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  • Wumei seals majority stake in B&Q China

    Wumei seals majority stake in B&Q China

    Beijing based supermarket chain Wumei Holdings will pay CNY1.4 billion (USD225 million) for a majority stake in home decorating chain B&Q China whose parent Kingfisher failed to spur growth in the home decoration market in the world’s second-largest economy.

    The all-cash takeover will be subject to approval from China’s Ministry of Commerce, and is set to complete in the first half of 2015, Kingfisher said in a statement yesterday.

    Xu Zhicheng, an analyst with Guotai Junan Securities, said Wumei could leverage its overall data management system and dealers’ network within the country to boost B&Q’s performance.

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  • Gucci to check Chinese suppliers after TV exploitation charges

    Gucci to check Chinese suppliers after TV exploitation charges

    Italian fashion house Gucci said on Monday it would strengthen controls on its suppliers after a television program showed Chinese employees working more than three times their official hours to assemble its handbags.

    The head of a Gucci subcontractor told an investigative program broadcast by RAI state television on Sunday that Gucci was aware it irregularly employed Chinese workers.

    Aroldo Guidotti of subcontractor Mondo Libero (Free World) said the employees toiled away for as long as 14 hours a day, while they were supposed to work only for four hours, to assemble handbags that he sold to Gucci for EUR24 (USD29).

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  • Christmas shopping: Consumer anxiety falls in time for retail season

    Christmas shopping: Consumer anxiety falls in time for retail season

    Consumers in Australia are less anxious than at any time in the past 18 months amid signs of a robust finale to the Christmas shopping season.

    The National Australia Bank’s consumer anxiety index, released on Tuesday, has fallen for a second straight quarter to its lowest mark since mid-2013. It also revealed households have increased spending on non-essentials.

    New spending data pointed to solid retail spending growth in December, despite the hit to consumer confidence caused by last week’s siege in Martin Place. Commonwealth Bank figures, released on Tuesday, show the volume of debit and credit card transactions made in stores across Australia in the first three weeks of December was 10.7 percent higher than the same period last year. The total value of transactions was five per cent higher in that period.

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  • Online sites expand in China’s rural areas

    Online sites expand in China’s rural areas

    Plagued by poor transport and less purchasing power, rural buyers remained mostly untouched by the wave of online shopping that swept across China in recent years. However, the situation is changing as the burgeoning market in villages has shown great potential and intrigued the country’s major e-commerce businesses.

    China’s leading e-commerce giants have stepped up expansion of online retail business in rural areas in hopes of tapping the new territory to offset a saturated urban market.

    JD.com Inc, a Nasdaq-listed firm, announced they would set up a county-level operating centre in Guangdong Province. The move followed the e-commerce giant’s decision to open a physical shop in a small county in north China’s Hebei Province in November to help farmers purchase home appliances via its online shopping store.

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  • Coles fined USD8m for misconduct

    Coles fined USD8m for misconduct

    Australian supermarket giant Coles has been ordered to pay AUD10 million (USD8.1m) in penalties for “serious, deliberate and repeated” misconduct towards suppliers that were in some cases in financial trouble.

    The Federal Court ruled in favour of a settlement between the retailer and the consumer watchdog, agreed by the parties last week.

    Justice Michelle Gordon said the behaviour by Coles was orchestrated and relentless and involved threatening harm to suppliers by unlawfully withholding funds or demanding payments.

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  • Consumers in Malaysia grappling with rising cost of living, GST

    Consumers in Malaysia grappling with rising cost of living, GST

    While most consumers grappled with the escalating cost of living, the Malaysian government’s subsidy rationalisation programme and the impending introduction of the goods and services tax (GST) also took centre stage.

    The government’s decision to reduce subsidies, effective 3 September 2013, was generally aimed at strengthening the nation’s economic position and ensuring that subsidies reached the target groups.

    In 2014, the government allocated about MYR40.5 billion (USD11.61b) for its various subsidy schemes. Out of that amount, MYR21 billion went towards subsidising RON95 petrol, diesel and cooking gas or liquefied petroleum gas.

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  • Chinese shopping “agents” cash in on ruble slide

    Chinese shopping “agents” cash in on ruble slide

    Chinese workers and overseas students in Russia have been snapping up goods at low prices caused by the steep fall in Russian ruble rates before brands can adjust them.

    These shopping “agents”, knows as “daigou”, stockpile the products before selling them at a profit to buyers back home.

    These shopping agents are not new for Chinese shoppers, who often look abroad to buy luxury items to bypass steep import taxes at home.

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  • In South Korea, Ikea opens biggest store to lure tiny households

    In South Korea, Ikea opens biggest store to lure tiny households

    Iconic Swedish furniture retailer Ikea built its biggest store in the world to serve South Korea’s shrinking households, targeting millions of people living alone with Korea-only items like super-sized single beds and in-store kimchi rice.

    The store opened on Thursday in Gwangmyeong, less than an hour’s drive or 14 minutes by train from central Seoul, with a sales space nearly as big as the Louvre museum at 59,000 square metres. The previous record-holder at Ikea, known for its inexpensive, self-assembly products, was in Stockholm spanning 55,200 square metres.

    Stiff domestic competition and sluggish spending have made South Korea an unhappy hunting ground for global retail giants like Wal-Mart and Carrefour, who exited years ago. But Ikea’s design appeal to South Korea’s urban crowds, and few big local rivals, leave it well placed, retail experts say.

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  • Greater rental retail transparency in Singapore soon

    Greater rental retail transparency in Singapore soon

    Retailers and landlords in Singapore can look forward to greater retail rental transparency after the details of the Fair Tenancy Consideration Framework are unveiled, probably this month. The framework will comprise three components: data transparency, education and awareness, and a mediation process.

    The first component will make retail rent data transparent, likely pegged to street names, with a rough gauge of the size of the shop unit.

    “We tried to push for more rent details which give better transparency (down to per square foot rental),” said Kurt Wee, president of the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (ASME). “But I think it’s not going to be easy to extract this data . . . If we ever want full transparency, we are talking about a new data bank. This means for every lease you sign, you have to fill up a set of obligatory information and file it with a certain data bank.”

  • Carl’s Jr. to re-enter Japan, aim for 150 burger bars nationwide

    Carl’s Jr. to re-enter Japan, aim for 150 burger bars nationwide

    US hamburger chain operator CKE Restaurants Holdings Inc. said on Friday it will open a Carl’s Jr. outlet in Tokyo next year before a nationwide rollout that will represent its second stab at the Japanese market since 1989.

    Its local partner will be Tokyo-based Mitsuuroko Group Holdings Co., whose main business is providing gas and power. Mitsuuroko said Friday it had set up Carl’s Jr. Japan Inc. to run the restaurants.

    CKE Restaurants said the first store will open in Tokyo next fall and that it aims to open 150 nationwide in the next 10 years.

  • Woolworths’ Christmas threat to suppliers

    Woolworths’ Christmas threat to suppliers

    Woolworths buyers have told suppliers their products could be pulled from shelves just days before Christmas if they refuse to fund the supermarket giant’s new Cheap Cheap advertising campaign.

    “I was asked for a contribution of almost $1 million, and when I refused to pay I was told a ‘range review’ was under way and I would be informed of the outcome early next week,” said the sales manager of one of Australia’s leading health product companies. “The implied threat is that some of my products will no longer be stocked if I don’t pay up.”

    Woolworths staff have also been accused of telling suppliers the payment requests had the “endorsement” of the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission – a claim that the consumer watchdog rejects.

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  • Lotte Mart opens 10th supermarket in Vietnam, to have 60 stores by 2020

    Lotte Mart opens 10th supermarket in Vietnam, to have 60 stores by 2020

    The South Korean retailer Lotte Mart on Thursday opened its 10th supermarket in Vietnam in Tan Binh District of HCM City, contributing to its expansion nationwide.

    Located at 20 Cong Hoa Street, Lotte Mart Tan Binh has investment capital of USD9 million and covers an area of over 8,500square metres.

    The supermarket operator, which came to Vietnam in 2008, plans to have 60 stores nationwide by 2020.

  • Vietnam’s largest mobile phone retail chain Mobile World’s profits up

    Vietnam’s largest mobile phone retail chain Mobile World’s profits up

    The Gioi Di Dong (Mobile World) Joint Stock Company, Vietnam’s largest mobile phone retail chain, has reached a post-tax profit of VND609 billion (USD29 million) after 11 months, 140 percent of the annual target, the company has announced.

    The revenue during this period was more than VND14 trillion (USD666 million), as much as 108 percent of the annual target.

    The company also announced that it will reach the target to open 350 outlets nationwide by the end of the month.

  • Emporium reopens USD91m makeover

    Emporium reopens USD91m makeover

    The Emporium shopping complex in Bangkok will fully open in March after a major renovation.

    Voralak Tulaphorn, senior vice-president for merchandising of The Mall Group, operator of the upscale shopping venue, said 95 percent of total space at the shopping centre had been reopened to customers since last Monday. Only the cinema zone remains closed.

    The company spent THB3 billion (USD91.3 million) to make over The Emporium over the past seven to eight months in anticipation of fiercer retail competition in the Pathumwan, Ratchaprasong and Sukhumvit areas next year.

  • HK Fashion Week to feature fashion talents, new trends

    HK Fashion Week to feature fashion talents, new trends

    The 21st HKTDC Hong Kong Fashion Week for Spring/Summer will feature more than 40 events, including fashion parades, seminars and forums and demo sessions that highlight new fashion talents and trends.

    The fashion parades will showcase established designers and brands, as well as new design talents and creative student works, while seminars and presentations are hosted by international trend forecasting agencies and local industry bodies.

    Ten house shows will be staged at the fair, and young designers are ready to show their creativity to international buyers.

    Fashionally Collection #3, will showcase 11 past winners and finalists of the Hong Kong Young Fashion Designers Contest, such as designs from Nelson Leung, the Overall Winner and Contemporary Day-Wear Group Winner this year.

    Four shows from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Design Institute and Hong Kong Raffles School of Continuing Education will be staged to highlight collections of student designers.

    Moreover, international beauty brand NARS Cosmetics will unveil its nail collaboration with famed fashion designer Philip Lim – the 3.1 Philip Lim for NARS Nail Collection includes nine limited edition nail shades inspired by the “colours that exist in the shadows”.

    NARS will also collaborate with three local young designers – namely Elizabeth Lin, Mim Mak and Mountain Yam and launch its new Dual-Intensity Eye Shadow at Hong Kong Fashion Week.

    Buyers interested to learn more on technology advancement in the apparel industry should not miss the introduction of RFID solutions for production efficiency and energy-saving and the seminar on making use of accredited testing to tap into the global market.

    Always evolving, Hong Kong Fashion Week for Spring/Summer adds Activewear & Sportswear and Cashmere & Wool to its zones lineup. As its name implies, the former offers functional apparel to cater for dynamic market demand; while the latter gathers exhibitors with a wide range of cashmere and wool made outfits.

    Meanwhile, the small-order zone expects to feature 150 garment racks and showcases for buyers who require low volume supplies.

    The Hong Kong Fashion Week for Spring/Summer is expected to attract around 1,200 exhibitors from 18 countries and regions, with first time exhibitors from Madagascar, Morocco and Thailand.