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Tag: etail

  • Chinese E-Commerce Zall Joins Singapore’s Digital Banking

    Chinese E-Commerce Zall Joins Singapore’s Digital Banking

    Business-to-business e-commerce firm, Zall Smart Commerce, will be the latest to apply for a digital banking license in Singapore.

    The Chinese company will be part of consortium joined by Japanese trading company Marubeni and Singapore-based Global eTrade Services, a subsidiary of digital solutions provider CrimsonLogic.

    The consortium is seeking a wholesale digital banking license in Singapore and it hopes to contribute to the city-state’s development as a global financial hub for trading, Zall said in a statement. It joins 14 other groups that have applied for the same license alongside another seven that have applied for digital full-bank licenses, according to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said earlier this month. The regulator added that up to five of the licenses could be issued by June this year.

    In addition to its e-commerce business, Zall has some experience in digital finance in mainland China. The firm acquired a virtual banking license for the market in 2017 and has since been operating as Z-Bank.

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  • Amazon India To Have 10,000 Electric Vehicles In Its Delivery Fleet By 2025

    Amazon India To Have 10,000 Electric Vehicles In Its Delivery Fleet By 2025

    Amazon India said that it will induct about 10,000 electric vehicles in its delivery fleet in the country. The e-commerce giant says that the idea is to reduce its carbon footprint in the country in accordance to the Climate Pledge that Amazon has signed. As part of the pledge, Amazon announced its plans to introduce 10,000 EVs into its delivery fleet globally in 2022 and one lakh vehicles by 2030, saving 4 million metric tonnes of carbon per year by 2030. Amazon had already begun an EV pilot project in a few cities across India and the learnings from the pilot project has helped the company to have a scalable and a long term EV delivery fleet by 2025. Amazon India announced this right after Amazon President and CEO, Jeff Bezos made a trip to India and announced an investment of $ 1 billion and creation of 1 million jobs by 2025.

    “The fleet of 10,000 EVs-including three-wheeler and four-wheeler vehicles-has been designed and manufactured by original equipment manufacturers in India,” the company said in a statement. The company has been working with a few Indian companies in order to ready a fleet of electric vehicles in its delivery fleet to ensure that last mile deliveries are sustainable. The government’s focus to encourage the adoption of electric vehicles in the country, and steps towards setting up of charging infrastructure with the FAME II policy, has helped the company accelerate and chart its vision for EVs in India, it added.

    “At Amazon India, we are committed to building a supply chain that will minimize the environmental impact of our operations,” Akhil Saxena, vice president for customer fulfillment (Asia Pacific and Emerging Markets) at Amazon, said in a statement.

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  • Walmart India lays off management executives

    Walmart India lays off management executives

    Walmart India will let go around a third of its top executives at its Gurugram headquarters. The retailer has been struggling in the territory and is now responding by laying off more than 100 top-level executives, with more terminations expected to come later. It will also close its Mumbai fulfillment center and its largest warehouse, and will hold plans to open new stores within the Indian market.

    “We are always looking for ways to operate more effectively to serve our members,” said a spokesperson for Walmart India. “This requires us to review our corporate structure to ensure that we are organized in the right way to best meet the needs of our members. Impacted associates have been offered enhanced severance benefits and outplacement services to support their transition.”

    Following a decade of trade within India, Walmart’s sales growth has remained problematic, with the firm recording a net loss of US$24.26 million during the last fiscal year.

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  • JewelleryNet relaunches with new features

    JewelleryNet relaunches with new features

    B2B online community JewelleryNet has launched a series of new features on its platform for sourcing, market intelligence, industry updates and trade fair information.

    The new JewelleryNet’s faster speed and mobile-responsive interfaces are expected to allow for faster, targeted searches; more productive visits; greater user convenience and efficiencies as well as a better user experience altogether.

    The online resource brings together professional buyers and sellers, based on Informa Markets’ Jewellery Group. It has more than 147,000 registered users from 190 countries and regions.

    “As we enter a new decade, a reinvigorated JewelleryNet is ready to help the international gem and jewelry industry address current business realities and explore more avenues of growth,” said Informa Markets’ director of jewelry fairs Celine Lau.

    JewelleryNet hosts the online showrooms of more than 4000 suppliers from around the world, featuring more than 10,000 products across nine categories. The platform’s showroom services and business solutions are available to non-trade-fair exhibitors through a supplier membership plan.

    JewelleryNet also provides market intelligence and industry updates produced by trade publication JNA. Aside from regular news stories on the latest developments in the international gem and jewelry industry, the site carries content from the bimonthly, bilingual (English & Simplified Chinese) magazine and its various titles along with their digital versions.

    The platform likewise supports more than 10 major international jewelry trade fairs and provides details of other trade shows and events all over the world. More projects, initiatives, and events in Informa Markets’ Jewellery Group portfolio will eventually have a presence on the platform.

    JewelleryNet now also offers its members and visitors more opportunities for business development. Suppliers on the platform receive marketing exposure through online showrooms backed by strategic, sustained promotions online, onsite and on social media, among others.

    Another key component of the new JewelleryNet is its online-to-offline solutions to facilitate business dealings on the platform and at trade fairs. Interactive features allow buyers and suppliers to connect and communicate directly.

    The platform has also introduced business matching services for more efficient and effective sourcing. Buyers can submit quotation requests for specific items seeking suppliers; the program likewise assists buyers in planning their sourcing activities at trade fairs by allowing them to examine suppliers’ backgrounds, preview their goods, preschedule onsite meetings efficiently and then conduct business at the show.

    “JewelleryNet’s expanded business solutions reaffirm Informa Markets’ unwavering commitment to the growth and continued development of the international jewelry industry,” said Lau. “Its new interactive functions and business matching program complement our trade fairs and events by enabling buyers and sellers to conduct preliminary discussions and due diligence prior to negotiating business deals at our shows. These align with our corporate philosophy to create platforms for international markets to trade, innovate and grow.”

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  • E-commerce drives boost in Singapore retail sales in November

    E-commerce drives boost in Singapore retail sales in November

    Singapore retail sales in November remained sluggish, rising just 0.6 percent year on year after motor vehicles were removed from the data. Including vehicles, sales fell by 4 percent.

    Significantly, online sales rose to a new high, accounting for 8 percent of the estimated S$3.6 billion (US$2.7 billion).

    “Compared to the 6.1 percent recorded in October 2019, the increase was due to higher online retail sales from major online shopping events such as Singles’ Day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday,” Statistics Singapore said in a statement.

    Month on month, Singapore retail sales in November rose by 1 percent.

    Year on year, sales of motor vehicles and furniture & household equipment decreased 22.4 percent and 10.9 percent respectively. Sales through department stores and of recreational goods declined by 8.4 percent and 4.5 percent respectively.

    Conversely, apparel & footwear sales grew by 4.3 percent, due partly to higher demand for bags and footwear. Mini-marts & convenience stores, watches & jewelry, and computer & telecommunications equipment sales, as well as supermarkets & hypermarkets, recorded sales increases ranging from 1.2 percent to 3 percent

    Food & beverage services sales

    Sales of food & beverage services grew by 5.5 percent year on year in November, reaching $898 million.

    All food & beverage services sectors registered growth, with fast-food outlets leading the way, at 12.4 percent. Sales at restaurants, cafes, food courts & other eating places and by food caterers increased by between 1 percent and 6.4 percent.

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  • tBox by Posti is the “perfect” place to pick up your online orders

    tBox by Posti is the “perfect” place to pick up your online orders

    Design studio Fyra may have created the “perfect” environment for online shoppers to collect their online orders: Box by Posti, the Finnish postal service.

    The brightly colored room, which serves as a convenient drop-off for customers to pick up purchases they have made online, has a recycling area, fitting rooms, and product show space.

    The 600-locker Box by Posti space was created with the intention of making it more than just an ‘unadventurous row of lockers’. Color-coded areas are used in the space to support the different service paths and mark and clarify different functionalities.

    “The consumer behavior of the Finnish people has changed significantly,” said Posti’s head of customer experience and channels Kaisa Ilola. “Before, there was a piece missing between the online store and home. Box was created to fill in the missing piece.”

    Visitors to Box by Posti are welcome to open or pack their parcels in the green unboxing area, which contains scissors, tape and pens as well as parcels and envelopes, or in the recycling zone that features reusable packaging material. They can also arrange for refunds on unwanted items slated for return.

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  • Reliance Industries taking on Amazon in India

    Reliance Industries taking on Amazon in India

    Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries is moving to take on Amazon in India by founding a new digital retail platform.

    The firm, led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, has of late been engaged in testing to refine its new online shopping portal JioMart, which is expected to list more than 50,000 grocery items. Select customers who pre-register have been offered free home delivery and no-questions-asked return policy.

    The service will initially only operate within three neighborhoods in the vicinity of Mumbai, taking on both e-commerce market leaders within the territory, Amazon and Flipkart.

    Ambani has recently made several investments outside Reliance’s core industrial businesses, including telecommunications and retail acquisitions that are projected to account for 50 percent of the firm’s profits within a few years. He has previously spoken of ambitions to totally transform India’s unorganized retail market.

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  • Vietnam improves its online shopping readiness

    Vietnam improves its online shopping readiness

    Vietnam has jumped five places to 64th in this year’s global index of readiness for online shopping, a UN report says.

    With an average score of 61.1 points on a scale of 100, Vietnam did better than most of its Southeast Asian peers in terms of its preparedness for e-commerce, according to the B2C (business-to-consumer) E-commerce Index recently released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

    Singapore ranked third on the global list while Malaysia came in 34th, Thailand (48th),  Indonesia (84th), the Philippines (89th), Laos (113rd), Cambodia (122nd), and Myanmar (126th).

    The ranking measured 152 countries and territories around the world based on four indicators with a high correlation to online shopping: Internet server access, postal service reliability, share of the population who use the Internet, and share of population aged above 15 who have an account with a financial institution or mobile-money-service provider.

    According to the report, 70 percent of Vietnamese people use the Internet and 31 percent of individuals aged from 15 and above have bank accounts or mobile bank accounts.

    Vietnam has proportions of secure Internet servers and postal reliability at 66 and 77 percent respectively.

    The report also showed online shoppers in Vietnam account for 31 percent of Internet users and 19 percent of the 94-million population.

    The country has targeted that 30 percent of its population shop online between 2016 and 2020, with yearly sales value of approximately $350 per person.

    E-commerce revenue reached $2.26 billion last year, up 30 percent over 2017, according to Germany-based data portal Statista.

    Vietnam’s e-commerce market is estimated at $5 billion this year and is set to reach $23 billion in 2025, according to a recent report by Google, Singapore-based investment firm Temasek, and U.S.-based consultancy Bain.

  • Li Bao Ge Group to partner with Alibaba’s Freshippo

    Li Bao Ge Group to partner with Alibaba’s Freshippo

    Li Bao Ge Group is launching its food delivery service through Alibaba’s Freshippo (Hema) stores.

    The two firms have entered into a cooperation agreement under which Li Bao Ge will open in-store counters at Freshippo stores. With exclusive selling rights for Siu Mei products, Li Bao Ge will offer cooked-on-site Hong Kong-style roast meat (“Siu Mei”) under its own brand, as well as other specialties such as Cantonese-style soup, dim sum, dessert and festive delicacies. Freshippo will, in turn, make its digital platforms and on-site facilities available to Li Bao Ge and provide technical support – including marketing initiatives, online sales resources, a delivery service, potential customers, and establishment of online to offline channels.

    Li Bao Ge undertakes to set up not less than 10 counters at Freshippo’s stores on or before 15 December next year. It will leverage Freshippo’s brand awareness and high traffic to attract more young consumers and develop multi-channel sales to penetrate the Chinese takeaway and food-delivery market.

    “As online consumption gains prevalence, the competition in the food and catering industry has extended from restaurants to online order and delivery,” said Li Bao Ge Group chairman Chan Chun Kit. “With that in mind, we have decided to adopt a new business model leveraging Freshippo’s sophisticated digital management platform and big-data analysis to develop a new integrated O2O operation based on an asset-light model.

    “Going forward, Li Bao Ge will, starting from the South China region, expand into regions and cities with high purchasing power and appeal to a younger group of individual and family customers. We will gradually transform from a conventional banquet dining operator to a light meal delivery industry player. We will also explore the opportunities for the retailing of packaged food to accelerate the pace of expansion and enhance profitability.”

    Li Bao Ge currently operates eight mid-to-high-end Cantonese restaurants in Hong Kong and Shenzhen.

  • A third of Southeast Asian e-commerce traffic happens in Vietnam

    A third of Southeast Asian e-commerce traffic happens in Vietnam

    Vietnam accounted for 30.9 percent of e-commerce web traffic in Southeast Asia in Q3, second only to Indonesia, a report says.

    Compared to the second quarter, e-commerce web traffic in Vietnam has risen by 5.2 percentage points, the highest growth in the six countries studied, while that of top market Indonesia fell 10.6 percentage points, according to Malaysia-based iPrice Group.

    Both foreign and local companies are seeking to expand in Vietnam, but domestic firms account for 72 percent of the traffic, while that of international players, mostly Singapore-based Shopee and Lazada, make up the remaining 28 percent, according to “The Map of Southeast Asian E-Commerce Q3 2019” report.

    This makes Vietnam second only to Singapore in the share of local players in web traffic, far exceeding Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines, where foreign companies dominate, accounting for at least 78 percent.

    Although Shopee still topped the chart in Q3 with 34.6 million visits in Vietnam, home-grown player Sendo for the first time climbed to the second place with 30.9 million visits, up 10 percent from Q2.

    Mobile World climbed two places to third place with 29.3 million visits, while both Tiki and Lazada fell to the fourth and fifth place respectively.

    Vietnam’s internet economy will reach a value of $12 billion this year, with an annual growth rate of 38 percent since 2015 and is expected to surge to $43 billion by 2025, according to the “e-Conomy Southeast Asia report 2019” by Google, Temasek – a holding company owned by Singapore’s government, and U.S.-based global management consultancy Bain.   A

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  • APAC Gen Z passengers are transforming inflight e-commerce

    APAC Gen Z passengers are transforming inflight e-commerce

    Generation Z is forecast to become the largest group of airline flyers globally within the next decade, with 1.2 billion flying each year by 2028. More than a third (37%) of this global cohort will be made up of APAC passengers. The LSE estimates that globally, this consumer group currently spends a collective $3.6 billion in items and services in the weeks leading up to a trip and upon arrival at their destination.

    APAC Gen Z passengers are the least ‘cost-sensitive’ traveler group globally, and by 2028 are predicted to spend $4 more per passenger through infight e-commerce than the global Gen Z average of $26. The findings underscore a significant opportunity for airlines in the region to shift spending on board and take a proportion of the revenue with an e-commerce model that supports the ‘last-minute’ approach of today’s ‘digital-first’ passengers.

    The research analyzed purchasing decisions made during three key phases of the customer journey before travel: more than a week before; in the days before; and upon arrival. It finds that Gen Z is the most likely of all generations globally to delay buying products and services for their trip until the days before they fly.

    While currently, only one in ten passengers make an inflight duty-free purchase when they fly, there is a significant opportunity for airlines to monetize the growing trend for last-minute spending. According to the LSE, 70% of Millennials and Gen Z passengers indicate that they would delay arrangements for their trip until their flight if they knew that a reliable Wi-Fi connection would be available, and the necessary delivery infrastructure was in place.

    Dr. Alexander Grous (B. Ec, MBA, M.Com, MA, PhD.), Department of Media and Communications (LSE) and author of the research, said, “Having grown up in a digital world with connectivity at their fingertips, more often than not Gen Z make last-minute decisions when it comes to travel planning and preparation. This behavioral shift presents an exciting opportunity for airlines to strike innovative partnerships with global and local retailers that extend the possibilities of inflight spending.”

    Philip Balaam, President, Inmarsat Aviation said, “If passengers reject traditional purchase channels in favor of inflight spending to the extent that this suggests in the next decade, the implications for airlines and retailers would be huge. We may be on the verge of a habitual shift in travel spending, much like the movement from offline to online purchasing witnessed on the ground in the last decade. In APAC, the opportunity is even greater – with every Gen Z passenger in the region predicted to spend $4 more on inflight holiday purchases than the rest of their generation each time they fly, there is a huge potential new revenue stream up for grabs.”

    Dominic Walters, Vice President, Marketing Communications and Strategy, Inmarsat Aviation said, “Developing a connected infrastructure built for inflight spending will be a win-win for both airlines and passengers, bringing airlines the chance to take a slice of revenue currently spent elsewhere in the customer journey, and saving passengers valuable time before and after their flight. With airlines all over the world already ramping up their connectivity offerings, and a growing trend for last-minute spending in younger passenger groups, this is a revolution waiting to happen.”

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  • Amazon opens on Pinduoduo pop up store

    Amazon opens on Pinduoduo pop up store

    Global online retailer Amazon is set to launch a Pinduoduo pop-up store.

    According to reporting in Reuters, the Pinduoduo pop-up store will run until the end of the year with around 1000 selected overseas products.

    Amazon recently closed its Chinese marketplace for domestic sellers and is shifting focus to products sold in the Chinese market by overseas producers, as well as offering its cloud server services.

    The decision to host its pop-up on Pinduoduo reflects the platform’s popularity with rural Chinese residents over the more established Alibaba and JD services.

    “The Amazon Pinduoduo pop-up store provides customers with a curated selection of about 1000 overseas products, with competitive prices, an authenticity guarantee and convenient shipping,” said an Amazon spokesperson.

    “We look forward to enabling customers to enjoy cross-border shopping through this store, in addition to more deals and tens of millions of products available on [amazon].cn.”

  • E-commerce firm Sendo nets $61 mln in latest funding round

    E-commerce firm Sendo nets $61 mln in latest funding round

    Sendo, Vietnam’s second-most visited online market place, has secured $61 million in the latest Series C funding round.

    The investment will come from existing shareholders as well as new international investors including Indonesia’s EV Growth and Thai banking group Kasikornbank, Sendo said in a press release Wednesday.

    Existing investors including financial services company SBI Group, retailer BEENOS, private equity firm Daiwa PI Partners, and web services consultancy Digital Garage from Japan, as well as venture fund SoftBank Ventures Asia of South Korea, all of which had previously backed Sendo’s $51 million Series B round in 2018, returned for its Series C round.

    Hai Linh Tran, CEO and co-founder of Sendo, said that the funds will be used to expand the breadth of its existing integrated platform offering to both sellers and consumers, as well as to further deepen its technology moat.

    Founded in 2012 as a spin-off of Vietnam’s largest IT service company FPT Corporation, Sendo focuses on tier 2 cities largely untapped by other e-commerce firms, home to 70 million Vietnamese people.

    The company claims it caters to 500,000 sellers, with an estimated 17 million distinct items listed on its platform, as well as 12 million customers.

    In the third quarter of 2019, Sendo surpassed domestic rival Tiki to rank second among top 10 e-commerce sites in Vietnam with the highest monthly traffic numbers, according to Malaysia-based market research firm iPrice’s latest data released recently.

    Sendo’s web visits reached 30.9 million per month in Q3, up 10.1 percent against Q2, second after Singapore-based Shopee, which remained in top position with 34.5 million, down 10.6 percent from Q2.

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  • Alipay wants to help 10 million European businesses reach 2 billion consumers

    Alipay wants to help 10 million European businesses reach 2 billion consumers

    Payment and lifestyle platform Alipay intends to support 10 million small and medium enterprises in Europe over the next five years with technology to empower them to reach more than 2 billion potential consumers traveling to the region from around the world.

    The strategy to support these merchants was unveiled during the Alipay Partners Global Summit in London. It includes an expanded collaboration with European acquirer Worldline, as well as a new initiative to serve airport shops around the world through in-app mini-programs.

    “Our aim is to improve the way in which individuals and businesses buy, sell and receive payments, and to do this, we need to draw upon the strength of our partnerships,” said Alipay operator Ant Financial’s chairman and CEO Eric Jing. “Our growth has only been possible due to the network of partners we have established, and working together, we will make it easier for anyone to do business anywhere.

    “Our innovative solutions will continue to help merchants in Europe better serve the growing numbers of tourists as well as e-commerce shoppers coming to the region from all over the world.”

    Alipay is China’s most popular digital payment service, according to market researcher Statista, with 87 percent of survey respondents in the country aged between 18 and 69 reporting they use Alipay for their digital financial needs. Alipay currently serves more than 1.2 billion users together with local e-wallet partners in South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.

    In a report published this year, Nielsen found that more than 93 percent of Chinese tourists would be more willing to make purchases with their mobile phones and would even increase their spending if the option were available, while 60 percent of surveyed merchants who adopted Alipay reported growth in foot traffic and revenue.

    Currently, Alipay collaborates with more than 120 financial institutions in Europe and continues to add more and more partnerships with travel service agencies and other types of third-party service providers. This is intended to help merchants deliver enhanced experiences to their customers as they seize the growth opportunities in the global travel market.

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  • Chinese consumers embraced voice ordering on Singles Day

    Chinese consumers embraced voice ordering on Singles Day

    More than 1 million orders were placed and processed through voice command via Alibaba’s Tmall Genie during its 11.11 Global Shopping Festival on Monday.

    The smart speaker was used to purchase items throughout the day – including 810,000 eggs, 1.4 million tons of rice and 76 tons of liquid detergent – showing that voice shopping has become an increasingly popular trend among Chinese consumers of all ages.

    According to Alibaba’s statistics, more than 40 percent of Tmall Genie users have tried voice shopping. The rise of voice shopping shows the growing popularity of smart speakers in China. Alibaba’s intelligent speech assistant, Tmall Genie, is ranked as the number one brand in terms of sales volume of smart speakers in the first three-quarters of China, according to Euromonitor International’s research conducted in October.

    “As the number one smart speaker in China, Tmall Genie has become an essential part of many families’ daily life,” said Alibaba A.I.Labs GM Miffy Chen. “As we continue to enhance the product features and increase the offering of infotainment services – from entertainment and news to children’s books, food delivery and elderly care – we hope the use of a virtual assistant will help people across age groups to embrace a digital life that is simple, fun, informed and connected.”

    Some 10.47 million Tmall Genie units were sold during the first nine months of this year, accounting for a 38-per-cent market share in China, where sales of smart speakers reached 27.56 million units in the same period, according to Euromonitor International.

    In particular, Tmall Genie recorded more than 3 million sales units in this year’s third financial quarter, making it the most popularly purchased smart speaker brand in China for three consecutive quarters.

    “Since the launch of the first smart speaker in China in July 2017, Alibaba has made Tmall Genie the top brand with the largest sales volume in China this year,” noted Euromonitor International in the research. “That is largely due to Tmall Genie’s product differentiation strategy and its expanding sales channels both online and offline,”.

    According to the research, Alibaba, Xiaomi and Baidu are the top three smart speaker brands in China, with a total market share of 93 percent in terms of sales volume in the first three quarters this year. 77 percent of smart speakers were purchased online during that period, dominated by Alibaba’s e-commerce platforms – Tmall and Taobao.

    The research also pointed out that as an important medium for human-machine interaction, smart speakers are expected to be equipped with a growing number of features tailored to consumers’ daily needs, including search and information queries. A smart speaker with a screen – which can offer both speech and visual interaction – is also believed to be a forthcoming trend among major brands, Euromonitor noted.

    Controlling smart home appliances through voice commands is still one of the most popular uses of smart speakers. Alibaba statistics show that currently, Tmall Genie has been connected to more than 235 million home appliances such as lights and air-conditioning from 900 brands in China.

    Alibaba believes that voice assistants are expected to play an increasingly important role in a wide spectrum of applications, including in-car infotainment experience, food delivery, beauty and makeup, childrens’ education and elderly nursing support.

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