Retail News CRM

Tag: lifestyle

  • Eslite Bookstore to open outlet in Tokyo

    Eslite Bookstore to open outlet in Tokyo

    Taiwan’s Eslite bookstore chain is set to launch its first outlet in Tokyo this week.

    The store opening marks Eslite Spectrum Corp’s 30th anniversary as well as the first time for the firm to start-up business in a territory where Chinese is not spoken. The 50th Eslite location, it will trade in books and other merchandise sourced from Taiwan and Japan.

    The late Robert C.Y. Wu, who founded the bookstore, is on record as hoping the store would become a “warm venue for people to meet and connect”.

    Eslite has stores in Hong Kong.

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  • Hattendo bakery to franchise stores in Hong Kong

    Hattendo bakery to franchise stores in Hong Kong

    Japanese baker Hattendo is planning to ramp up its store rollout in Asia, with particular focus on Greater China and Southeast Asia.

    The company – known for its cream-filled buns – already has stores in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Australia. Its next stop is Malaysia where it will launch next month after finding a local partner to produce its buns, selling through convenience stores.

    Hattendo is currently finalizing a joint venture with a Thai company to manufacture its products to supply stores locally. The plan there is to supply supermarkets and a network of its own-branded kiosk stores in shopping malls and other locations.

    In Hong Kong and Mainland China, Hattendo will expand its network by appointing franchisees, part of a plan to boost its network six-fold to 30 by the end of 2021.

    “In China’s Shenzhen and Hong Kong, there is strong interest from potential franchisees and we receive a lot of inquiries,” Daisuke Ishioka, the company’s representative director, told Nikkei.

    Last year, Hattendo’s group sales reached US$19.6 million. The company is planning to issue new shares by the end of this year to raise about $900,000 to fund the expansion.

    The company – known for its cream-filled buns – already has stores in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Australia. Its next stop is Malaysia where it will launch next month after finding a local partner to produce its buns, selling through convenience stores.

    Hattendo is currently finalizing a joint venture with a Thai company to manufacture its products to supply stores locally. The plan there is to supply supermarkets and a network of its own-branded kiosk stores in shopping malls and other locations.

    In Hong Kong and Mainland China, Hattendo will expand its network by appointing franchisees, part of a plan to boost its network six-fold to 30 by the end of 2021.

    “In China’s Shenzhen and Hong Kong, there is strong interest from potential franchisees and we receive a lot of inquiries,” Daisuke Ishioka, the company’s representative director, told Nikkei.

    Last year, Hattendo’s group sales reached US$19.6 million. The company is planning to issue new shares by the end of this year to raise about $900,000 to fund the expansion.

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  • Generation Z behind demand for male makeup

    Generation Z behind demand for male makeup

    The cosmetics industry is paying close attention to a surge in interest in male makeup – being driven by generation Z.

    South Korean manufacturer and retailer AmorePacific has just launched its first male makeup brand, BeReady – 74 years after the company’s creation.

    According to a survey by the Consumer Trend Center at Seoul National University, three out of 10 men in generation Z reported using face makeup more than twice a week. Furthermore, more than half experimented with colored makeup in middle school.

    AmorePacific says it plans to introduce products specifically targeting generation Z men in rapid succession.

    Another South Korean cosmetics firm, Aekyung Industrial, which is currently focusing on expanding its beauty range, launched the Sneaky brand in March.

    Since most male consumers purchase cosmetics online, Aekyung opted for an online distribution network. Sunscreen and lip balm are currently the most popular products at the online store.

    The sales figure backs up the interest of generation Z men in makeup.

    Olive Young, a major health and beauty (H&B) chain store, has also launched sales of male cosmetics products. Sales of male tinted cosmetics rose 77 per cent in the first half of this year compared to last.

    That figure surpasses the 40 per cent annual growth rate of men’s makeup for the past three years.

    Sales of base products such as cushions for men and BB and CC cream are also on the rise, up 43 per cent in the first half from a year earlier.

    “Not only cushion products, but also men’s color lip balm and eyebrow products are particularly popular,” an Olive Young spokesperson said.

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  • Luxiee secures six-figure funding from Singapore angel

    Luxiee secures six-figure funding from Singapore angel

    Singapore-headquartered online diamond marketplace, Luxiee, has raised a six-figure investment in a private seed-funding round.

    The team secured financier Kewee Kho, also vice-chairman of Roadbull Logistics and independent director of Courts Asia, as the leading investor.

    Luxiee, launched in January, bills itself as the world’s first online diamond marketplace that connects consumers directly to established suppliers in a transparent matching model that removes the middle-man, resulting in better value for customers. The funds raised will be channeled towards marketing, branding, public relations, and media placement, as well as building the business’ staff.

    “It’s about time a traditional industry like diamonds experience a new way of delivering real value to customers. It is a disruption to an old school economy,” said Kho in a statement. “The impressive background of Luxiee’s solid management team, with experts coming together from the creative, digital marketing, and precious gems industries, reinforces my belief in this new and current business model. Transformative growth awaits, and I look forward to an exciting and rewarding journey with the team.”

    Luxiee CEO Nicholas Lim said it was exciting to have an experienced investor like Kewee Kho on board.

    “We look forward to his strategic direction and advice. His confidence in the business is added assurance to the formula of our business model, and we are driven by opportunities to accelerate our growth.”

    Luxiee says the direct connection between supplier and consumer through its platform allows consumers to enjoy up to a 300-per-cent reduction in the diamond price compared with those sold at luxury retail outlets. For example: a 1.0 Carat, F Color, VS2 Clarity, Excellent Cut diamond can sell for as low as SG$7000 (US$5000).

  • 6ixty8ight in Hong Kong opens new store at East Point City

    6ixty8ight in Hong Kong opens new store at East Point City

    6ixty8ight in Hong Kong has opened its 28th store, at East Point City.

    With its home base in Hong Kong, the now-international lingerie and casualwear label is continuing to expand its brick-and-mortar network.

    Having become one of the fastest-growing fashion brands in Asia since its launch in 2002, 6ixty8ight’s offering covers recent trends in lingerie, homeware, loungewear, casual wear and accessories.

    6ixty8ight now has more than 200 stores across Greater China, South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia.

    The company says it aims to create a seamless retail experience on its online platform and through its brick-and-mortar network.

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  • OPSM goes luxe and large in Sydney

    OPSM goes luxe and large in Sydney

    OPSM has opened its biggest flagship in Australia, following the renovation of its George Street store in Sydney.

    The store, which doubled in size to 200sqm, now houses the widest selection of glasses and sunglasses in the retailer’s network, including a large range of luxury frames from brands such as Oliver Peoples, Tiffany & Co, Prada, Chanel and Giorgio Armani.

    The range also includes a significant selection of ‘alternative fit’ frames designed to fit customers with a narrow nose bridge, so all face shapes are catered for.

    “Staff are trained to assist customers with all face shapes and styling concerns while also speaking multiple languages,” said Alfonso Cerullo, general manager at OPSM’s parent company Luxottica.

    The store also features the latest in optometry technology, including a retina scan machine, which provides a 200-degree view of the eye.

    Cerullo said the retailer is committed to providing an in-store experience that is “second to none”.

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  • Ikea focused to smart home products

    Ikea focused to smart home products

    Swedish furniture business Ikea has committed to invest further into smart home products and has spun off the Ikea Home smart project team into a dedicated business unit within Ikea Sweden.

    Ikea Home Smart was initially conceived in 2012 in order to integrate new, smart technologies into Ikea products, such as wireless charging, smart lighting, as well as smart speakers made in collaboration with Sonos.

    “At Ikea we want to continue to offer products for a better life at home for the many people going forward. In order to do so we need to explore products and solutions beyond conventional home furnishing,” said Björn Block, head of the new Ikea Home smart business unit.

    “By working together will all other departments within Ikea, the business unit of Ikea Home smart will drive the digital transformation of the Ikea range, improving and transforming existing businesses and developing new businesses to bring more diverse smart products to the many people.

    “We are just getting started.”

    According to Ikea’s range and supply manager Peter van der Poel, this is the biggest new business the brand has established since the introduction of Children’s Ikea.

    In June, Ikea renamed its smart eco-system control app TRÅDFRI to Ikea Home Smart app, saying the name change signaled a shift in direction for the business.

    “We started out our journey within the smart home with our smart lighting range TRÅDFRI where we also named the steering app with the same name,” Black said.

    “Now, moving into the next step we want to simplify [the eco-system]. We want to make it possible for you to steer all your smart products in the same app, also making it possible for you to steer all your smart products in the same app.”

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  • 80 Percent of Thai Wealth Held Onshore

    80 Percent of Thai Wealth Held Onshore

    Lombard Odier is bullish about its onshore partnership strategy in Thailand, claiming that 80 percent of high net worth wealth remains onshore with local banks.

    The bank is bullish on Thailand’s wealth market, citing industry projections of 10-30 percent annual growth of high net worth individuals, depending on segmentation. Interestingly, the billionaire segment is expected to increase the fastest despite an ongoing U.S.-China trade war.

    Growth is here, said Lombard Odier’s APAC CEO Vincent Magnenat, who expressed optimism regarding the bank’s benefits from its four-year-old partnership with major Thai lender Kasikornbank (Kbank).

    Lombard Odier’s ventures into building onshore revenue lines have been supported not only by its investment capabilities but also through effective delivery to meet non-investment needs. According to Magnenat, the new generation of Thai entrepreneurs are increasingly demonstrating not only demand for professional investment management but also wealth planning and family or business governance needs.

    Perfect wealth comes from a combination of wealth and happiness; customers can live a worry-free lifestyle by easing their concerns in the areas of maintenance and succession of wealth, said Jirawat Supornpaibul, head of Kbank’s private banking group in a local media report.

    KBank’s private banking arm has assets under management of 760 billion Thai baht ($25 billion) with more than 11,000 clients and it estimates the latter to grow five percent annually.

  • AirAsia launches new sustainability livery

    AirAsia launches new sustainability livery

    Air Asia unveiled its new livery design for their Airbus A320 in Bangkok last week, to promote the message of “Sustainable ASEAN Tourism”.

    The launch coincided with the ASEAN Day celebrations on August 8, marking the 52nd anniversary of the original declaration in 1967, and was attended by Thailand’s Director General of the Department of ASEAN Affairs, the AirAsia Group CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, as well as staff and press from around the region.

    Alongside its signature red wings and tail, the fuselage portrays a stylistic green landscape with a river linking all the major ASEAN landmarks – from the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore to the boats of Ha Long Bay in Hanoi. Myanmar’s famous Kyaikhtiyo and Shwedagon pagodas sit at the very top of the design, beside the tail.

    The ASEAN logo is embedded in the puang malai garland, which is associated with good luck and hospitality in Thailand, appropriately located beside the front passenger door. “Ten trestles hanging from the garland symbolise the ten member states. They collectively form the shape of an outward arrow, representing their striving together in advancing partnership towards sustainability,” said Mr. Vijavat Isarabhakdi, Director General of the Department of ASEAN Affairs in Thailand.

    The design was chosen from over 300 submissions by groups of young artists across Thailand, and will now feature on two aircraft based in Thailand and Malaysia.

    Sustainability has been at the forefront of the company’s brand image in recent years, from its aims to reduce carbon emissions to the recycling of aircraft parts and life-vests.

    The company also participates in engagement programs like the recent Journey-D promotion, which challenges travelers to stay in a community in rural Thailand to help clean up the environment, and “live in peace” for two days – without a mobile phone.

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  • Ariana Grande perfume launched, named after her anthem

    Ariana Grande perfume launched, named after her anthem

    An Ariana Grande perfume has gone on sale, named after her hit song Thank U Next.

    The fragrance, released in partnership with Luxe Brands, will launch exclusively on Ulta.com on August 18 before going on shelf in Ulta Beauty retail stores US-wide and at Shoppers Drug Mart in Canada on September 1.

    Grande’s hit song debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and went on to break the record for the most-watched music video with 55 million YouTube views in under 24 hours. Thank U, Next has been regarded as the phrase of the year, symbolising moving on and taking control in a self-affirming way.

    Following her 2019 Fragrance of the Year win for Cloud, Grande has moved to build a stronger platform for her brand by extending the Thank U, Next franchise into a fragrance.

    “For the Thank U, Next fragrance campaign, Grande and Luxe Brands partnered with Hannah Lux Davis to seamlessly weave Grande’s newest fragrance creation into the Thank U, Next world,” said Luxe CMO Noreen Dodge. “Ariana’s creative vision for Thank U, Next perfectly communicates the combination of sexiness and sweetness, while cleverly conveying the details of Ariana’s latest fragrance in a fresh, modern way that is both authentic to Ari and unique to the category.”

    “I wanted to make a fragrance that smells related to my first fragrance Ari but more summery,” said Grande. “So I revisited Ari’s fruity pear and raspberry notes and changed it up by adding some coconut. I was inspired to design a bottle that represented the message of my song – the emergence of the perfume from the broken heart represents moving forward from a challenging chapter.”

    Crafted by Robertet’s Jerome Epinette, the perfumer and artisan behind Byredo and Atelier Cologne, Jerome was inspired to develop new territory with the new fragrance.

    “Each of Ariana’s fragrances surpasses the last and Thank U, Next will be no exception,” said Luxe CEO Tony Bajaj. “The scent, packaging and campaign are all a perfect representation of Ariana’s globally embraced message. It is remarkable how Ariana connects with her fans and shares her incredible passion through everything she does.”

    “Building on the global appeal and success of Ariana Grande, we have strategically grown the international footprint of her fragrance franchise,” said Designer Parfums CEO Dilesh Mehta. “Our success is in partnership with Luxe Brands and our key retail partners Boots and Superdrug in the UK and exclusively with Douglas in over 12 countries.”

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  • Losses widen for Larry Jewelry in subdued luxury-goods market

    Losses widen for Larry Jewelry in subdued luxury-goods market

    Listed Hong Kong jewelry and Chinese-medicine retailer Larry Jewelry has reported a higher loss as its sales plunged 23.1 percent in the six months to June.

    Sales in its jewelry business fell by 17.6 percent, largely in the Hong Kong market, however, the group achieved a better profit margin both there and in Singapore. The company said the luxury-goods market remained soft in the first half of the year.

    The Tung Fong Hung (TFH) business, which retails Chinese pharmaceutical products, dry seafood, health products, and foodstuffs in Hong Kong, Macau and Mainland China, recorded a sales decline of about 25 percent. TFH has 15 stores in Hong Kong, two in Macau and 36 on the mainland.

    The company said it will review the sales network and customer focus of TFH and introduce more locally made products to suit the needs of domestic market through its newly refurbished food and traditional Chinese medicine production facilities.

    The loss attributable to shareholders was HK$49.485 million for the six months to June 30, up from $41.066 million in the same period last year, on group sales of $147.138 million, down from $191.236 million.

    A 31.2-per-cent decrease in gross profit margin was attributed to changes in the company’s product mix during the period.

    Executive director Danny Wong said that in light of the recent business environment and financial resources on hand, the group will continue to seek suitable business opportunities to diversify its existing business stream.

    “The group remains cautiously optimistic in the luxury jewelry market in the long-run. [We] will explore opportunities to broaden the geographic base of customers to markets outside Hong Kong and Singapore and increase its visibility across Southeast Asian countries,” he said.

    “The group also seeks to achieve a diversified customer base through the introduction of new distinctive and unique product designs to more youthful, cosmopolitan audience.”

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  • Spotify for Podcasters officially introduced

    Spotify for Podcasters officially introduced

    After a long period of testing, Spotify for Podcasters is finally out of beta. Described as a discovery and analytics dashboard, Spotify for Podcasters allows content creators to track many things like average listening times, episode streams, and total listeners.

    Long story short, if you’d like to obtain more details about the audience listening to your podcasts, as well as grow it based on the data received, Spotify’s new tool is the best thing it can happen to you.

    Besides demographic data and insight related to the audience, podcasters will also receive information about gender, music tastes, country data, as well as listening patterns, and more.

    With so many podcasts out there, it’s more important than ever that you have the data you need to help you understand and grow your audience. That’s exactly what your dashboard is designed to provide.
    The ultimate goal of Spotify’s new tool is to deepen the engagement between customers, as well as allow podcasters to grow their audiences and careers. Spotify for Podcasters is available for all content creators for free starting today.
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  • King Living launches showroom in Canada

    King Living launches showroom in Canada

    Australian furniture business King Living has opened its first showroom in Canada, continuing the brand’s global roll-out which has seen stores open in Shanghai, Singapore, Malaysia and New Zealand.

    Located in a newly renovated 1000sqm heritage building in shopping district South Granville, Vancouver, the showroom will offer sofa designs, dining ranges, contemporary bed and mattress ranges and outdoor collections.

    King Living chief executive Anna Carrabs said the Canadian launch is a key component to the furniture retailer’s global growth strategy – with Vancouver being the first of many more showrooms in the American region.

    “King Living has already expanded into the Asian market with showrooms in Singapore, Malaysia and Shanghai, which have proven to be very successful in the roll-out of King Living internationally,” Carrabs said.

    “Showrooms will always be a huge part of the King DNA. We want customers to see, feel, test, and get to know the pieces in the flesh. All our designs are investment pieces made to last, so the tactile experience a showroom offers will always be incredibly important.”

    According to Carrabs, the Australian reputation for quality goods has set them apart from international competitors and has been the driving force behind its global expansion.

    “One of our biggest challenges has been challenges has been ensuring we find the right location for our King Living showrooms,” Carrabs said.

    “It is so important that our stores reflect our core values and Australian way of life. It took a considerable amount of time to find our showroom in Vancouver.

    “We wanted to be part of the vibrant shopping district which features around great galleries and gourmet restaurants so now, King Living is right at home.”

  • Apple Music app soon to receive dark mode on Android devices

    Apple Music app soon to receive dark mode on Android devices

    Unlike Google, Apple is a bit slower when it comes to adding dark mode to its Android apps, but that’s quite understandable. If you happen to use Apple Music on your Android smartphone, you’ll be pleased to know that an upcoming update will bring the long-awaited dark mode.

    If you want to try it out before Apple makes it available to everyone, you can install the beta version of the app via the Play Store. The guys at 9to5mac have recently spotted a new update to Apple Music beta, which adds not only a dark theme but also several features from iOS 13.

    Apart from dark mode, the update will also add the redesigned Now Playing UI and time-synced lyrics, which lets users follow along with their favorite music as it plays. The time-synced lyrics feature comes with appealing animations to make following along more fun, as well as some gesture controls that will allow you to jump to your favorite verse.

    Apple hasn’t yet committed to a release date for this update, but there’s a high chance that the new update will be pushed out around the same time Apple releases iOS 13 in the fall.

  • Apple Music trial may shrink from three months to just one

    Apple Music trial may shrink from three months to just one

    One way for music streaming services to expand their subscribers base is through trials. Offering their services for free for a limited is a great way to convince potential subscribers whether or not a service suits their needs.

    Apple is one of the not so many companies that offer a generous 3-month trial to those who want to try out its music streaming service. However, the situation might change.

    A new banner published on Apple’s page for accessories offers a one month free trial of Apple Music instead of the standard three-month free trial. It doesn’t look like this is a mistake, but it’s possible that Apple will start offering 1-month trials in addition to the usual 3-month trials.

    If you click on the banner, you will get the prompt for a three-month free trial in iTunes, so that’s encouraging. Also, Apple hasn’t yet officialized the move on the Apple Music website, so it remains to be seen whether or not this a mistake or the company plans to change the duration of its Apple Music trial.

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