Retail News CRM

Tag: lifestyle

  • CapitaLand launches new retail concept store at Plaza Singapura

    CapitaLand launches new retail concept store at Plaza Singapura

    CapitaLand has unveiled Singapore’s first “phygital” multi-label concept store NomadX at Plaza Singapura. NomadX (pronounced as “Nomads”) is styling itself as a “phygital” store for offering a new blend of physical and digital experiences, including a gamified onboarding process, automated store assistance such as smart mirrors, interactive product walls and a cashless payment experience.

    The 11,000sqft space is spread across two floors in Plaza Singapura, with frontage facing Orchard Road. The multi-label retail destination marked its official opening with a curated selection of 18 tenants offering a wide range of fashion, beauty, consumer electronics, gadgets and food and beverage offerings.

    President (Asia & retail) of CapitaLand Group Jason Leow said NomadX represents CapitaLand’s commitment to embrace omnichannel retailing. “It allows us to implement and redefine our ideas for a new generation of retail offerings. As a flexible space incorporating tech-enabled retail infrastructure, NomadX will make it easier and more cost efficient for our retailers to explore and nurture new innovative concepts before wider roll-out at CapitaLand’s shopping malls.

    “NomadX not only augments CapitaLand’s suite of services to meet the demands of retailers at various stages of their digitalisation journey, it will help to enhance the tenant mix at our malls over the longer term. With NomadX, CapitaLand is looking forward to working with a stellar line-up of partnerships to create new expressions of phygital retail experiences at our malls.”

    To ensure maximum flexibility for tenants to push the boundaries, NomadX incorporates short-term leases and “plug & play” retail units that are integrated with smart retail infrastructure. Tenants set up temporary homes like nomads – thus the inspiration for the store’s name – that are demarcated by modular panels and equipped with interactive technologies to encourage product discovery and play.

    The store’s fluid layout and data analytics capabilities make NomadX a suitable testbed for retailers to trial new concepts and products and respond swiftly to consumer reception and feedback.

    CapitaLand Retail CEO Wilson Tan said the company is curating a new shopping experience at NomadX, one which goes beyond the act of simply buying.

    “NomadX promises to be a personalised social space of sensation and discovery. By combining the technology of ecommerce, mobile shopping applications as well as location data analytics, we are able to work with our retailers to customise entirely unique physical shopping experiences that are based on our shoppers’ preferences.”

  • Hermes sales growth boosted by Asia

    Hermes sales growth boosted by Asia

    Hermes sales surged 11 per cent in the quarter to September, with all geographical regions performing well. Asia – excluding Japan – led the way, with sales up 14 per cent. The company reported a “significant increase” in Mainland China with new stores in Xi’an (which opened in September) and Changsha (in May) along with the Landmark Prince’s store in Hong Kong in January helping underpin growth.

    A new commercial website hermes.cn, launched on October 17 and a massive duplex flagship opens tomorrow at Bangkok’s new IconSiam development. In Japan, sales rose 7 per cent.

    Group-wide revenue reached  €4.316 billion at the end of September, with sales through company-owned stores up 11 per cent as well, confirming the trend evident during the first half of the year.

    “Hermes realised a very strong growth over the first nine months of the year, in all regions,” said executive chairman Axel Dumas. “We keep our optimism for the future, but we are also thankful for the past.”

    By product category, Hermes’ ready-to-wear division achieved growth of 15 per cent, aided by the successful launch of the women’s Spring-Summer 2019 collection, presented at the Hippodrome Paris Longchamp. Demand was also high for fashion accessories and shoes.

    Growth in leather goods and saddlery reached 9 per cent, while the silk and textiles business grew by 4 per cent. Perfume sales rose by 9 per cent, watches by 8 per cent and other business lines, encompassing jewellery, Art of Living and Hermes Table Arts, by 23 per cent.

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  • China’s Luckin Coffee worth $2 billion after just less than a year

    China’s Luckin Coffee worth $2 billion after just less than a year

    Fast-growing Chinese coffee chain Luckin Coffee is seeking a new round of funding which would value it at US$1.5–2 billion. Launched only this year, the company has already opened more than 1400 outlets in 21 mainland locations, its rapid growth based on its inexpensive delivery service concept and online ordering system. Luckin’s aggressive competitive strategy involves an IT-focused approach whereby all customers must purchase coffee via an app, with which they can then monitor brewing progress via livestream.

    Its expansion has been backed by multiple investors, including Singapore’s GIC. It is currently seeking up to US$300 million in additional funding to continue its momentum.

    Starbuck currently operates 3400 stores in China, which is its second-largest market worldwide. It intends to increase that number to 6000 stores within three years. The brand recently partnered with Alibaba to establish a coffee delivery service, foreshadowing Luckin’s own recently-signed partnership with Alibaba rival Tencent.

    Some reports have suggested that Luckin may be in discussion with investment banks to launch an IPO overseas, most likely in either New York or Hong Kong.

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  • Blue Bottle Coffee makes debut in South Korea

    Blue Bottle Coffee makes debut in South Korea

    Blue Bottle Coffee Co an upscale US coffee chain operator, says it will open its first South Korean shop in Seoul in the second quarter of next year as the company moves to expand its presence in the Asian market. It said the new cafe and a roastery will open in Seoul’s eastern Seongsu neighbourhood, a trendy hangout spot where young artists and designers have renovated existing buildings into art spaces, fine restaurants and cafes.

    The move will mark Blue Bottle’s second international launch since it opened its shop in Tokyo in 2015. Blue Bottle said it will directly enter the South Korean market as Blue Bottle Coffee Korea Ltd.

    “We feel very close to our South Korean guests, having known them for years in our cafes in the US and Japan and on social media,” said Bryan Meehan, CEO of Blue Bottle Coffee. “Now, Blue Bottle Coffee will no longer be just a tourist destination for them but a part of the fabric of Seoul.”

    Founded in 2002, the Oakland-based roaster now has 56 cafes in the US and 10 in Japan. Swiss food giant Nestle bought a 68 per cent stake in the company last year.

    According to government data, the size of South Korea’s coffee market stood at 11.7 trillion won (US$10.8 billion) in 2017, up more than threefold from a decade earlier.

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  • Pandora sales declining, relies on China

    Pandora sales declining, relies on China

    Jewellery retailer Pandora is looking to China, India and Latin America to arrest a decline in global sales. The Danish company has unveiled an initiative that it hopes will reignite sustainable revenue growth, Programme Now, after group revenue dropped 3 per cent in the third quarter of this year.

    Under the program, Pandora will significantly reduce its franchise acquisitions and scale back new store openings. For the stores it does open, it will concentrate on growth markets, such as China, India and Latin America. It hopes the move will grow like-for-like sales, if not total sales.

    To achieve this, the business plans to enhance its marketing, personalisation, digital and e-commerce capabilities, as well as the in-store customer experience.

    Pandora also noted that part of its success moving forward lies in execution in all parts of the value chain, as well as more closely coordinating parts of the business to work in tandem, to reduce costs.

    The implementation of the program, as well as the weak third-quarter results, however, have led the company to revise its full-year earnings guidance. It has cut its annual revenue forecast from between 4 and 7 per cent to between 2 and 4 per cent, or DKK 1.2 billion to DKK 1.4 billion (US$184 million to $214 million).

    “The third quarter results were unsatisfactory and we adjust our full year guidance,” Pandora CFO Anders Boyer said.

    “We have taken the first major step in the programme today by changing our network expansion plan. We have confidence in a strong future for Pandora and will use this year and next to reset the business.”

    Pandora expects revenue and total like-for-like growth to be impacted through to 2020 by the planned reduction of mark-downs, though this is likely to cause a margin neutral result on the group level.

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  • Jins store opened a spectacular store in Shanghai World

    Jins store opened a spectacular store in Shanghai World

    Japanese eyewear brand Jins has opened a striking new store in the Shanghai World Financial Center. The Jins store was designed by Tokyo-based architect Junya Ishigami without any external entrance and features concrete counters that appear to float in the air, set against a stark, industrial setting, sporting hundreds of fashionable glasses frames. The counters are supported by heavy H-beams attached to a bowed steel sheet that covers the shop floor.

    The store is lit by strong 4000-Kelvin suspended luminaires that bring the bare walls into stark contrast. Ishigami commented, “I wanted to make a void space within a shopping mall.”

    Jins traditionally hires independent designers to fit out its retail areas.

    Jins founder and CEO Hitoshi Tanaka said: “I prefer working with architects on a space because they make more of an impact.”

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  • New iPhones sell slowly in Korea

    New iPhones sell slowly in Korea

    A week after Apple introduced its latest iPhone series at stores in Korea, sales are only about 60 percent of those reported for the previous lineup over the same period of time. According to estimates compiled by local mobile carriers, a total of 170,000 iPhone XS, XS Max and XR models were purchased between Nov. 2 and Nov. 7. A total of 280,000 iPhones 8 and X models were sold in the first week of their release in November 2017. Sales of the two models began three weeks apart.

    Industry watchers assumed that Apple’s simultaneous release of the three models was designed to garner greater attention and boost sales in the early days.

    However, figures so far show that the latest iPhones are selling more slowly than earlier models.

    “It’s not doing that great,” said an employee at a brick-and-mortar phone shop in central Seoul on Friday when asked if the new iPhones are popular.

    “There’s the expensive price tag, but it also has to do with the fact that there aren’t dramatic function upgrades. To be honest, even I can’t really notice a big difference between the iPhone X and XS. Maybe the next series will come with more innovative features – we’ll see.”

    Price became an issue as soon as Apple introduced the new models. In Korea, the 512-gigabyte iPhone XS Max sells for nearly 1.97 million won ($1,745), while the 256-gigabyte XS retails at 1.56 million won.

    Even the budget XR model is priced slightly below one million won.

    Despite the price concerns, presales have been reasonably strong. SK Telecom, KT and LG U+ took orders between Oct. 26 and Nov. 1.

    Presales results for the three new models differed per company, but the general assessment was that demand was similar or stronger than for previous generation iPhones.

    Presale results don’t necessarily indicate success. Customers who preorder iPhones in Korea, even before actually touching the product, are likely to be loyal Apple fans.

    “The thing about Apple maniacs is that they will get their hands on the next iPhone no matter what,” said a source from one of the mobile carriers.

    “But success doesn’t just come from them. The general public, especially those switching between smartphone brands, should be attracted to buying it, too. The new iPhone seems to be failing in that respect this time.”

    Up until a few years ago, a few manufacturers like Apple and Samsung dominated the smartphone market. Customers nowadays have a much wider ranges of options in terms of price and style.

    Over the last decade, smartphone technology has advanced so much that even budget models priced at half that of the latest iPhones come with high-tech functions, such as face unlock.

    From Apple’s side, there are signs that the company is well aware of the slower demand.

    Japan’s Nikkei Asian Review reported on Monday that Apple told smartphone assemblers Foxconn and Pegatron to halt plans to bring on additional lines for iPhone XR production. All companies involved declined to comment.

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  • Olympic athlete Ayumu Hirano named as new Uniqlo brand ambassador

    Olympic athlete Ayumu Hirano named as new Uniqlo brand ambassador

    Japanese global apparel retailer Uniqlo has announced a new partnership with professional snowboarder Ayumu Hirano as its newest Global Brand Ambassador. Hirano was a two-time gold medalist in the men’s superpipe competition at the Winter X Games and winner of consecutive silver medals in the half-pipe competition at the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics.

    Chairman, president and CEO of Fast Retailing Tadashi Yanai said: “We are greatly inspired by [Mr. Hirano’s] achievements, his creativity and his style – not just on a snowboard, but also in his sense of fashion. His flair and imagination when competing go well beyond expectations, so we will look past conventional wisdom together to achieve something truly unique through this partnership.

    “We look forward to supporting him with special LifeWear items featuring advanced technologies, helping him to reach even greater heights in future,” he said.

    Hirano’s primary role as global brand ambassador is to promote the Uniqlo and LifeWear brands. The partnership will provide opportunities for Hirano to engage in the development of custom products and materials for his performance wear, while also assisting in the design process for LifeWear.

  • Kakao profit falls in Q3 as investment costs rise

    Kakao profit falls in Q3 as investment costs rise

    Kakao, the operator of Korea’s top mobile messenger, KakaoTalk, said Thursday its third-quarter operating profit fell 35 percent from last year due to increased costs from new businesses. Operating income reached 30.7 billion won ($27.3 million) in the July-September period from 47.4 billion won a year ago, the company said in a regulatory filing.

    Sales rose 16 percent on-year to a quarterly record high of 599.3 billion won, the company said.

    Kakao said its operating income plunged due to increased investments in new businesses, such as Kakao Mobility, that the company recently launched in an effort to secure new growth engines.

    Kakao said the revenue from its content platform remained steady at 306.7 billion won, with the figure representing a 17 percent year-on-year increase.

    Advertising sales grew 10 percent year on year to 167.1 billion won over the cited period on the back of mobile advertising revenue growth.

    Music content sales increased by 11 percent year on year to 136 billion won in the third quarter due to steady revenues from the Melon streaming service.

    Kakao said it will keep up efforts until the end of this year in order to expand its foothold by wrapping up a merger with its entertainment affiliate, Kakao M. The tieup will allow the company to move forward on various business collaborations.

    Kakao said the decision is aimed at bolstering its entertainment content based on the users of Melon, which is currently operated by Kakao M.

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  • Unmanned medical clinic opened in China

    Unmanned medical clinic opened in China

    Chinese one-stop healthcare platform Ping An Good Doctor has announced the world’s first commercially operational unmanned medical clinic. The firm’s “One-minute Clinic” has been formally unveiled in a scenic area in Wuzhen. It will provide a high-speed, convenient, one-stop-shop for medical and healthcare services for nearby residents, visitors to the scenic area and guests of the 2018 World Internet Conference.

    The clinic includes two major functional modules, an “Independent Advisory Room” and a “Smart Medicine Cabinet.” Patients consult with a cloud computing doctor in the advisory room to receive a preliminary diagnostic suggestion, and may purchase prescribed medicine from the medicine cabinet afterwards. The clinic stocks more than 100 common drugs. Unavailable medicines may be purchased online using the Ping An Good Doctor smartphone application, receiving the drug from nearby pharmacies with a one hour delivery service.

    During a one week trial, the daily average advisory volume approached 100 visitors.

    The firm plans to popularise the clinics in public areas such as pharmacies, communities, enterprises, schools, scenic areas, markets, highway service stations, and so on. Combined with Ping An Good Doctor’s offline network of 3100 new hospitals and more than 60,000 neighbourhood clinics, the clinic is expected to quickly meet real-time medical and healthcare needs of city residents.

    Ping An plans to expand to 1000 units across China by the end of the year.

    A spokesperson for Ping An Good Doctor revealed that the clinic’s AI doctor was researched and developed by a team formed from over 200 world-class artificial intelligence experts, trained using data from over 300 million visits and consultations. More than 2000 common diseases are covered by the AI’s data set.

    A back office staffed by expert physicians are engaged to verify the diagnosis and advice of the AI doctor.

    Overcrowded hospitals are part of the cause behind the present difficulty in obtaining quality healthcare in China.

    Information from a third-party research institute shows that, in 2016, including transport and waiting-in-line times, Chinese patients consume an average of three hours per medical visit, although the actual time for diagnoses averages only eight minutes per visit.

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  • Indonesia’s Queenrides Uses Road Safety to Drive Women’s Empowerment

    Indonesia’s Queenrides Uses Road Safety to Drive Women’s Empowerment

    Iim Fahima Jachja cannot operate a vehicle and relies on a driver to get around Jakarta, but that did not stop her from putting road safety at the heart of her women’s empowerment startup.

    Since launching in late 2016, Queenrides has attracted 200,000 members to join its website.

    Aside from reading articles about lifestyle and financial management, members can also gather in person for workshops covering topics like sexual health and family planning.

    But road safety has been a focus from the beginning said Iim, a mother of two.

    “When you are safe on the road, you can be the best you want to be,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from Jakarta.

    Road deaths are high in Indonesia, according to the Ministry of Transportation, which counted 162,000 fatalities last year, compared with 136,000 in 2015.

    In a country undergoing rapid urbanization as incomes increase, more people are buying vehicles, putting stress on the road network.

    Many drivers avoid taking tests by paying corrupt officials for driving licenses, Iim said.

    She added that the road risks are rising for women in particular, because changing social attitudes mean that more of them are working and commuting.

    At the same time, relatively few women have taken driving lessons and tests to acquire licenses, she said.

    Only about 20 percent of 7,500 Queenrides members surveyed said they had taken a driving test.

    “This is a major issue – this is a crisis – but people haven’t noticed the situation,” Iim said about the number of road deaths in Indonesia.

    Low-income countries have fatality rates more than double those in high-income countries, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

    There were 104 million registered vehicles in Indonesia, according to the WHO’s latest report on road safety published in 2015.

    Driving Safely

    As well as enabling its members to exchange views and learn more about road safety online, Queenrides arranges workshops with input from the transportation ministry and the traffic police.Participants have gone on to take driving lessons and tests, Iim said.

    That trend could make Indonesia’s roads safer, said Liviu Vedrasco, a road safety expert at the WHO in Bangkok.

    “There are some studies that suggest women are more careful and follow the rules better than men,” he noted.

    One of the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations in 2015 is to halve the global number of deaths and injuries from road traffic crashes by 2020, Vedrasco said.

    As the number of female drivers increases, Indonesia’s transportation ministry has stepped up efforts to reduce crashes involving women by working with outside partners, said Budi Setiyadi, director of land transportation at the ministry.

    “Queenrides is needed for women riders in Indonesia to be given a good education in driving safely because women have a primary role,” Budi said in an email. “They can educate their children, their families, and the surrounding environment.”

    Growing

    As more Indonesian women join the workforce and take to the roads, Queensrides can also help them assert control in other areas of their lives, Iim said.

    For example, about 30 members gathered last month in a child-friendly cafe in Jakarta to discuss family planning and strategies for educating their teenaged children about sex.

    United States-based Johns Hopkins University sent experts to the workshop part of a program targeting “married women of reproductive age,” according to Dinar Pandan Sari of the university’s Center for Communication Programs in Jakarta.

    “The fact that in just two years, Queenrides has been able to grow from an idea to 200,000 women joining their movement is remarkable,” Sari added.

    Queenrides teams up with other organizations to provide information on issues such as women’s rights, while members can also receive financial planning advice from institutions, including Bank Mandiri.

    As Queensrides’ membership grows, revenue from advertising on the website should increase as well, allowing the startup to expand its program, Iim said.

    She said she aims to attract 5 million members over the next three years, making Queenrides the biggest women’s empowerment platform in Southeast Asia.

    “If you can conquer Indonesia, it is easy to conquer any other area in the world,” Iim said. “Conquering Indonesia is like conquering five countries at the same time.”

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  • Bangkok’s IconSiam launches tonight

    Bangkok’s IconSiam launches tonight

    Six years in design and construction, Bangkok’s US$1.6 billion IconSiam development will finally be officially launched tonight before opening its doors to the public tomorrow morning. With 500 stores, more than 100 restaurants and 14 cinema screens, a luxury apartment tower and a Mandarin Oriental hotel, the ambitious development is probably the most significant addition to Asia’s retail landscape in decades.

    Tonight, 10,000 businesspeople, retailers, media and guests have been invited to an opening ceremony which kicks off a weekend of festivities costing US$30 million. A fleet of 1500 drones organised by Intel will take to the sky above the Chao Phraya River and a “famous US singer” whose identity is being kept a closely guarded secret, will perform on stage somewhere along the 400-metre riverfront promenade of the building.

    Tickets to the invitation-only event, which also features a raft of Asian entertainers, fireworks, light and water shows, have been trading online for 10,000 THB (US$300), despite never being sold in the first place.

    Tomorrow, thousands of Thais are expected to visit the 750,000sqm venue, with stores offering rewards for early customers – like H&M issuing a 20,000 THB voucher to its first – and Apple is expected to draw long queues for its first official retail outlet in Thailand.

    About 80 per cent of the stores at IconSiam will be open for business tomorrow, the balance opening in ensuing weeks as fitouts are completed and approved by offshore head offices. But the project is still not complete. Several stories above the retail and dining area remain under construction, scheduled to open in July. They will house a world-class 6500sqm River Museum, a 3000-seat concert hall and other community facilities.

    Defining IconSiam is not easy.

    “It’s not a mall. It’s not a mixed use project,” IconSiam MD Supoj Chaiwatsirikul said last night. “It’s a destination.”

    The story of how IconSiam investors acquired the 8.8 hectare riverfront site gives an insight into how the project evolved into much more than a shopping centre. The owners of the land had been approached many times over the years, including by cashed up foreign developers. But they wouldn’t sell – until Siam Piwat CEO Chadatip Chutrakul talked to them, promising to create something that could showcase Thai culture and history to the world and be something all Thais could be proud of.

    Since then, IconSiam’s operational team have worked with Thais literally the length and breadth of the country to involve them in the project. Artworks and sculptures have been selected from 100 artists, mostly Thai, to appear throughout the complex, a 1.6 hectare space called SookSiam (“a city of Thai happiness”) will feature products and cultural heritage of the nation’s four regions, showcasing their handicrafts, performing arts, food, beverages “and local wisdom” in a single destination promised as “immersive, emotional and entertaining”.

    “IconSiam inaugurates a globally innovative model for destination development that moves the project away from being a mall or a mixed-use complex to being an inspiring destination,” explains Chutrakul.

    “It’s a place to regenerate and refresh, to be inspired and seek new ideas, and a place to discover the best of Thailand and the best on offer from around the world.”

    Unprecedented coordination has taken place with city and government authorities to enhance the transport system surrounding the site. A new skytrain track – aptly called the Gold Line – is under construction linking two other rail routes and which ultimately will make it a 20-minute railway journey from downtown Bangkok to the river. The company has built its own wharf in front of the building and worked to enhance a network of 73 river piers making it easier to reach the venue. Some 45,000 Thais travel along the river using public transport every day and they are starting to find that more convenient than ever.

    Work is continuing with landowners and hotel properties along the waterfront to create a public walkway, opening up the riverfront to the people for the first time in centuries.

    SiamPiwat’s Siam Paragon shopping centre which, when neighbouring properties Siam Center and Siam Discovery are added, create the city’s largest single shopping destination, attracts about 250,000 visitors on a typical weekend day. The company expects IconSiam to draw as many as 400,000 once the project is fully operational. About 60 per cent of those will be Thais, the balance tourists, although it is obvious from the size and scale of the luxury duplexes facing the river – bearing brand names including Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Cartier and Hermes – that the ratio will be quite different zone-by-zone: This part of the project is very clearly designed to appeal to the growing legions of Chinese tourists heading to Thailand.

    Another key retail drawcard of IconSiam will be the country’s first Takashimaya department store spread over several levels and including a comprehensive food and grocery offer as well as fashion and accessories.

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  • DFS Group Launches “GIVE JOY” Holiday Gifting Campaign For 2018

    DFS Group Launches “GIVE JOY” Holiday Gifting Campaign For 2018

    DFS Group, the world’s leading luxury travel retailer, is launching its 2018 seasonal gifting campaign, “Give Joy”, to celebrate the spirit of the festive season and the gift of giving. From November 15, 2018 to January 1, 2019, customers will be able to add unique touches to exclusive products available at DFS’ first ever ‘Personalization Gift Shop’ concept. Boasting an assortment of specially curated luxury gifts, alongside an array of dedicated brand pop-ups, branded personalization stations and personalization services, the concept is designed to delight DFS’ discerning traveling customers and enhance their festive shopping experience in 13 T Galleria and airport locations worldwide.

    DFS is also launching the latest edition of its annual and much-anticipated “Give Joy” Holiday Gift Guide, offering customers a curated selection of personalized products. This year, the Holiday Gift Guide features DFS’ own employees as gifting experts, sharing their advice with customers on how to bring the festive season alive through the joy of giving. Showcasing an extensive selection of 143 incredible gifts from 108 world-famous brands across all of DFS’ luxury categories – from Fashion and Accessories and Beauty and Fragrance to Watches and Jewelry, Spirits, Wine and Food – shoppers will be spoiled for choice to treat their loves ones and themselves to something special.

    A stellar line-up of brands will also feature in DFS’ exclusive pop-ups during the “Give Joy” campaign:

    • Dior will host a special ‘Charms Bar’ offering customers the chance to create their own couture-inspired lucky charms accessory with a choice of four colors of ribbon and eight iconic Dior gold lucky charms.
    • Moët Hennessy will offer customers the opportunity to use elevated technology to write a tailored message in golden ink on champagne bottles on the spot.
    • Jo Malone London will offer a photograph transfer service on a beautiful Jo Malone classic gift box. Customers can choose from a personal favorite or an iconic city photograph, making it the perfect personalized gift for this holiday season.

    The exquisitely decorated Personalization Gift Shop will feature a life-size gift box, bringing an exclusive and enticing experience to DFS customers with personalization and the gift of giving. Holiday ribbons available in gold, silver and red and made especially for DFS allow customers to personalize their gifts with special greeting messages in six languages; superb leather goods can be made unique with on-the-spot monogramming; and t-shirts and tote bags can be adorned with limited-edition emoji iron-on patches so that customers can mix and match to create one-of-a-kind designs.

    “We’re excited to bring a sense of fun and individuality to our customers this festive season with our exclusive pop-up gift shops, offering a wonderful array of products from some of the best brands in the world,” said Ariel Gentzbourger, DFS Group Executive Vice President Merchandising. “We hope to enhance the pleasure of giving by offering our customers many ways to delight their friends and family, making the shopping experience a joy in itself.”

    Full serviced DFS’ Personalization Gift Shops will be available in the following locations:

    T Galleria by DFS, Hawaii, T Galleria by DFS, Okinawa, T Galleria by DFS, Guam, T Galleria by DFS, Saipan, T Galleria by DFS, Singapore, T Galleria by DFS, Angkor, T Galleria by DFS, Sydney, T Galleria by DFS, Bali,T Galleria by DFS, Hong Kong, Canton Road, and T Galleria by DFS, Macau, City of Dreams.

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  • ShopBack: More people aware of 11.11 this year

    ShopBack: More people aware of 11.11 this year

    Leading Cashback platform ShopBack conducted a survey recently and found the awareness level towards 11.11 Singles’ Day among Malaysian online shoppers has grown to 96% this year, from 69% in 2016. “In a 2016 survey to 2,000 Malaysian online shoppers, 69% answered they know what Singles’ Day is and 31% said they don’t. This year, 96% answered it is a huge online event (68%) or just another online shopping event (28%); only 3% from 2,000 respondents said they don’t know what 11.11 is, and 1% indicated that day has other meanings to them. This is an approximately 40% increase compared to 2016,” Alvin Gill, Country General Manager of ShopBack Malaysia says.

    According to Alvin, Alibaba’s investment in Lazada and massive promotions rolled out via multiple online and offline channels, as well as education efforts done by reward partners throughout the years likely contributed to the awareness growth. “Alibaba’s Taobao and Tmall have been collaborating with ShopBack on a regional level to boost market performance via cash rewards and multimedia educational efforts since 2014, of which include multi-lingual contents, digital and on-ground marketing exposures, as well as customer service support to encourage purchases through either Taobao, Tmall or Lazada’s Taobao collection, whichever suits their needs,” he adds.

    “While it is encouraging that a majority of them are looking forward to 11.11, online sellers should also target those who feel 11.11 is ‘just another shopping event’ via better product and promotional strategy. 98% of respondents said they are willing to make more purchases if the products they need are available with greater offers online. The top three offers that would encourage them to spend are high product discounts, free shipping/delivery, and promo codes/coupon,” Alvin points out.

    When asked to choose three online marketplaces that they feel would provide the best 11.11 deals this year, Lazada emerged as the top choice, followed by Shopee and 11street.

    The survey also reveals that online shoppers prefer their shopping to be affordable, fast and safe. “Mobile & Electronics emerges as the most popular category for 11.11 without surprise; the second is Home & Lifestyle which suggests shoppers could be looking for items to make over their living spaces before the New Year, followed by Fashion as well as Health & Beauty.”

    The 2018 ShopBack 11.11 online shopping survey covered views from 2,000 of ShopBack’s active online shoppers, of which 98.7% are aged 21 years old and above and around 85% have RM2,000 monthly income and above. 68.1% of the survey respondents use credit/debit card to make online payments while 25.4% select online banking as the preferred method, followed by cash on delivery 3.3%, Paypal 2.8%, and others 1.3%.

    “We witnessed 10 times more than usual web traffic directed to our partner’s sites on 11.11 in 2017, more than RM6 million worth of transactions were made through our platform and over RM200,000 cashback saved by using ShopBack. Together with our partner merchants, ShopBack Malaysia has tailor-made the 2018’s 11.11 campaign according to shopper’s needs and we aim to break the record by doubling our performance as well as cashback number this year,” Alvin says.

    Currently, more than 1 million Malaysians are using ShopBack for their daily purchases. The company works with online sites like Lazada, 11street, Taobao, Tmall, Booking.com, Expedia, Traveloka, ZALORA, Hermo, etc to give up to 30% cashback as a loyalty reward to online shoppers. Besides Malaysia, ShopBack also operates in Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan and Australia. Over RM25 million worth of cashback has been given to its Malaysian users thus far. The cashback savings can be transferred out to a user’s bank account upon validation.

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  • Jeju Air net profit falls 3.7% due to the high cost of oil

    Jeju Air net profit falls 3.7% due to the high cost of oil

    Jeju Air, Korea’s biggest low-cost carrier by sales, said Tuesday its third-quarter net profit fell 3.7 percent from a year earlier due to high oil prices. Net profit for the three-month period that ended on Sept. 30 reached 31 billion won ($27.6 million), compared with 32.3 billion won ($28.7 million) a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.

    The budget airline said high oil prices are to blame for the decline in net profit.

    Jet fuel prices came to $87.3 per barrel in the third quarter, up 45 percent from a year earlier.

    Operating profit fell 6.5 percent to 37.7 billion won ($33.5 million) in the July-September period from 40.3 billion won ($35.8 million) a year ago. Sales were up 31.3 percent to 350 billion won ($311 million) from 266.5 billion won ($236.8 million) during the same period last year, it said.

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