Retail News CRM

Tag: asia

  • True Corp deploys world’s largest 4T4R 4.5G network

    True Corp deploys world’s largest 4T4R 4.5G network

    Thailand’s True Corporation has deployed what it says is the world’s largest commercial 4-transmit-4-receiver (4T4R) 4.5G network using Huawei RAN technology.

    Huawei provided its SingleRAN 4T4R technology for the rollout. To date True Corporation’s wireless division True Move has deployed over 6,300 4T4R sites

    Announcing the deployment, Huawei said compared to conventional 2T2R networks, the deployment has improved downlink throughput at cell edge by over 38% and uplink throughput by 50%.

    True Corp is conducting the deployment to support Thailand’s booming demand for mobile data. Currently Thailand’s most common data charge model involves unlimited monthly packages and data usage per subscriber exceeds 1GB.

    “Spectrum is extremely precious resource for all operators. Any technology which improves the spectrum efficiency attracts operators.” True Corporation executive advisor Steven Christopher Hopcraft said.

    “[The] 4T4R solution improves the spectrum efficiency, and that’s the reason why True chose 4T4R. Along with the mature ecosystem, we think that the deployment of 4T4R is a wise choice.”

    In January, True Move revealed that it will spend 56 billion baht ($1.59 billion) this year to roll out an LTE-Advanced network covering 97% of the population.

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  • Phantaci makes it real in Singapore

    Phantaci makes it real in Singapore

    Taiwanese streetwear label Phantaci has launched its first overseas boutique, at Orchard Gateway in Singapore.

    Covering 1200 sqft (111 sqm) on the mall’s second floor, the outlet features pink shelving and black-and-white tables echoing a piano keyboard.

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    As well as an in-house collection, Phantaci collaborates on products with such top brands as Casio, Nike and Stussy.

    To mark the opening, Phantaci is offering an exclusive selection of merchandise including a black-and-gold Phantaci shirt and an embroidered cap.

    Phantaci was established in 2006 by MandoPop musician Jay Chou and Ric Chiang.

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  • FairPrice Shop grocer’s new budget banner

    FairPrice Shop grocer’s new budget banner

    Singapore’s largest supermarket operator NTUC FairPrice has unveiled a new budget banner and format today, imaginatively named FairPrice Shop.

    The official opening ceremony of the first store was underway this morning in Eunos Crescent – the store will be called FairPrice Shop@Eunos.

    “As FairPrice continues to serve its social mission to moderate the cost of living in Singapore, it will be launching a new retail format, FairPrice Shop, targeted at budget conscious shoppers,” the company said.

    “The format will feature a more focused range of products offering greater value, including the

    introduction of an exclusive range of housebrand fresh produce, which is five to 10 per cent cheaper than FairPrice’s existing housebrand fresh produce line. FairPrice Shop will be located primarily within mature estates with a higher concentration of low-income families.”

    The store was formally launched by Lim Boon Heng, chairman of NTUC Enterprise, and associate professor Fatimah Lateef, MP for Marine Parade GRC (Geylang Serai), who were hosted by Bobby Chin, chairman, NTUC FairPrice.

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  • CJ Group bids for McDonald’s Korea

    CJ Group bids for McDonald’s Korea

    South Korean food-to-entertainment conglomerate CJ Group has submitted a letter of intent to buy fast-food chain McDonald’s Korea.

    Details have yet to be decided, but the deal could be worth 300 billion won ($256.86 million) to 500 billion won, says the Korean Economic Daily newspaper, quoting investment banking sources.

    McDonald’s Corp headquarters in the US announced in March it was reorganising its business in Asia by bringing in partners to own the restaurants within a franchise framework.

    Describing its aim to be a global lifestyle company, CJ Group aims to provide healthy, happy and convenient lifestyles based on its four core businesses: food and food services, bio and pharmaceuticals, entertainment and media, and home shopping and logistics.

    CJ’s business divisions include cinema chain CGV and bakery-cafe network Tous le Jours.

  • Dutch jeans with taste of Japanese style

    Dutch jeans with taste of Japanese style

    After centuries of isolation ended in the late 1800s, Western-style fashions caught on in Japan, and now designers are adding Japanese style elements from traditional garments to Western clothing.

    Jumping on this bandwagon is Dutch label G-Star Raw with its new offering Inakaya Denim. “Inakaya” means “person from the countryside”, which is apt as the jeans are styled like the work pants customarily worn by Japanese farmers. The billowy cut should make the pants easy to move around in, as should the lightweight material used, reports Rocket News.

    Details include ankle straps for a tapered look, and an extra-large hip pocket that can accommodate smartphone and keys.
    G-Star Raw’s suggested retail price for Inakaya Denim is 25,920 yen (US$254).

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  • AWS opens first Indian region

    AWS opens first Indian region

    AWS has launched two data centers in Mumbai, taking the total number of Availability Zones to 35 across 13 technology infrastructure regions globally. With these data centers, Mumbai becomes AWS’ sixth region in Asia Pacific.

    The new AWS Mumbai Region consists of two separate Availability Zones at launch. Availability Zones refer to data centers in separate, distinct locations within a single region that are engineered to be operationally independent of other Availability Zones, with independent power, cooling, and physical security.

    AWS customers focused on high availability can architect their applications to run in multiple Availability Zones to achieve even higher fault-tolerance.

    According to Andy Jassy, CEO of AWS CEO Andy Jassy said more than 75,000 customers in India are using other AWS Regions.

    “These same 75,000 Indian customers, along with others interested in starting use of AWS, have asked for an AWS India Region so they can move their applications that require low latency and data sovereignty,” he said.

    “We’re excited to make this available today, with the same pay-as-you-go pricing, ability to get started immediately without having to negotiate enterprise agreements or wait days for access, and unmatched functionality that customers enjoy in AWS Regions worldwide.”

    AWS is also partnering with India’s National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology to train 25,000 people on cloud technologies.

  • More stake for Matahari Putra Prima in MatahariMall.com

    More stake for Matahari Putra Prima in MatahariMall.com

    Matahari Putra Prima (MPPA) has doubled its stake in online Indonesian retailer MatahariMall.com.

    The multi-format retailer, which operates Hypermart, Smartclub, Foodmart, Boston and FMX chains, says it has [aid cash for an additional 5 per cent share in the fast-growing eCommerce business.

    “With the acquisition, MPPA hopes to benefit from wider access to eCommerce as its  development will remain strong this year,” MPPA said in a statement. “The company views eCommerce in Indonesia as an enormous market and will continue to grow. The investment and partnership with MatahariMall.com is a new opportunity to foster O2O eCommerce

    components that encourage sales [growth] in the future.”

    MPPA said the  relationship will improve MPPA’s position as the leading multi-format modern retailer in Indonesia, as well as contribute to a sound financial outlook going forward.

    Matahari Mall body

    New Foodmart Primo

    In other news, MPPA has opened its second upper scale supermarket format, Foodmart Primo at Lippo Mall Kuta, Bali.

    The opening of Foodmart Primo in Bali is based on the company’s studies on the upward trend of customers’ shopping behavior in the island. The store has a gross selling area of about 1510 sqm and provides a wide selection of high quality of imported and local products.

    Director of Foodmart operations, Dave Rao, says due to the nature of the location the store will cater more to tourists than residents, so the stock mix will be slightly different from a typical Foodmart Primo.

    “We have additional categories like handicrafts, souvenirs, aromatherapy, travel accessories, beach accessories, and more, specially targeted at holiday-makers. But our main feature remains the restaurant which is a ready-to-eat area offering pizzas, roasts, pastas, traditional food, fresh juices, sandwiches, salads and a boutique bakery.”

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  • Vocus Acquires Netgen

    Vocus Acquires Netgen

    A substantial chunk of fiber is changing hands down under. Vocus Communications has announced plans to acquire Netgen Networks in a deal worth about $500 million.

    Nextgen had built a 17,000km fiber backbone across Australia with fiber into 1,100 buildings including 70 data centers.

    They were also a 50% owner with Vocus on the ACS project building a subsea cable between Perth, Singapore, and Indonesia, which Vocus will take 100% possession of. And they were building the North West Cable system between Darwin and Port Hedland to the oil, gas, and mining industries as well, which will also be bought by Vocus.

    The deal, which follows their recent purchase of M2, will see Vocus add substantial infrastructure muscle in an effort to better compete with Telstra, Optus, and TPG.

    Vocus already has some 700km of fiber hooking up 1,300 buildings in Australia, as well as a more extensive 4,200km of fiber over in New Zealand.

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  • Australian NBN launches first HFC services

    Australian NBN launches first HFC services

    Australia’s nbn has announced the launch of the National Broadband Network’s first HFC services under the multi-technology mix model.

    The company in charge of overseeing the rollout and wholesale operation of the national network revealed that around 18,800 premises in Redcliffe in Queensland are now ready for service.

    Service providers in the area will be given access to peak wholesale speeds of up to 100Mbps uplink and 40Mbps downlink.

    The current NBN rollout plan calls for 875,000 HFC premises to be ready for service nationwide by June 2017, with 200,000 of these end-user premises activated on the network.

    The NBN was originally intended to use FTTP for more than 90% of Australia’s population, but on taking power three years ago the current government abandoned this model  in favor of a rollout using a mix of using a mix of FTTH, HFC and FTTN.

    At the time it was claimed this would allow the rollout to be completed faster and more cheaply than using FTTH, but the projected cost and timeframe of the multi-technology rollout has ballooned to be potentially nearly as expensive as the initial rollout plan.

    The in-opposition Labor party has pledged to use FTTP for an additional 2 million premises if it wins power. An election was held over the weekend and while it’s a close race and the votes are still being counted, experts expect the current government to win by a slim margin and form a minority government.

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  • Zalora Scholarship is now open

    Zalora Scholarship is now open

    Asian eCommerce company, Zalora, has relaunched its scholarship program, now on its second year.

    The theme for the Zalora Scholarship this year is “Function Vs Fashion: How the Two Coexist in (Major) Trends Over the Decades”.

    The online retailing company says the fashion-meets-function trend is growing rapidly now, more than ever as wearables flood the market. One prime example is the activewear industry as fitness wear becomes more than just clothes for working out.

    The Zalora Scholarship will award six tertiary students from the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong and, for the first time, Taiwan, with a grant and internship at Zalora offices.

    Applicants may submit their entry in the form of an essay or infographic. Winning entries will be selected based on creativity, innovation and relevance to the theme as well as analytical skills and academic results.

    Michele Ferrario, CEO of Zalora Group said: “As Asia’s online fashion retailer, we’re dedicated to continuously recognise and support the most promising talents in the region who desire for a career in fashion. We believe this will not only help develop and groom the future leaders of this industry but also contribute to the growth of eCommerce in Asia.”

    Zalora welcomes applicants from all tertiary institutions that fall under Zalora Partner Institutions in Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Taiwan. One student from each of these countries will be offered a scholarship.

    Applications will close at 11:59 PM (GMT) on July 31.

  • Social media giants plan new e-payment offerings

    Three new e- payment services from Line and Facebook will become available to Thai mobile users by the end of this year, as the social-media companies gear up with a view to tapping into high growth potential in the domestic market.

    Jin-Woo Lee, chief executive officer of Rabbit Line Pay, told the “Thailand E-commerce Summit 2016” that the company would provide two new services in the near future under the Rabbit Line Pay brand, enabling mobile payments via a smart phone using any operating system.

    Mobile users will simply need to download the Rabbit Line Pay application to their device in order to use the system, he said, adding that the new payment services would be piloted at retail outlets such as McDonald’s in August.

    “I believe Thailand is the first country in which we will provide the new e-payment service. In the next couple of months, we will test it with retail shops, and then with the Skytrain in December, before making it officially available in the market,” the CEO said. Another new offering under Rabbit Line Pay services is a logistics service available to mobile users who already have the Rabbit Line Pay app.

    Under the logistics service, the company has joined hands with Kerry to deliver products to customers when they order from the Line shop. Kerry will provide a same-day delivery service for users located in Bangkok, with cash on delivery being a payment option. The new service will initially be available in Bangkok.

    “For Line, Thailand is the second biggest market, after Japan. I believe there is high market potential in Thailand for the provision of services that support mobile users in a simple and convenient way,” Lee said.

    The company is currently working with four commercial banks – Siam Commercial Bank, TMB Bank, Bangkok Bank and Kasikornbank – to support e-payment transactions under its new offerings, he added.

    Line now has around 40 million users in Thailand, the chief executive said.

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  • Filipino Job Seekers in Luck as Local Online Hiring Activity Registers Growth for the first time in 2016

    It’s a good time to be looking for a job in the Philippines. According to the latest Monster Employment Index (MEI) data for May 2016, online hiring activity has registered positive growth for the first time ever this year.

    Overall recruitment activity has increased 11% between May 2015 and May 2016. This is a 14% improvement from the previously reported -3% decline year-on-year for April.

    Tracked by employment website Monster.com, the MEI Philippines is a gauge of online job posting activity, recording the industries and occupations that show the highest and lowest growth in recruitment activity locally.

    The Retail sector reported a whopping 106% year-over-year growth in online hiring activity – the steepest growth registered of the industries monitored by the MEI. This is up from 49% year-over-year reported in April.

    The Production/Manufacturing, Automotive and Ancillary sector continued to register the sharpest year-over-year decline at -34% in May. This is an improvement from -56% registered between April 2015 and 2016.

    Across occupational groups, HR & Admin roles took the lead in the growth of hiring activities at 39% year-over-year. This is huge 34% improvement from the 5% registered in April.

    Online hiring in Hospitality & Travel roles remained the weakest, registering -55% year-over-year decline.

    “A recent survey by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) revealed strong employment among Filipinos. Preliminary reports have also shown that local unemployment stands at around 6.1% in April 2016, down 0.3% from April 2015. As Philippines continue to position itself as one of Asia’s growth areas, foreign investments are likely to continue to pour into the country to spur growth and hiring,” said Sanjay Modi, Managing Director, Monster.com – APAC and Middle East.

    “The Philippines’ retail sector continues to exhibit strong growth partly due to increased consumer spending power, fuelled by increasing income in the BPO sectors. It was recently reported that the hospitality sector had contributed P1.39 trillion to the Philippines economy, despite slower recruitment across these roles. This has likely resulted from the slower turnover within the sector after its hiring spree last May, which worked out well for the sector. Until the need arises, employers are in no hurry to add to their headcount.”

    The Monster Employment Index Philippines is a monthly gauge of online job posting activity, based on a real-time review of millions of employer job opportunities culled from a large representative selection of career websites and online job listings across Philippines. The Index does not reflect the trend of any one advertiser or source, but is an aggregate measure of the change in job listings across the industry.

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  • Tokopedia deal lets online shoppers pay in store

    Tokopedia deal lets online shoppers pay in store

    Indonesian online platform Tokopedia has signed an agreement with retailer Alfamart allowing online shoppers to pay at their nearest convenience store branch.

    Customers do not need a special account to complete a transaction in an Alfamart store.

    “The payment will be automatically verified and the order will pass directly to the seller,” says Tokopedia VP Melissa Siska Juminto.

    “The partnership will benefit not only customers but also sellers as order processing will be faster and will boost the seller’s reputation.”

    Tokopedia has previously partnered with several other retailers such as 7-Eleven and Indomaret, and also launched the Mitra Toppers program that helps merchants access capital loans.

    Tokopedia raised US$147 million in April, bringing its total disclosed funding to $247 million, the largest so far in Indonesia.

    It now has more than 7.5 million transactions a month, with a 10-20 per cent monthly growth rate. About 69 per cent of users access the company’s site using mobile phones.

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  • Vocus to buy Australia’s Nextgen Networks

    Vocus to buy Australia’s Nextgen Networks

    A substantial chunk of fiber is changing hands down under. Vocus Communications has announced plans to acquire Netgen Networks in a deal worth about $500 million.

    Nextgen had built a 17,000km fiber backbone across Australia with fiber into 1,100 buildings including 70 data centers.

    They were also a 50% owner with Vocus on the ACS project building a subsea cable between Perth, Singapore, and Indonesia, which Vocus will take 100% possession of. And they were building the North West Cable system between Darwin and Port Hedland to the oil, gas, and mining industries as well, which will also be bought by Vocus.

    The deal, which follows their recent purchase of M2, will see Vocus add substantial infrastructure muscle in an effort to better compete with Telstra, Optus, and TPG.

    Vocus already has some 700km of fiber hooking up 1,300 buildings in Australia, as well as a more extensive 4,200km of fiber over in New Zealand.

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  • Another close shut down in Singapore

    Another close shut down in Singapore

    Streetwear chain 77th Street is about to become another victim of Singapore’s struggling retail scene.

    The home-grown clothing company will close the doors of its last outlet, in Ang Mo Kio, by the end of this month, according to Channel NewsAsia.

    Founder Elim Chew says high rents have forced the closure, with the present rate of $35 a square foot having risen from $9 when she started the business at Far East Plaza in 1988.

    At one point, 77th Street had 16 outlets around Singapore, and was the first Singaporean retailer to set up a shopping mall in China in the early 2000s by opening 77th Street Plaza. This has since closed.

    Chew has now ventured into the logistics industry, setting up the app Fastfast along with Adrian Ng of mobile app and retail technology developer Codigo. The app allows people in between jobs or retirees to become document or package couriers. About 4500 people have signed up to be FastFast drivers, according to The Straits Times.

    Meanwhile, the first six months of this year have seen several retail brands exit Singapore, including Britain’s New Look, French menswear chain Celio, and local label M)Phosis.

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