Apple Inc plans to introduce a trade-in program for iPhones in China in association with the Foxconn Technology Group, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the effort.
Under the program, consumers will be able to exchange older iPhones at Apple stores in China for credit against the company’s products starting 31 March, Bloomberg reported.
Chinese demand for larger-screen iPhones helped fuel Apple’s record profit of USD18 billion in the final quarter last year.
Retail sales in Malaysia fell by nearly one per cent in the last quarter of 2014 as consumers cut back spending, spooked by the looming introduction of GST.
On April 1, Malaysia’s government introduces a goods and services tax on most items, excluding food, of six per cent.
Sales in the fourth quarter fell 0.8 per cent year-on-year – the worst quarterly performance on record, and below predictions by the Malaysia Retailers Association (MRA).
The poor fourth quarter lowered the full year figure to 3.4 per cent growth, compared with 4.5 per cent growth in the previous year.
Retail Group Malaysia (RGM), in a report released this week titled Malaysia Retail Industry Report, said Christmas, lower fuel prices and the year-end sale season all failed to lift sales.
“Furthermore, the (impending) implementation of the goods and services tax (GST) next month did not stimulate consumption during the last quarter (of 2014). Retailers used heavy discounts to encourage consumers to shop, but failed to generate higher sales. During the quarter, many retailers suffered declines in profit margin growth,” the report said.
Department store sales fell 5.7 per cent last quarter, while hypermarket sales rose just one per cent. Fashion and accessory sales fell 2.2 per cent.
Miscellaneous retailing – including optical products, second-hand goods, health and fitness equipment, toys, souvenirs, duty-free goods, arts and crafts, photographic equipment – and foodservice, believe it or not – performed the worst, with sales contracting 6.7 per cent.
RGM is concerned consumers do not understand the potential impact – or lack thereof – on retail prices post-April 1.
“Retail sales performance during the first two months of this year was below expectation as consumers were confused by different public messages on the prices of retail goods and services after March 2015,” it said.
Possible rushed purchases – to avoid paying six per cent on big ticket items – may power sales growth in the first quarter of 2015. In the survey, MRA members said they were hopeful of a recovery, RGM estimating growth of 5.8 per cent.
But RGM has lowered its 2015 full year prediction from 5.5 per cent growth to 4.9 per cent growth.
“Malaysian consumers will get used to GST by the last quarter of 2015. Retail spending will return to normal again by this period. Retail is expected to recover strongly with a 6.9 per cent growth rate,” it said.
Global Brands, the listed Li & Fung spinoff, has reported its first trading result – reveling in a 37 per cent profit rise.
The Hong Kong based company listed as an independent business on July 9, a move CEO and vice chairman Bruce Rockowitz says afforded it the freedom to fully build its brands business and pursue its own distinct and focused strategy. That strategy includes a direct-to-consumer business,, which would not have been possible under the Li & Fung business model. “At the same time, we continue to enjoy the benefit of being a member of the Fung Group.”
Group sales in the second half totalled US$2.105 billion, up 7.5 per cent on the same period the previous year, while profit rose 36.6 per cent to $217 million.
Merging the half years under the two ownerships into one set of figures, annual sales reached $3.454 billion and profit $154 million .
Rockowitz says the business will continue to primarily concentrate on ‘American power brands’ through Licensed Brands and Controlled Brands divisions.
“On the Licensed Brands side, we continue to sharpen the focus of our platform in terms of both the product categories that we offer and the brands that we work with, while expanding the platform globally.
“One notable achievement of our efforts is that today we are among the largest licensed brand companies within the kids sector, a success that is based upon our leadership position in characters as well as in kids fashion. We have a truly global platform in the kids area, and we are working hard to further strengthen our prominent position in key categories and geographies worldwide.
“In the US, notable achievements include the master licensing agreement that we signed with Disney in the sleepwear category in August. In Europe, our focus has been to integrate our businesses across major markets to strengthen our leadership across the region. In China, we have successfully established a strong platform for the kids fashion and character businesses.”
Global Brands is also building its licensed brands portfolio , securing deals with major American brands in footwear and accessories: a new global accessory licensing relationship was signed with Cole Haan last year, and in January 2015, with Kate Spade.
“In addition, we renewed our global footwear license agreement with Coach. These are all highly successful affordable luxury brands with strong growth momentum,” said Rockowitz.
The company exited its private label jewellery business post listing and consolidated its home and women’s apparel offers to ensure each is run more efficiently.
On the Controlled Brands side, the company made special mention of Frye, an American brand with a strong heritage.
“Our Frye retail stores delivered strong results, while sales through our eCommerce portal Frye.com also recorded significant growth. Looking ahead, we see the further expansion of our retail footprint, growing online sales and extending our product offering as being the key drivers to building Frye into a global lifestyle brand. We have also made a number of key hires to accelerate growth.”
Spyder has established itself as “a high end, high performance” skiwear brand in the US and Europe.
“We are working to expand its presence in other geographies as well as in other product categories. In particular, we believe this is an opportune time to make a big push for Korea (the host country for the winter Olympics in 2018) and China. We believe the brand’s edgy aesthetics and high performance will resonate well in these key Asian markets.”
Juicy Couture has started with very strong sales momentum and retail partners are actively working on a plan for new store openings globally.
Aquatalia, though much smaller in scale than Frye, has proven its brand appeal, and expanded into menswear with a Fall 2015 collection.
In December, Global Brands announced a joint venture with David Beckham and his business partner Simon Fuller. The joint venture, Seven Global, focuses on the continued development of the brand around David Beckham as well as on creating large scale brands in partnership with a select number of high‐profile sports and entertainment icons. The venture will cover all major consumer product categories.
“We are extremely excited about the prospects that lie ahead for Seven Global,” said Rockowitz. “With our strong global platform of TLC, one of the world’s leading brand management companies that we acquired in January 2014, we are confident we can establish Seven Global as a trendsetting enterprise in the sports and entertainment space.”
Rockowitz said although the macroeconomic environment remains complex, the company expect its margins will continue to trend upwards due to its growth in scale, improvement in gross margins and an improving business mix in favor of higher‐margin businesses, and an ongoing focus on integrating its businesses and rationalising the cost structure, while exiting unprofitable and non‐core businesses.
“As we continue to grow and strengthen our business, one strategic priority is to extend our global reach. We have established a leading platform in our space in the US, which will remain our largest geography for the foreseeable future, and we believe we can successfully replicate this in Europe and Asia.”
In just three years, Foodpanda Malaysia has expanded its offer from 40 restaurants to more than 700.
The online restaurant food delivery service this month markets its third birthday, with country manager of Foodpanda Malaysia, Sidney Ng, reflecting on how the business launched with just 40 restaurants operating in the Klang Valley, home to capital Kuala Lumpur..
Now Ng says the network is larger than 700 and covers most major cities in the country, including Johor Bahru, Penang, Ipoh and Melaka.
“Foodpanda Malaysia has come a long way,” said Ng.
“From just taking orders via our website, progressing to a mobile friendly site and finally developing a mobile application.
“We recognise modern consumers are moving towards mobile technology and we want to make ordering food as seamless as just a few taps on our app. We will also be launching a new version of our app very soon that will simplify the order process.”
Foodpanda Malaysia has plans to expand its current delivery zones within the Klang Valley and to launch operations in Kota Kinabalu. It also plans to add more restaurants and to further develop its website, mobile application and overall operations.
“We treasure our partnership with Foodpanda – they have definitely improved with leap and bounds in terms of both number of orders and operation efficiency since they started,” says Billie, the owner of Puzzini Pizza – one of Foodpanda’s early restaurants.
Foodpanda Group is the leading global food delivery marketplace, active in 39 countries in five continents.
Hong Kong based retail jeweller Chow Tai Fook is to partner in a US$4 billion casino project in Vietnam.
Chow Tai Fook Enterprises, an affiliate of Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group, the world’s largest jewellery retailer by market value, has already committed to investing in casino resorts in Brisbane, in the state of Queensland, Australia, and in South Korea.
Now it will partner with Vietnamese investment group VinaCapital and Suncity, a Macau-based casino tour operator.
Strict regulations in Vietnam prevent locals from gambling inside the country, however the government allows developments to serve tourists or those locals who hold a foreign passport. New casino licences will only be issued to developments with an investment value in excess of $4 billion, which deters minor players.
Other international gambling businesses, like Sheldon Adelson’s Sands Group have gone as far as creating plans for integrated resorts featuring casinos, but have stopped short of commencing construction until the government loosens restrictions on locals playing.
Reuters reports the new resort will be located in Quang Nam in the central part of Vietnam
The news agency said Chow Tai Fook’s involvement was confirmed by VinaCapital after the jeweller issued no comment beyond confirming “preliminary studies”.
Chow Tai Fook has reportedly replaced Malaysian casino operator Genting which withdrew from the project in 2012 due to the local gambling restrictions.
Reuters said the government was “mulling” a change in the legislation but has not released a policy as yet.
Speculation is rife that e-commerce giant, Amazon, is in talks with online luxury retailer Net-A-Porter for what could be its biggest acquisition yet.
Luxury goods group, Richemont, bought Net-A-Porter in 2010 for around €350 million (A$492.35 million).
Net-A-Porter, has seen huge growth in the last few years, and is reportedly worth more than £2 billion globally.
Founded in 2000, Net-A-Porter stocks more than 350 designers including Alexander McQueen, Chloé, Dolce & Gabbana, Isabel Marant, Jimmy Choo, Miu Miu, Stella McCartney, and Valentino.
In 2009, the company launched discount fashion website, The Outnet, and in 2011 created menswear website, Mr Porter. In 2014, Net-A-Porter Group’s publishing division launched the company’s first ever consumer magazine, Porter.
Following a series of investments, including a significant push into fashion, Amazon surprised the market with far better than anticipated Q4 profit results.
Amazon posted earnings of $US214 million ($A275.88 million) in the fourth quarter as sales jumped 15 per cent to $US29.3 billion, swinging to profit after two consecutive losing quarters.
The Seattle-based company faced pressure from shareholders to deliver profits even as founder Jeff Bezos invested in a vast array of projects.
For the full year 2014, Amazon posted a net loss of US$241 million on sales of US$89 billion.
Amazon has denied speculation of the Net-A-Porter acquisition.
The much anticipated debut of Lawson Philippines will occur today, Monday.
The first store will open in the Manila suburb of Sta. Ana.
Lawson Philippines is a joint venture between local operator Puregold Price Club (70 per cent) and Lawson Japan (30 per cent). The two companies plan a massive network of 500 convenience stores across the Philippines by 2020, with up to 100 opening this calendar year.
Initially the chain will be focused on metro Manila.
Lawson’s debut will have little immediate effect on the nation’s cstore sector, but once it builds critical mass, it will present a challenge to the dominance 7-Eleven chain and compete with the rising FamilyMart and Ministop networks.
“Under the partnership, Lawson will provide its expertise in convenient stores know-how and product development while Puregold will provide its expertise in product procurement and localized knowledge of the retail consumers,” the company said in a statement.
In May 2014, during a visit to Manila, Lawson Japan chairman Takeshi Niinami said the company was planning as many as 2000 convenience stores in the Philippines in the long term.
Luxury retailer Prada Group has blamed China for a 28 per cent slump in profit last year.
The Italian company says sales in its key Asia-Pacific market – which contributes 35.7 per cent of its global turnover – slid 3.1 per cent.
This was largely due to the clampdown in corporate gift giving as China tries to reduce graft, and changing purchasing patterns in Hong Kong, which cashed up Chinese are spurning for other travel destinations.
“Results in the region were hit by the negative performances recorded in Hong Kong and Macau. The Greater China area still benefited from growth on the [mainland] Chinese domestic market and ended the year with net sales of 774.1 million euros, a decrease of 6.3 per cent,” the company said.
While Prada accounts for 81.2 per cent of the group’s sales, Miu Miu and Church’s both improved globally, while the smallest, Car Shoe, returned a sales drop of 11.9 per cent.
Prada opened 21 new stores in Asia Pacific in the year to January 31 and closed three. Retail sales slid 5.5 per cent, but this was in part compensated for by a double digit growth in the wholesale division, largely due to increasing numbers of inbound tourists into South Korea. In the Americas, sales were up 0.9 per cent.
In Europe, sales fell 4.9 per cent, but in Japan (which is not included in the Asia-Pacific figures) sales rose 7.9 per cent, despite store network rationalisation. Prada said overall revenue for the year dipped by one per cent to 3.55 billion euros, while net income dropped to 450.7 million euros from 627.8 million euros a year earlier. Its operating margin was down from 31.9 per cent to 26.9 per cent, largely due to store openings.
Chinese electrical retailing giant Gome plans to open 100,000 ‘micro stores’ in 2015 in a move it says will help it build a retail community of more than 100 million customers.
The bold vision is part of a new strategic multi channel plan Gome is embarking on this year to bridge the gap between online and offline sales and embrace fast growing channels like mobile shopping.
“With the onset of the mobile Internet era, the development of consumer behavior is trending towards a focus on the individual, with fragmented consumption time, diversified shopping setting, and less distinction between channels,” the company said in an explanation of its strategy.
“With the change in consumption behavior and demand, Gome is destined to upgrade the “omni-channel experience” in both online and offline to “total retail experience” emerging from the integrated online and offline channels, allowing consumers to move freely between online, offline, mobile terminals and joint- operating channels. The group will focus on the development of Mobile Micro Shops on the front-end interface platform, connecting online and offline. Meanwhile, the group will enhance the value of the supply chain with a focus on the back-end big data infrastructure to build a total retail community with more than 100 million customers.”
By having so many effective points of sale spread across China, all linked online and all supported by a boosted supply chain system to ensure rapid supply of goods, Gome believes it can increase its share of the appliance and electronics market and engage with more customers.
“Through Gome’s total retail shopping process, consumers from different entrances will enjoy more product choices than ever, diversified services including shopping assistance, queries, payment, installation, after-sales, reviews and feedback, etc. Meanwhile, the group will also conduct targeted marketing and promote repeat purchases by transferring real-time customer behavior data to the front-end in a timely manner using the big data terminal.”
Gome says loyal fans of the brand are the consumers with the most potential. The company will leverage social media like WeChat and Weibo, to “share products, achieving cross-category, cross-brand and round-the-clock sales,” creating what it promises will be “a superb consumer experience” tailored to each individual.
Along with the 100,000 mobile micro shops, Gome plans to double its social media ‘fan base’ by 2017.
In-store, the changes are just as dramatic. Gome says by expediting the digitisation of its physical stores; increasing product variety, introducing a sophisticated product experience and new technology, the group will allow consumers to make purchases while shopping “and playing”.
The company will also expand its physical store network into second tier markets, targeting 100 new cities over the next three years with full size stores as well as its micro store network, and it will boost the resources of its eCommerce portal Gome Online to boost reach and sales.
By collecting data from all transactions and analysing it in the clouds, the company expects to be able to conduct increasingly targeted marketing.
“Furthermore, the group will leverage the data to boost collaboration between value platforms including procurement, logistics, after-sales, financial services and information.”
All this will be backed up by a sophisticated logistics network.
“Gome is committed to building China’s biggest socialised logistics network platform for home appliances. With its strong infrastructure and supporting resources and 1688 chain stores nationwide (including the stores under the non-listed Gome group), Gome will continue to establish the highest service standard of “three deliveries/day, precise delivery, installation on delivery”.”
After-sales service will also receive a boost: Gome is already China’s largest air-conditioner and television installation service provider. By offering the whole after-sales service process within the product validity period including installation, extended warranty, maintenance and home appliances recycling, and the promise of “Deal with the problem within 24-hours”, Gome aims to become China’s largest platform for home appliances after-sales services by 2017.
Gome CEO Wang Junzhou said In 2015 the company will strive to build a “Gome ecosystem” covering consumer groups of all ages, channels and markets.
“This will support the group build China’s best total retail platform and achieve the target of “building another Gome” by 2017, thus creating greater value for shareholders, suppliers and consumers.”
With most players in the sector looking to aggressively ramp up their teams, Indian mobile commerce platform Paytm plans to double its employee base in FY16 from around 3,000 currently. The company has added around 1,500 persons to its total headcount in FY15.
“A large part of the hiring will be in operations and sales. We will also hire for technology roles,” Amit Sinha, vice president-business and people at Paytm told Business Standard. “We have given over 100 offers to students at top management and engineering colleges. We are still visiting campuses and that number will go up further.”
E-commerce major Flipkart is believed to be working on an international listing, with Nasdaq in the US emerging as the preferred destination. Experts say before an initial public offering (IPO), expected in 12 to 18 months, the Bengaluru-based company must strengthen its financials and organisational structure.
“The choice of stock exchange will be a challenge, as listing in India is fairly impossible because of issues such as profits and the traditional definition of promoter, etc,” said Harish H V, partner at Grant Thornton. He added Nasdaq seemed the best choice, considering it was known for listing technology companies and the fact that it was much easier to list there. Flipkart might consider Singapore, too, as listing norms in that country aren’t as strict as in many others, it is learnt.
Consultants said if an IPO was launched in the next six to eight quarters, Indian stock exchanges wouldn’t be considered, considering the requirements related to a company’s profits. For public issues of companies without a three-year ‘profitability’ record, the Securities and Exchange Board of India had, in 2012, reduced the retail investor quota from 35 percent to 10 percent of the issue size. The move, aimed at protecting retail investors (those investing up to INR2 lakh) from IPOs of loss-making companies, limited the participation of small investors in successful IPOs such as those of Just Dial and Snowman Logistics.
One of Australia’s largest independent liquor retailers, Kemenys, has suffered a drop in sales and profits in its latest financial year and faces an even tougher time this year as it tries to counter the full impact of a Dan Murphy’s superstore owned by Woolworths that opened nearby in a prime eastern Sydney site in mid-2014.
Kemenys, which runs a large retail store in the beachside Sydney suburb of Bondi and has more than 100,000 mail-order and online customers it services from a separate warehouse, is owned by the Kemeny family. The business has been operating since 1960.
It has remained independent in a fiercely competitive liquor retailing market where Woolworths and Coles have been increasingly dominant, even though there was a formal process in 2005 when investment bank Grant Samuel tested the appetite of potential buyers of the business.
Facebook yesterday waded further into e-commerce with the acquisition of shopping search engine TheFind.com.
“For the last nine years we’ve worked hard to bring you a shopping experience that’s easy, efficient and fun – searching all the stores on the web to find just the right products you’re looking to buy,” TheFind said in a message at its website.
“We are now starting our next chapter by combining forces with Facebook to do even more for consumers.”
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Members of TheFind team are joining Facebook, where they plan to put their technology to work making ads at the leading social network “more relevant,” according to the post.
The acquisition will result in TheFind.com shutting down in the next few weeks.
Facebook has been playing catch-up regarding searching for information at the social network and becoming a middleman of sorts for online commerce.
“Together, we believe we can make the Facebook ads experience even more relevant and better for consumers,” the social network said in statement.
TheFind – “Everything you need when shopping to quickly decide what to buy and where to buy it” – will shutter the Silicon Valley base it has operated from since launching in 2006 and move team members to Facebook’s campus in Menlo Park, California.
FamilyMart Co. is in talks to buy Cocostore Corp., which operates convenience stores in central and western Japan, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday.
FamilyMart, Japan’s third largest convenience store chain, recently announced it is negotiating with the smaller rival operating Circle K Sunkus stores, Uny Group Holdings Co., in an attempt to obtain the number two position behind industry leader Seven-Eleven Japan Co.
If the integration is realized, FamilyMart’s acquisition of Cocostore will add momentum to moves toward the reorganization of the domestic convenience store industry.
Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Inc. said that it will open a facility in Taiwan in the next few months to showcase its products and provide better after-care service. Xiaomi, whose low-cost, feature-rich phones are sold largely online, previously planned to set up a store in Taiwan by the end of 2014, but the timetable was postponed because the company needed more time to find an appropriate location, said Bin Lin, Xiaomi’s co-founder and president.