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Tag: lifestyle

  • Catwalk to be presented in Dear So Cute China store

    Catwalk to be presented in Dear So Cute China store

    Design firm Lukstudio has created a theatrical-style shop and cafe as a promotional and retail space for fashion platform Dear So Cute in Chinese Haining. Inspired by South Korean cafe/fashion trends, the design is intended to communicate the brand’s values and showcase products to younger consumers. The store layout features a backstage rigging system to adjust display features as with a theatre stage, and incorporates elements of the Hainingese shadow puppet tradition in its design.

    According to a report, the retail space emphasises the brand’s “forever young energy” with a minimal, contemporary look and pink highlights, serving as a neutral backdrop for the activities going on in the space. One standout feature is a stage in the fitting room area for customers to “catwalk” before friends while deciding on purchases.

    “In today’s retail environment, most people shop online for the convenience and the reassurance of the review system,” Lukstudio’s founder Christina Luk said. “However, I believe when it comes to delivering a brand’s identity and values, the physical store is much more effective.”

    View the store design in the gallery below (7 images) :

  • Mumuso to open 300 stores in India by 2022

    Mumuso to open 300 stores in India by 2022

    Korean lifestyle brand Mumuso has announced its plan to open 300 stores across India by 2022. The lifestyle brand, currently present in 30 countries, entered the Indian market in September with a flagship store in Kolkata’s Park Street. “Mumuso is eyeing the Indian market aggressively with new stores in different parts of the country” said Raunak Agarwal, Managing Director of Mumuso India.

    “Mumuso is eyeing the Indian market aggressively with new stores in different parts of the country” said Raunak Agarwal, Managing Director of Mumuso India.

    “India has seen a sharp rise in the demand for lifestyle products in the recent years”, he added.

    Mr. Agarwal said each Mumuso store will offer 1200 unique items across eight categories and there will be an investment of Rs 80 lakh to Rs 1.2 crore in opening the stores.

    The next stores to open will reportedly be in Hyderabad, Siliguri, Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Surat, Durgapur and Chenna.

    Out of the 300 stores planned, 10 are said to be launched in the current calendar year.

    Mr. Agarwal added the company would take the franchisee route to achieve its target of 300 stores, but the tier 1 and tier 2 cities will have at least one flagship Mumuso store.

    Company officials said the brand was expected to grow at a 12 to 13% rate in eastern India in the next four years.

    Mumuso currently has only one warehouse of 50,000 square feet on the Bombay Road in West Bengal but it plans on having more warehouses with future expansions.

  • 7-Eleven Korea launches locker service

    7-Eleven Korea launches locker service

    7-Eleven South Korea has launched an unmanned locker service called Seven Locker at two stores in Seoul.

    The initiative is part of the company’s effort to diversify operations and generate more profits for its convenience stores.

    The Seven Locker trial operations started at two stores in Seoul’s Hongdae and Jongno districts, with another eight on track to open by year’s end to better gauge customer response and growth potential. The plan calls for 100 lockers to be placed at 7-Eleven stores across the country in the first half of next year, with the service to be extended to all key stores going forward.

    The lockers will be set up near tourist attractions and entertainment districts where there is demand for such services among locals and foreigners alike.

    The convenience store chain said depending on the size of the space, storage fees will range from 2000 won (US$1.76) to 4000 won for a four-hour period, with users allowed to make payments using their credit cards.

    “The lockers can create more profit for stores, while providing a differentiated service to our customers,” a local 7-Eleven executive said.

  • India’s Spencer’s opens 9 stores in 90 days

    India’s Spencer’s opens 9 stores in 90 days

    Spencer’s Retail, the multi-format retailer from RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group is on an expansion spree. It is presently focussing to expand the store count in existing clusters in east, south and north of India.nIn this effort, Spencer’s essentially opened one store in every 10 days and thereby augmented the retail network of the chain recently by adding 9 new stores in 90 days. With this expansion, the store count of Spencer’s has now reached 146 across 37 cities.

    The strength of Spencer’s lies in its retail network which is constantly growing. It is an endeavour of Spencer’s to become more accessible to the customers and after receiving positive feedback from the clusters it operates in, the chain is poised to explore new territories.

    In this phase, Spencer’s launched stores in existing cities and its adjoining areas like Rajarhat in Kolkata, Maheshtala (South 24 Parganas), City Mall (Gomti Nagar) in Lucknow, Raheja Mall (Sector 47) in Gurugram, Sector 48 in Noida, Madeenaguda in Hyderabad, and at Howrah’s Aurobindo Mall.

    The size of these stores varies between 2,000 sq. ft. to 15,000 sq. ft.. The stores offer a wide range of assortment from different categories including Fresh Fruits & Vegetables, Fish & Meat, Staples and Groceries, FMCG, Dairy and Frozen products, Organic Food items, Dry Fruits, Apparels, Electronics and Electricals and Home Essentials. The product range in each of the new store has been meticulously planned to suit the tastes and preferences of the local neighbourhood.

    According to the Spencer’s spokesperson, “To consolidate the business, Spencer’s is dedicatedly selecting 360 degree catchments where the customers are looking for aspirational products in an affordable range. The expansion of Spencer’s currently is focussed at metros as well as in Tier I and II cities. In this FY we are further concentrating at spreading our network in the profitable zones like West Bengal, Delhi NCR, East UP and down south in Hyderabad and Chennai. In terms of product range, with more than 25,000 SKU’s (Stock Keeping Units), Spencer’s is constantly evolving in terms of its offing at each store. It is not only limited to food category but Spencer’s has extended a similar experience in the non-food and general merchandise space.”

    Spencer’s has been redefining the Indian retail landscape since 1863 and with the brand proposition ‘Makes Fine Living Affordable’, it continues to inculcate the same kind of trust and patronage among its millions of consumers across India.

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  • ‘In startup world, being seen as crazy is normal’: Grab co-founder

    ‘In startup world, being seen as crazy is normal’: Grab co-founder

    Startup entrepreneurs need passion and should take risks and make sacrifices to succeed, says Tan Hooi Ling, co-founder of Grab. She said passion and commitment, not money making, should drive a startup, and that it was okay to be considered crazy. The co-founder of Grab was speaking at the closing ceremony of the 2018 Startup Vietnam contest in Ho Chi Minh City on November 15,

    She traced Grab’s journey to becoming one of the major ride-sharing services in the world. It all started seven years ago when she and co-founder Anthony Tan spoke about deploying a mobile call service. But no one could imagine what the application would be like and some even called the idea crazy.

    The skepticism and protestations did not dissuade the Grab team, which continued to plow ahead on its difficult journey.”When we shared our idea, they raised their eyebrows and asked, ‘What? What exactly do you want to do? How does this work?’”

    One of the big difficulties she and her colleagues faced frequently was finding partners and building a team with a vision and belief in the future of the startup.

    “At first, not many people understood our model, so we had to look around the world for engineers, scientists.”

    Grab is now present in 235 cities in eight Southeast Asian countries. Its application has been downloaded 125 million times, meaning every fourth smartphone user is a Grab user. Its annual revenue now tops a billion dollars.

    “It was the result of a grueling seven-year journey where we tried, failed, and stood up again so many times. This is an experience most startups would encounter.”

    A new idea could be considered crazy today, but make a tremendous impact on the world tomorrow; that is the key to innovation, Tan Hooi Ling said.

    She said another lesson to be learned from Grab is to know how to stop and ask questions whenever there is trouble or a stumble, instead of continuing with the same strategy.

    After each spill, the startup needs to calmly reflect on what has happened, why the failure, what is not going in the right direction, and how to change, she said.

    After drawing lessons, the entrepreneurs must pull themselves up and continue with their journey, she said. But that perseverance should be accompanied by a passion and the courage to take risks and sacrifice time, effort, money, and energy to realize the dream.

    “Do not start a business just because you want to make more money or you will lose a lot before seeing the light. Do it when and only when your heart races every day and when you think you have to achieve it completely and at any cost.”

    “If someone says you are crazy, let it go and move on. In startup world, being seen as crazy is normal.”

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  • Walmart China tests same-day delivery from Dada

    Walmart China tests same-day delivery from Dada

    Walmart China has begun testing same-day grocery delivery in its Xiangmihu store. The new Walmart To Go service is available within a WeChat mini-program, following Walmart’s partnership with online social networking provider Tencent earlier this year. It is currently undergoing trial with future rollout pending feedback from customers who opt in to the service.

    Those ordering from the nearly 8000 SKUs available on the app can receive delivery in as little as one hour via a service provided by Dada.

    Another of Walmart’s new mini-programs being tested at the branch displays a digital map that shows in-store shoppers inventory location and stock status.

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  • Dolce & Gabbana dropped by Lane Crawford, Alibaba, JD.com and Yoox after racism scandal

    Dolce & Gabbana has cancelled a high-profile catwalk show in Shanghai following an outcry over what many in China perceived to be a racist marketing campaign.

    The Italian brand products have now been dropped by e-commerce giants Alibaba, JD and Yoox Net-A-Porter.

    Leading Chinese e-commerce platforms Alibaba and JD.com were joined by Suning, VIPshop, Secoo and Netease in dropping the Italian fashion house’s products from sale.

    Hong Kong-based luxury department store operator Lane Crawford has also joined Chinese retailers in dropping Dolce & Gabbana products after it offended Chinese partners and internet users this week.

    Andrew Keith, president of Lane Crawford, told the Post: “With respect to our customers, we have taken the decision to remove Dolce & Gabbana from all stores in China, online and in Hong Kong.”

    The decision would take effect at 1pm on Friday, Lane Crawford said.

    Amazon China and Yoox Net-A-Porter have also removed products, with the latter dropping the brand from its Net-A-Porter, Mr Porter and Yoox.com platforms.

    Meanwhile, high-profile Chinese celebrities and KOLs including actors Li Bingbing, Chen Kun, Diliraba, Zhang Ziyi and actor-singer Huang Xiaoming were among a host of stars distancing themselves from the brand and vowing not to buy D&G products.

    A video posted on Weibo Monday of a Chinese model attempting to eat Italian food with chopsticks was taken down after less than 24 hours, but widely shared on both Chinese social media platforms and Instagram.

    The social media storm was made worse by comments attributed to Stefano Gabbana and Dolce & Gabbana’s official Instagram accounts on Wednesday, the day the brand’s #DGTheGreatShow catwalk presentation was scheduled to take place in Shanghai.

    In what Dolce & Gabbana claims was the result of a hack, the brand’s social media accounts featured derogatory comments about China and Chinese internet users.

    Though quickly removed, screenshots of the comments were widely shared on Chinese social media, along with the trending hashtag #BoycottDolce. The Weibo hashtag #DGTheGreatShowCancelled has been read 540 million times, and mentioned in 74,000 discussions.

    Show invitees have been informed that the 500-look runway event will no longer go ahead.

    China Bentley Modelling agency released an official statement saying 24 of their models who were booked to walk in D&G’s first Shanghai fashion show were boycotting the event.

    The Chinese government also stepped in with the Cultural and Tourism Department ordering Dolce & Gabbana to cancel the event just a few hours before it was scheduled to take place.

    Chinese consumers have flooded social media platforms Weibo and WeChat criticising the brand and posting videos and images of D&G products being destroyed, burned and used to clean floors and line animal litter trays. Security guards and police officers have been stationed outside Dolce & Gabbana stores in Beijing and Shanghai.

    This marks the second high-profile outcry over racist messaging from Dolce & Gabbana in only 18 months. A previous #DGLovesChina campaign depicted Beijing in a way that Chinese internet users felt looked backwards and underdeveloped.

    Both Gabbana and co-founder Domenico Dolce have been accused of making politically insensitive statements, from referring to babies conceived by in vitro fertilisation as “synthetic”, to refusing to support the right of gay parents to adopt.

    The duo has also described gladiator sandals as “slave sandals” and were quick to endorse First Lady Melania Trump.

    Gabbana in particular has a history of posting insensitive comments on social media, and came under fire for calling Selena Gomez “ugly” on Instagram in June, and the Kardashian family “the most cheap people in the world” in July.

    Though the designer duo have been known for using social media to voice their controversial opinions, upsetting Chinese consumers could have far-reaching commercial consequences.

    According to Bain & Company’s latest report on the luxury market, Chinese consumers account for an estimated 33 percent of global luxury goods spend, a share that is likely to hit 46 percent by 2025.

    SEE ALSO : How is China revolutionizing retail?

    Seeing as Chinese support can make or break a brand’s performance, how the label manages the controversy will be critical for its future success in the market.

    Dolce & Gabbana could not yet be reached in China or Milan for comment.

    According to a post published on Dolce & Gabbana’s Weibo account on November 21, the event has been rescheduled, and the brand has apologised for the inconvenience caused.

    Dolce & Gabbana reposted Gabbana’s ‘Not Me’ screenshot on its Weibo account, accompanied by the following statement, which mirrors the brand’s post on Instagram: “Our Instagram account has been hacked. So has the account of Stefano Gabbana. Our legal office is urgently investigating. We are very sorry for any distress caused by these unauthorised posts, comments and direct messages. We have nothing but respect for China and the people of China.”

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  • Moschino launches limited edition for Hong Kong

    Moschino launches limited edition for Hong Kong

    November 15, Harbour City welcomed a new pop-up store by Moschino with an exclusive collection designed  by Jeremy Scott, Creative Director of the brand, for Hong Kong only. Colorful, ironic, super glamorous and absolutely Moschino: these are the qualities of the collection made exclusively for Hong Kong. The collection represents the vibrant city and reflects the pop soul of Moschino’s Creative Director.

    It is a triumph of colors. 12 pieces each adorned with fun multicolored patches: two T-shirts and a T-shirt dress, a hoodie, a sweater, a bomber jacket, 4 denim pieces, a backpack and a bag.

    The Moschino logo is revisited in a super colorful version along with iconic graphics like the peace sign. Each letter and each symbol becomes a silk satin patch, applied to the pieces using a special zig-zag stitch technique and made even more ironic with graphics created in thread and crystals.

    Moschino Hong Kong Exclusive Collection is available exclusively at Moschino stores in Hong Kong.

    It is an incredible moment for the brand, that has been gaining popularity among Millennials and GEN Z thanks to the ironic touch brought by Jeremy Scott.

    Earlier this year, Moschino gathered attention globally for its capsule collections in collaboration with H&M and Disney with celebrities such as Gigi Hadid and Naomi Campbell.

    In the run-up to the official release, Moschino’s Creative Director Jeremy Scott put on a celeb-tastic fashion show in New York. During the show, Gigi walked the runway in a hoodie printed with Moschino’s signature chain-print alongside her sister Bella in a zip-front black leather mini dress. Naomi Campbell closed the show in a silver sequinned hoodie dress and over-the-knee black quilted boots.

    To catch momentum with the success of capsule collections, Moschino has also announced the launch of a new retail concept starting from the stores in Paris, which focuses on the creation of a design that facilitates the rotation of different collections throughout the year.

    The design, thought to be a blank canvas ready to host diverse concepts at the same time, will be experimented in Europe to appeal to the new generation of customers.

    If it is true that in the digital era,  the instant generation is no longer attracted by what is the promise of timeliness, limited editions aimed to satisfy a short-term desire of being among the happy few to win, it might be the key to steal the heart of GEN Z.

  • Jumbo Seafood sales boosted by Thailand, China

    Jumbo Seafood sales boosted by Thailand, China

    Singapore-headquartered multi-dining concept food and beverage operator Jumbo Seafood has opened its first franchised seafood restaurant in Bangkok. The 9500sqft venue is the group’s fifth franchised location worldwide, with other outlets established in Fuzhou, Ho Chi Minh City, Taipei and Taichung. There are now 16 Jumbo seafood restaurants across Asia. The new Bangkok restaurant is operated by C J Seafood Co under a 10 year term at the IconSiam mega-development complex.

    Jumbo’s CEO and executive director Ang Kiam Meng said: “Having a presence in Bangkok allows us to bring our signature Singapore heritage cuisine to yet another Asian destination.”

    Jumbo released its unaudited end-of-year financial report at the end of September, showing an increase in revenue by 5.5 per cent compared to last year’s results. Revenue from operations in Singapore increased by SG$2.1 million (US$1.53 million) over the period, a figure dwarfed by the group’s $5.8 million ($4.2 million) increase out of Mainland China.

    Jumbo’s reported gross profit hit $96 million ($69.9 million) this financial year, up 4.4 per cent from $91.9 million ($66.9 million) in last year. Profit attributable to owners of the company, however, decreased by 23.8 per cent ($3.5 million/$2.55 million) to $11 million ($8 million) this year.

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  • Long Thanh Airport could host long haul or beyond-ASEAN flights

    Long Thanh Airport could host long haul or beyond-ASEAN flights

    Several options, including exclusive servicing of long-haul flights, have been proposed for the Long Thanh Airport planned in southern Vietnam. The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) has recommended two broad options for dividing traffic between the existing Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City and the Long Thanh Airport that will built in the neighboring province of Dong Nai.

    The first option that it has suggested to the Transport Ministry is that Long Thanh will handle all international flights of more than 1,000 km, with the rest flying into Tan Son Nhat.

    For domestic flights, carriers can choose where they want to be based.

    The second option is to allocate all flights from outside Southeast Asia to Long Thanh.

    The allocation criteria can be reconsidered after five years of actual operation, the CAAV proposed.

    Carriers Jetstar Pacific and Vietjet have supported the second option.

    Vietnam Airlines wants to use Long Thanh for all international flights and certain domestic flights and Tan Son Nhat only for domestic flights.

    The preliminary feasibility report on the Long Thanh airport by a joint venture between firms from Japan, France and Vietnam had suggested that all budget carriers could fly into Tan Son Nhat, and all full-service airlines use Long Thanh.

    But CAAV executives said the law does not distinguish between full-service and low-cost airlines, making the suggestion impractical.

    In the communication it sent recently to the Transport Ministry, the CAAV suggested operating international and domestic flights from both airports, ensuring their equal and non-discriminatory use.

    An aviation specialist who did not want to be named pointed out that airlines would prefer to operate from Tan Son Nhat because of its high capacity and proximity to downtown Ho Chi Minh City.

    The ministry needs to allocate flights in such a way as to ensure both airports benefit equally and the load on Tan Son Nhat eases. The allocation of domestic flights to Tan Son Nhat and international flights to Long Thanh is not feasible since airlines fly the same aircraft on both international and domestic routes, meaning they would often have to fly empty between the two airports, the specialist noted.

    He said the distribution of routes should also depend on the growth of the aviation market.

    Situated 40 kilometers east of Ho Chi Minh City, the Long Thanh airport is expected to take up the overflow from the largest existing airport in the country, the Tan Son Nhat International Airport.

    The Tan Son Nhat International Airport now receives 32 million passengers a year, far beyond its designed capacity of 25 million.

    Long Thanh, to be built in three phases over three decades, was recently listed as one of the world’s 16 most exciting airport projects.

    The first phase is scheduled for completion in 2025 when it will be able to handle 25 million passengers a year. The next two phases will be built in 2030-2035 and 2040-2050.

    It will have a capacity of 100 million passengers and five million tons of cargo when completed.

    The Airports Corporation of Vietnam said airports had handled 87 million passengers in the first 10 months of this year, up 12 percent year-on-year.

    The number of international passengers rose by 23 percent and domestic passengers by 7 percent.

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  • Food firms hope to feast on snack sales in Vietnam

    Food firms hope to feast on snack sales in Vietnam

    Vietnamese companies are hoping to make big bucks selling popular foods like fried chicken and crispy pork skin. Nguyen Ngoc An, general director of Vietnam Livestock Industry Company (Vissan), sees great potential in the snacks market. He is not referring to potato chips, but to fresh food made with chicken and pork.

    “Deep-fried pork skin, seaweed dried chicken and pha lau (pork meat and offal braised in a spiced stock) are favorite dishes among young people,” he said.

    “Such snacks will be a good source of revenue for the company in the near future.”

    Already in the market, Saigon Food JSC has released more than 10 fresh snack products, including rice paper pancakes, corn fried shrimps, and tamarind fried balut eggs, which are selling very well.

    Le Thi Thanh Lam, deputy general director of Saigon Food, said that the company’s products are sold at 7-Eleven convenience stores in Ho Chi Minh City.

    “In the near future, we will be exploring new product lines that fit the tastes of consumers to expand the snacks segment,” she said.

    A leading producer of poultry eggs, Ba Huan JSC has also latched on to this trend, launching a group of snack products including spicy chicken legs, skewers, sausages, and omega 3 flan.

    Pham Thanh Hung, deputy general director of the company, said these snacks are new to the market, but sales are quite high. Most of the products are sold in supermarkets or convenience stores. Spicy chicken legs are most liked, he said.

    Vinh Dat Food JSC, which introduced fresh snacks into the market before any of the above companies, said that initially, processed egg products such as balut egg stew, preserved black eggs and braised eggs saw slow consumption.

    But by 2017, explosive growth of this segment forced the company to invest in more production facilities to meet demand. In the coming months, the company will develop more soft-boiled egg products and wholesale various types of braised eggs to restaurants.

    The latest survey carried out by market research firm Decision La shows that on average Vietnamese youth spends VND13 trillion ($556.53 million) on snacks every month.

    And according to statistics by London-based market research firm Euromonitor, by the end of 2016, Vietnam had about 149,000 food kiosks on the streets, including mobile vans or fixed in front of houses, which earn about VND46.9 trillion ($2.01 billion) per year.

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  • Xiaomi takes over Meitu’s phone business, manufacture co-branded products

    Xiaomi takes over Meitu’s phone business, manufacture co-branded products

    Meitu and Xiaomi have formed a strategic partnership to jointly launch Meitu-branded phones and other smart devices. The partnership between Meitu – best known for its selfie app – and Xiaomi, a fast-growing technology company with smartphones at its core – will have a far-reaching impact on the brand development of Meitu and Xiaomi as well as the smartphone market as a whole, according to research house IDC. It will allow both companies to expand their customer base and signals a further consolidation in the highly competitive Chinese smartphone market.

    A spokesperson for IDC said that during the last year, Xiaomi has stepped up its efforts to improve the camera capabilities of its products and has done a lot in AI-powered photography research and development. “Leveraging Meitu’s image processing technologies and selfie algorithms will help Xiaomi further boost its AI-powered photography and photo quality and reduce its gap with leading vendors such as Huawei.”

    IDC says Meitu is popular with females which will help draw more women to Xiaomi products which are currently “overrepresented by male users”.

    “Introducing the Meitu brand also enables Xiaomi to offer greater diversity of smartphone products under multiple brands and series, including Redmi, Xiaomi, Black Shark, Pocophone, and Meitu. Xiaomi is gradually forming a multi-brand portfolio targeting different user groups, thereby laying the foundation for it to compete in the market in the long term.”

    The spokesperson said that through Xiaomi’s sales network, Meitu’s software products will reach a larger group of customers via smartphones. “Moreover, licensing its hardware business to Xiaomi allows Meitu to focus on software development and the upgrade of its image processing technologies.”

    And finally, with the top five vendors in China’s smartphone market taking up nearly 83 per cent market share, the growth potential will increasingly diminish for small vendors in areas such as marketing and supply chain resource integration.

    “Going forward, more small vendors are expected to seek strategic cooperation with large vendors and drive consolidation in the China’s smartphone market.”

    Meitu was founded in Xiamen in 2008 as a developer of selfie apps such as MeituPic and BeautyCam, and has been focussed on selfie algorithm development. In 2013, the company ventured into the smartphone market and launched smartphones targeting female users and the selfie market. Despite a higher profit per phone sold and a higher brand premium, the company has become increasingly marginalised in China’s brutally competitive smartphone market due to its meagre shipments.

    According to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, Meitu only had a mere 0.5 per cent market share in China with shipments of approximately 1.5 million units as of the third quarter of this year.

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  • Vingroup to open casino in Pho Quoc Island

    Vingroup to open casino in Pho Quoc Island

    A Vingroup-invested firm has been allowed to include a casino in a hotel-amusement complex on Vietnam’s largest island Phu Quoc. The People’s Committee of Kien Giang Province announced that the Prime Minister has approved in principle the casino’s inclusion in a hotel-amusement being built on the southern province’s island. With the casino business, total investment in the complex will increase to VND50 trillion ($2.14 billion).

    The complex, which is under construction, is scheduled to start operating in 2021. Its main investor is the Phu Quoc Tourism Investment and Development Jsc, a company in which Vingroup, Vietnam’s largest private conglomerate, holds a 50 percent stake.

    The casino project is part of a pilot program that would allow Vietnamese citizens to gamble in casinos in the country for the first time.

    For decades, Vietnam has banned gambling as a social evil. Vietnamese were also prohibited from gambling in the few casinos that have been built in the country.

    Shifting its stance, the government has allowed citizens over 21 years old with a monthly income of at least VND10 million ($445) to gamble in local casinos from last March under a three-year pilot program. However, the casinos have to obtain approval from the government on a case-by-case basis to allow Vietnamese citizens to use their services.

    Vietnam’s average annual income was around $2,200 last year.

    There are fewer than 10 casinos in Vietnam, mostly smaller ones outside major cities. Their services are reserved exclusively for foreign passport holders.

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  • Le petit h by Hermès launched in HK

    Le petit h by Hermès launched in HK

    Hermès presents a workshop of metamorphosis for materials and the invention of forms themed from now on till 9th December in Hong Kong. From a giant elephant pouffe to a target mirror, the Landmark Price’s store is transformed with scenography designed by Hong Kong artist Kevin Cheung. Once upon a time, there was a meeting of materials, their inimitable mix, their singular hybridisation. Petit h shares with upcycling product designer Kevin Cheung a passion for slumbering materials, from bamboo to silk, cashmere and many more.

    The staging is inspired by daily life and everyday objects. A tree and its bubble-like buds unfurl across the three levels of the store where new petit h inventions appear, paying homage to the diversity of Hermès materials and know-how, and to the dreams that take shape during our daily lives.

    Petit h was founded in 2010 by Pascal Mussard, who had the idea of bringing leftover materials from all over the house under one roof and giving them new life through Hermès craftsmanship and know-how.

    Godfroy de Virieu, creative director since January 2018, is now leading the dialogue between artisans, designers and artists from all backgrounds.

    Together, they create dreamlike, playful, poetic and surprising objects from noble materials as either unique pieces or limited editions.

    Petit h permanent home remains in Paris, in the Hermès store at 17 rue de Sèvres, as well as Hermes.com.

    Petit h will be traveling Asia in 2019.

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  • Vingroup to invest in Hanoi smart electronics plant

    Vingroup to invest in Hanoi smart electronics plant

    Vingroup is expected to invest VND1.2 trillion ($51.38 million) in a “Smart Electronics Factory” that will produce smartphones as its first products next year. The project, expected to be operational by the second quarter of 2019, is the first one to be implemented under a cooperation agreement between the Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park (Hoa Lac HTP) Management Board and Vietnam’s biggest private conglomerate Vingroup.

    According to the agreement, in the period 2018-2020 looking towards 2025, Vingroup will focus its investments on hi-tech manufacturing in the Hoa Lac HTP.

    The corporation will invest in research and development, advanced technology, software, hi-tech industrial manufacturing, housing development, commerce and services in Hoa Lac.

    The first project to be implemented under the agreement will be a “Smart Electronics Factory” in Hoa Lac. Construction will begin as soon as the group’s investment plan is approved by competent authorities.

    The factory will be built on an area of five hectares. Once operational, it is expected to produce 3- 4 million smart electronics products a year, supplying both domestic and international markets.

    Nguyen Viet Quang, vice president and CEO of Vingroup, said that smartphones will be the factory’s first product to debut in the market.

    Minister of Science and Technology Chu Ngoc Anh said the Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Management Board is improving the HTP’s infrastructure, providing the best conditions for investment, and creating a legal corridor to facilitate businesses.

    These efforts are aimed at developing the Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park into a smart-technology city, he said.

    There are 87 investment licensed projects in Hoa Lac at present with total capital amounting to approximately VND78 trillion ($3.34 billion).

    In 2018 alone, Hoa Lac has welcomed 10 licensed projects with a total registered capital of VND15.86 trillion ($678.74 million).

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