Retail News CRM

Tag: Electronics

  • Reliance retail business thrives

    Reliance retail business thrives

    Indian retailer Reliance Industries has reported a 50 per cent growth in sales in its consumer electronics category for the quarter to December 31.

    Reliance Retail also consolidated its leadership in the grocery category, optimising its network to enhance profitability. Several private-label products were launched in the grocery and general merchandise categories during the quarter. The contribution of private-label sales to overall sales increased to 14.6 per cent from 8.6 per cent in the same period the previous year.

    There are now more than 2 million registered members across 37 countries for Reliance Mart stores. These 1537 outlets specialise in consumer electronics. Strong year-on-year growth in this category was helped by Digital Express Mini rapidly scaling up during the quarter to reach more than 1250 outlets across the country in a short time since launch.

    Also delivering a strong performance, the fashion and lifestyle category was 16 stores opened byReliance Trends during the quarter.

    A Reliance Retail joint venture with Marks & Spencer continued to grow with new store openings, whileReliance Brands launched Dutch lingerie brand Hunkemöller, and also opened the first airport store in India for UK games and toys retailer Hamleys, in Delhi.

    Initiatives encompassing fashion and lifestyle e-commerce are also proceeding through beta testing. The development of a marketplace platform and distribution ecosystem for 4G devices are on track and being rolled out. It will be the largest distribution reach for devices in India, says the company.

    Meanwhile, the company is training 4G sales specialists while integrating supply chain and service centres. Reliance Retail also launched its own brand of 4G LTE smartphones, under the brand LYF, during the quarter.

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  • Nojima commences Vietnam rollout

    Nojima commences Vietnam rollout

    Japanese consumer electronics retailer Nojima is about to commence its store rollout program in Vietnam, following its acquisition of an additional  21 per cent of local chain Tran Anh Digital Worldlast June.

    The first of the new stores will carry both retailer’s brands when it opens in October inside the new Aeon shopping centre, currently under completion on the outskirts of the capital city Hanoi.

    Like the Nojima stores in Japan, the Hanoi shop will feature wide aisles and LED lighting, and stock a range of Japanese brand appliances. It will also stock Nojima’s house brand Elsonic.

    Tran Anh is based in Hanoi and has 15 stores in the northern regions of Vietnam. It is on track to open as many as nine more stores this year.

    Research house GfK reports home electronics sales in Vietnam exceeded US$5.5 billion last year, the second year in a row growth in the category has exceeded 20 per cent year on year.

    Nojima had held 10 per cent of the shares in Tran Anh before June and now owns about 31 per cent of the business.

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  • Fortress Hong Kong flagship opens

    Fortress Hong Kong flagship opens

    Electronics chain Fortress has opened a 10,000 sqft flagship at Times Square.

    The AS Watson Group subsidiary, sells mobile phones and consumer electronics across Hong Kong and Macau. Its new Times Square store is spread over two floors – eight and nine – and split into themed areas.

    Fortress Times Square Hong Kong2

    A dedicated home theatre and TV zone is dominant and there is an area dedicated to demonstrating 3D printing technologies.

    There is also a dedicated Apple space.

    Fortress Times Square Hong Kong1

    Another unique feature of this Fortress Hong Kong store is a cafe serving fresh coffee and offering free WiFi.

    The store was opened by Hong Kong actor and singer Andy Hui.

    It’s been likened to “a digital theme park”.

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  • Courts struggles in “weak” setting

    Courts struggles in “weak” setting

    Singapore-based electronics and homewares retailer Courts has reported a quarterly revenue dip of 16.four per cent in what it describes as a “weak retail surroundings”.

    The listed firm posted a quarterly revenue of S$6.56 million within the three months to March 31, down from $7.84 million in the identical interval a yr in the past.

    Gross sales for the quarter fell seven per cent to S$192.5 million and for the yr to March 31, income fell a pointy 38.7 per cent to S$17.36 million, on gross sales down eight.6 per cent to S$758.5 million.

    “Singapore’s gross sales, which contributed to 66 per cent of the group’s gross sales, registered 11 per cent lower in FY14/15,” the corporate stated in a press release.

    “The lower in gross sales was primarily because of a lacklustre retail surroundings resulting in the autumn in gross sales of all product classes, decrease bulk gross sales of digital merchandise and lowered participation in commerce present days,” Courts stated.

    Malaysia accounted for 33 per cent of group gross sales, however fell by 5.eight per cent largely because of the weaker ringgit and regardless of some panic shopping for earlier than the introduction of gross sales tax on April 1.

    However the firm expressed optimism for the yr forward.

    Two new shops are quickly to open in Indonesia, its latest market, offering essential mass to realize operational effectivity.

    Courts additionally plans to launch right into a fourth market with Singapore media tipping Mauritius because the most certainly risk.

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  • Mobile wallet outshines credit cards in India

    Mobile wallet outshines credit cards in India

    Mobile wallet may be a new concept, but Indians seemed to have adopted the mechanism faster than credit cards. While there are about 10-12 companies operating in the mobile wallet space, Noida-based Paytm has more than 20 million active users. The number is actually higher than the cumulative number of credit cards in India.

    According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the total number of credit cards issued by 55 scheduled commercial banks in India is 19.9 million as of October 2014. HDFC Bank issued the highest number of credit cards – 5.6 million – followed by 3.3 million by ICICI Bank.

    On the other hand, banks have issued as many as 441 million debit cards in India so far.

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  • Apple’s strategic ‘luxury move’

    Apple’s strategic ‘luxury move’

    According to social analytics company NetBase’s most recent Brand Passion Report, Apple ranks second among top luxury brands in the world, behind only Louis Vuitton and ahead of brands such as Chanel, Burberry, Hermes and Gucci. “Consumers’ definition of luxury brands are ever-changing,” Pernille Bruun-Jensen, chief marketing officer of NetBase, tellsMarketing Daily.

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  • Tablet sales slow down

    Tablet sales slow down

    Demand for tablets will continue to be slow in 2015, with sales reaching 233 million units for the year, or only an 8 percent increase from 2014, research firm Gartner said.

    Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner, said global sales have been growing in double digits prior to 2014.

    “The steep drop can be explained by several factors. One is that the lifetime of tablets is being extended – they are shared out among family members and software upgrades, especially for iOS devices, keep the tablets current. Another factor includes the lack of innovation in hardware, which refrains consumers from upgrading,” he said.

    The Tablets category includes devices such as, iPad, iPad Mini, Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5, Nexus 7 and Acer Iconia Tab 8. Other Hybrids/Clamshells include devices such as HP Pavilion 11, Lenovo Yoga 2 11 and Dell Inspiron 13.

    At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this week, Gartner analysts expect the vendors in the devices space to announce new partnerships that lead to innovative apps that use personal data to tailor the user experience.

    Meanwhile, the mobile phone segment is on pace to grow 3.7 percent in 2015 and reach two billion units in 2016.

    In the operating system (OS) market, Android surpassed a billion shipments of devices in 2014, and will continue to grow at a double-digit pace in 2015, with a 26 percent increase year over year.

  • LINE introduces mobile payment service

    LINE introduces mobile payment service

    Mobile platform LINE recently introduced a mobile money and transfer purchasing service called Line Pay, which is a new feature included in its 4.8 version update.

    With 170 million monthly active global users, LINE said the platform will provide a means through which shoppers can make make secure and convenient payments anytime, anywhere, straight from their smartphone.

    In the first phase of its release, LINE Pay will support only payments on LINE store. Users can register their credit cards to purchase paid content such as stickers and apps.
    All charges on the LINE Store made via LINE Pay will receive discounts of up to 25 percent for a limited time.

    In the future, the company said more offline shops and additional features such as money transfers between LINE users will be included.

    To ensure security in transactions, a LINE Pay-exclusive passwords is required, which prevents features from being used even if the account is logged in to by a third party. LINE said it also utilizes a monitoring system to detect and report accounts that are suspected of illicit activity and will work to ensure a safe and secure payment service for its users.

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  • Rise in the market for video surveillance

    Rise in the market for video surveillance

    The growing use of video surveillance systems in sectors such as hospitality, banking and financial, government, transportation, education and retail has created huge growth opportunities for the manufacturers, distributors and system integrators in this industry.

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  • Vietnam’s largest mobile phone retail chain Mobile World’s profits up

    Vietnam’s largest mobile phone retail chain Mobile World’s profits up

    The Gioi Di Dong (Mobile World) Joint Stock Company, Vietnam’s largest mobile phone retail chain, has reached a post-tax profit of VND609 billion (USD29 million) after 11 months, 140 percent of the annual target, the company has announced.

    The revenue during this period was more than VND14 trillion (USD666 million), as much as 108 percent of the annual target.

    The company also announced that it will reach the target to open 350 outlets nationwide by the end of the month.