In the first fiscal quarter ended 30 November,, the Japanese clothing giant Fast Retailing has totaled revenues of JPY479.5 billion yen (USD4 billion) , an increase of 23 percent over the same period before . For the full year , the management estimates that sales will reach the level of JPY1.6 trillion yen (USD13.5 billion) , an increase of 15.7 percent. In quarter operating profits of the Japanese group were up 39.9 percent to JPY91.3 billion (USD770.7 million) and earnings reached JPY68.8 billion (USD580.8 million) ( + 63.9 percent) .
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Luxury carmakers clock best-ever India sales in 2014
Riding on high demand that outstripped supply, luxury car manufacturers Audi and Mercedes-Benz have ended 2014 with best-ever sales in their history in India. German carmaker Audi sold 10,851 units in 2014, compared with 10,000 in 2013, it said in a statement. Audi India sold 3,044 units in the October-December quarter, posting a 17 per cent growth over the year-ago period when it sold 2,611 units.
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Mobile wallet outshines credit cards in India
Mobile wallet may be a new concept, but Indians seemed to have adopted the mechanism faster than credit cards. While there are about 10-12 companies operating in the mobile wallet space, Noida-based Paytm has more than 20 million active users. The number is actually higher than the cumulative number of credit cards in India.
According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the total number of credit cards issued by 55 scheduled commercial banks in India is 19.9 million as of October 2014. HDFC Bank issued the highest number of credit cards – 5.6 million – followed by 3.3 million by ICICI Bank.
On the other hand, banks have issued as many as 441 million debit cards in India so far.
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Coca-Cola to cut 1,600-1,800 jobs globally
Coca-Cola Co. is axing at least 1,600 white-collar jobs globally as part of a cost-cutting push in response to sluggish soda sales.
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New nugget woes strain McDonald’s already tarnished image
As McDonald’s Japan struggles to repair its image, tarnished from last year’s expired meat scandal, two new incidents related to its Chicken McNuggets surfaced in restaurants in Japan in the last week, a company spokeswoman admitted Tuesday.
She said a piece of blue vinyl was found by a customer Saturday in a chicken nugget purchased at a McDonald’s restaurant in Misawa, Aomori Prefecture.
The fast-food giant also admitted it had received a similar complaint by another customer who bought chicken nuggets on Dec. 31, this time at an outlet in Koto Ward, Tokyo.
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Made-in-China.com increases website traffic with cloud
Made-in-China.com, a global trade commerce company, has grown its website traffic over 2000 percent using a managed cloud portfolio.
The dedicated hosting solution from Backspace, which is part of its managed cloud offering, allows the company to have full control over its servers while also enjoying high levers of speed and performance.
“As an ecommerce company that connects worldwide buyers with Chinese suppliers, it is critical that we provide a user-friendly and quality experience to our customers around the world,” said Tao Yan, IT Manager, Made-in-China.
The company started working with Racks[ace in 2006 and has since then grew its website traffic from 1 to 2 million to 25 to 35 million today. Revenues also increased from CNY43 million (USD6.9 million) annually in 2006 to approximately CNY500 million (USD80.5 million) a year today.
“Because of the company’s support, we’ve been able to focus on growing our business year-over-year, as opposed to investing our time handling IT issues, as we did with our previous provider,” Tao Yan added.
In the eight years that Made-in-China has worked with Rackspace, the company’s infrastructure has also grown dramatically, from just two servers in 2006 to a total of 23 servers hosted in the US, as well as seven cloud servers hosted in Hong Kong.
While Made-in-China is based in Nanjing, China, over 70 percent of Made-in-China’s web traffic comes from overseas, meaning it needed a reliable hosting provider that could support its business globally.
“With more and more China-based companies expanding West, demand has spiked for stable and flexible hosting solutions that can manage traffic around the globe,” said Ajit Melarkode, managing director, Rackspace Asia-Pacific.
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American Apparel bans work romances
What do you do if you manage a company that has just ousted its founder following a string of sexual harassment allegations? The answer is to ban workplace romances – at least according to the fashion chain American Apparel.
The retailer has barred managers from relationships with “subordinates”, while any romantic entanglement between staff “where one person may have perceived or actual influence over the other’s terms of employment must be disclosed by the participants to the Human Resources Department”, according to the group’s new code of conduct.
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Inditex acquires New York property for new Zara store
A new Zara store will rise in Inditex’s newly acquired 4,400-square metre commercial property in the heart of New York’s SoHo Cast Iron Historic District, one of the world’s best known shopping districts.
The new store, to be located in a building at 503-511 Broadway, between Broome and Spring Streets, complements recent flagship store openings by Inditex in the US market.
The company said it has invested USD280 million to acquire the property, but its store opening strategy remains focused on leased properties, while the commercial thrust is still to further enhance the integrated store & online sales model.
“This opening marks a very significant milestone in the Group’s US growth strategy,” said Inditex’s Chairman & CEO, Pablo Isla. “The growth model for the US market consists of a combination of flagship store openings and online sales growth underpinned by strong support from American shoppers.”
By the end of 2015, including the stores on Broadway on the Upper West side, at 666 Fifth Avenue and 750 Lexington Avenue, Zara will have eight stores in Manhattan as well as another seven in the greater metropolitan area.
As for the overall US market, Inditex plans to open over a dozen new Zara stores in 2015 in major cities such as New Jersey, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego, Boston, Sacramento, Houston, Dallas, Chicago, Seattle and Puerto Rico.
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Tesco’s opening salvo in 2015: Price cuts
UK supermarket giant Tesco PLC has announced “difficult changes” to its business at the start of the year, including the closure of 43 stores, lower prices on the country’s favourite brands, flat investment in payroll, and significant revision to its store building program and reduced capital expenditure budget.
“I am very conscious that the consequences of these changes are significant for all stakeholders in our business but we are facing the reality of the situation. Our recent performance gives us confidence that when we pull together and put the customer first we can deliver the right results,” said Tesco Chief Dave Lewis.
This came at the heels of group sales for the 19 weeks to 3 January 2015 declining by 0.6 percent at constant rates, including fuel and by 1.9 percent, including fuel.
In Asia, total sales for the 19 week period declined by 1.5 percent at constant rates, with like-for-like sales declining by 4.6 percent.
It said market conditions across the region remain challenging. In Thailand, sales trends improved over the period as we annualized the impact of the external pressures linked to political disruption last year. In Korea, a higher number of enforced Sunday closures under the DIDA opening regulations affected the performance of all large retailers.
Speaking to Jody Hodges, Group Project Planning Director at Tesco, in a video interview, Lewis said there are three priorities now: recovering the competitiveness in the core UK business, protecting and strengthening the balance sheet, rebuilding the trust and the transparency in the brand and the business.
On 8 January, Tesco cut prices on hundreds of branded products in response to demands from customers for simpler, lower and more stable prices.
“We know that brands are important to our customers: they’re the products families don’t want to do without. So from today, customers will be able to buy many of their favourite products cheaper at Tesco – from Tetley Tea to Colgate Triple Action Toothpaste, Hovis White Bread to Kellogg’s Cornflakes,” said Tesco’s Chief Customer Officer, Jill Easterbrook in a statement.
She added that overall, the company is cutting the prices of around 380 branded products by an average of 25 percent.
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Berlin Jucker’s Metro deal stalls
An attempt by Berli Jucker Plc (BJC) to buy Metro Group’s cash-and-carry unit in Vietnam was aborted on Thursday after its shareholders voted unanimously to reject the EUR655-million (USD775.7 million) deal.
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Starbucks COO Alstead takes leave from company
Starbucks Coffee Company chief operating officer Troy Alstead is taking an extended unpaid leave from the company.
“Looking back on the 23 years we spent together side-by-side as Starbucks colleagues, I can recall so many memorable moments and accomplishments in which Troy can take pride in a job well done,” said Starbucks chairman, president and chief executive officer Howard Schultz.
Lasted is a 23-year veteran of the company who also served for many years as the company’s chief financial officer, as well as leading the operations and development of Starbucks international business and its Europe, Middle East and Africa business unit.
His last day in his current role will be 1 March 2015.
“Troy is a beloved Starbucks partner and has played an invaluable role in our growth as an enterprise and in the development of our culture as a performance-driven company balanced with humanity, which is unique for our industry. Troy’s humanity and humility will be missed and we wish him the best,” Schultz added.
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Apple’s strategic ‘luxury move’
According to social analytics company NetBase’s most recent Brand Passion Report, Apple ranks second among top luxury brands in the world, behind only Louis Vuitton and ahead of brands such as Chanel, Burberry, Hermes and Gucci. “Consumers’ definition of luxury brands are ever-changing,” Pernille Bruun-Jensen, chief marketing officer of NetBase, tellsMarketing Daily.
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Tmall growing out of Taobao’s ‘little brother’ role
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has for the first time unveiled the trade details of its major global business unit Tmall Global, revealing a tenfold increase since it was founded 10 months ago, reports the Shanghai-based China Business News.
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Taiwan consumer price index rose 1.2pc in 2014: government
Taiwan’s consumer price index rose 1.2 percent in 2014, the sixth consecutive year it has risen by less than 2 percent, according to government statistics released Tuesday.
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COACH to acquire Stuart Weitzman for USD574m
COACH will pay Sycamore Partners a hefty USD574 million for Stuart Weitzman — their women’s footwear brand — in a move that is no doubt designed to diversify their sales portfolio considering 55 percent of their USD4.8 million in sales last year came from women’s handbags with only 9 percent coming from auxiliary items like jewelry, accessories, footwear and the likes.