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Tag: asia

  • Amazon Music Unlimited users are getting a surprising new feature

    Amazon Music Unlimited users are getting a surprising new feature

    Amazon has been competing for years against music streaming services like Google Play Music, Spotify, and Apple Music, hence the large number of resources the US giant has been pouring into development.

    Lately, Amazon Music Unlimited has been gaining a lot of new customers to the point that the service is now just 5 million subscribers away from Apple Music, which recently revealed a 60 million subscriber count.

    But Amazon isn’t stopping here, so the next step is yet another important new feature that only Music Unlimited users will benefit from. Starting this week, Amazon Music Unlimited users will have access to a database of music videos they can watch.

    There’s little information about the new feature, although Amazon does mention that “paid subscribers can start with videos from a favorite artist or a video playlist.” At the moment, music videos can only be watched in the United States, and it’s unclear whether or not the feature will be introduced in other countries too.

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  • It’s all over for Debenhams as liquidators appointed

    It’s all over for Debenhams as liquidators appointed

    British department store retailer Debenhams is to be liquidated after failing to find a buyer, administrators FRP Advisory announced on Tuesday.

    FRP will commence a wind-down of the business, which was founded back in 1778, spelling the end of 12,000 jobs, mainly in the UK. It has 124 stores there and in Denmark, where it owns Magasin du Nord.

    However, the liquidator said it would continue to seek offers for all or parts of the business during the process.

    The collapse comes a day after Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia Group was placed in administration.

    Debenhams was first placed in administration on April 9 last year in a pre-pack administration which resulted in 22 stores being closed and rent reductions secured for many more. A second administration came exactly 12 months later this year.

    Efforts to find a suitor have been underway for eight months, with the most recent being JD Sports which quit rescue talks on Tuesday following the demise of Arcadia.

    According to its website, Debenhams operated 45 stores under licensing agreements in 17 countries including Malaysia, the Philippines and Pakistan in Asia. An earlier foray into Vietnam failed.

    The remainder of the franchises are in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, with the first franchise opened in Bahrain in 1997.

    In a statement, FRP said that given the current trading environment and the likely prolonged effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the outlook for a restructured operation is highly uncertain.

    “The administrators have therefore regretfully concluded that they should commence a wind-down of Debenhams UK, whilst continuing to seek offers for all or parts of the business.”

    Trading will continue at UK stores and online to clear current and contracted stocks.

    “On conclusion of this process, if no alternative offers have been received, the UK operations will close,” said FRP.

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  • Singapore Beefs Up Wealth Management Talent Pipeline

    Singapore Beefs Up Wealth Management Talent Pipeline

    The Private Banking Industry Group launches a talent development initiative aimed at undergraduate students in Singapore.

    The Private Banking Industry Group (PBIG) in Singapore will look to «enhance the employability and job readiness of students entering the workforce» by offering 200 undergraduate traineeship positions over the next three years, according to a statement.

    Training will be related to in-demand roles such as relationship managers, product managers, data analysts, business risk managers and cybersecurity analysts.

    The PBIG is made up of industry leaders in the city-state, including 14 banks, and is currently co-chaired by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and UBS.

    Candidates will be selected from a relevant program, of which 30 percent of the duration will be dedicated to the traineeship.

    The longer traineeship period will allow banks to develop more meaningful structured on-the-job training to complement the academic courses taken by the trainees, allowing them to be better equipped for full-time roles upon graduation, and stand a better chance to pursue a career in the wealth management sector, the statement said.

    Supporting financial institutions will benefit from a scheme that will fund 80 percent of the internship stipend, capped at $1,000 ($750) per month, for each trainee.

    The initiative, entitled Build, Encourage, Nurture (BEN), is being driven in response to both the growth and diversity in demand for talent within the financial services.

    The initiative will provide a sustainable pipeline of job-ready talent to Singapore’s private banking industry, which is essential for the sector’s growth, said Gillian Tan, an assistant managing director at MAS.

    We believe that to stay competitive in an ever-changing and disruptive future, it is critical for the industry to develop and nurture a workforce of the future with the right sustainable skills that can further enhance the financial industry and Singapore’s role as a key global financial center, added August Hatecke, APAC co-head of wealth management at UBS.

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  • Digital payment firm Vietnam’s second startup unicorn

    Digital payment firm Vietnam’s second startup unicorn

    VNPay has become the second unicorn startup in Vietnam and one of 12 companies in Southeast Asia with a valuation of $1 billion.

    The payment company was listed as a unicorn in the recent “e-Conomy SEA 2020” report by Google and its partners, alongside well known firms like Indonesia’s ride-hailing firm Gojek and Singapore’s e-commerce platform Lazada.

    VNPay, which manages a network of payment systems using QR codes in major cities, is currently partnering with over 40 banks and 20,000 companies. The company has over 15 million monthly users who access its app to transfer money, pay utility bills and buy bus tickets.

    The company was one of the startups that attracted the highest investments in the Southeast Asian fintech industry last year, with a total of $1.7 billion being poured into this industry, up 40 percent from 2018, the Google report said.

    VNPay reportedly received $300 million from Japan’s Softbank Vision Fund and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC last year.

    The first Vietnamese startup with a valuation of over $1 billion was tech firm VNG in 2014. Its valuation has now increased by over 50 percent to $1.5-1.7 billion.

    Vietnam targets having five unicorn tech firms by 2025 and 10 by 2030 as part of its Industry 4.0 advancement plans, the Ministry of Planning and Investment said in a report last year.

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  • Singapore Beefs Up Wealth Management Talent Pipeline

    Singapore Beefs Up Wealth Management Talent Pipeline

    After a deadly pandemic wiped out most revenue for the year, Macau’s gaming industry could face a permanent structural shift with the potential introduction of a new system to exchange digital yuan for gambling chips.

    Macau’s watchdog, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, has been in talks with various casino operators over the usage a digital yuan to buy casino chips, according to a report citing unnamed sources.

    The discussions are still in the initial stages and no final decision has yet to be made.

    Currently, tourists entering Macau to gamble commonly use two methods to obtain casino chips. One method is to obtain chips by converting Hong Kong dollars (which is widely accepted in the fellow special administrative region). Another is to obtain credit often from junket providers, a method commonly used by mainland high rollers to sidestep Chinese capital control rules.

    By introducing the digital yuan and enforcing it as the medium to exchange casino chips, authorities risk disrupting Hong Kong dollar flows and, more importantly, putting junkets out of business.

    In addition to hurting service providers in the middle, imposing a digital yuan would significantly increase the transparency of money flows from the mainland to Macau.

    Industry watchers are concerned not only about the lack of privacy for gamblers but also the potential of a conversion cap to expand the coverage of mainland China’s capital control rules.

    Although some believe the introduction of the move could boost Chinese middle-class participation in Macau’s gambling sector through the ease of conversion, others expect a fallout in the casino hub due to its strong reliance on high rollers that need financial flexibility.

    The report added that the increased exposure to casinos in Russia and the Philippines by Suncity Group, the listed arm of Macau’s biggest junket operator and the recent mystery buyer of cigar brands like Cohiba, was a response to changes such as the potential implementation of the digital yuan, citing another unnamed source.

    Gaming revenue in Macau has plunged by $27 billion this year, down at least 90 percent for six straight months since March.

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  • Korean cars find few takers in Southeast Asia, sustained by Vietnam market

    Korean cars find few takers in Southeast Asia, sustained by Vietnam market

    Out of 185,595 South Korean cars sold in Southeast Asia last year, Vietnam accounted for 59 percent. While the Vietnamese auto market only ranks fourth in size in the region, its contribution to the sales of Hyundai and Kia, two major Korean brands, has been remarkable. Since 2018 Vietnam has accounted for more than half of all South Korean car sales in Southeast Asia.

    Sales of Hyundai and Kia in Vietnam in the first 10 months of 2020 rose to 82,129 units for a 31 percent market share.

    Hyundai topped the market with sales at 57,039 vehicles, followed by Japan’s Toyota with 49,950.

    Hyundai vehicles are made by TC Motor at its plant in the northern province of Ninh Binh while Truong Hai Auto (Thaco) makes Kia at its factory in the Chu Lai industrial zone in the Southern Quang Nam Province.

    According to the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association, South Korean cars had a 5.2 percent share of the regional market in 2019. The figure for Japanese cars was 74.3 percent or 2.63 million units last year.

  • Volkswagen Bets On Porsche Racecar Engineer To Help Overtake Tesla

    Volkswagen Bets On Porsche Racecar Engineer To Help Overtake Tesla

    Alexander Hitzinger, a 49-year-old engineer who defected to Apple after helping to develop Porsche’s winning 919 racecars, has been lured back to Volkswagen Group for perhaps his biggest challenge yet – building an electric car to take on Tesla. While Volkswagen, the world’s largest automaker, has been rolling out electric vehicles from the ID.3 compact to the high-end Porsche Taycan, analysts say it needs a more comprehensive system that integrates electric power with new self-driving and infotainment technologies if it hopes to overtake Tesla.

    It has turned to Hitzinger, whose ability to conceptualize clean-sheet designs and manage projects helped Porsche develop a racecar that won the Le Mans endurance race in 2015, 2016, 2017. After a stint working on Apple’s autonomous cars, Hitzinger now heads up Volkswagen’s “Project Artemis”, named after the Ancient Greek goddess of hunting, with the aim of chasing down electric car pioneer Tesla. “At Porsche, I always thought of a vehicle as a comprehensive system. This is a very important point. It is what Tesla does well,” he explained in a video interview.

    The task of building a car has gotten more complex with the advent of electric and autonomous driving technologies, forcing new battery-driven powertrains to compete for electricity with camera, radar, and lidar sensors, plus infotainment systems. Rather than stitching together separately designed systems, Artemis wants to create something new and seamlessly integrated, from the ground up, Hitzinger told Reuters. “The idea behind Artemis is to have a comprehensive understanding of the vehicle. When something is optimized, this has knock-on effects and these need to be understood.”

    Volkswagen’s “Project Artemis”, named after the Ancient Greek goddess of hunting, with the aim of chasing down electric car pioneer Tesla

    Allocating processing power between propulsion, automated driving and infotainment systems such as satellite navigation and music streaming is a key challenge, he said.

    “The human-machine interface, the interior design, the exterior design, aerodynamics and the range are all interconnected. If I modify something on the exterior, it will impact the aerodynamics and the efficiency,” Hitzinger said.

    Volkswagen Group, whose brands range from budget Seats and Skodas to high-end Audis and Bentleys is now focussing on developing systems that can handle all these new demands.

    The car, which is due to be produced in 2024, will make use of components developed for Porsche and Audi’s premium electric vehicle platform, PPE. The group’s factory in Hanover, Germany, is being retooled to build an electric sport-utility vehicle for Audi, Bentley and Porsche.

    Having a small team of highly qualified engineers, who are empowered to take decisions unencumbered by the corporate bureaucracy of the Volkswagen empire, should end up producing a better vehicle more quickly.

    Analyst say VW needs a more comprehensive system that integrates electric power with new self-driving and infotainment technologies if it hopes to overtake Tesla.

    Project Artemis will have between 200 and 250 staff once Hitzinger is done hiring, up from 10 at present.

    “I am putting the team together on a top-down basis. The managers come first. Then I look for A-players, who will attract other A-players. I don’t want managers, but people who love to develop technologies, who are prepared to take risks,” he said.

    Artemis will seek to draw on existing skills within the Volkswagen Group, such as expertise in making vehicle bodies at Audi, but take the lead in developing new techniques that speed up production and improve the customer experience.

    “We want to set new standards for what a customer can do in a vehicle and how he interacts with the car,” Hitzinger said.

    He declined to elaborate on what user experiences the new car would offer, citing the confidential nature of the project.

    He also declined to comment on a power struggle unfolding at Volkswagen, which has convened its executive committee to meet on Tuesday to decide whether to extend CEO Herbert Diess’s contract.

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  • BlackBerry and Amazon Team Up On Vehicle Data And Software Platform

    BlackBerry and Amazon Team Up On Vehicle Data And Software Platform

    Canadian technology specialist BlackBerry and e-commerce titan Amazon have developed a cloud-based software platform designed to help automakers and suppliers standardize vehicle data and speed deployment of new revenue-generating features and services, the companies said on Tuesday.

    BlackBerry and Amazon Web Services (AWS) said the new intelligent vehicle data platform, called IVY, will compress the time to build, deploy and monetize in-vehicle applications and connected services across multiple brands and models, making it easier for automakers to collaborate with a wider pool of developers to accelerate the development of apps and services.

    Carmakers have been reluctant so far to share with outside technology providers much of the data generated by their vehicles. IVY is designed to complement and run simultaneously with new digital vehicle architectures developed by Volkswagen, General Motors and others.

    The platform is built on BlackBerry’s QNX, a vehicle operating system in 175 million vehicles worldwide, according to John Wall, head of BlackBerry Technology Solutions.

    “The biggest challenge that most carmakers have in getting applications in the vehicle or monetizing their data is that there is no standardized way to access the data,” Wall said.

    One goal of BlackBerry and AWS is to establish IVY as a standard platform across the auto industry, as Apple and Google have done in mobile phones through their iOS and Android platforms.

    Without that standardization, Wall said, automakers “can’t really establish an ecosystem” or leverage the broader community of app developers. IVY is expected to be installed on the first production vehicles in the model year 2023, said AWS executive Sarah Cooper. BlackBerry and Amazon declined to say which companies will be the first to use IVY.

  • Tokyo pop-up mask store lures shoppers with festive face coverings

    Tokyo pop-up mask store lures shoppers with festive face coverings

    As a new wave of coronavirus infections sweeps Tokyo, a pop-up store near Japan’s capital is luring Christmas shoppers with 250 types of face mask, including festive versions with decorative lights.

    Tokyo Mask Land, which opened Tuesday for a month in an office building in Yokohama, also has a mask bar and is offering mask-making workshops to draw visitors.

    People often wore face mask in Japan before the pandemic, particularly during the winter flu season and in Spring when cedar and cypress pollen triggers hay fever.

    Although no law mandates wearing them, it is currently unusual to see someone without a mask in Tokyo, even outside.

    The store also plans an exhibit on the history of face coverings and a photo booth featuring Christmas trees and a mannequin dressed up as Santa Claus.

    “I don’t think you would come up with an idea like this if there had been no coronavirus outbreak,” 23-year-old Ryota Nabetani, who was shopping for masks with his mother, said of the photo spot.

    Although it has had far fewer cases than in the United States and Europe, a recent surge in coronavirus infections prompted authorities in Tokyo last week to request bars and restaurants to shorten opening hours.

    Japan’s capital on Tuesday reported 372 new cases, the seventh straight day above 300, according to public broadcaster NHK.

    A spokesman for the store said it had implemented measures to ensure that visitors didn’t catch the coronavirus while shopping for masks.

  • Japanese sushi chain Sushiro eyes cross-border expansion next year

    Japanese sushi chain Sushiro eyes cross-border expansion next year

    Sushiro Global Holdings, the Japan-based operator of sushi chain Sushiro, plans to boost its Asian presence with the opening of new restaurant units in Thailand and China.

    The company will be renamed to Food & Life in April 2020. It will launch its first Thailand location in Bangkok next spring, Nikkie Asia reported.

    Sushiro will establish its business unit in China by December this year and intends to open one restaurant by September 2021.

    Commenting on the entry into these Asian markets, Sushiro Global Holdings CEO Koichi Mizutome was quoted by the publication as saying: “Asia has rice culture, and Asian people have a higher tolerance for raw fish.”

    Sushiro expects to ramp up its overseas sales to approximately 10% of total sales in fiscal 2021 by next September with the establishment of new restaurants in China and Thailand.

    The Japanese firm plans to set up 24 to 28 restaurants abroad during fiscal 2021.

    Meanwhile, the chain will slow down its expansion in the home market.

    Several Japanese sushi chains have been under pressure to focus on their growth in foreign markets due to the country’s rapidly ageing population.

  • Dell backtracks on Singapore retail exit, leaving Malaysia

    Dell backtracks on Singapore retail exit, leaving Malaysia

    According to the company, they will transition out of the retail market in Singapore and Malaysia; however, customers can still purchase items via the company’s online store. An internal memo revealed the company’s intention, stating that they will cease their bricks-and-mortar retail locations in these two countries, following a review of a number of the markets they currently operate in. As a result of this withdrawal, new orders will no longer be accepted by Dell from retail stores; however, any existing contracts and agreements will still be honored by the company.

    Although customers will not be able to purchase new Dell products in physical outlets, they will still be able to purchase these via their online store and will be able to get their hands on older products and product lines in a number of retail locations.

    The company commented: “Dell Technologies has announced plans to transition out of the retail market in Singapore and Malaysia. Customers will still have access to the full complement of our products and services through Dell direct.”

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  • Nike Japan ad on bullying, racism sparks hot online response

    Nike Japan ad on bullying, racism sparks hot online response

    A video ad from Nike Japan against bullying and racism that features biracial athletes and other minorities, such as those of Korean descent, has prompted a sharp online response including calls to boycott the company.

    Japan has traditionally prided itself on being racially homogeneous, although successful mixed-race athletes such as tennis star Naomi Osaka are challenging that image.

    The commercial, “Keep Moving: Yourself, the Future,” released on Nov 30, shows several teen girls bullied in school over their race or other differences, but who ultimately find confidence through soccer prowess.

    One scene features a girl whose father is Black surrounded by fellow students, squealing and pulling her hair.

    The video, viewed 14.1 million times on Nike Japan’s Twitter feed by noon (0300 GMT) Wednesday, had racked up 63,000 likes but also a cascade of critical comments from many who vowed never to buy Nike products again.

    “Nowadays, you often see one or two people of different nationalities going to school perfectly peacefully. The one that’s prejudiced is Nike,” wrote one user named “hira1216”.

    Another asked, “Is it so much fun to blame Japan?”

    Although Japanese sports fans have celebrated Osaka, who counts Nike as a sponsor and makes a cameo appearance in the ad, she was once depicted as a cartoon character by another sponsor, Nissin, with pale hair and light brown hair, while a comedy duo said she “needed some bleach”.

    Nike Japan was not immediately able to comment on the response, but said on its website it believes in the transformative nature of sports.

    “We have long listened to minority voices, supported and spoken for causes that fit our values,” it added.

    “We believe sports have the power to show what a better world looks like, to bring people together and encourage action in their respective communities.”

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  • Google Steps into the VPN Market — Starting with Android

    Google Steps into the VPN Market — Starting with Android

    Google Steps into the VPN Market — Starting with Android

    With the size and dominance technology companies like Apple and Google have, it can be a surprise when there isn’t a service they offer, or, at least, one that isn’t closer to being well known. The VPN industry is a thirty-billion-dollar industry, but Google, Apple, nor Facebook have a mainstream product available. That changes with Google announcing an Android-based VPN.

    But, considering the fact that VPNs are nothing new, and plenty of ‘mainstream’ internet users are currently deploying them for professional and personal use, why has Google chosen to advance on this tech now? Read more below.

    Changing Priorities

    The issue of online security for the average internet user is growing more profound every year. The world is continuing to foster an ever more versatile approach to internet use, with public Wi-Fi spaces continuing to open up digital spaces and make public usage easier than ever before.

    Google’s decision also coincides with the broadening scope of the gaming industry. Cloud gaming services are increasing the industry’s sway over the hardware and software that goes into creating our phones. We will be using them in public spaces more than ever before, and need to ensure that our connections are safe.

    This is in line with the ongoing changes within the gaming industry. Consumer trends demand better features in support of safe and efficient gaming, and this has placed the onus on the developers to ensure that they are keeping up with the player’s priorities. In response to widespread fears over security, for instance, the online casino industry needed to ensure that the steps in using free spin bonuses were able to strike the perfect balance between efficiency and safety — all while appearing attractive enough to draw in players.

    Similarly, large scale developer Zynga, for instance, experienced a significant (and highly public) breach that put millions of users at risk. Their efforts were out of a necessity simply to continue to compete against other developers whose track records were more appealing to players.

    For Subscribers

    Google’s VPN is nestled into a subscription for their 2TB cloud storage. This isn’t exactly committing to a mainstream rollout of a Google VPN yet. Their cloud storage service has 100GB, 200GB, and 2TB tiers.

    The 2TB is the premium one which offers 10% back on Google store rewards, Pro sessions (which means users can schedule a meeting with Google experts to learn more about one of their services, features, or products), gold status on Google play points (which automatically promotes users to the third tear of the Google play points system, meaning users can earn more points to spend in the store), as well as the VPN, for seven dollars a month more than the 200GB. These perks are also available in the higher tiers for higher prices. If someone is sitting in a Starbucks, using the free Wi-Fi to send work emails or to play Call of Duty: Mobile, they can rest assured the VPN will protect them.

    Google has had a VPN-enabled system for a while now: Google Fi. This is their carrier service. How it works is that a user’s phone, in the United States and if it’s designed for Fi, will be able to connect to T-Mobile, Sprint, and U.S. Cellular towers, switching between them for whichever offers the best signal. Additionally, the device will constantly be looking for available Wi-Fi. It has a database of reliable networks which it will prefer, but it will connect whether the Wi-Fi is known or not. Enter the VPN. When connecting to Wi-Fi, it will automatically run it through Google’s VPN, ensuring their safety.

    Mainstream release?

    The Google cloud-storage VPN must be enabled. It isn’t like the Google Fi VPN which is automatically running when it connects to Wi-Fi. There is a separation. Everything is ready for a wider release.

    Google are treating the cloud-storage VPN as part of the process of rolling out into the more mainstream market. Subscribers are guinea pigs. Or, as the market is quite competitive at the moment – even if it’s lucrative – Google might be keeping it simple and exclusive, using VPNs as an added incentive to use their cloud storage services.

    Google do, however, have a business security option but isn’t a VPN – though it is something similar.

    Business Security

    In the 1990s, the original VPN technology wasn’t developed with wider use in mind. It was for businesses. They wanted their different offices spread over countries or continents to be able to access their company’s data and share files securely. As such, it was imperative to secure the connection between various terminals, as opposed to the terminals (which is what anti-virus attempts to achieve).

    Google has developed this business-use VPN technology further, without the need for a VPN itself. It’s called BeyondCorp Remote Access. It offers exactly the same service as a VPN, in that employees from untrusted networks can access their company’s sensitive data securely. Sunil Potti and Sampath Srinvias wrote in a blog post how VPNs, for businesses and organizations, might increase risk because it increases their network perimeter and assumes everyone with it can be trusted. However, their new system enables policies to be set and, therefore, access can be better managed.

    Google will always be – either through in-house innovation or acquisitions – on the forefront of technological development. As for its market interests, they might look at the business, VPN-less, remote access market as something which is better suited to their long-term goals.

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  • Social Factors that Influenced the Retail Industry in 2020

    Social Factors that Influenced the Retail Industry in 2020

    In the world of retail businesses, reaching success won’t solely depend on being able to offer your goods to consumers. Instead, you need to understand that both your customers and your offer are just a cog – and a very important one for that matter – in a well-oiled machine your enterprise is, or at least needs to be. That’s why every business needs to try and define their ideal customer base as early as possible.

    By defining your customer base, you’ll be able to – more clearly – define some of the social factors that may influence your retail business experience. Needless to say, social factors do and will continue to affect your potential success. These factors are tightly connected to the changes in the overall population. Social media and the ever-growing concern for the environment are just some of the leading ones. So, with that in mind, here are some of the social factors that influenced the retail industry in 2020.

    Advertising preferences

    Since we’re living in the age of technology, it comes as no surprise that the world of advertising has experienced some serious changes. Aside from all of the traditional forms of marketing, online marketing now reigns supreme. That said, it’s important to also realize that not all consumers find the same type of advertisements equally appealing. While some consumers may find simple calls to action more appealing, others may prefer longer formats or even video advertising. That’s why retailers need to determine which approach best resonates with their audience, in order to maximize their reach.

    Buying habits

    Buying habits also changed quite a bit, especially in 2020. With consumers being encouraged to practice social distancing and minimize their outings, the way in which consumers shop in 2020 widely differs from just a year ago. What this means for the retail industry is that they also need to reshape their offer to meet this new type of demand. Additionally, 2020 brought huge emphasis on online shopping which is another thing that simply shouldn’t be neglected.

    Customer service expectations

    Customer service is arguably one of the most important areas of your business. Since without customers you wouldn’t really be able to conduct your business, you need to ensure that you provide them with the best possible service. But in order to be able to do so – at least to the best of your abilities – you’ll first need to learn what those customer service expectations are. As an example, while some customers prefer shop clerk assistance when browsing a retail store, others prefer to be left alone. An interesting way you can combat this is by introducing a two-basket system. Some stores decided to add two different colors of shopping baskets, so that the customers who prefer to be assisted could take one and the ones that prefer being left alone while shopping could take the other color.

    Dress code

    Along somewhat of the similar lines, the retail dress codes also experienced some changes. Aside from the fact that the majority of dress codes is nowadays far more casual than they used to be, they now also feature a new addition – a protective face mask. Having a clear dress code was always a great way to visually diversify your employees from the rest of the crowd. That way your customers know who to address in case they need some assistance. Even in other industries, such as the casino industry for instance, a dress code was a great way to somewhat uniform your staff. That’s why casino dress code has actually experienced very little change since its early days. And nowadays, even if your company has a very loose and casual dress code, you can still rely on the face masks to bring that sense of uniformity among your employees.

    Green consciousness

    Another change in the retail industry that’s gradually increasing its impact is the green movement. With the green consciousness being at an all-time high, more and more businesses need to recognize this and work their way towards making it an integral part of their offer. There are so many ways businesses can make their operations eco-friendlier. Offering reusable bags, discounts and special promotions to your eco-conscious consumers is just one of the ways you can make it clear to your consumers that your business also cares about the environment.

    Comfort with technology

    In the end, it’s also important to mention modern technology. Even though it may seem that everyone and their dog nowadays has access to some type of a smart device and the internet, that doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone is savvy or feels comfortable using them. That’s why retailers should ensure that their offer can be accessed both through the online world and the physical brick-and-mortar stores. This way, only will you expand your reach to both the online and the offline world but you’ll also endure that you cater to all of your customers equally.

     

    Undoubtedly, 2020 brought numerous changes in seemingly all industries in the world. And while  some industries were more affected by these changes than others, it’s safe to say that those industries that managed to adapt have better chances of reaching success than the ones that were overrun by all the latest trends.

  • CapitaLand sells three Japanese malls to invest in logistics

    CapitaLand sells three Japanese malls to invest in logistics

    Capitaland has divested three malls in Japan and an office building in South Korea for a total of S$448.7 million, as part of its ongoing portfolio reconstitution strategy, it said Tuesday morning in an exchange filing. It also announced that it has made its first foray into Japan’s logistics sector, entering into a joint venture with Mitsui & Co Real Estate, with CapitaLand as the majority partner, to develop and operate a logistics project in Greater Tokyo.

    The divested properties in Japan are La Park Mizue and Vivit Minami-Funabashi in Greater Tokyo, as well as CO-OP Kobe Nishinomiya Higashi in Greater Osaka, which were sold for a total of 21.99 billion yen (S$283.6 million).

    It also divested ICON Yeoksam in Seoul for 142.2 billion won (S$165.1 million) in August this year. The office building was held through a private fund, Ascendas Korea Office Private Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit) 5. CapitaLand remains the asset manager of ICON Yeoksam and will continue to receive fee income.

    CapitaLand said the divestments were done above valuation, and the buyers are unrelated third parties. Post divestment, CapitaLand will retain S$3.8 billion of assets under management (AUM) in Japan and S$2 billion of AUM in Korea.

    With the divestments, the total gross value of divestments by CapitaLand and its real estate investment trusts (Reits) would be S$3.02 billion, crossing its annual target of recycling S$3 billion of capital.

    CapitaLand and its Reits have invested more than S$3.3 billion into new assets as at end-November.

    “The divestment of these mature malls and office assets is part of CapitaLand’s capital recycling strategy to unlock value by reinvesting the capital into new growth opportunities such as the logistics sector in Japan,” said Jason Leow, president, Singapore & International, CapitaLand Group.

    “By paring down our exposure in Japan’s retail sector and leveraging our logistics experience in markets such as Singapore, Australia and the United Kingdom to expand into the new economy sector in Japan, we are responding swiftly to shifting market trends and consumer behaviors, positioning CapitaLand for future growth,” he added.

    CapitaLand’s new logistics venture in Japan is close to Central Tokyo, and is expected to be completed in Q4 2022. The four-story logistics facility will have a gross floor area of about 24,000 square metres.

    Gerald Yong, chief executive officer, CapitaLand International, said the logistics sector in Japan presents “significant opportunities” for CapitaLand.

    “The global pandemic has accelerated the growth of e-commerce and the logistics sector has been a prime beneficiary of this trend,” Mr Yong said. “We aim to achieve meaningful scale over time by leveraging Mitsui & Co Real Estate’s local knowledge and access to business opportunities to grow our logistics portfolio in Japan.”

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