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Tag: asia

  • Go-Viet revolving door sees new general manager quit after five months

    Go-Viet revolving door sees new general manager quit after five months

    Le Diep Kieu Trang has become the second top honcho to leave ride-hailing firm Go-Viet in less than a year.

    Making the announcement Wednesday, Go-Viet said that Trang, also known as Christy Le, had decided to choose her own career path and the company “regretted it.”

    However, the company did not reveal the exact time that Trang is leaving.

    “After five months at the company, Christy has decided to take a different path. We always work hard to find a mutually agreeable way forward, but were unable to do so in this instance,” Go-Viet said in a release.

    The company made no mention of her replacement.

    Trang was appointed general manager of Go-Viet last April. She said her new job “was unique and interesting.”

    In an interview with KrASIA, a technology business media site based in Singapore earlier this month, Trang expressed her ambition to bring the platform to all Vietnamese consumers.

    This is the second leadership change for Go-Viet in less than a year. Her predecessor, Nguyen Vu Duc left last March along with deputy general director Nguyen Bao Linh.

    Their resignation came amidst increasing competition in Vietnam’s ride-hailing market, with current leader Grab on an expansion spree and new players like Be Group fighting hard for a bigger share of the pie.

    According to a report by market research firm ABI Research, Go-Viet has 10.3 percent of the ride-hailing market in the country, compared to Grab’s 72.9 percent.

    Go-Viet, an affiliate of Indonesian Go-Jek Group, has said it has completed millions of trips since it was launched in September last year. The company offers transport and food delivery services.

    Trang had became the director of Facebook’s operations in Vietnam in March last year and resigned from the position in December, citing “family reasons.”

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  • Sharp considers suing Vietnam’s Asanzo

    Sharp considers suing Vietnam’s Asanzo

    Sharp Electronics Vietnam is considering suing Asanzo for allegedly counterfeiting evidence to prove it owns technology that actually belongs to the Japanese brand.

    The subsidiary of electronics giant Sharp said this in a statement Thursday after Asanzo said earlier this week that it has a business partnership with a company called Sharp-Roxy Hong Kong, a business alliance between Sharp and Roxy Electronic Company Ltd.

    However, Sharp Vietnam says the Sharp-Roxy Hong Kong business alliance was terminated on October 31, 2016, therefore it would be impossible for Sharp-Roxy Hong Kong to issue a partnership document to Asanzo on September 12, 2019.

    “It is obvious that the document introduced by Asanzo in their press conference on Tuesday is counterfeit,” Sharp Vietnam’s statement said.

    This action seriously damages the Sharp brand, and it is currently exploring the possibility of legal action against Asanzo, it added.

    An Asanzo release has responded that it was “surprised” by Sharp’s statement.

    Asanzo chairman Pham Van Tam told VnExpress that the document in question was sent to Asanzo by a Chinese partner who is a tier one supplier to Sharp-Roxy Hong Kong.

    “We are working with the Chinese partner and Sharp Electronics Vietnam on this matter and will inform the press later,” Tam said.

    Asanzo, a Ho Chi Minh City-based home appliances maker that dominates the rural market, is being investigated for importing components from China and replacing “made in China” stickers with Vietnamese ones.

    The investigation, which has been going on for three months, came after local newspaper Tuoi Tre reported in June that the company did not manufacture any of the components for its products and imported everything from China.

    Asanzo has countered that it imports about 70 percent of components from China and makes other parts, like TV plastic cases and remote controls, in Vietnam.

    Asanzo, founded in 2013, has the fourth largest market share in Vietnam’s TV market. It has also expanded into the refrigeration, consumer electronics, home appliances, and smartphone segments.

    In just three years, it accounted for 70 percent of the TV market in rural areas and 16 percent nationwide.

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  • First 5G network broadcasts in Vietnam

    First 5G network broadcasts in Vietnam

    Telecom giant Viettel broadcast its first 5G network Saturday from its network of 5G base stations in Ho Chi Minh City.

    “The official broadcast of 5G in Ho Chi Minh City is an important milestone in Viettel’s strategy to make Vietnam one of the first countries in the world to commercialize 5G services,” Viettel deputy director Tao Duc Thang said in a statement.

    The 10 stations will be used by Viettel, the nation’s largest telecom firm, to comprehensively check and assess its 5G service before launching it commercially next year.

    Military-run Viettel installed the first 5G station in Hanoi early this year and made the first 5G phone call in May. It was the first firm in the country to receive permission to trial 5G services in January, followed by MobiFone.

    Last November, Information and Communication Minister Nguyen Manh Hung said at a conference that Vietnam should test 5G in 2019 and ensure nationwide coverage by 2020.

    “Vietnam should be one of the first countries to launch the network, at least in Hanoi and HCMC,” he had said. The country had been one of the last in Southeast Asia to roll out 4G services.

    5G is said to offer speeds 100 times faster than 4G, primarily used for smartphones and other similar devices. 5G is also expected to support new applications like remote medical procedures and autonomous driving.

  • Imported car sales soar despite efforts to tighten imports

    Imported car sales soar despite efforts to tighten imports

    Consumption of imported cars has skyrocketed while that of locally-assembled ones is falling despite efforts last year to tighten imports.

    From January to August, sales of imported cars rose 178 percent year-on-year to 82,800 units, while that of locally-assembled vehicles dropped 14 percent to 119,700 units, according to the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (VAMA).

    The number of imported vehicles with nine seats or less in the period almost quadrupled to over 71,000, according to Vietnam Customs.

    However, the high increase in imports this year has to do with a plunge last year because of a government decree that introduced tougher conditions for car importers, requiring them to provide certain certificates to ensure quality and countries of origin. This had led to a decline of 20 percent from 2017.

    Imports started to regain traction in the second half of last year when businesses were able to meet those requirements.

    Vietnam is considering removing special consumption tax on car parts produced locally to boost local manufacturing. Some businesses are shifting their production of high-demand vehicles to the country.

    As Vietnam sees rising demand among people to switch from motorbikes to cars alongside an increase in the country’s per capita income, annual car sales could more than triple in the next five years to reach a million in 2025, according to the Ministry of Finance.

    Vietnam imported 95,900 automobiles in January-August, up 3.2 times year-on-year, 86 percent of these from Thailand and Indonesia, according to Vietnam Customs.

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  • Cebu Pacific launches new inflight menu

    Cebu Pacific launches new inflight menu

    Cebu Pacific is launching a new selection of inflight meals for purchase starting October this year.

    The new meals include a Singaporean dish (Hainanese Chicken Rice shown above), Filipino cuisine, and a vegetarian option.

    “As every Cebu Pacific flight is a journey to or from home, we have designed this refreshed inflight menu to bring a feeling of comfort in the form of simple meals and familiar tastes,” said JB Bueno, director for inflight catering and sales at Cebu Pacific.

    Below are some of the meals passengers traveling with the airline can buy starting next month:

    Roasted Chicken Sandwich (toasted panini bread with roasted chicken, sautéed spinach, and grated cheddar cheese with a garlic aioli spread).

    Lechon Paksiw (slices of roasted suckling pig stewed in a blend of vinegar, sugar, and spices, served with white rice).

    Other meals include the following:

    • Pinoy Spaghetti
    • Beef Salpicao
    • Chicken Yakisoba
    • Crab Salad Sandwich

    In addition to being available for purchase on flight, passengers can also pre-order the meals before the flight, according to Cebu Pacific. The carrier also added that the meals come with information on nutrition to cater to health-conscious travelers flying with Cebu Pacific.

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  • Samsung arm increases ownership in Vietnam IT firm

    Samsung arm increases ownership in Vietnam IT firm

    South Korea’s Samsung SDS has bought a five- percent stake on the market in leading IT services provider CMC Corporation.

    Its combined 30 percent stake now, after buying a 25 percent stake comprising newly issued shares last month, is reportedly worth over $40 million.

    CMC said it would use most of the proceeds for developing Internet of things (IOT) and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies with Samsung SDS, the systems development subsidiary of Samsung Electronics.

    CMC Chairman and CEO Nguyen Trung Chinh said this commitment from Samsung would propel CMC into the global league in the next five years and double its overseas sales to more than 30 percent of total sales by 2023.

    CMC also aims to integrate its IT systems with Samsung SDS’s and use IOT and AI to automate production lines, a model that would be implemented first in Vietnam before being exported to other markets, he said.

    Samsung SDS had announced in late July it would buy a 25 percent stake in CMC through a private placement, which it hoped would accelerate its foray into Vietnam’s fledgling cloud market and other markets in Southeast Asia.

    Samsung Electronics has two smartphone factories in the northern provinces of Bac Ninh and Thai Nguyen, which produce more than 150 million units a year, or half of Samsung’s all global sales.

    It also has a home appliances factory in Ho Chi Minh City. Last year Samsung products accounted for over $60 billion of Vietnam’s exports, or around 25 percent of its total.

    Founded in 1993, CMC is one of Vietnam’s largest IT services companies with revenues of VND5.23 trillion ($224 million) in 2018.

    The Hanoi company has eight subsidiaries and 3,000 employees, and it works mainly in system integration, software development, cloud computing, and IT infrastructure management.

    The strategic partnership would also help CMC’s goal of reaching $1 billion in sales by 2023, Chinh said.

  • Cebu Pacific holding ‘9.9’ promo fare sale

    Cebu Pacific holding ‘9.9’ promo fare sale

    Cebu Pacific is holding another seat sale from Sept. 9 to 10. The airline did not specify fares but said new destinations will become available every 8 hours starting midnight Sept. 9.

    From 12 a.m. to 8 a.m. all local destinations except Batanes and Marinduque will be on offer.

    From 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Cebu Pacific will offer promo fares to Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.

    Promo fares to ASEAN destinations, Dubai and Australia will be offered from 4 p.m. to 12 a.m.

    The fares will be valid for travel from April 1 to Aug. 31 next year.

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  • Apple TV getting tvOS 13 update

    Apple TV getting tvOS 13 update

    It’s not just iPhone users that are getting something new this week, but Apple TV owners as well. The new tvOS 13 is now rolling out to Apple TVs around the world, so prepare to check out a handful of nifty new features and improvements, especially if you like to play games.

    One of the most important changes included in the update, multi-user support lets Apple TV owners create multiple profiles that can be customized to provide layouts and recommendations that are relevant for each person using these profiles.

    Moreover, a new home screen is now available for Apple TV users, which accommodates full-screen video previews, a picture-in-picture feature, and a Control Center. Now, as far as the gaming improvements go, tvOS 13 brings Apple Arcade support, but it will also allow the use of Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One controllers.

    Also, the Cupertino-based company added Sign in with Apple support, which lets you sign in with your Apple ID rather than requiring to create a username and password. Last but not least, the update adds some under the sea screensavers that were made in partnership with BBC National History Unit.

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  • New Benelli Motorcycle Launch Details Disclosed

    New Benelli Motorcycle Launch Details Disclosed

    Benelli India is all set to launch a new motorcycle in India towards the end of October 2019. We believe that it could be the Imperiale 400. At the launch of the Leoncino 500, the company had confirmed that it will be launching three new products by the end of 2019 which were TRK 250, Leoncino and the Imperiale 400. We believe that it is going to be the Imperiale 400, which will be launched in October 2019. The Imperiale 400 will go up against Jawa and the Royal Enfield Classic 350.

    What’s interesting to know is that the Benelli Imperiale 400 will see a lot more local content going into it than the TRK 502 and the Leoncino, which should help keep the prices competitive. While the company did not confirm the percentage of local content on the cruiser, we should get a fair idea on the same at the time of launch. The local assembly will help the Imperiale 400 stay accessible to bigger customer base with a price around the ₹ 2-2.5 lakh (ex-showroom) mark. It may not undercut the locally manufactured Royal Enfield Classic 350 or the Jawa at this price point, but certainly will be a compelling alternative.

    The Benelli 400 gets a 373.5 cc single-cylinder engine with fuel injection that churns out 19 bhp at 5,500 rpm and 28 Nm of peak torque at 3,500 rpm. The motor is paired to a 5-speed gearbox. The bike uses a double-cradle steel tube frame underneath and is suspended by telescopic forks upfront and dual shock absorbers at the rear. The vintage-looking cruiser comes with disc brakes at either end with dual-channel ABS as standard. The bike has a kerb weight of 200 kg and a fuel tank capacity of 12 litres.

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  • Honda To Cease Diesel Vehicle Sales In Europe By 2021

    Honda To Cease Diesel Vehicle Sales In Europe By 2021

    Honda Motor said it would phase out all diesel cars by 2021 in favor of models with electric propulsion systems, as the Japanese automaker moves to electrify all of its European cars by 2025.

    Honda is the latest automaker cutting production of diesel cars to meet stringent global emissions regulations. The plan is part of its long-term goal to make electric cars, including all battery-electric vehicles, to account for two-thirds of its line ups by 2030 from less than 10% now.

    By next year, according to European Union emission targets, CO2 must be cut to 95 gram per km for 95% of cars from the current 120.5 gram average, a figure that has increased of late as consumers spurn fuel-efficient diesels and embrace SUVs. All new cars in the EU must be compliant in 2021.

    For Honda, declining demand for diesel vehicles and tougher emissions regulations have clouded its manufacturing prospects in Europe.

    Honda said in February it would close its only British car plant in 2021 with the loss of up to 3,500 jobs.

    Japan’s No. 3 automaker has said it would cut the number of car model variations to a third of current offerings by 2025, reducing global production costs by 10% and redirecting those savings toward advanced research and development

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  • Appliance Subscription services taking off in South Korea

    Appliance Subscription services taking off in South Korea

    The subscription services economy – through which one can periodically receive products or services instead of purchasing them outright – is on the rise in South Korea.

    Rental services, which used to be represented by water purifiers, are now in their heyday as they have expanded to various items such as LED masks and dishwashers.

    Major online shopping portal Gmarket’s sales data for rental services over the past five years showed a more than fivefold increase (448 percent) since 2014.

    Compared to last year, rentals of massage chairs increased by 435 percent, clothes dryers by 111 percent, and air purifiers by 106 percent.

    When dividing the rental service by generation, customers in their 40s accounted for 46 percent of purchases, nearly the majority, followed by those in their 30s at 35 percent.

    People in their 30s and 40s who seek practical consumption and have relative economic power, have responded to rental services that allow them to rent products at reasonable prices.

    The items available for rent have diversified. Various kitchen appliances such as dishwashers, food processors, coffee machines, air fryers and induction stoves as well as LED masks and pet products like pet dry rooms are available.

    Rental companies are also introducing health-related products such as spinal-heating medical devices and eye massagers, as well as unique products such as painting rentals and indoor plant growing machines.

    “Because products that can improve quality of life can be used without any initial cost and can be replaced with new products after a certain period of time, preference for rental services is increasing,” said a representative of Gmarket.

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  • MCG giants keen to restoring biodiversity

    MCG giants keen to restoring biodiversity

    Leading FMCG companies including Nestlé, Kellogg Company, Danone, Mars and Unilever have formed a new coalition aimed at protecting and restoring biodiversity within their supply chains and product portfolios.

    The One Planet Business for Biodiversity (OP2B) initiative launched by Danone CEO Emmanuel Faber at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York on Monday includes 19 companies with combined total revenues of around $500 billion.

    The coalition is focused on scaling up regenerative agriculture practices, boosting biodiversity and increasing the resilience of food and agriculture systems; as well as eliminating deforestation and protecting high-value ecosystems.

    Mark Schneider, Nestlé CEO, said protecting and restoring biodiversity “is essential to safeguard food production and food security”.

    “Nestlé has for many years worked with farmers to manage their land sustainably and will continue to lead activities enhancing biodiversity,”
    Schneider said.

    The OP2B coalition members also include L’Oreal, Balbo Group, Barry Callebaut, DSM, Firmenich, Google , Jacobs Douwe Egberts, Kering, Livelihoods Funds, Loblaw Companies Limited, Migros Ticaret, Symrise and Yara.

    Mars launches #PledgeForPlanet

    Mars is going a step further to tackle climate change, with the launch of its #PledgeForPlanet initiative, which calls on suppliers to set science-based targets and embrace renewable energy.

    “Climate change is a real and tangible threat to society. For example, in our business, we already see it in the risk to livelihoods for smallholder farmers who provide most of our raw ingredients,” Mars CEO Grant F. Reid said.

    “Risks to the resiliency and sustainability of our supply chain and the future of the farmers we work with is top of mind. But, as a family business that thinks in generations and aspires to make a positive difference in the world, our responsibilities and our ambitions go beyond risk mitigation. We are committed to doing our part for the good of the planet.”

    The initiative follows the company’s investment of $1 billion towards its Sustainable in a Generation Plan which looks beyond its own direct operations and into its extended supply chain.

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  • Line launches online fashion customisation platform

    Line launches online fashion customisation platform

    Character brand Line Friends has launched an online fashion customization platform where consumers can purchase personalized fashion items based on their lifestyles.

    The ‘Line Friends Creator’ app was released globally (except Europe) on September 19.

    The new sales platform provides millennial customers with an opportunity to customize products using the creative contents of Line Friends, and have fun designing a product according to their own styles added with a differentiated brand experience.

    Line Friends Creator also provides a wide array of themed artworks based on the original character lineup, Brown & Friends and BT21. The new platform offers a wide selection of trendy fashion items including t-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, canvas tote bags, and smartphone cases, which customers can select based on their needs and preferences.

    “Fashion items are one of the most representative ways for Millennials to express themselves as they value revealing their individuality and personalities freely,” said a Line Friends spokesperson. “With the ‘Line Friends Creator’ artworks that are full of wit and uniqueness, we hope that a lot of customers can enjoy creating personalized trendy outfits based on their mood, tastes, and daily lives.”

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  • Bubble-tea chain Milksha opened in Australia

    Bubble-tea chain Milksha opened in Australia

    Taiwanese bubble-tea chain Milksha has opened a flagship store in Melbourne, Australia.

    The store is the Milkshop brand’s first flagship in Australia. It operates 240 locations in several Asian countries.

    The brand is known for its use of fresh milk rather than creamer.

    “Those familiar with the Milksha brand know that it’s a premium bubble tea brand,” said Milkshop International GM Peter Huang. “We chose Melbourne to launch our flagship store because it is no doubt the foodie capital of Australia. The city is a melting pot of different cultures open to trying new products, which can be seen in its established and growing market of bubble-tea lovers.”

    The firm is partnering with local supplier St David’s Dairy for fresh milk.

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  • CU convenience store chain to open in Vietnam

    CU convenience store chain to open in Vietnam

    South Korea’s CU convenience store chain will expand its footprint to Vietnam, its second international market after Mongolia.

    BGF Retail, the operator of CU, signed a master franchise agreement with CUVN, a Vietnam-based convenience store operator, on Tuesday. CUVN will be in charge of investment and operations in Vietnam market as BGF Retail contributes its brand and business background.

    BGF Retail and CUVN plan to open their first store in Vietnam by June next year.

    Park Jae-koo, CEO of BGF Retail, said the company will continue to expand internationally making forays into growing emerging markets.

    With the new expansion, the South Korean convenience store operator expects to gain a strong position in the Southeast Asian market as Vietnam’s economy has witnessed significant growth during recent years.

    Rival network GS25 has already launched in Vietnam, opening stores in Ho Chi Minh City.

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