Celestial Tiger Entertainment (CTE) has launched its flagship Chinese movie channel, Celestial Movies, on SK Broadband – a major pay TV platform in South Korea with over 3.8 million subscribers.
The channel is now available on SK Broadband’s linear service “B tv” as well as OTT services “B tv plus” and “oksusu”. The deal marks CTE’s first foray into South Korea.
“This launch in South Korea is a very important milestone for Celestial Tiger Entertainment as this marks the 16th country for our network footprint,” said Todd Miller, CEO of CTE.
Celestial Movies will be fully localized with Korean subtitles. The channel will offer Chinese blockbusters and iconic films covering a diverse range of genres and featuring superstars like Jet Li, Chow Yun Fat, Stephen Chow and Nicolas Tse.
Celestial Movies also airs special programming each month centered around themes such as tribute to stars, special holidays and particular genres. Beyond movies, the channel also presents interviews with renowned Chinese stars and directors.
Celestial Movies is CTE’s flagship Chinese movie channel in Asia. In Malaysia, Celestial Movies, Celestial Movies HD and Celestial Classic Movies continued to dominate the Chinese demographic as the top three most-watched regional movie channels among Astro Chinese 4+ audiences in the first six months of 2016. In Indonesia, Celestial Movies remained among the top four regional movie channels including Hollywood services.
Tesla Motors is preparing to open a second showroom in Korea in Gangnam, southern Seoul. Its first will open in the Starfield Hanam shopping mall in Gyeonggi in less than two months.
A lease on three floors of a five-story building in Cheongdam-dong, 131-11, known as Yeongdongdaero 730 under the new address system, was signed by Tesla Motors Korea on Sept. 1. Tesla will rent the building’s basement, first and second floors through Aug. 31, 2021. The rent is 500 million won ($439,059) for the entire period, the document shows.
The landlord is Bora Trading, a Seoul-based importer of Italian food products including the De Cecco pasta brand.
Tesla made it official Sept. 2 that it would open its first Korea showroom in Starfield Hanam, a shopping mall that was opened Sept. 9 by retail giant Shinsegae, by December. The announcement came 10 months after the American electric vehicle pioneer opened an office in Samseong-dong, southern Seoul.
Second showroom for Korea in a building in Cheongdam-dong, 131-11,
Tesla confirmed its rental in Gangnam.
“We have just registered a building on Yeongdong Boulevard,” said Atsuko Doi, Tesla’s head of communications for Asia Pacific, in an email. She added the company hasn’t “planned in detail how we use it.”
Regarding rumors among auto enthusiasts in Korea that Tesla may choose not to open the showroom in the 212-square-meter (2,281-square-foot) space in Starfield Hanam, she described them as “incorrect.”
When visited on Monday by the Korea JoongAng Daily, the space Tesla has rented from Bora Trading was already under remodeling. Previously an Italian restaurant, the old interior was torn down completely. One of the workers on the scene said they are working on an automobile showroom without elaborating further. The process is expected to be finished in a month, which would indicate it could open in November at the earliest.
There is speculation Tesla will open two showrooms simultaneously. The one in Gangnam will be more symbolic of Tesla’s attempt to be considered a luxury brand.
Cheongdam-dong is Seoul’s swankiest area full of luxury-brand stores including Dior, Cartier and Hermes. Showrooms for Lamborghini, Ferrari and Bentley are less than 1 kilometer from Tesla’s space. Korea’s top automaker, Hyundai Motor, is scheduled to complete by 2021 a 105-story new headquarters just 1.6 kilometers farther down Yeongdong Boulevard.
The building in Gangnam has been optimized to serve as a car showroom. It was established in 2004 by KUZ Plus, which was the official importer of Ferrari and Maserati until 2006. The floors are framed by huge glass windows to display vehicles.
In Asia, the California-based company led by business magnate Elon Musk opened its first showroom in October 2010 in Tokyo’s trendy Aoyama district. Now there are three in Japan. Tesla runs 21 stores in China, three in Hong Kong and one in Taiwan, which opened in July.
Around 15 convenience stores were opened in South Korea every day on average last year.
And the Korea convenience store boom is worrying a ruling lawmaker, who has urged the nation’s fair trade watchdog to seek measures to avoid excessive competition in the market.
According to the data compiled by Rep. Yoo Ui-dong of the Saenuri Party, 5508 convenience stores were newly established in 2015 alone, casting concerns over a potential oversupply of such shops in the domestic market.
Yoo said while the numbers may seem to reflect the boom in the industry, such a sharp gain may have an adverse impact on the livelihoods of the shop owners.
“Currently, we do not have a law that can regulate the opening of a new convenience store right next to another,” Yoo said.
“The Fair Trade Commission needs to come up with measures to limit the number of new shops.”
Hyundai Motor reached a tentative wage pact with its South Korean labor union on Wednesday after the worst strikes in the automaker’s history disrupted output at its domestic production base.
The agreement is subject to a vote by almost 50,000 union members on Thursday, who rejected an earlier deal in August because of it was less generous than the previous year’s package.
The union has held 24 rounds of full-scale or partial strikes since July 19, preventing the automaker from making 131,851 vehicles worth more than 2.9 trillion won ($2.60 billion), the government said last week.
“The company and the union have formed a common ground that we should prevent further catastrophe as a prolonged strike has had a substantial impact on not only the company but the regional and national economy,” Hyundai Motor said in a statement.
Under the latest agreement, Hyundai will increase basic monthly pay by 72,000 won; give each worker a one-off payment of 3.3 million won as well as bonus and incentives payments worth 3.5 times their basic monthly wage; and each worker will also receive 10 Hyundai shares, the company said.
The deal came after the government threatened to intervene to suspend strike action, criticizing the union for walkouts despite relatively high wages at the automaker.
The prolonged labor disputes coupled with sluggish domestic demand have prompted some analysts to cut earnings forecasts for the July to September quarter which the company is scheduled to report late this month.
Twelve out of 25 net profit estimates have been revised down in the past 30 days, pushing the average estimate 12 percent lower, according to Thomson Reuters StarMine.
Hyundai Motor, which is the world’s fifth-biggest carmaker including affiliate Kia Motors (000270.KS), has been hit by strikes in all but four of the union’s 29-year history though it usually made up for lost production by the end of each year.
Specialising in Japanese brands, the mall’s initial catalogue includes mainly toys, fishing gear, cosmetics, food, watches and fashion. About 100 Japanese companies have opened stores on the mall, offering about 15,000 items.
Shipping is available to more than 120 countries and regions, and as part of the opening campaign free international shipping is offered for orders worth JPY 20,000 (US$190) or more until the end of this month.
As well as credit cards, the mall supports payment by AliPay, PayPal, UnionPay and WeChat. The website is available in English, simplified and traditional Chinese, Indonesian, Korean and Thai. Purchases can be made by smartphone, and all orders include tracking and shipping insurance, plus delivery from Japan.
Discovery Japan Mall representative Norio Itabashi says many hidden Japanese products do not reach the overseas market, and the mall is working with craftsmen and manufacturers to sell unique products.
DigitalStudio was established in 2003 with the aim of “continuing to bring Japan to the world”.
Internet celebrities in China, known as “Wang Hong” there, have been in the limelight among Korea’s cosmetics and retail industry officials, amid a chilly relationship between the two countries. Bilateral relations have soured since Korea decided to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system.
The online stars, who have millions of followers on the internet, exert a strong influence over young Chinese people. According to CBN Data, a commercial data company affiliated with Alibaba, the “Wang Hong economy” is set to be worth 58 billion yuan ($8.7 billion) in 2016, more than China’s box office in 2015.
Korea’s cosmetics industry officials have recently paid attention to them, as more have promoted K-beauty fever in China, evaluating or recommending Korean cosmetics online.
Some cosmetics companies have even invited them to Korea to promote their products.
AmorePacific invited some to Korea in March and September this year to promote its oriental herbal shampoo “Ryoe.” After the invitation, AmorePacific’s shampoo sales in China grew seven times year-on-year. LG Household and Health Care invited nine celebrities to Korea on Sept. 22 to promote its cosmetics brand SU:M37. The Face Shop invited five others and introduced their products to them earlier this year.
Retail industry officials are looking for opportunities from the celebrities as well.
Aekyung invited 10 in May to promote its cosmetics brand “Luna,” and HDC Shilla I’PARK Duty Free hosted an overnight trip for five to sightsee spots in Yongsan, central Seoul. Shinsegae broadcasted its “K-beauty fashion week” event to China through the channels of a few of the internet celebrities and Galleria Duty Free Shop employed two to promote the store in China through their social media.
On Oct. 3, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Cho Yoon-sun said, “We would like you Wang Hongs, who lead the trend in China, to be a bridge between Korea and China,” meeting six celebrities at Jongno Hanok Village in central Seoul.
South Korea’s largest retailer, GS Retail, opened its first supermarket in Cibubur, East Jakarta, on Friday (07/10) in partnership with Indonesian property developer Sinar Mas Land, to target the country’s upper-middle class.
“We decided to choose Legenda Wisata for GS Retail’s first supermarket because Cibubur is home to middle- and high-income families,” GS Retail senior executive Won Yong Kim said in a statement.
The supermarket offers a wide range of food, household, electronic, beauty and hygiene products, as well as the popular South Korean bakery shop Tous le Jours and Indonesian café Bengawan Solo Coffee.
The 2,913 square-meter supermarket, which is located inside the Legenda Wisata housing estate, was constructed by Sinar Mas Land.
In October 2014, Sinar Mas Land was assigned to build a megastore for one of the Southeast Asia’s largest retailers, Courts Asia Limited, in Kota Harapan Indah residential estate in Bekasi, West Java, and in January 2015, to build another in BSD City in Tangerang, Banten.
Established in 1971, GS Retail has 11,000 convenience stores and 290 supermarkets in South Korea. It booked $5.7 billion in revenue last year.
The company has had a presence in Indonesia since March 2014.
The Citilink airline company will soon serve flights from Hang Nadim International Airport here to China and South Korea, according to the airports general manager, Suwarso.
“Two international flights from Batam to China and South Korea have been approved and will soon be launched early next year, probably in February 2017,” Suwarso remarked here on Tuesday.
According to him, the opening of two routes is part of an effort by the Riau Islands provincial government to increase the number of tourist visits, especially from East Asia.
With the two new international flights, the Riau Islands provincial government hopes tourist arrivals will increase to enjoy the great tourism potential in the province.
He said Citilink will operate Airbus A320 aircraft, with the capacity to accommodate 180 passengers, to transport tourists from China and South Korea to Riau Islands Province.
“The Riau Islands province has formed a partnership with the tour and travel associations in China and Korea. So, with this partnership, these Batam-China and Korea routes could run smoothly,” stated Suwarso.
He added that Indonesias free visa policy is also applicable to China and South Korea, so tourists from these countries will not need visas when visiting Indonesia.
“Hang Nadim International Airport is open 24 hours and ready to serve international flights, so there is no problem anymore,” Suwarso noted.
He said the airport had an international flights lounge area, with a capacity of up to 600 seats.
International flights from this airport are currently served only by Malindo Air, travelling to Malaysia once per day.
“If the international flights area becomes crowded, we are ready to increase the capacity of the international waiting room,” remarked Suwarso.
South Korea’s Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning will host next year’s ITU Telecom World conference in the city of Busan.
The event will take place on September 25-28. It will include an international exhibition designed to showcase new technologies in areas including smart cities, 5G, IoT, automation and AI.
An accompanying forum will involve high-level discussions exploring the technologies, policies and strategies driving the digital economy, as well as the ICT-related efforts to meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
In addition, the annual ITU Telecom World Awards will recognize innovation in ICT solutions with social impact from companies of any size, from SMEs ranging up to large corporations.
“The Republic of Korea has been a terrific partner of ITU for many years,” ITU secretary-general Houlin Zhao said.
“Busan will be a great setting for ITU Telecom World 2017 to continue our mission of promoting cross-sector partnerships in ICTs to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.”
ITU Telecom World 2016 will take place in Bangkok on November 14-17.
South Korea continued to have the highest average connection speed in the world at 27 Mbps while Singapore maintained its position as the country with the highest average peak connection speed at 157.3 Mbps.
Both countries, however, registered declines in average connection speed and average peak connection speed, respectively, at 7.2% (South Korea) and 7.1% (Singapore) compared to the first quarter.
Meanwhile, the global average connection speed decreased 2.3% quarter over quarter to 6.1 Mbps, while the global average peak connection speed increased 3.7% to 36 Mbps. The 10 Mbps broadband adoption rate grew 0.7% quarter over quarter, but 15 Mbps and 25 Mbps broadband adoption rates fell 0.8% and 2.1%, respectively.
In Asia-Pacific, the report noted that 14 of the 15 surveyed countries had average connection speeds above the 4 Mbps broadband threshold. Indonesia registered a 148% gain in average connection speed in the second quarter and the only country to see its speed double compared to the previous year.
In the mobile space, Akamai reported that average mobile connection speeds ranged from a high of 23.1 Mbps in the United Kingdom to a low of 2.2 Mbps in Venezuela. The report noted that in the upcoming quarters, it expects to see mobile speeds continue to climb as 4G LTE becomes deployed more broadly worldwide.
In Asia-Pacific, South Korea (11.1 Mbps) also led the world in average mobile connection in the second quarter of 2016, followed by New Zealand (9.8 Mbps), Japan (9.5 Mbps), Taiwan (9.3 Mbps), Australia (8.9 Mbps), and the Philippines (8.5 Mbps).
Korean retail giants Lotte and Shinsegae are competing to improve employment conditions for women.
The two companies are pushing forward with efforts to provide more opportunities for women to move up in their corporate hierarchies and implementing women-friendly systems as part of their company policies. Korean gender employment issues are of growing concern in a traditionally male-dominated business culture.
According to industry watchers, Shinsegae’s discount store franchise E-Mart instituted a shortened work-hour system for all of its pregnant employees starting in April, with employees eligible regardless of whether they apply for the benefits or not, and offering them 100 per cent of their wages. Under the arrangement, pregnant employees have their work day shortened by two hours.
The system had been difficult for female workers to take advantage of given both the company atmosphere which tended to discourage the practice, as well as reduced wages, said a company official.
In addition, E-Mart announced in March a new leave of absence policy for employees having difficulties with pregnancy, and it also plans to implement its own maternity leave system that allows employees to take up to a year of maternity leave, on top of the legally-guaranteed period of 20 months (eight months for maternity, 12 for childcare). The latter has already been implemented by another Shinsegae franchise, Shinsegae Department Store.
In contrast, Lotte’s women-friendly policies focus more on employing a greater number of women as new recruits.
Since 2006, Lotte has been increasing the number of female employees at its affiliate enterprises by hiring more women through its recruiting process. In 2015, 35 per cent of new recruits were women, a rate that the group plans to increase to 40 per cent this year.
Furthermore, Lotte also operates a special recruiting platform specific to retired female officers from the military, an endeavor which took off in 2011 with cooperation from the defense ministry.
As a result, the number of women at Lotte with positions as section chiefs or higher now stands at 870, an increase from 95 in 2008, and 19 of the group’s board members are also female.
Meanwhile, Lotte established eight additional daycare centers for its employees in the first half of 2016 for working mothers, while allowing women to automatically take their year-long childcare leave right after their maternity leave, so they won’t have to face unnecessary guilt or unwelcome comments from colleagues or bosses.
“Chairman Shin Dong-bin seems to be taking extra attention to nurture female employees and their talent,” said a Lotte official. “Our goal is to create a work environment where women can work without facing gender discrimination.”
South Korea was the world’s top market for online grocery sales for the 12 months preceding June 2016.
This was the conclusion from the third annual Future of e-Commerce in FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) study by Kantor WorldPanel, a firm that tracks consumer buying behavior worldwide.
The report noted that sales of groceries through e-commerce platforms reached $48 billion in the 12 months to June 2016.
E-commerce now accounts for 4.4% of all FMCG sales. However, despite the growth of e-commerce, the growth of the entire FMCG market was flat performance during the same period, increasing just 1.6%.
“FMCG growth is slowing, but our data shows that people are looking for more convenience, which can be met by shopping online. Grocery e-commerce, although currently small, with only one in four people shopping online, is growing fast,” said Stéphane Roger, the global shopper and retail director at Kantar Worldpanel.
“We forecast it will grow to 9% of the market and be worth $150 billion by 2025. With new entrants such as Amazon expanding rapidly, the industry is facing a shake-up,” he said.
E-commerce growth is also unequal, differing from country to country. Although connectivity plays a part, it is not clear whether it is the primary reason for the growth.
For example, while South Korea is the world’s largest online FMCG market by value share (16.6%), US consumers only bought 1.4% of groceries online.
Meanwhile, China’s netizens are catching up. The report noted that the country saw the biggest growth in the last 12 months, 47% – to a value share of 4.2%.
Meanwhile, Europeans have a relatively low adoption of e-commerce in all countries except the UK with 6.9% of the market and France which has 5.3%.
According to Kantar WorldPanel, France is a relatively unique e-commerce market with their success with the Drive model, where online purchases are collected from the store.
Other conclusions:
Online buyers tend to continue to keep buying online after their first purchase.
Online buyers are less impulsive, based on comparative research across UK, France and China.
50% of FMCG purchases in China is on beauty.
Online buyers splurge more on a single visit online.
55% of online shoppers tend to use the same shopping list for the next purchase.
Despite shortlisting several bidders for the McDonald’s Singapore and McDonald’s Malaysia franchise rights, Malaysian subsidiary Golden Arches Restaurants says it is not in a hurry to sell.
MD Azmir Jaafar says the deal is being discussed with the shortlisted bidders, but no time frame has been set to complete the transaction.
“We want to find the right partner who understands the local market and can ensure continuity of McDonald’s value and tradition, as well as be backed by strong capital.”
He says it has always been the group’s idea to sell the franchise rights to a local partner, which would be more efficient than management by a corporate entity.
McDonald’s Corp announced a revamp of its ownership models throughout Asia in July, including plans to offload its China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea master franchises.
CEO Steve Easterbrook’s plan covers about 4000 restaurants with an ultimate goal of having at least 95 per cent of the group’s restaurants franchised.
Meanwhile, Azmir says that as the Malaysian deal is a business transaction “we will ensure the valuation is done properly”.
“Still potential”
There are 260 McDonald’s restaurants in Malaysia, with Golden Arches managing 200 and the rest in the hands of a third party. Though Malaysia has a population of only about 30 million people, which is relatively smaller than China and Indonesia, Azmir still sees huge potential in the market.
“There are still many underserved areas,” he says. “As the government is improving the infrastructure in Sabah and Sarawak, I think we can expand our footprint into Kota Kinabalu and Kuching and other cities.”
Azmir says the company intends to open 30 stores in the Klang Valley, Johor, Melaka and Penang as well as Sabah and Sarawak in the next three years. Five to seven new stores are targeted for this year, with one in Presint 2, Putrajaya, and another in Chukai, Terengganu, already open.
“Our expansion plan is focussed on stand-alone stores as this model works very well, especially in terms of accessibility and convenience. Our ultimate goal is to have 500 stores in the country.”
Azmir says the company also intends to renovate and remodel up to 30 outlets, each to cost about RM1 million (US$241,700). They have been open for nearly 30 years and will also have their technology upgraded.
Combined, McDonald’s Singapore and McDonald’s Malaysia have enjoyed record sales in the past few months and is still targeting higher double-digit growth this year.
Even following the introduction of the goods and services tax in Malaysia in April last year, Azmir says the company raised its selling prices by only about 1 per cent to offset the higher raw-material cost.
He believes McDonald’s has captured up to 42 per cent market share in the Malaysian fast-food market.
Japanese retail holding company Fast Retailing intends to have 1000 shops for its low-cost GU brand overseas in 10 years, up from about 10 foreign stores now.
GU sells clothing often priced at about half that of stablemate Uniqlo.
Fast Retailing will expand GU first in Asia, where Uniqlo has been successful, says chairman/president Tadashi Yanai.
After increasing its GU outlets in Taiwan and China, Fast Retailing will turn its attention to South Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore for growth in the next five years.
GU’s first overseas store opened in 2013. In Japan, the brand’s low prices and sensitivity to fashion trends have helped store numbers grow to around 350.
Meanwhile, Uniqlo now has more stores overseas than in Japan, with plans to set up around 100 shops a year in China.
Other brands under Fast Retailing’s wing include Comptoir des Cotonniers, J Brand and Princesse Tam-Tam.
GM Korea Co., the local unit of U.S. automaker General Motors Co., said Tuesday its sales dropped over 12 percent from a year earlier last month as both its domestic sales and exports suffered heavy losses.
In September, the company sold 45,113 vehicles globally, down 12.4 percent from the same month last year, the company said in a press release.
Domestic sales tumbled 14.1 percent on-year to 14,078 cars, while exports retreated 11.16 percent to 31,035 vehicles.
In the first nine months of the year, the company’s global sales slipped 4.4 percent to 434,573 cars despite a 12.3 percent on-year spike in domestic sales as its outbound shipments plunged 10 percent on-year to 306,583 units over the cited period.
