Retail News CRM

Tag: Australia

  • Pandora asked to fix refund policies

    Pandora asked to fix refund policies

    Jewellery retailer Pandora has been told by the consumer watchdog to amend its refund and warranty policies in Australia following complaints from some of their customers.

    The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said they have received complaints from customers who were told by Pandora sales staff that they do not offer refunds to faulty products and that its own warranty policy applies instead of the protections afforded to consumers under Australian Consumer Law (ACL).

    According to ACCC Commissioner Sarah Court, the jewellery retailer acknowledged they may have misled customers about their legal rights.

    “Pandora has acknowledged that it may have misled customers about their consumer guarantee rights to refunds when there was a major fault with their product,” Court said. “They also have admitted that by doing so they likely breached the Australian Consumer Law.”

    Court said consumer rights to a repair, replacement or refund cannot be excluded, restricted or modified by a business’ warranty policy.

    “If consumers have purchased a product that has a major fault, they can request a full refund from their place of purchase,” she said.

    The ACCC has accepted a court-enforceable undertaking from Pandora to review its consumer rights policies and staff training after Pandora acknowledged it is likely to have contravened the ACL by making misleading representations to consumers about their consumer guarantee rights.

    The ACCC’s investigation showed that Pandora’s website contained confusing or inaccurate information on consumer guarantee rights under the ACL.

    It also noted that information on Pandora’s website about its product warranty failed to include mandatory text that states that consumers are entitled to a replacement or repair, and in some cases a refund, if their goods are faulty.

    The ACCC said Pandora has undertaken to arrange for an external review of its policies and procedures relating to exchanges, repairs and refunds, to ensure customer claims for refunds and other remedies are dealt with appropriately and in accordance with the ACL.

    “Pandora will also conduct a review of its ACL compliance program and improve its staff training and complaints handling systems,” Court said.

  • Worldpay announces Australasian expansion

    Worldpay announces Australasian expansion

    Worldpay, a global leader in payment technology, has announced major investment in Australasia for 2019. The first is the opening of two sales offices in Australia; the second is the expansion of its global footprint to New Zealand after obtaining a local licence for acquiring card payments. These regional investments will enable Worldpay to serve its Australasian clients through an enhanced market presence and in-country payment processing.

    This regional investment builds upon Worldpay’s commitment to the region, having been one of the first non-banking technology providers to launch a domestic acquiring licence in Australia in 2016. Worldpay’s new offices will be located in Melbourne and Sydney, with Sydney acting as the country headquarters. The new sites will not only help to better serve existing clients with rich payments expertise, solutions consulting and on-the-ground account management, but also deliver on Worldpay’s ambitious plans to boost its client roster, which already includes VGW, Skiddoo, Lonely Planet, Webjet, and Supernova, the owner of Sand & Sky, Coco & Eve, BodyBoss and SkinnyMint.

    eCommerce in Australia is expected to grow by more than 37 percent over the next three years to be worth almost US$40bn by 2022, with New Zealand also experiencing high levels of eCommerce growth. The buoyant market conditions have attracted a number of global brands to the region, giving shoppers more choice and have increased retailer competition for consumer spending. With 20 percent of consumers in Australia and New Zealand shopping via mobile every month, smartphone penetration alongside more frictionless payment methods offered by digital wallets could open new opportunities for retailers to differentiate their offering and grow mobile commerce.

    Phil Pomford, General Manager, Global Enterprise eCommerce, APAC at Worldpay: “Australasia is an exciting region with lots of growth potential, but also its own unique set of challenges. By building a team of payments experts located in Australia, alongside the addition of a domestic card payment acquiring capability in New Zealand, Worldpay can offer a service that goes beyond the transactional. Our investment and addition of this new licence will enable us to further provide unparalleled access to global markets to help eCommerce businesses deliver on their international growth ambitions.”

    The New Zealand card payment processing licence will allow Worldpay to process transactions domestically for merchants trading in New Zealand. This new licence means the global payments leader is one of a few providers to offer domestic acquiring capabilities in the country. It will also make it easier for New Zealand-based firms to trade with the rest of the world, creating a seamless payment experience for both domestic and international clients.

    Pomford continued, “While there’s a lot of competition from traditional providers, Worldpay can offer something different. We’re already helping thousands of multi-national companies around the globe to drive sales, gain better data insights and enter new markets at scale. With our Australasian expansion, we want to show businesses in Australia and New Zealand that we’re the technology partner of choice to help them grow, and go global.”

     

    Domestic acquiring in New Zealand will be available in Q2 2019.

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  • Telstra awarded 131 cell sites under Black Spot program

    Telstra awarded 131 cell sites under Black Spot program

    Australia’s Telstra has announced it has been awarded 131 sites as part of the fourth round of the government’s Mobile Black Spot program.

    The operator will deploy a mixture of new mobile base stations and small cells at the 131 locations, and will contribute $23.3 million of the $55.6 million co-investment required to fund the new sites, with the remainder coming from the federal and state governments.

    The new sites will include 49 in New South Wales, 23 in Western Australia, 22 in Victoria, 19 in South Australia, and 18 in Queensland.

    Telstra said it has so far deployed more than 550 new mobile base stations across regional and rural Australia as part of the Mobile Black Spot program.

    Meanwhile the operator expects to have spent a total of around A$8 billion ($5.66 billion) in total mobile investment over the five years ending in June, with nearly A$3 billion of this spent in rural areas.

    “Our investments will help towns and communities relying on mobile connected devices more than ever before,” Telstra CEO Andy Penn said.

    “The partnerships we have formed with Governments at all levels are providing connectivity and services to many areas of Australia where it was otherwise uneconomical to do so.”

    He said Telstra’s mobile network now spans nearly 10,000 base stations covering more than 2.5 million square kilometers.

    The announcement came shortly after the government revealed it has allocated a further A$160 million for the Mobile Black Spot program, which has now been extended to a further two rounds.

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  • Australia to spend $114m to fill more mobile black spots

    Australia to spend $114m to fill more mobile black spots

    The Australian government has allocated A$160 million ($114.1 million) towards extending the national Mobile Black Spot Program for a further two rounds.

    The funding for rounds five and six of the program, which aims to fill gaps in mobile coverage in regional and remote communities, will be used primarily to help improve coverage at public interest premises such as medical facilities, schools and economic centers.

    The additional commitment brings the current government’s funding in the program to A$380 million. So far 1,047 new base stations will be delivered under the program at a total cost of A$760 million. Of these, 682 have been switched on nationally.

    Additional funding is being provided by local and state governments, mobile operators, businesses and community organizations.

    Applications from operators, businesses and local communities for round four of the program recently closed. This round will see 180 new base stations constructed, including 73 which will specifically target public interest premises.

    “Fast and reliable connectivity is essential to ensure regional areas remain competitive with access to the same business and study opportunities as the rest of Australia. We’re ensuring our regions are not left behind,” Australian minister for regional services and deputy leader senator Bridget McKenzie said.

    “All stakeholders are strongly encouraged to submit an application when we open the tender process and take advantage of the additional rounds under this fantastic program.”

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  • Australia’s C/MEO Collective Lifts Off on Tmall

    Australia’s C/MEO Collective Lifts Off on Tmall

    Women’s fashion label C/MEO Collective has started selling on Chinese online marketplace Tmall.

    The move is part of a broader strategy of parent company Australian Fashion Labels to focus on China.

    “China is now really at the forefront of retail innovation and we see localisation of channels as crucial to being relevant in this market,” said Dean Flintoft, Australian Fashion Labels founder and chairman, in a statement.

    Prior to launching on Tmall, C/MEO Collective was already stocked in approximately 300 brick-and-mortar stores across Greater China, along with Australian Fashion Labels’ other brands: Keepsake The Label, Finders Keepers and The Fifth.

    But with more than 700 million people shopping on Alibaba’s retail marketplaces, including Tmall, this represents a significant expansion in reach.

    According to the company’s statement, C/MEO Collective was chosen because it is the brand with the greatest appeal in the China market, thanks to its innovative signature style, premium fabrics and approachable price point.

    “With C/MEO already having gained such strong traction in China via social media and via its marketplace presence, we wanted to respond to the enthusiasm for the brand and make it more accessible to our customer base in China,” said Mei Ping Doery, CEO of Australian Fashion Labels China.

    C/MEO Collective showcased the first of its collections for Tmall at VAMFF in Melbourne on March 8.

    While demand for Australian brands and products in China is most concentrated in areas such as health and wellness, beauty and food, and wine, fashion brands are increasingly seeing success.

    Brands including Seafolly and Lorna Jane have made headway in China through Tmall, and the addition of C/MEO Collective suggests there is a market for more fashion-forward Australian design.

    Australian Fashion Labels was founded in 2007 by Dean and Melanie Flintoft with the introduction of Finders Keepers. The company has since developed C/MEO Collective, Keepsake, The Fifth and Jaggar.

    The brands are available in 1700 stores worldwide, including major department stores, as well as to customers directly through an online retail platform, which ships globally.

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  • Two-hour on-demand delivery platform has Arrived in Australia

    Two-hour on-demand delivery platform has Arrived in Australia

    Think two-hour delivery is years away for Australian retailers? Wrong. It’s already on offer and customers are ready and willing to pay extra for the service.

    Despite some reports suggesting the service won’t be widely available for another decade, eDelivery just launched its on-demand two-hour delivery platform this year, using cutting-edge technology and Uber-style crowdsourcing.

    “The technology is a world-first. It’s super fast, it costs under $8 an order and from the moment the customer places the order online, it takes two hours to have it delivered to them with our 24/7 delivery service,” says eDelivery CEO Carl Popovic.

    Here’s how it works

    1. Customer makes an order online.
    2. The order is directed to the closest location to be picked, packed and labelled within 45 minutes.
    3. Once the order is ready for delivery, it’s directed to eDelivery for collection through its IT platform that is integrated with the retailer’s.
    4. The order is then directed to the private driver network, a crowdsourced network of self-employed drivers who are fully compliant and trained.
    5. The app technology selects the most suitable delivery vehicle of the order. Orders are batched for delivery every 15 or 30 minutes, depending on their size.
    6. A notification is issued to the closest driver. Driver accepts the order via the app and is directed to the store, where he/she scans each parcel and confirms delivery.
    7. With delivery underway, drivers are given the most direct and quickest path for multiple collections and deliveries.
    8. Customers are given a 10-minute advance SMS delivery notice.
    9. At each delivery point, the driver obtains proof of delivery signature, then goes onto the next delivery.

    What customers want

    Even in the past couple of years, consumer expectations have skyrocketed, particularly in terms of delivery, according to PwC’s 2018 Global Consumer Insights Survey. Nearly a quarter of respondents said they would be influenced to buy from a particular retailer if they offered fast or reliable delivery. More than 40 per cent of online shoppers said they would pay extra for same day delivery or for the option to receive their packages within a one or two-hour window of their choosing.

    “When retailers are up against the likes of Amazon who have excellent delivery services, it’s essential that they can compete with a similar offering,” Popovic says. “Customers don’t want to wait for their purchases for a week or two anymore. It’s just not good enough.”

    Two-hour delivery is particularly useful for retailers in the liquor, chemist, grocery, office supplies, hardware, telco or fast fashion categories. Shoppers who go online to fulfil a prescription don’t want to wait for antibiotics in two or three days’ time, neither do those planning to stock up on bubbly for a party they’re hosting tonight.

    At the moment, eDelivery is in talks with department stores, major electronics retailers and chemists to roll out the service.

    “In today’s world, it’s extremely important to be able to use a crowdsourced environment to complete the delivery process. It’s on-demand, it’s cost-effective, it’s efficient, it’s compliant – it basically ticks all the boxes in order for us to fulfil a two-hour delivery service,” says Popovic.

    “It’s time that Aussie retailers step up their game and give customers what they want.”

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  • MyDeal pivots to home wares deals

    MyDeal pivots to home wares deals

    As the online marketplace space becomes more crowded, Melbourne-based startup MyDeal plans to shrink to greatness – when it comes to product categories, that is.

    Like many marketplaces, the e-commerce company founded in 2012 by Australian entrepreneur Sean Senvirtne was initially focused on growing its customer database, supplier numbers and range. In 2017, with 1000 sellers and 25,000 products on the site, it expanded into new categories – fashion and travel – and diversified its offering with the launch of a fintech product.

    But now, MyDeal is paring back its business to focus on the furniture and homewares space, an area where the company has always had a natural strength, according to head of marketing, John Barkle.

    “Prior to the massive expansion of products, those were our strongest categories. I think it’s because we have the best price and range, and we’re very good at moving products that are big and bulky,” Barkle told.

    Today, MyDeal claims to have more than 500,000 products on its site. It aims to surpass one million within the next six months by bringing on board new sellers in the furniture and homewares space, a goal that should be made easier by its recent integration with ChannelAdvisor, a US-based e-commerce company that helps businesses list their products on marketplaces such as eBay, Amazon and now MyDeal.

    “This is a significant milestone in the business that signifies 12 to 18 months’ worth of work to get the technology right on our marketplace platform,” Barkle said.

    MyDeal’s marketplace technology is bespoke, and Barkle acknowledged that, in the past, this may have presented a barrier to sellers wanting to join the platform. Listing products on a marketplace can be a time-consuming and labour-intensive process, depending on the marketplace’s information requirements, the number of products the seller wants to offer and the availability of software to automate the process.

    Since solving its technical issues and narrowing its focus, Barkle said MyDeal is now positioned for rapid growth. But the e-commerce company may face new obstacles in its pivot to furniture and homewares, which puts it in direct competition with some much larger and more established players in the niche, such as Temple & Webster. The listed retailer recently reported $49.3 million in revenue in the six months to December 31, a 40 per cent increase on the previous year.

    Barkle declined to share any earnings figures for MyDeal, which is a private company, but said the retailer recently became profitable.

    “We run a very low-cost model, meaning we can pass on those savings directly to the customer,” Barkle said. “Where we intend to compete is on providing a unique experience that improves discovery and satisfaction.”

    MyDeal recently launched a “shop and earn” program that Barkle said is unique among Australian marketplaces. It allows customers to earn credits that they can then put towards later purchases every time they buy something on MyDeal. The amount of credits they earn depends on the seller they buy from, which is designed to encourage healthy competition among sellers to drive sales. Barkle said the site has seen a substantial increase in customer retention since launching the program three months ago.

    Barkle also spoke obliquely about using technology to bring customers as close to touching and feeling the product as is possible online, something that other online retailers, including Temple & Webster, have flagged as being possible with augmented and virtual reality. But like its competitors, MyDeal mostly seems content to let demographics play to its advantage.

    “We believe the penetration of online sales into furniture and homewares will substantially increase over the next five to 10 years, driven by millennial consumption,” Barkle said.

    Housing slump weighs on homewares

    Whether this will be enough of an insulating factor for MyDeal and other online furniture retailers to weather the current housing slump is up for debate. In its monthly trading figures for January 2019, the ABS reported a 0.2 per cent drop in household goods retailing, the only industry sub-group to fall in the month.

    At the same time, MyDeal’s strategic move away from the general marketplace arena, where online “department store” retailers like Catch and now Kogan.com are competing with the likes of eBay and Amazon across a wide range of categories, may prove to be less effective in the long run, as competition among niche marketplaces increases.

    Jason Wyatt, co-founder and managing director of Marketplacer, a software company that provides marketplace technology to businesses, said retailers, brands and manufacturers are beginning to adopt a marketplace mentality to extend their ranges without the burden of owning inventory.

    “That previously hasn’t existed,” he told.  “I don’t think there’s room for 20 mega marketplaces in Australia, but I think we’ll see more niche marketplaces that aim to be ‘something’ for ‘somebody’.”

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  • Lego store opens with giant figurines in Sydney

    Lego store opens with giant figurines in Sydney

    Lego Group unveiled the first Lego store in Sydney at Westfield Bondi Junction on Tuesday evening, ahead of the official opening on March 21.

    The store includes several features aimed at enabling creativity, including a room with play tables called The Brick Room where kids can build their own creations, the Pick-A-Brick wall, where customers can get exact brick they need and Build-Your-Own Minifigure stations.

    Lego Group vice president and general manager Australia and New Zealand Claus Kristensen said the group was excited about a fantastic year to come.

    “There’s going to be a lot of exciting offerings to all kids and adults,” Kristensen said.

    “It’s fantastic to have a place like this where we can showcase the brand and give everyone that great experience as we continue to inspire the builders of tomorrow.”

    The store features several bespoke creations, including a number of large-scale Lego figurines, some displays of the larger sets that can be purchased, and – as with all Lego stores – a mural showcasing the city the store is located in.

    The Bondi Junction store features a 62,300-brick mural of a Sydney Harbour sunset, which took 282 hours (more than seven standard working weeks) to build.

    “Lego stores around the world are renowned for drawing from local landmarks for a bit of inspiration,” Alceon Group executive director Richard Facioni said.

    The store is the result of a partnership with Alceon Group, which acquired the rights to Lego certified stores in Australia and New Zealand. Kristensen explained that Alceon “understood the importance of the brand”, and noted he believed the group had made the right choice.

    “I’m sure it’s going to be very exciting to see the opening on Thursday,” Kristensen said.

    “I think it’s going to be a bit crazy, we all hope so.”

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  • Deloitte forecasts forgettable year in Retail

    Deloitte forecasts forgettable year in Retail

    2019 is shaping up to be a ‘gap year’ for Australian retail, according to Deloitte’s latest Retail Forecast for the year ahead. Retail turnover is expected to slip from 2.2 per cent during 2018 to a more modest 1.6 per cent, before lifting back up to 2.2 per cent in 2020, according to Deloitte Access Economics partner David Rumbens.

    “It’s fair to say retailers have only survived the last few years because consumers have lived beyond their means. But that ship has now sailed,” Rumbens said.

    “Labour income growth is good, but not good enough yet to avoid some damage to retail growth in the absence of an excuse to run down savings further. And when overall net wealth is heading downwards, it provides a fairly strong incentive for people to be more prudent with their cash.”

    This isn’t likely to affect every facet of the retail sector equally, with businesses that offer more essential items, such as supermarkets, unlikely to feel the downturn in the same way as those that offer bigger ticket items such as furniture. Retailers that have some flexibility in the stock that they carry, such as department stores, may wish to re-evaluate and refocus on more essential items, as discretionary spend continues to tighten. However, it doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom for retailers, as such a year affords the opportunity to make calculated changes to prepare for a predicted upturn in sales in 2020. One of the key things retailers can do over this ‘gap year’ is to analyse and improve the link they have with their customers, as well as the relationship they have with their employees and supply chains.

    “There has been… an increase in focus on payments to staff and suppliers, are there issues there that retailers need to investigate to put themselves on a more sound footing going forward?” Rumbens said.

    “Retailers should investigate activities which will support the business so that it’s better able to react when sales growth does move back up to a faster pace.”

    One way retailers can offset some of the strain of operating in the Australian retail environment is to utilise a digital international expansion into other markets.

    “With digital commerce, we’ve clearly seen a lot of great overseas presence in Australia, and I think there’s a lot that Australian retailers can explore there,” Rumbens said.

    “You’ve got quite strong economic and consumer spending growth through China, and a significant market in India. These are not activities to be undertaken lightly, but if you consider the 700 million internet users in China… is it time to start considering that market?”

    Rumbens also believes the Federal Government could offer a stimulus to the Australian public, which could provide support for retailers at a time when growth is slow.

    “There is a strong prospect of some government stimulus coming through and supporting the sector mid-year,” he said.

    “It’s likely to happen, but we’ll have a fair idea in the next couple of weeks when the Federal Budget is handed down.”

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  • Canon Australia launches Renting Service for cameras

    Canon Australia launches Renting Service for cameras

    A picture may be worth a thousand words, but in terms of actual dollars, it could be worth many times that, once you consider the cost of all but the most entry-level DSLR cameras, lenses and other accessories. But now, a hefty price tag need not be an obstacle for budding photographers, thanks to a new sharing platform launched by Canon Australia on Tuesday. The platform, called Kyōyū, the Japanese word for “share”, aims to be the Airbnb for Canon cameras and accessories. Camera owners can use it to rent out their gear and get a return on their investment, and would-be owners can use it to borrow or try out items without needing to buy them outright.

    “At Canon, we believe in constantly innovating to create the ultimate user experience,” Jason McLean, Canon Australia’s director of consumer imaging, said in a statement.

    “We don’t want ownership to be the only reason to experience our goods and services,” he said.

    The platform was created in partnership with design agency, The Diner, and has been in the works for over a year.

    According to McLean, Kyōyū is an extension of the brand’s long-held goal of building a community of passionate photographers, which saw it launch the Canon Collective in 2013 to bring like-minded people together for workshops and other events, and open its first experience centre in Melbourne in 2018.

    “For years, we’ve been looking at our brand and how can we do more with the products people buy. We created Canon Collective and opened the experience centre for that reason, and this is the next evolution of that,” he said. 

    The concept is currently exclusive to Australia, but McLean said it could be rolled out in other markets if it proves successful.

    More than 230 members have already signed up to the platform, primarily across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, and the company aims to have 1500 registered users by the end of 2019.

    Canon charges a small fee on each transaction to cover the cost of managing the platform and providing up to $15,000 of insurance on every rental.

    “One of the greatest concerns we heard through our early research was what happens if something goes wrong, if something accidentally gets damaged, or stolen,” McLean said.

    Canon has taken this same “test and learn” approach to its other offerings, such as the experience centre that opened in Melbourne last year.

    “It’s hitting the mark,” McLean said about the store, a 320sqm space where customers can touch and feel Canon’s product range without having to ask store staff to take them out of a locked cabinet.

    “Customers love the staff, they love that staff are not pushy. What we’re working on now is building awareness. It’s the best kept secret in Melbourne,” he said.

    Canon Australia will continue testing the offering in Melbourne for another six or so months before deciding whether to launch experience centres in other capital cities around Australia.

    Meanwhile, the Canon Collective has taken on a life of its own. According to McLean, nearly 50,000 people are part of a closed Facebook group, where they share advice and support one another, without needing much moderation or guidance from Canon itself.

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  • Cebu Pacific leads in Philippines-Australia flights

    Cebu Pacific leads in Philippines-Australia flights

    Budget carrier Cebu Pacific has kept its market share lead in the Philippines to Australia route, a statement on Thursday showed. Citing data from Australia’s Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics from November last year, Cebu Pacific said it cornered a market share of 39.5 percent versus close competitor Philippine Airlines, which had a 38.1-percent share.

    Cebu Pacific flies between Manila, Melbourne and Sydney. It also competes with Qantas, however the Australian carrier’s operations are limited to Manila and Sydney.

    “As more brand-new aircraft enters the CEB (Cebu Pacific) fleet, we are now in a position to seriously study the possibility of expanding to more destinations in Australia. We are encouraged by our performance in the Australia market,” Candice Iyog, vice president for marketing at Cebu Pacific, said in the statement.

    The airline said demand has been going up. For Nov. 2018, some 48,000 passengers flew between Manila, Melbourne and Sydney. The figure represented a growth of 31.3 percent. Cebu Pacific alone carried 18,971 passengers, or a year-on-year growth of 56 percent.

    Cebu Pacific flies five times weekly between Manila and Sydney and thrice a week between Manila and Melbourne. Cebu Pacific is the only low-cost carrier with direct service from Manila to Sydney and Melbourne.

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  • AirAsia launches cheap fares to Bali, a thriving tourism destination for many Australians’

    AirAsia launches cheap fares to Bali, a thriving tourism destination for many Australians’

    AirAsia is offering cheap one-way fares to a tropical Indonesian island, which has been tipped to take the top spot as the favourite destination for Australians. The budget airline announced its new four-time weekly flights between Perth and Lombok, east of Bali this week.

    As part of the announcement, AirAsia is offering one-way flights to Lombok from just $99. AirAsia has launched cheap one-way fares to Indonesia’s newest holiday hotspot Lombok, which has been tipped to take the top spot a favourite destination for Australians

    The budget airline announced its new four-time weekly flights between Perth and Lombok, east of Bali this week Jetsetters can snag the cheap flights until March 24, to travel between June 9 and October 26.

    Australian sun-seekers are expected to flock to the new destination, which has been described as ‘the new Bali’.

    Lombok, east of Bali, has gearing up to become the next tourism hotspot with promises of endless blissful beaches.

  • Henley & Partners Opens Australia Office

    Henley & Partners Opens Australia Office

    New office caters to burgeoning international demand for Australia’s investor migration programs, as well as interest from within Australia for alternative residence and citizenship options abroad. Global firm in residence and citizenship planning Henley & Partners has announced its expansion into Australia and has made several key personnel hires, the firm said in a media release.

    The office is located in Melbourne, and will be led by director Tony Le Nevez.

    «Australia is the number one resettlement destination for high-net-worth individuals. With our global presence and expertise in assisting these clients acquire alternative residence or citizenship, it makes perfect sense for us to open an office in Australia,» Dominic Volek, managing partner and head of Southeast Asia, said.

    Strong Regional Growth

    This has been a period of strong growth in the region for the firm, which recorded 48 percent year-on-year growth in Southeast Asia. It opened a Thailand office in 2018 to cater to the burgeoning demand for residence and citizenship planning services among HNWIs there.

    «We expect the interest and demand that we are seeing in Southeast Asia to continue with eight of the top 10 fastest growing wealth populations forecast to be in Asia over the next five years,» Volek said.

    Key Appointments

    • Tony Le Nevez, Director, Henley & Partners Australia

    Le Nevez has over 35 years’ experience in the migration services industry. He previously worked for the Australian Department of Immigration in Canberra, and at for the Australian foreign service in Bangkok, Athens and Vienna, where he was a senior policy advisor and First Secretary. He joined the private sector in 2006 and is a member of the Investment Migration Council.

    • Jacky Poh, Deputy Head, Henley & Partners Singapore

    A wealth management professional for over 10 years, Poh has worked closely with HNWIs to execute prudent investment strategies inclusive of discretionary portfolios. Poh works closely with the managing partner to ensure the smooth operations and resource management of the Singapore office. He is also focused on establishing and maintaining relationships with key clients and stakeholders to drive business growth, with an emphasis on progressive Southeast Asian markets.

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  • Credit cards declining, Australians switch to new methods

    Credit cards declining, Australians switch to new methods

    A new report from data and analytics firm ilion suggests there is a mass-shift underway in the way Australians finance their purchases.

    According to its inaugural credit card report released on Sunday, Australian consumers under the age of 30 hold over half of all buy now, pay later accounts but just 10 per cent of total credit cards.

    One reason for this may be that banks are traditionally reluctant to give credit cards to younger consumers, who they view as a “more risky demographic group”. This coincided with new, alternate payment methods.

    “With evolving forms of repayments offering consumers more choice in an increasingly fragmented and competitive credit system, Australia is at the tipping point of its credit card cycle,” illion chief executive Simon Bligh said.

    As the payments landscape changes, retailers need to consider whether they should offer alternate payment options, if they haven’t already.

    “Retailers will need to respond to shifts in how consumers want to purchase and pay off their goods and services over coming years, particularly as younger Australians enter adulthood and constitute a growing and more influential proportion of the spending population,” Bligh said.

    While a majority of under 30s still hold a credit card (57 per cent), the long term trend is exponentially changing in the favour of BNPL options.

    Source: illion

    As the ilion report highlights, however, those under the age of 30 are twice as likely as their parents to fall more than two months behind in credit card payments.

    “[This suggests] they have a greater difficulty balancing spending and debt, regardless of their credit limit,” Bligh said.

    “Likewise, the likelihood of failing to pay off credit card debt on time increases if consumers have more than one card, and increases again if those cards are with multiple banks.”

    According to a recent investigation into the BNPL industry by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, one in six users of the services had become overdrawn, delayed a bill payment or borrowed additional money to overcome payment obligations.

    This stems from the fact that both BNPL and credit cards allow customers to buy something that may be out of their price range, and easily put themselves in a position of becoming unable to meet their repayments.

    “The exponential growth in this industry, along with the risks we have identified, means this will be remain an ongoing focus for ASIC,” ASIC commissioner Danielle Press said.

  • Franchising report reveals “cultural problems”

    Franchising report reveals “cultural problems”

    The Australian Senate thinks there needs to be a comprehensive shift in power in the franchising sector.

    In a long-awaited report on its inquiry into the sector, released today, the Senate said the current regulatory environment has failed to deter poor conduct and exploitation within the sector and created an imbalance in power.

    On that basis, it recommends giving greater protection to franchisees and whistleblowers and applying greater penalties for misconduct. This would involve making several changes to the Franchising and Oil Codes and giving more responsibility and enforcement powers to the ACCC to conduct investigations into misconduct in the sector.

    “There are deeply rooted cultural problems that will not be resolved by a franchisor replacing a few senior executives,” the report stated.

    The report points out that disclosure has been the principal and almost only protection for franchisees, and that while many franchisors would like to keep it that way, it is no longer sufficient.

    “The extent and breadth of misconduct within the franchise sector demonstrates that disclosures and transparency alone, while vitally important, are an insufficient response to power and information asymmetry,” the report said.

    The report recommends more protection for franchisees and employees who want to blow the whistle on franchisors engaging in misconduct, and suggests that whistleblower protections should apply in these cases. The inquiry uncovered many instances of franchisors using intimidation to keep franchisees from speaking out.

    The report also recommends steeper civil penalties be introduced into the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, and the Franchising Code of Conduct, in order to ensure they act as a “meaningful deterrent” against further misconduct.

    The penalty amounts would be similar to those currently found under Australian Consumer Law, and should be prescribed in legislation so that the limit on penalties under industry codes does not apply to franchising.

    One of the major issues in the sector presented in the report is wage theft, partly due to the business model franchisors operate under, and partly due to social and cultural problems within the industry.

    “At times, wage theft is occurring as a way for franchisees to extract profits or service payments in order to stay afloat in a financially constrained business model (given wages are one of the greatest costs in the franchisee’s control),” the report said.

    “Whilst many franchisors cited greed as the primary motivation for wage theft, the committee notes that the issue is far more complex and partly inherent to the business models’ structural breakdown of power and the imposition of cost controls.”

    Last week, the Migrant Workers Taskforce recommended criminal penalties be put in place for businesses which intentionally conduct staff underpayment, noting it had found “widespread levels of non-compliance with relevant laws.”

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