia are projected to grow at over 5 percent per year. Of the demand in the market, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, where AGC has production bases for the chlor-alkali business, account for 70 percent. By capturing growing demand in the region, the AGC Group will move forward toward its long-term goals under Vision 2025.

  • Indonesia central bank seen cutting key rate again

    Indonesia central bank seen cutting key rate again

    Indonesia’s central bank, which kept its benchmark reference rate unchanged for nearly all of 2015, is expected to make its second cut this year on Thursday as it tries to bolster the country’s sluggish growth.

    South-East Asia’s largest economy grew 4.8% in 2015, the fifth straight year of slowing and the weakest pace since 2009. But growth picked up in the final quarter, showing some signs of recovery.

    Bank Indonesia (BI) trimmed its key rate by 25 basis points last month. Thirteen of 19 economists in a Reuters poll predict a same-size cut on Thursday, reducing the rate to 7%.

    Many economists believe BI is at the start of an easing cycle, as there’s room for monetary easing that there was not in 2015, when inflation sometimes topped 7% and anticipation of higher US interest rates pressured the fragile rupiah, which was emerging Asia’s second worst performing currency last year.

    The rupiah was not rattled by the Federal Reserve’s hike in December, and it has strengthened more than 2% against the dollar this year. BI deputy governor Perry Warjiyo said last week the rupiah is heading towards a level reflecting the country’s economic fundamentals.

    ROOM TO EASE?

    The rupiah’s appreciation gave “room for BI to ease its monetary policy even further. BI will make use of this opportunity to do just that, in a bid to help sustain the upward momentum in GDP growth,” said DBS’ economist Gundy Cahyadi.

    Low inflation and a deep slump in January exports and imports also support the argument for early rate cut, economists said.

    “Weak exports and capital goods imports mean further policy boost to aid economic recovery is warranted,” said Credit Suisse economist Santitarn Sathirathai.

    Not all agree. Six analysts surveyed by Reuters said the central bank will hold the benchmark at 7.25%.

    “BI is keen to avoid a repeat of the 2013 ‘Taper Tantrum’, which saw the central bank having to hike rates aggressively to support the struggling rupiah,” said Capital Economics in a note projecting no second rate cut until the second quarter.

    CIMB Niaga economist Winang Budoyo, who has pencilled in a hold this week, predicted that BI will lower the rate in March instead.

    BI has a policy meeting scheduled for March 17-18, right after the Fed’s next policy meeting on March 15-16.

  • Motornation.tv launches its VOD Website & Roku Channel powered by Muvi Studio

    Motornation.tv launches its VOD Website & Roku Channel powered by Muvi Studio

    Muvi Studio, a popular cloud-based Video Streaming Platform by New York-based tech company Muvi LLC, announced the launch of Motornation.tv (https://www.motornation.tv), a new Multi-Screen VOD service. It is available across on Web and also on Roku (https://channelstore.roku.com/details/82006/motornation.tv) powered by its Video Streaming Platform – Muvi StudioMuvi Studio.

    Motornation.tv is a free and premium subscription-based (SVOD) streaming TV network that specializes in Traditional Hot Rod, Kustom, Motorcycle, Instructional, Culture and Classic Films as well as Original Series. Motornation has some of the best films and film makers coming together to produce the best in the Hot Rod, Kustom, and Motorcycle world. They pride themselves in bringing the nation great,out well produced independent films as well as original content.

    Motornation.tv stands for and comes from the people that actually are involved in this Partnering with Muvi and using Muvi StudioMuvi Studio has allowed Motornation.tv to launch their Video-on-Demand (VOD) Website and Roku Channel in less than a month’s time, without having any coding knowledge or hiring any IT or Technology Technical Teams, thus allowing them to purely focus purely on content and business strategy.

    “Muvi Studio is a single platform solution for the video industry when it comes to Video Streaming (Live or on-demand) and provide an out-of-the-box experience as well as end-to-end solution for launching Multi-Screen Platforms in record time” – explains Viraj Mehta, Head – International Business, Muvi LLC

    Muvi StudioMuvi Studio is a one-stop user friendly solution that handles everything from provisioning of the IT Infrastructure like Servers and CDN, to front end applications like Website, Mobile and TV Apps at a click of a button. This makes sure thatso that the content owners do not need to worry about any IT and Technology hassles and focus purely

    About Muvi LLC & Muvi Studio

    Muvi is a New York based Technology Company behind the popular cloud based Video Streaming Platform – Muvi Studio which caters to video content owners, and enables them to launch their own-branded Multi-Screen Video Streaming Platform (Live Streaming and Video-on-demand) across web, mobile and TV at a click of a button instantly, without any coding knowledge or IT teams. Muvi Studio includes everything required to launch a VOD platform from IT Infrastructure to Online Video Player and front end apps like website and

    Visit https://studio.muvi.com www.studio.muvi.com for more information.

  • Genesis Luxury takes on Coach India

    Genesis Luxury takes on Coach India

    Indian fashion conglomerate Genesis Luxury Fashion has formed an exclusive partnership to New York design house Coach to introduce it to the Indian market.

    The first Coach India store will open to coincide with the brand’s 74th anniversary this year.

    “We are confident the brand’s commitment to heritage and innovative design will be warmly embraced by the growing number of Indian luxury consumers, who are innately drawn to craftsmanship, ” says Genesis Luxury MD Sanjay Kapoor.

    “Coach has tremendous potential in our market, and with our shared vision and well-defined strategies, we are focussed on accelerating its retail presence and visibility across key cities in India over the next few years. ”

    Coach international group president Ian Bickley says the company is confident its luxury store environment featuring designer Stuart Vevers will be “embraced and coveted” by fashionable Indian buyers.

    Established in New York City in 1941, Coach is known for its leather goods.

    After consolidating the Indian fashion market with such designer labels as Bwitch and Satya Paul, Genesis Colors (established in 2001) moved into marketing and distributing global luxury brands through its subsidiary Genesis Luxury Fashion in 2008. Its portfolio includes Burberry, Bottega Veneta,Canali, Giorgio Armani, Emporio Armani, G-Star Raw, Hugo Boss, Jimmy Choo, Michael Kors, Paul Smith, Tumi and Villeroy & Boch.

  • PVH takes control of Tommy Hilfiger China

    PVH takes control of Tommy Hilfiger China

    PVH Corp, the parent of the Tommy Hilfiger brand, is to take full control of its China business.

    PVH, together with funds advised by Apax Partners, will acquire the 55 per cent interest in TH Asia Ltd, their joint venture for Tommy Hilfiger China, which PVH does not already own.

    The purchase price for the transaction is about US$172 million, net of cash of approximately $100 million, subject to adjustment.

    The closing, which is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, is expected to occur early in the second quarter of 2016.

    “Today’s announcement represents a significant development for our company as we continue to execute against our key strategic priorities and demonstrates our commitment to making strategic investments to support the long term growth of PVH and our Tommy Hilfiger business,” said Emanuel Chirico, chairman and CEO of PVH.

    “This transaction enables the Tommy Hilfiger business to directly operate its fastest growing market, while leveraging our well-established infrastructure in Asia, our regional leadership expertise and strong brand momentum across both our Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein businesses in the region.”

    This transaction has been envisioned since PVH and the funds advised by Apax Partners established the Tommy Hilfiger China joint venture in connection with the Tommy Hilfiger acquisition in 2010.

    Since 2012, the first full year of operations after the joint venture acquired the Tommy Hilfiger China business from the former licensee, the Tommy Hilfiger business in China has doubled from approximately $70 million in revenue to a projected $140 million in 2015, with over 350 stores, of which 65 are directly operated.

    Daniel Grieder, CEO of Tommy Hilfiger, commented: “We are looking forward to executing a more fully integrated strategy for China that takes advantage of our current momentum in the region. This will allow us to further realise the growth opportunities that exist for the brand by offering consumers a greater breadth of Tommy Hilfiger product lines and a more elevated brand presentation. Building on our strong existing regional foundation, we plan to accelerate the growth of the Tommy Hilfiger business by increasing our brand marketing in China and capitalising on our strong market positioning and price, value proposition. We plan to invest further in driving the expansion of the brand through new store openings (both company-operated and franchised stores) and improved productivity in existing stores, while rapidly expanding our traditional and digital marketing initiatives to further reinforce the brand in this exciting market.”

    PVH Corp owns and markets Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger brands worldwide. It is the world’s largest shirt and neckwear company and markets a variety of goods under its own brands, Van Heusen, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Izod, Arrow, Warner’s and Olga, and its licensed brands, including Speedo, Geoffrey Beene, Kenneth Cole New York, Kenneth Cole Reaction, Michael Michael Kors, Sean John and Chaps.

    The other shareholders in the China joint venture include an affiliate of Silas Chou and, indirectly through an investment vehicle controlled by funds advised by Apax Partners, members of Tommy Hilfiger management at the time of the acquisition in 2010, such as Fred Gehring (former CEO and executive chairman, Tommy Hilfiger and current vice chairman of PVH), Daniel Grieder (CEO, Tommy Hilfiger), and Tommy Hilfiger himself.