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Tag: Japan

  • Starbucks tests smart smartphone case

    Starbucks tests smart smartphone case

    Starbucks Japan is involved in a unique trial which allows customers to order and pay for their coffee with a swipe of their phone.

    The concept uses a branded smartphone case which is preloaded with the customer’s preferences.

    Trend monitoring website Springwise.com reports the Starbucks Touch phone case was developed in collaboration with Japanese clothing brand Uniform Experiment, and can currently be used in two Starbucks branches in Japan.

    The case – made for iPhone 6 – is designed to resemble a Starbucks coffee cup and features the brand’s iconic logo. It works like a prepaid Starbucks loyalty card, letting customers make cashless coffee purchases. It also enables users to save their preferred store and favorite beverage via a companion app. Upon arrival, customers simply launch the app and place their order, settling up by touching their phone case on the contactless payment device.

    The Starbucks Touch is available online for JPY 3000, or about US$25.

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  • Shopping malls revamp amid onslaught from online retailers

    Shopping malls revamp amid onslaught from online retailers

    As the brick-versus-click-sales war intensifies, shopping malls in Singapore are plotting aggressive strategies to stay ahead in the game while they continue to battle falling tourist arrivals, the oversupply of retail space and growing competition for consumers’ attention.

    Their renewed game plans include reshuffling the tenant mix, exploring more flexible leasing terms with tenants, revamping marketing campaigns and even forming alliances with online sales platforms — all of these aimed at getting consumers to shop more as they spend longer hours at their malls.

    “Landlords are adjusting their marketing strategies and tenant mix and repositioning their properties towards offering more entertainment, services and food and beverage (F&B) outlets, aiming to remain relevant in the midst of shoppers taking to online shopping as well as changing consumer preferences,” said DBS Vickers analyst Derek Tan.

    Mall operators are making more space for restaurants, cafes and bars as well as entertainment and services-oriented businesses, such as education, beauty and wellness, as these remain insulated from the online onslaught, while department stores and retailers that sell products such as books, toys and fashion continue to be hit by the surge in e-commerce.

    Malls now allocate around 35 to 40 per cent of net lettable area to F&B, entertainment and services, compared with about 25 per cent around five years ago, Mr Tan noted.

    The increased focus on F&B, entertainment as well as beauty and wellness is also demand-led, as young Singaporeans today are well-travelled and seek more in terms of enhancing their personal appeal and well-being.

    “Singaporeans today are more sophisticated and want to explore more when it comes to F&B and beauty and healthcare. This is attracting new F&B players from Japan, South Korea, China, the United States and Europe to enter Singapore in a big way. Several Korean and Japanese cosmetic companies are also coming in,” said Mr Wilson Tan, chief executive of CapitaLand Mall Trust Management. He also emphasised the group’s strategic focus on necessity retail that defends it from disruptions in shopper traffic and volatility in sales revenue.

    Besides the onslaught from online retailers offering low-cost shopping and free delivery services, a strong Singapore dollar has prompted Singaporeans to shop abroad as they travel for holidays, making it more challenging for mall owners to attract footfall.

    “Over time, the way people shop will change … In the past, we did more conventional advertisements. As we move ahead, we see mobile and digital platforms becoming a lot more prevalent, and that is where we will be looking at, using new technology to bring people into the shopping malls,” Mr Tan said.

    Malls are scurrying to identify ways to embrace new sales channels that allow traditional and online retailers to coexist and complement each other. Some are exploring the option of partnering with e-commerce players such as Qoo10.

  • Lotte Group head issues apology for feud, vows reform

    Lotte Group head issues apology for feud, vows reform

    The head of South Korea’s Lotte Group yesterday vowed a new era of corporate governance and transparency as he apologized for the family feud engulfing the beleaguered retail giant.

    In an address broadcast live on TV, group chairman Shin Dong-bin also sought to deflect growing anti-Japanese sentiment surrounding Lotte, which was founded in Japan, but does 80 percent of its business in South Korea.

    Talking in accented Korean, the native Japanese speaker twice bowed deeply before the cameras in a show of contrition for the bitter and very public battle for corporate control that has pitted him against his father and elder brother.

    “The current dispute has occurred as we have failed to make efforts to improve corporate governance and enhance transparency,” Shin said.

    “We will be bold in reform in order to address concerns held by the people of Korea, our shareholders, contractors and employees,” he added.

    At stake in the Lotte feud is control of a sprawling conglomerate with 80 units across South Korea — spanning retail, amusement parks, hotels and chemicals — and total combined assets of about US$90 billion.

    Among other reforms, Shin said he would push for the public listing of the conglomerate, which effectively controls the South Korean business, while also streamlining the group’s complicated web of cross-holdings to enhance transparency.

    “Lotte belongs to Korea,” the chairman said, stressing that the group’s South Korean interests dwarfed the Japanese-based side of the business in terms of employee numbers and sales.

    “There has been little flight of capital back to Japan,” Shin said, adding that earnings made in South Korea had been plowed back into the domestic business.

    Lotte was founded in Japan in 1948 by Shin Dong-bin’s father — South Korean-born Shin Kyuk-ho, now 92 — and grew from a seller of chewing gum to a confectionary giant. It expanded to South Korea after Tokyo and Seoul normalized relations in 1965.

    The row within the Shin family has fanned the embers of the anti-Japanese public sentiment the group has long contended with in South Korea — largely due to the family members’ awkwardness with the Korean language.

    The battle for control of the conglomerate has pitted Shin Dong-bin against his father and his elder brother, Shin Dong-ju, with accusations of dirty tricks and attempted boardroom coups.

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  • Aeon Cambodia to build second mall

    Aeon Cambodia to build second mall

    Japan’s Aeon is to build a second shopping mall in Cambodia’s capital city Phnom Penh.

    The news was revealed on the first birthday of Aeon’s first Cambodia mall, which it says has attracted 15 million visitors.

    The new mall will be built about 10km north of Phnom Penh’s CBD in the Pong Peay City, a new residential and commercial development by the LYP Group on the city’s north side.  LYP is owned by prominent local businessman and ruling party senator Ly Yong Phat.

    With a 151,000 sqm footprint it will be significantly larger than the first mall, which is 108,000 sqm. The gross leasable area will be 70,500 sqm.

    Like all of Aeon’s malls in Asia, the centre will be anchored by an Aeon supermarket. Supporting retailers will include Japanese brands who partner with Aeon in new developing markets and international brands such as Puma, Adidas and Levi’s.

    Aeon Asia MD Washizawa Shinobu said his company is confident Cambodia’s emerging middle class will make the new centre a success, aiming to attract 10 million visitors in its first year.

    “I am sure Cambodian people will be richer with economic growth like that, which means they will buy more products,” he said.

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  • Korea’s GearX finds favour online

    Korea’s GearX finds favour online

    Korean underwear brand GearX says sales of its functional sportswear online is booming – especially in Japan, China, Southeast Asia and America.

    While not revealing actual sales figures the company says its online mall is succeeding because the brand is building popularity by maintaining reasonable prices for products that boast excellent functions, “contrary to a number of global functional wear brands that started out as offline businesses and formed high price range”.

    Now, Lee is planning to expand GearX’s product range to include functional yoga outfits, running and cycling apparel.

    GearX is running its shopping mall in multiple languages including English, Chinese, andJapanese using the Global Service of cafe24, Korea’s largest shopping mall solution provider. GearX’s products are also available on global online shopping malls such as Amazon.com of America and Qoo10 of Singapore.

    GearX’s products include base layer, rash guard, and underwear; all of them offer fast-drying, UV blocking, and antibacterial features. GearX applies a seamless sewing technique on the clothing to achieve excellent flexibility. Thus, all of GearX products fit the body without extreme tightness.

    “From the very beginning, we focused on developing a highly functional fabric that relieves heat, maintains coolness, and repels insects. As a result, we have become Korea’s first, and only, functional clothing manufacturer to acquire a patent for the fabric,” said Sang-hun Lee, president of GearX.

    “After successfully developing the fabric, he had also developed and introduced a sewing technique that would not irritate the skin considering the the fact that the product is in direct contact with the skin.”

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  • Seiko Japan opens ‘Premium Boutique’

    Seiko Japan opens ‘Premium Boutique’

    Seiko Japan has opened a world first “Seiko Premium Boutique” in Tokyo.

    The new store is the first shop to carry Seiko’s three luxury brands exclusively: Grand Seiko, Credor and Galante. It is located in the high-end Ginza shopping district.

    Wang Leehom, a famous Chinese-American singer and actor who has been Seiko’s brand ambassador in Asia since 2011, joined Shinji Hattori, president & CEO of Seiko Watch Corporation to open the store.

    “Showcasing our prestigious collections, this boutique will offer a true window to the Seiko world and visitors will experience the uniqueness of Seiko’s craftsmanship and Japanese hospitality,” Hattori said at a press conference to mark the opening.

    After a ribbon-cutting ceremony with Hattori at the boutique, Wang Leehom became the store’s first customer, perusing the topline products on display, including Credor Spring Drive Minute Repeater which sells at 33,000,000 yen (US$265,000).

    “It is my great honor to have a chance to attend this festive occasion in the center of Tokyo. I was deeply impressed with Seiko’s masterpieces such as Credor Minute Repeater. They are true culmination of legendary Japanese craftsmanship and cutting-edge technologies,” he said.

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  • Prada Japan flourishes

    Prada Japan flourishes

    Prada Japan has posted a strong sales lift in the first half thanks to a burgeoning number of inbound tourists.

    Sales in the Japanese market grew by 12 per cent year on year current exchange rates and by five per cent on constant exchange rates. Tellingly, growth was stronger in the second quarter than in the first.

    In its half year results issued Friday, Prada reported net revenue for the six months to July 31 of euro 1.823 billion, a four per cent increase over the corresponding period in 2014. Wholesale sales fell 14 per cent, reflecting Prada’s strategy of rationalising its network of retail partners in favour of selling from its own stores.

    While Japan was a standout market, sales in Asia Pacific fell, offset by a positive rate exchange effect.

    “Hong Kong and Macau remain the main drivers affecting the performance in this geographical area,” Prada said.

    At current exchange rates, sales increased 15 per cent in both the Americas and in the Middle East.

    The European market has continued to grow with revenues up at both current exchange rates up 12 per cent and constant exchange rates up 11 per cent, thanks to a steady flow of tourists together with a recovery in consumption by domestic customers.

    By brand, Prada recorded five per cent growth at current exchange rates which is entirely attributable to the exchange rate effect, mainly because of the adverse economic situation in the Asian market.

    Miu Miu continues to grow with revenues up at both current exchange rates up 19 per cent and constant exchange rates up six per cent, showing an acceleration in the second quarter of the year. Church’s achieved sales growth of 19 per cent, with the volumes trend also remaining largely positive. Car Shoe has performed broadly in line with prior year.

    Prada Group CEO Patrizio Bertelli said sales in the first half of 2015 reflect an economic and exchange rate landscape that remains “rather volatile with the continuing weakness of important markets like Hong Kong and Macau and the uncertainty that is looming on other Asian markets”.

    “Our distribution structure, which has achieved an appropriate global presence, together with our awareness of the specific needs of the various markets, has enabled us to compensate for the drop in sales in Asia Pacific thanks to growth on markets which are currently more dynamic like Europe and Japan. We will continue to prioritise measures intended to sustain long-term growth focusing on our manufacturing tradition and innovation, as again confirmed recently by the success of our latest collections.”

  • Daiso wins Manila court battle

    Daiso wins Manila court battle

    Japanese discount retailer Daiso has won the right to use its name in the Philippines after a hearing in the Supreme Court.

    In a final ruling just issued, the court has blocked Filipino company Japan Home Center from using the trademark Daiso, confirming an earlier ruling by the Court of Appeals.

    The judges ruled that Japan Home Center had registered the name in “bad faith” in 2005 – largely to prevent the Japanese Daiso or its local franchisee from using it.

    Daiso Industries of Japan first filed a complaint with the Intellectual Property Office back in 2009 after it appointed Robinsons Retail Holdings as its local distributor and retail partner. Daiso Industries owns the brand name.

    This week’s Supreme Court decision thus ends a six year long legal battle to give Daiso and Robinson the legal right to use the brand.

    Robinsons currently operates 38 Daison stores in the Philippines.

    In another case in January this year, the Intellectual Property Office blocked MySmart One-Shop Daiso from using the brand name.

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  • Disney, Uniqlo form global partnership

    Disney, Uniqlo form global partnership

    Uniqlo has announced a global collaboration with Disney Consumer Products, dubbed Magic For All.

    The initiative will see characters from Disney’s brands, including Marvel action, Star Wars adventure and Pixar creativity to everyday Uniqlo LifeWear fashions and introduce “innovative new products, pop-up displays, and in-store and online customer experiences,” the Japanese apparel retailer said in a statement.

    “We want to help everyone’s dreams come true,” said Tadashi Yanai, chairman, president and CEO of Fast Retailing.

    “I look forward to bringing together LifeWear and the magic, excitement and adventure of Disney, Marvel, Star Wars and Pixar to deliver enjoyment to customers all around the world through our products, customer service and shopping experience.”

    Paul Candland, president of The Walt Disney Company Asia, said the entertainment giant prides itself on delivering magical experiences to fans of all ages, “whether it’s at the movies, retail, our theme parks or at home”.

    “Uniqlo shares our passion for storytelling and we look forward to expanding our global collaboration creating unique experiences for fans to immerse themselves in the Disney, Marvel, Star Wars and Pixar brands.”

    The Disney, Uniqlo relationship began in 2009, when the company launched its first collection of UTs (Uniqlo T-shirts) featuring iconic and treasured Disney characters, Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse. Through Magic For All, Uniqlo will extend its collaboration beyond the UT and sweat parka lines and introduce new LifeWear items beginning in fall 2015.

    Products will range from Ultra Light Down, fleece, and flannel shirts to umbrellas, plush toys, and other offerings featuring Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse and then expand to include popular characters from Star Wars, Pixar Animation Studios’ Toy Story, Marvel’s Avengers and Disney’s Frozen.

    Customers will be introduced to Magic For All at D23 Expo, The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, in Anaheim, California from August 14-16.

     

    A concept store featuring the full product range will open in Shanghai at the end of September. Currently under construction, it will occupy the fifth floor of the five story Uniqlo Shanghai Global Flagship, the brand’s largest worldwide.

    Global flagships and large-format stores around the world will also offer Disney, Marvel and Star Wars-themed products through newly created Magic For All sections.

    In spring 2016, Uniqlo will open its first store in the US southeast, at Disney Springs in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. This flagship will house the brand’s assortment of Magic For All offerings for men, women and children in a setting that captures the fantasy and magic of Disney.

    On July 13, Uniqlo announced “friendship in Disney-Pixar movies” as the theme for its annual UT (Uniqlo T-shirt) Grand Prix 2016 Design Contest. First launched in 2005, the contest attracts thousands of entries from around the world. The winning designs are included in the following year’s spring summer UT Collection, which is sold worldwide. An exclusive animated short was produced to support the 2016 competition.

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  • Lotte Group Founder Loses Japan CEO Title Amid Succession Battle

    Lotte Group Founder Loses Japan CEO Title Amid Succession Battle

    Turmoil has erupted atop South Korea’s largest retail giant Lotte Group, shining a spotlight on one of the biggest family feuds the country has seen.

    The week began with 92-year-old Lotte founder Shin Kyuk Ho and his eldest son flying to Japan to fire a group of senior managers at a key unit, a maneuver that backfired and left the patriarch sidelined the next day. By Wednesday, Shin Dong Bin had successfully fended off his elder brother’s attempt to derail him from taking over control of the group.

    At stake is leadership over a conglomerate with 80 units across Korea, operating everything from department stores, amusements parks to hotels with 112 trillion won ($97 billion) of assets. Though the country saw sibling rivalries tear up Hyundai Group more than a decade ago, power struggles at businesses of Lotte’s size are rarely displayed in public in a corporate landscape dominated by family-run businesses, known locally as the chaebol.

    “It was an unexpected move as everyone had assumed that the founder had already selected Shin Dong Bin as his heir,” said Chae Yi Bai, an analyst at corporate watchdog Center for Good Corporate Governance. “This puts Lotte’s succession plans back in debate.”

    The drama at Lotte Group comes at a time when concerns over dynastic succession is fresh in people’s memories. Less than two weeks ago, Samsung Group narrowly defeated billionaire activist investor Paul Elliott Singer in a hotly-contested proxy fight, paving the way for the founding Lee family to tighten its grip over the nation’s largest conglomerate.

    Back at Lotte, co-chairman Shin Dong Bin apologized to employees on Wednesday for the turmoil brought by the dispute and urged them to put faith in him.

    “I am very sorry for causing uncertainties and turmoil to you all — the corporate value that Lotte has held up for a long time should not be rattled simply by an individual’s family issues,” 60-year-old Shin said in a note to employees, a copy of which was distributed to the media.

    The founder’s act to support elder son Shin Dong Joo, 61, had been unexpected as the younger Shin had been heir-apparent after executive titles including the vice chairman role at the parent group were stripped from Dong Joo in January.

    Lotte declined to make Shin Kyuk Ho or Shin Dong Joo available for comment.

    Shares Spike

    Shares of Lotte’s listed South Korea affiliates spiked on speculation the contesting Shin brothers would snap up the shares to solidify their control, Kim Tae Hong, an analyst at Yuanta Securities Korea Co. said by phone.

    Lotte Shopping Co. rose for a second straight session to end 6.6 percent higher by the close of trading in Seoul, the largest gain since 2010. Lotte Confectionery Co. closed up 4.7 percent, after jumping as much as 16 percent. The benchmark Kospi index ended little changed.

    In an earlier statement sent to media Wednesday, Lotte Group said the older son and his father’s July 27 act to fire executives at the closely held Japan unit Lotte Holdings Co. didn’t follow legal procedures.

    Tokyo-based Lotte Holdings’ board of directors held a meeting a day after to nullify the dismissals, and decided to move the founder into an honorary chairman role, according to the statement. Such a role typically carries no specific duties or voting rights.

    The older Shin brother’s attempt to gain influence over the Japan unit is aimed ultimately at capturing control over the entire group, due to the conglomerate’s shareholding structure, according to Chae.

    Attack Blocked

    “Whoever holds Lotte’s holding companies in Japan pretty much holds the entire group because of how the group’s corporate governance structure is designed,” Chae said. “It’s too early to say who won the crown, but Shin Dong Bin seems to have successfully blocked the attack this time around.”

    The founder holds a 28 percent stake in Lotte Holdings Co., Dong Joo holds 20 percent and Dong Bin has 19.1 percent, while a company called Kwang Yoon Sa holds 27.65 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Kwang Yoon Sa, a packaging company also based in Tokyo, is said to be owned by the founder, according to the Korea Economic Daily.

    Lotte Holdings spokeswoman Ruka Mizuno declined to comment on the governance structure of Lotte Holdings and Kwang Yoon Sa. when reached by phone, saying the companies aren’t listed.

    Shin Kyuk Ho, born in Ulsan, South Korea in 1922, started Lotte in Japan in 1948 after completing his university studies there. The company started off selling chewing gum in postwar Japan and quickly grew into a major confectionery company.

    When diplomatic relations normalized between Korea and Japan in 1965, Shin began investing in his home country and established Lotte Confectionery Co. in 1967, according to the Seoul-based Center for Good Corporate Governance.

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  • Lawson to open 450 stores in Japan this year

    Lawson to open 450 stores in Japan this year

    Even though Japan’s convenience store sector faces numerous challenges, the country’s second-largest operator, Lawson, plans to open another 450 stores this year, the company’s CEO has revealed.

    Genichi Tamatsuka said there are 55,000 convenience stores in Japan but the market has not yet reached saturation point.

    He sees massive potential for growth because of demographic and other social changes that are altering consumers’ buying behaviour.

    “Whereas people used to go to a big supermarket and prepare meals for a family of four or five, now they’re busier, they’re older, and they prefer to buy in a small neighbourhood store,” he explained.

    Lawson currently runs a network of 12,000 stores – soon to be expanded – and, combined with its logistical muscle, Tamatsuka expressed confidence that it would be able to meet the needs of these “combini” neighbourhood stores.

    “With our scale of 12,000 stores, our supply chain and platform, we can supply food and necessities to these neighbourhoods,” he said.

    Expansion overseas is another source of potential growth, he indicated, considering the value placed on the high level of customer service provided by Japanese retailers.

    Lawson has 500 stores in China and has also started up operations in Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.

    Despite Tamatsuka’s confidence, research group Euromonitor earlier this year published a more downbeat assessment of Japan’s retail landscape.

    “Japanese grocery retailers are expected to face numerous challenges imposed by such factors as changing demographics and operational difficulties,” it warned.

    However, in what could be seen as endorsement of Tamatsuka’s expansion strategy, the report went on to say, “in order to fight against such negative circumstances, grocery retailers may attempt to expand in size and diversify business portfolios”.

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  • Fast Retailing, Seven & I mull partnership

    Fast Retailing, Seven & I mull partnership

    Two of Japan’s largest retail businesses are eyeing a “comprehensive business alliance” according to Japanese news reports.

    A strategic relationship currently under discussion could see a range of mutually beneficial co-operations spanning physical stores and eCommerce.

    Details are still sketchy, but according to news reports, Fast Retailing, the parent of Uniqlo, could work with Seven & I, parent of 7-Eleven convenience stores and the Ito-Yokado supermarket chain, on areas including product design, house brands, marketing and distribution.

    Uniqlo may use 7-Eleven stores as collection points for online purchases.

    The two companies may also launch a joint venture clothing brand outside the Uniqlo network.

    To date, that’s as much information as has leaked out.

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  • 7-Eleven Vietnam plans 1000 stores

    7-Eleven Vietnam plans 1000 stores

    The world’s largest convenience store operator has confirmed the signing of a master franchisee in Vietnam and now plans 1000 stores over the next decade.

    7-Eleven Vietnam will be a partnership between the Japanese-headquartered US subsidiary and a new venture called Seven System Vietnam Co. While the US announcement did not identify the parties behind Seven System, Japan’s Nikkei news agency identified the partner as IFB Vietnam, which owns the Pizza Hut franchise in Vietnam.

    Nikkei says the first store will open in the nation’s commercial hub, Ho Chi Minh City, with a target of 100 stores within the first three years and 1000 within 10.

    7-Eleven has 56,400 stores globally and Vietnam will mark its 18th international market.

    Japan’s Seven & I Holdings has openly been assessing a Vietnam entry for some years. The convenience store sector is still at an early development stage with Circle K and FamilyMart the early entrants and Thailand’s B-smart, part of the Berlei Jucker Group, playing a cameo role.

    Given the booming convenience store market in other Southeast Asian countries, especially Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, 7-Eleven’s superior logistics, product mix, marketing and location selection should see it assume market leadership there well within the first 10 year window.

    7-Eleven’s US statement says, somewhat enigmatically, the new Vietnam business will “construct 7-Eleven stores [and] convert existing locations to the 7-Eleven brand” without disclosing which brand is to be swallowed up.

    While the initial stores will be company-owned, the company says it will eventually franchise stores to local entrepreneurs.

    “7-Eleven’s entry into the country aims to enhance the convenience-shopping experience for Vietnamese customers and contribute to modernizing small retailers in the world’s 13th most populous country.”

    7-Eleven US and its parent company, Seven-Eleven Japan, will provide start-up support for its newest master franchisee by assisting Seven System Vietnam in implementing 7-Eleven’s strategies of market concentration, team merchandising and item by item management. Vietnam marks 7-Eleven’s first new market in the Pacific Rim since it entered Indonesia in 2009.

    It already operates in the US, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan, China, The Philippines, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the UAE, where the first 7-Eleven store will open in the third quarter of this year.

  • Japan retail sales growth slows

    Japan retail sales growth slows

    Japan retail sales grew 0.9 per cent in June – ahead of expectations but much slower than May’s three per cent.

    Analysts had been tipping a rise of just 0.5 per cent after the relatively strong May growth.

    Government data showed rising fuel prices could have unduly affected the figures in the first half of the year – fuel accounts for about eight per cent of total retail sales, and fuel prices have risen by about six per cent since January.

    Capital Economics, in a research note, warned not to pay too much attention to retail sales data as a measure of consumer sentiment.

    “We would instead pay more attention to core household spending, due on Friday. This measure of consumer expenditure has done a good job lately in explaining moves in the Cabinet Office’s synthetic consumption expenditure, the monthly equivalent of private consumption as measured in the national accounts.”

    A Reuters survey of economists projects a 1.7 per cent growth in household spending year on year in June – far lower than the 4.8 per cent of May.

    Nevertheless, May’s retail spending increase marks the third month in a row of growth after mixed results for a year.

    In March, retail sales fell nine per cent, although that was largely due to an irregular March 2014 when consumers brought forward spending prior to a sales tax increase on April 1.

  • Big differences in Asian travel spending

    Big differences in Asian travel spending

    Koreans travel abroad most frequently, Chinese spent the most money and Japanese visit the most faraway places most often.

    Those are findings from a study by Visa card, 2015 Survey on Travel Plans, in which 13,603 people from 25 different countries shared information about their travels.

    According to the results, Koreans traveled an average of five times during the past two years, ranking the highest in travel frequency – well above the global average of three times.

    Around 90 percent of the Korean respondents answered they had travelled abroad within the past two years. But as travellers, Koreans seem to be of frugal mind when it comes to expenses. They spent an average of $1808, which was way below the global average ($2281). They also have a tendency to set a budget and stick to it. Korean travelers paid 46 per cent of their expenses before departure, and 75 per cent of the payments were made by credit card.

    On the other hand, the average travel expense for Chinese travelers was $4780 – more than double the global average. Unlike Koreans, Chinese people had a tendency to decide what they wanted to do on the trip first and then calculate the expenses.

    While 36 per cent of Korean travelers and 34 per cent of Chinese travellers visited Japan, 36 per cent of Japanese travellers visited the US, showing their preference for long distance travel. The average time taken to get to the destination was longer for Japanese travelers (nine hours), compared to eight hours for Chinese travellers and six hours for Korean travellers.

    The average travelling expense for Japanese was $3165, which was less than the average of Chinese.

    In terms of accommodation, 41 per cent of Korean travellers and 62 per cent of Chinese preferred hotels with more than four stars, while 49 per cent of Japanese preferred one to three star hotels.

    The portion of Koreans who preferred package tours (47 per cent) was similar to the portion of those who liked to travel freely (52 per cent). However, more than half of the Chinese (65 per cent) and Japanese (77 per cent) preferred tour packages.

    Ian Jamieson, head of Visa Korea, said it was impressive that Korean travellers prepare well and frequently go on trips and the purchasing power of Chinese travellers was also interesting.

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