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Tag: asia

  • Discovery Japan Mall opens online

    Discovery Japan Mall opens online

    Tokyo-based craft products retailer DigitalStudio has launched Discovery Japan Mall, a cross-border eCommerce venture.

    Specialising in Japanese brands, the mall’s initial catalogue includes mainly toys, fishing gear, cosmetics, food, watches and fashion. About 100 Japanese companies have opened stores on the mall, offering about 15,000 items.

    Shipping is available to more than 120 countries and regions, and as part of the opening campaign free international shipping is offered for orders worth JPY 20,000 (US$190) or more until the end of this month.

    As well as credit cards, the mall supports payment by AliPay, PayPal, UnionPay and WeChat. The website is available in English, simplified and traditional Chinese, Indonesian, Korean and Thai. Purchases can be made by smartphone, and all orders include tracking and shipping insurance, plus delivery from Japan.

    Discovery Japan Mall representative Norio Itabashi says many hidden Japanese products do not reach the overseas market, and the mall is working with craftsmen and manufacturers to sell unique products.

    DigitalStudio was established in 2003 with the aim of “continuing to bring Japan to the world”.

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  • Damiani Malaysia opens in Pavilion

    Damiani Malaysia opens in Pavilion

    Italian luxury jewellery group Damiani Malaysia has opened a boutique store in the Pavilion shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur.

    Damiani Pavilion Malaysia

    Precious materials are used in the store’s interior to create a sophisticated environment to enhance the tradition and modernity of Damiani’s jewellery. The interior features taupe satin wallpaper and bronzed brass details.

    Founded in 1924, Damiani designs, manufactures, distributes and sells jewellery and luxury watches. The company manages 55 direct and 20 franchised points of sale internationally.

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  • Kenny Rogers Roasters arrives in India

    Kenny Rogers Roasters arrives in India

    Malaysia’s chicken-based restaurant chain Kenny Rogers Roasters will open its first outlet in India this month, aiming to expand to up to 50 stores in the next five years.

    Its first restaurant will be in the Gardens Galleria Mall, Noida.

    “We are eyeing a Rs 200-crore [U$30 million] turnover from the Indian market by 2021,” says master franchisee Troika Hospitality India managing partner Rajeev Chawla.

    He says the plan is to open eight to 10 restaurants in north India by the end of next year, after which expansion will cover other parts of India. The stores will be a mix of company-owned and franchises.

    Known for its chicken offerings, Kenny Rogers Roasters will also serve vegetarian food in India, he says.
    Owned by Malaysia’s Berjaya Corporation, there are more than 400 Kenny Rogers Roaster restaurants in 14 countries including China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and the US.

    Kenny Rogers is an American singer/songwriter and member of the Country Music Hall of Fame who is now 78 years old. He teamed with John Y. Brown, the governor of the state of Kentucky, who had also helped develop Kentucky Fried Chicken, to launch the first Kenny Rogers restaurant in Florida in 1991.

    It expanded to Brunei, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore, with Berjaya acquiring the group from Nathan’s Famous Inc in 2008.

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  • Philippines’ Shakey’s Pizza plans $113m IPO

    Philippines’ Shakey’s Pizza plans $113m IPO

    Shakey’s Pizza Ventures (Spavi) aims to raise more than P5.5 billion (US$113 million) through an initial public offering (IPO) in the Philippine Stock Exchange this year.

    The restaurant chain has filed a prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
    to sell up to 352 million primary and secondary shares, including 46 million shares at P115.58 apiece, to meet excess demand.

    Spavi seeks to finalise the offer price in November, and targets its projected listing in December.

    “We intend to use the offer proceeds to expand our in-house commissary, meet working capital requirements, look at potential acquisitions and repay debt,” the company says.

    The chain has appointed Deutsche Bank as sole global coordinator and bookrunner for the deal, while BDO Capital and Investment Corp, and First Metro Investment Corp will serve as joint lead managers and underwriters. Evercore is the financial adviser.

    Majority owned by the Po family conglomerate Century Pacific Group (CPGI), Spavi owns the rights to the Shakey’s trademark in the Philippines. CPGI is the parent company of Century Pacific Food(CNPF).

    To create Shakey’s trademark thin-crust pizza, Spavi’s in-house commissary supplies the bulk of its proprietary pizza dough and crust. The global pizza franchise originated in the US in 1954, expanding to Canada, Mexico, Japan and, in 1975, the Philippines. It now has more than 170 stores in the Philippines.

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  • Kenzo-H&M collaboration revealed

    Kenzo-H&M collaboration revealed

    The first images have been revealed of the extraordinary range of men’s and women’s designs in the Kenzo-H&M collaboration.

    The Kenzo and H&M collection will go on sale in more than 250 selected H&M stores worldwide from November 3. As with previous H&M collaborations, it is likely to attract huge interest as the fast-fashion giant makes available clothing from a luxury brand unaffordable to many core H&M shoppers.

    Kenzo collection 2

    The Kenzo- H&M lookbook features a key selection of looks from the designer collaboration and stars a diverse cast of talented, passionate and creative ambassadors, each of whom expresses their individuality and values with style. Inside Retail has chosen a small selection of the designs below.

    Kenzo collection 1

     

    The ambassadors featured in the lookbook are writer and activist Amy Sall, photographer Youngjun Koo, artist and DJ Juliana Huxtable, musician and performance artist Oko Ebombo, fashion editor Harriet Verney, make-up artist Isamaya Ffrench, artist Ingrid, musician Anna of the North, model and rapper Le1f, as well as models Mae Lapres, Hao Liu, Selena Forrest, Tom Gaskin, Julia Banas and Pierre Painchaud.

    The photographer was Oliver Hadlee Pearch.

    Kenzo collection 5

    Kenzo collection 4

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  • Denny’s Manila marks restaurant’s Philippines debut

    Denny’s Manila marks restaurant’s Philippines debut

    American diner Denny’s has arrived in the Philippines, opening at Uptown Parade in Bonifacio Global City (BGC).

    The Denny’s Manila restaurant is the first of several planned for the brand’s newest international market.

    Mall owner Megaworld Corporation founder Kevin Tan says on Instagram that the store is one “one of my favorite restaurants in the world”. He was on hand for the store’s ribbon-cutting ceremony.

    Denny’s started out as a coffee and donut stand in 1953. It went public in 1968 and was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
    At BGC, it is open all day every day serving American breakfasts, pancakes and omelettes.

    Denny’s also has stores in China and Korea.

  • FJ Benjamin granted Casio Indonesia rights

    FJ Benjamin granted Casio Indonesia rights

    Singapore-listed fashion and lifestyle group FJ Benjamin has had a celebration to mark it gaining the Casio Indonesia rights to retail the full range of the Japanese watch brand’s watches.

    The brands include Baby-G, Edifice and G-Shock.

    While Casio distributes products to retailers in Indonesia already, only FJ Benjamin has the full range as exclusive retailer for all categories, CEO Nash Benjamin said at a Casio media event at a Jakarta nightclub venue attended by more than 1000 guests.

    He expects the watches to be sold at about 60 sales outlets in the first year. Associate Gilang Agung Persada is setting up G-Shock boutiques and stand-alone counters in malls across Indonesia, as well as selling Casio brands in 30 stores under its two multi-label watch chains, Watch Engine and Watch Zone.

    A G-Shock boutique opened at the end of August at the new St Moritz mall complex, which also houses high-end apartments.

    Benjamin says his company contacted Casio as it has an interest in G-Shock. “Casio came to Indonesia, saw our network of retail stores and was satisfied we could do a good job.”

    Casio senior executive managing officers and senior GM Shigenori Itoh says the company has had double-digit growth in Asia for the past three years.

    Meanwhile, Benjamin says his company could have up to 80 “or maybe even 100” stores in Indonesia in the next four to five years.

    FJ Benjamin has also won exclusive distribution rights in Indonesia for US fashion brand Marc Jacobs.

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  • Toyota recalls 340,000 Priuses globally to fix parking brake issue

    Toyota recalls 340,000 Priuses globally to fix parking brake issue

    Toyota Motor Corp said on Wednesday it was recalling around 340,000 of its latest Prius gasoline hybrid model in Japan and overseas to fix a parking brake issue.

    The recall covers models produced between October 2015 and October 2016, and affects around 210,000 vehicles in Japan and 92,000 in North America, Toyota said, adding that the balance would be recalled in Europe, Australia and other regions.

    No accidents have been reported in Japan in connection with the issue, a Toyota spokeswoman said, while declining to comment on whether any accidents had occurred overseas.

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  • Dnata has inaugurated its customer service centre for cargo at Dubai Airport

    Dnata has inaugurated its customer service centre for cargo at Dubai Airport

    According to dnata, the new 5,000m2 facility is located at Freight Gate 5 at the Dubai Airport Free Zone and is expected to handle 25,000 tonnes of export cargo every month.

    “What we see today is the result of meticulous planning, creative thinking and most of all, listening to our customers,” said Gary Chapman, president of dnata and group services. “We are looking to bring about further efficiency, cost-saving and surpass our customers’ expectations.  We take pride in being a leader in cargo handling, and it’s important to constantly raise the bar when it comes to innovation and customer service. I believe this new centre really demonstrates our commitment to providing a secure and efficient environment for our customers’ cargo needs.”

    According to dnata, the service centre features new export counters, government agencies, a special cargo acceptance area, a new office space for airline and freight forwarders, as well as dnata’s new Cargo Integrated Control Centre, which operates 24/7 and simplifies information flow between all stakeholders. The CICC also monitors, troubleshoots and enables quick decision-making to improve efficiency.

    “While we have accomplished a great deal, we are always looking to innovate and offer better service to our customers,” said Chapman. “They have come to expect that of us, and we are constantly looking at ways to improve. We have exciting plans ahead. The evolution of this facility will see the opening of an import customer service centre, as well as additional storage and handling capacity for our export customers.”

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  • Public cloud market set to grow 17% in 2016

    Public cloud market set to grow 17% in 2016

    The worldwide public cloud services market is projected to grow 17% in 2016 to $208.6 billion, according to Gartner.

    The highest growth will come from IaaS, which is projected to grow 43% in 2016. SaaS, one of the largest segments in the global cloud services market, is expected to grow 22% in 2016 to reach $38.9 billion.

    “There’s no question there is great appetite within organizations to use cloud services, but there are still challenges for organizations as they make the move to the cloud,” said Sid Nag, research director at Gartner. “Even with the high rate of predicted growth, a large number of organizations still have no current plans to use cloud services.”

    IT modernization is currently the top driver of public cloud adoption, followed by cost savings, innovation, agility and other benefits. The focus on IT modernization indicates a more sophisticated and strategic use of public cloud services.

    Security and/or privacy concerns continue to be the top inhibitors to public cloud adoption, despite the strong security track record and increased transparency of leading cloud providers.

    Most organizations are already using a combination of cloud services from different cloud providers. While public cloud usage will continue to increase, the use of private cloud and hosted private cloud services is also expected to increase at least through 2017.

    The increased use of multiple public cloud providers, plus growth in various types of private cloud services, will create a multi-cloud environment in most enterprises and a need to coordinate cloud usage using hybrid scenarios.

    Although hybrid cloud scenarios will dominate, there are many challenges that inhibit working hybrid cloud implementations. Organizations that are not planning to use hybrid cloud indicated a number of concerns, including integration challenges, application incompatibilities, a lack of management tools, a lack of common APIs and a lack of vendor support.

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  • India and Singapore to collaborate on innovation

    India and Singapore to collaborate on innovation

    India and Singapore have signed an agreement to promote innovation, creativity and technological advancement in both markets.

    According to the official statement released, “The MoU will enhance bilateral cooperation activities in the arena of industrial property rights of patents, trademarks and industrial designs. It is intended to give a boost to innovation, creativity and technological advancement in both regions.”

    The agreement covers intellectual property cooperation between DIPP and the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore. The MoU was signed during the visit of Singapore’s Prime Minister to India last week.

    The key initiatives under the pact will be exchange of best practices, experiences and knowledge on intellectual property awareness among the public, businesses and educational institutions of both countries.

    Both the countries will also exchange experts in the field of intellectual property; dissemination of best practices, experiences and knowledge on IP with the industry and universities.

    The MoU will enable India to find out about best practices in the innovation and IP ecosystems that will substantially benefit entrepreneurs, investors and businesses on both sides.

    “The exchange of best practices between the two countries will lead to improved protection and awareness about India’s range of intellectual creations,” the release mentioned.

    It adds that the collaboration is a step forward in India’s journey towards becoming a major player in global innovation and will further the objectives of the National IPR Policy.

  • Huawei Marine to build backbone network for PNG

    Huawei Marine to build backbone network for PNG

    Huawei Marine has secured a contract to build a national subsea cable backbone network for the Papua New Guinea government.

    The company will work with PNG DataCo, an operator established by the Papua New Guinea government, to construct a national backbone network linking major coastal centers and islands in the nation.

    The 5,457km cable network will provide domestic connectivity across the nation’s 14 largest cities, as well as international connectivity via a link to Jayapura in Indonesia.

    With a design capacity of 8Tbps, the cable will be designed provide more than 70% of Papua New Guinea’s domestic bandwidth requirements. Currently domestic telecoms capacity largely relies on satellite and microwave communications due to the country’s unique geography.

    “This new system is very important to Papua New Guinea as it not only includes a new submarine cable network but also provides internet gateways and data centers,” DataCo managing director Paul Komboi said.

    “This will improve the whole ICT infrastructure in the country and greatly increase network coverage, capacity and the availability of Internet and broadband services to end users.”

    He said Huawei Marine was selected for the project through a competitive tender process.

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  • Samsung permanently halts Note7 production

    Samsung permanently halts Note7 production

    Samsung has officially halted production of the Galaxy Note7, following multiple reports of batteries overheating and catching fire even in devices replaced during last month’s recall.

    The company confirmed it has permanently discontinued production of its flagship smartphone, leaving the company without a high-end device to compete against the iPhone 7 with during the holiday shopping season.

    During last month’s major product recall, Samsung had blamed a single battery supplier for the overheating problem that caused the fires, and had switched suppliers for production of the replacement models. But with multiple reports that even replaced devices are catching fire, this explanation is in doubt.

    Samsung is offering Note7 buyers either full refunds, or the option to replace their device with an S7 or S7 Edge and receive a refund for the difference in price.

    Analysts are predicting that permanently ending Note7 sales could cost Samsung up to $17 billion in lost sales, and the potential for reputational damage is arguably even greater.

    Curiously, analysis from mobile application technology company Apteligent suggests that the reports of exploding batteries have done little to deter usage of Note7 devices. As of Sunday, the smartphone reached its highest usage rate since in August launch – 10% higher than the date of the recall. The first reports of replacement devices exploding began circulating days earlier.

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  • DHL leverages on China’s Belt and Road

    DHL leverages on China’s Belt and Road

    DHL Global Forwarding continues to enhance its services which leverage infrastructure developed as part of “Belt and Road”, the Chinese trade initiative that could influence up to half of all global trade once completed.

    “Trade is the enabler for greater prosperity and a sustainable future. We believe logistics is the backbone of global trade, and nowhere more than in Asia have we seen the tremendous transformation of the economies as rising standards of living and a growing middle class has fuelled increased consumption and trade,’ said Frank Appel, CEO, Deutsche Post DHL Group.

    Frank Appel was speaking in conjunction with DHL’s Delphi Dialog forum on the implications of “Belt and Road” for international trade. The forum, with renowned experts from the government, business and academia, is the latest in a series which examines trends and developments that shape our world and the logistics industry.

    Making ‘Belt and Road’ accessible for business

    China’s investment in Belt and Road infrastructure – more than US$75bn (Euro 67.5bn) in the 18 months to June 2016 – bolsters regional cooperation and promotes trade. Since 2010 and in line with the vision for “Belt and Road”, DHL has been developing scheduled connections offering rail services across multiple cities in China, and linking it to road solutions throughout South East Asia and ferry services from North Asian cities in Japan and Taiwan.

    From South East Asia and other parts of North Asia, the road and ferry connections feed into China’s rail system which connects into Europe, with final distribution by road across the continent. This intricate connection of rail, road and sea services offers customers an additional logistics route, fostering trade between economic powerhouses of Europe and Asia.

    “We have been focused on building connectivity between China and regional countries, and connections into Europe via all combinations of road, rail and sea services,” said Steve Huang, CEO, DHL Global Forwarding China. “A multimodal solution – combining all modes of transport – enables customers to better manage their supply chains – offering flexibility, cost savings and potentially a reduced carbon footprint.”

    “The new service provides greater flexibility and speed for Japan’s exporters, including sectors like automotive and electronics production which already enjoy market dominance in Europe,” said Mark Slade, President and Representative Director, DHL Global Forwarding Japan.

    “With Less-than-Container Load services to Europe, Japanese businesses can improve the efficiency of fulfillment and inventory management at cost-effective rates, helping them maintain their competitive edge as world-class manufacturers.”

    Broadly, combinations of multimodal services can reduce transport costs by up to six times and up to 90% reduction in carbon footprint as compared with air freight, making it an increasingly attractive option for SME and MNC customers alike.

    DHL launched a further three new multimodal services:

    • Sea & Rail service: A Less-than-Container Load (LCL) service between Japan and Germany which allows businesses to export low-volume shipments for as little as half the cost of standard air freight. With a transit time of about 22 days, shipments are moved from Kobe to Taicang via sea, and by rail to Hamburg through hubs like Duisburg, Lodz, Malaszewicze and Warsaw.
    • Road & Rail service: The Vietnam-Europe service takes Full Container Load (FCL) cargo from Hanoi to Chengdu via road, followed by rail to hubs like Lodz, Duisburg and Hamburg in Europe, arriving in 21 days. An LCL option for the Vietnam-Europe service will commence in Q4 2016.
    • Rail, Road & Sea: Further boosting our Southern rail corridor offering announced last year, the new Chengdu-Istanbul service traverses three Central Asian countries – Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Georgia – as well as two sea transit segments before arriving at Istanbul in 14 days.

    The three new services build on a series of major DHL investments in the last 12 months, including a multimodal service between Japan and Warsaw via Suzhou announced in November 2015; and an MOU signed in May 2016 with Chengdu’s Gateway Logistics Office to upgrade infrastructure and customs processes. DHL has been developing multimodal services along the Belt and Road since 2010, when it launched a suite of five services – International Rail, Rail-Air; Sea/River-Rail; Sea-Air and Cross-Border Road Freight.

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  • Mobile Banking Users in Indonesia Remains Low

    Mobile Banking Users in Indonesia Remains Low

    Research institute Microsave reported that only 0.73 percent of cellphone users in Indonesia have utilized online financial services.

    “The figure is lower than those of Malaysia with 5.79 percent and Cambodia with 2.73 percent,” Microsave Country Development Senior Manager Grace Retnowati said on Wednesday, October 12, 2016.

    Grace revealed that the number of SIM card users in Indonesia stands at almost 200 million. At least 20 percent of them are cellphone users.

    “Mobile device utilization for financial services remains low, although the Internet network coverage has reached 90 percent,” Grace added.

    In addition, Grace pointed out that only 36 percent of Indonesian people own bank accounts.

    “The awareness level for mobile banking services is only 0.3 percent,” Grace went on.

    According to Grace, the digital financial literacy is important for middle-class and low-income people.

    “The digital financial services are expected to boost the annual GDP by US$3.7 trillion in 2025 or six percent when compared to the conventional financial services,” Grace said.

    Grace suggested that payments made via smartphone would reduce the cost of financial services by 80 to 90 percent.

    “The cost efficiency will allow financial institutions to provide low-cost services,” Grace said.