The site where a Legoland will be built in Chuncheon, Gangwon, on Friday. The development of the Legoland, about the same size as the Legoland in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, has been approved by the Gangwon government. British amusement park developer Merlin is in charge.
Shopee, the leading e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia and Taiwan, wraps up a record-breaking year with its highly successful Shopee 12.12 Birthday Sale. On 12 December, Shopee saw over 12 million orders across the region, surpassing all past records including the recent Shopee 11.11 Big Sale.
Supported by more than 450,000 brands and merchants, Shopee recorded 48million visits as users shopped 60 million deals across all categories, and the highest number of items sold in 1 minute was 73,519. Shopee’s highly popular in-app game Shopee Shake was played 46 million times throughout the campaign.
In Singapore, Beauty & Personal Care, Home & Living and Mobile & Gadgets were the top three most popular categories. Leading brands including Laneige, Kao and JBL emerged as favourites amongst users.
Zhou Junjie, Chief Commercial Officer, Shopee, said, “Shopee 12.12 Birthday Sale marks another significant milestone as Shopee celebrate a year of exponential growth. Following the success of Shopee 11.11 Big Sale in November and Shopee 9.9 Super Shopping Day in September, it has been an exciting and fulfilling quarter as past records are surpassed and set new benchmarks to reach next year.
Since launching in 2015, Shopee has seen tremendous growth across its seven markets, achieving over 195 million downloads across Southeast Asia and Taiwan.
Southeast Asian musical instruments retailer Swee Lee Music has opened a refurbished flagship in Malaysia. The 4995sqft location in Lot 10 Mall is Swee Lee’s 15th store in the region, and one of three in Malaysia. Beyond its range of instruments, the store sells vinyl records and curated lifestyle products, and has partnered with second-hand guitar retailer Well Played Gear to offer its products in store. High-end consumer audio goods are also available for purchase.
The store represents the first build of Swee Lee’s retro-futuristic wood/concrete interior design aesthetic in Malaysia. It also reserves space for a cafe and performance events.
Swee Lee’s MD of music Meng Ru Kuok said: “Since Swee Lee began operating in Malaysia three years ago, we’ve been delighted to support local musicians as they pursue their creative journeys.
The refurbished KL flagship store is about taking this to the next level. In a dynamic city like Kuala Lumpur, which has a deep passion for music and incredibly talented artists, we want to establish a space where anyone can be inspired to connect and create.”
View the gallery below (4 images) :
Malaysia Airlines announced the rebranding of its First Class cabin to Business Suite offering passengers new levels of luxury with ample cabin space and privacy. “The new Business Suite was introduced in response to the growing demand of our guests. Our target is to enable the frequent flyer, looking for enhanced comfort, to now be able to enjoy a premium experience at competitive prices,” Malaysia Airlines group CEO Captain Izham Ismail said in a statement.
“We are confident that our new Business Suite will change the way people travel in business class,” Izham added.
Starting Dec 12, 2018, the Business Suite will be available on all of the airline’s A350-900 and A380-800s.
The suite comes with a dedicated check-in counter, access to Malaysia Airlines premium First Class Lounge, 50kg baggage allowance as well as fine-dining experience onboard.
The Business Suite cabin will be available on the London, Tokyo, Osaka route and on the Sydney and Seoul route during the winter season.
A new Vietnam-based airline set up by Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia and a local company is expected to fly by next August. Tran Trong Kien, CEO of Hanoi-based resort ooperator Thien Minh Group, AirAsia’s partner, said that applications for aviation licenses would be made next February and likely obtained in six months.
Vietnam will become the newest market for AirAsia, the largest low-cost carrier in Southeast Asia, which has affiliates in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand.
Kien said Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc had expressed support for the airline, which has yet to be named.
The airline plans to deploy five or six Airbus SE A320 and A321 aircraft on domestic and regional routes, and expand the fleet to 30 within three years, he added.
Last week Thien Minh Group signed a memorandum of understanding with AirAsia for setting up the new airline with a capital of VND1 trillion ($44 million).
AirAsia will hold a 30 percent stake in it, and Thien Minh, 70 percent.
The new airline would be a direct competitor to Vietnam’s budget carriers Vietjet Aviation and Jetstar Pacific, according to industry insiders.
Vietnam Airlines is currently the biggest airline in terms of passengers carried.
Bamboo Airways, owned by private corporation FLC, last month received a license and expects to make its maiden flight on December 29. It is allowed to operate 10 aircraft on domestic and international routes.
There are five carriers in Vietnam: Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet Air, Bamboo Airways, Jetstar Pacific and VASCO. Vietnam Airlines owns VASCO and has a 70 percent stake in Jetstar Pacific.
Vietnam received 14.12 million foreigners in the first 11 months of the year, up 21.3 per cent year-on-year, according to the General Statistics Office. Eighty percent of foreign tourists arrive by air.
Vietnam’s aviation market has averaged 17.4 percentage growth in the past decade, far higher than the 7.9 percent rate for the Asia-Pacific, according to the International Air Transport Association.
AirAsia almost struck a deal with Vietjet, but in 2010 the deal collapsed.
American footwear brand Steve Madden has opened its first store in Malaysia. The new location at Mid Valley Megamall in Kuala Lumpur is the second Steve Madden store launched by the brand’s retail partner Valiram after the first opening in Takashimaya Singapore.
A statement from the brand that describes the new store’s aesthetic as “distilled urban” reads: “Making use of several materials, the intention is to stage the stars – shoes and accessories – in a way that allows each of them to tell their style story.”
Featured in store is the brand’s Holiday 2018 collection for women, as well as its signature rock-n-roll-inspired shoes and leather goods.
Rampai-Niaga, The Body Shop Malaysia franchisee, is planning an IPO that could raise RM200 million (US$48 million). The company is considering submitting a listing application to the local securities regulator shortly, targeting a presence on Bursa Malaysia by the second quarter of next year at the earliest, according to a source close to the firm. As yet, the company has refrained from commenting on the proposal.
The company’s website says Rampai-Niaga is the sole franchisee for The Body Shop Malaysia. It opened the beauty products brand’s first outlet in the country in 1984.
Jolly Rainbow Christmas Fun Factory is now installed at Sunway Pyramid, this event will be on from 23 November 2018 till 1 January 2019 at the LG2 Blue Concourse. Themed Jolly Rainbow which signifies fresh beginnings and hope, get ready to embark on a fun, colourful and interactive Christmas journey as you enter the concourse.
Here, visitor can grab a Christmas passport from the Rainbow Booth to begin. Next, experience unicorn in the centre of the concourse. Visitor can colour the Christmas unicorn and characters, enter the dome and watch it come alive on the walls.
Another fun is the Rainbow Slide installed in the dome. The slide will create a colourful rainbow on the interactive rainbow slide, and its suitable for all ages.
View the full gallery below (5 images) :
Asia’s most expensive city for high net worth individuals is no longer Hong Kong. Both Shanghai and Singapore have overtaken it, with property costs alone pushing it beyond capital cities across the region. Wealth Report Asia, published annually by financial services company Julius Baer, measures the price of a basket of items including property prices, a degustation dinner, cars, a piano, wine, jewellery and even botox.
Shanghai is now Asia’s most expensive city to buy six of the 22 items Julius Baer surveys (a hospital room, watch, handbag, wine, jewellery and skin cream). In addition, it has grown more pricey on a relative basis to buy property (from fifth to fourth most expensive), and legal fees have lept from 10th to second.
Singapore is the most expensive city to buy a car or a degustation dinner, and ranks in the middle of the list on every other item, its best result eighth for a piano.
Property prices and business class air fares have skewed Hong Kong’s position on the list – they are more expensive there than elsewhere. But in contrast, Hong Kong is cheapest city to buy skin cream, the second cheapest for wine and jewellery and the fourth cheapest for men’s suits, womens shoes and watches.
The region’s least expensive city is Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital. According to Julius Baer, it is the most competitive city to buy property, wine, jewellery, a piano and cigars or to rent a hotel suite.
Price deflation of items onshore such as legal fees (down four spots) and jewellery (down three spots) offset a recovery in the value of the ringgit against the US dollar.
The data was calculated on a price-weighted basis.
Chinese luxury consumption slowing
Meanwhile, the report says the “China express” driving the world’s luxury retail market is slowing.
Chinese nationals accounted for just 2 per cent of luxury spending in 2003 yet by last year that share had soared to 32 per cent – and they account for more than 70 per cent of global growth.
But Julius Baer says recent signs “are pointing to an outlook that will be less spectacular”.
“Amid the ongoing trade conflict with the US and a softening growth dynamic, the Chinese stock market has come under significant selling pressure this year. Chinese consumer confidence, which has been a good leading indicator for luxury goods performance trends, appears to have rolled over.
The weakness in Chinese consumer confidence has weighed on the sector of late, and is likely to remain a drag going forward if Chinese consumption trends continue to slow.”
The report also noted that Chinese retail sales growth has also been moderating in recent months.
“We believe China is going through a self-induced slowdown as the economy transforms from investment-led to consumption-led growth. Reforms are currently taking a back seat in favour of selective and measured easing but [we] still expect 6.5 per cent growth this year, before a slowdown to 6.2 per cent next year.
“Following a strong recovery since 2015, it is reasonable to expect global luxury consumption to slow in the near-term from a high base and moderating Chinese demand. Yet we remain upbeat in the longer term premised on structural growing demand from Chinese millennials and a more prominent female presence in the luxury market.”
Central i-City is scheduled to open on January 12 as the largest shopping mall in Selangor’s state capital of Shah Alam, Malaysia. A joint venture between Thai retail property developer CPN Ventures and Malaysian developer I-City Properties, the 940,000sqft mall was constructed on an investment of RM850 million (US$204 million) and features 350 lettable stores, three levels of basement parking and six retail levels. Some 73 per cent of available retail space has already been leased, with the remaining stores expected to be taken up by early next year.
CPN Ventures assistant VP of marketing Siegfried Shaun Dela Pena Tan said: “The mall is expected to transform retail experience for Malaysians. [It caters] to a more affluent target segment attracting shoppers who will spend more, appreciate better and be driven by quality. We expect that the mall will serve more than 900,000 residents in Klang and a further 700,000 in Shah Alam.”
Central i-City Shopping Centre is CPN’s flagship project in Malaysia and first international project.
I-Berhad executive chairman Tan Sri Lim Kim Hong said: “We are bullish about the retail market.
People are unfazed by the economy. They are still shopping and dining out. The mall has a good tenant mix and 25 per cent of the total number of retail shops comprises food and beverage outlets.”
Malaysians can now utilise cashback from ShopBack every time they refuel at petrol stations. The No.1 Cashback portal in the country recently inked a partnership with Petron Malaysia, becoming the first in the country to allow users to convert cashback to Petron Miles (PMiles) Points and vice versa.
“Previously, after our users get cashback from their online purchases, they can choose to transfer the cash to their bank accounts or use it to offset Maxis phone bills. The collaboration with Petron is a first for both parties – the first long-term online to offline redemption for ShopBack, and the first offline to online redemption (PMiles Points to cashback) for Petron as well,” says Alvin Gill, Country General Manager of ShopBack Malaysia.
He mentions that the number of users who accumulated five figures cashback savings through ShopBack is on the rise. Malaysians are getting more familiar with cashback benefits and the company has been exploring opportunities to continue shaping a smarter consumer spending habit offline, of which it feels the priority should be on ways that meet the practical needs of Malaysians’ daily life.
“It is reported that about 23.9 per cent of Malaysians’ disposable income was spent on petrol, housing and utilities in 2016. Hence we decided to pursue petrol redemption as the second non-cash withdrawal option. ShopBack is excited to launch this with Petron and we definitely look forward to similar collaborations in the future.”
The PMiles Points redemption option is now available on all ShopBack platforms (web, mobile web, and app).
To convert cashback to PMiles points, users just need to log onto their accounts, select withdraw – points redemption and thereafter fill in the required information. For every RM10 cashback, users can convert it to 600 PMiles points.
According to Choong Kum Choy, Head of Retail Business for Petron Malaysia, the collaboration with ShopBack underscores Petron’s commitment to provide the best customer experience for PMiles members. “We are committed to giving our customers the best products, the best service, and the best rewards. Our collaboration with ShopBack gives our PMiles holders more value with the cashback option, while significantly enhancing their shopping experience.”
Currently, Petron Malaysia has more than 620 service stations in the country. PMiles members can also convert their points at Petron Service Stations Nationwide or download the form from PMiles Website. Every 1000 PMiles points can be converted to RM10 Cashback, which will be credited into the user’s ShopBack account.
Private equity company KKR is to invest as much as S$500 million (US$366 million) into V3, the parent of cafe chain TWG Tea and massage chair retailer Osim, to fund regional expansion. In a deal which mixes equity and financing, KKR will take an unspecified “significant stake” in V3, which is effectively valued at S$1.7 billion. V3 is the company which resulted from last year’s restructuring of once-listed Osim International after plans for an IPO were shelved.
Keith Magnus, chairman of Evercore Asia, which advised V3 on the deal said that the investment by KKR represents a more than 50 per cent increase in enterprise value compared to when the group was taken private.
“This is a phenomenal premium for [Ron] Sim,” said Magnus.
Sim remains the chairman, chief executive and controlling shareholder of V3. Sim, who remains chairman, CEO and controlling shareholder of the business added in a statement: “I am extremely pleased to welcome KKR as a significant shareholder in V3. I am confident this investment will position the company for our next phase of growth, starting with the immediate expansion of TWG Tea in Japan and the US and of Osim in China.
“We would also be looking into M&A opportunities that are earnings accretive.”
V3 also owns the rights to retail GNC nutritional supplements in Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan.
Sim says V3’s revenue cleared S$600 million last year and profit was also up.
Although relatively little is being said and publicised about Malaysia Airlines Bhd’s (MAB) recovery plan, a substantial amount of progress has actually been achieved in its business operations in line with the plan, which aims to revive the country’s national carrier and sustain its profitability.
Group CEO Captain Izham Ismail said improvements in terms of cost base, productivity, information technology (IT) systems and customer experience were among the achievements chalked up by the company, thanks to the five-year Malaysia Airlines Recovery Plan.
In an interview with Bernama, he said plans had been put in place to address the airline’s performance going forward and this had yielded improved performance for the first half of this year.
The airline performed stronger in the first six months of this year than in the same period of 2017, adding that the key focus for the airline in financial year 2018 included driving revenue.
“This will be underpinned by continuous improvement in customer experience, product quality and operational excellence while maintaining a productive and competitive cost base,” he said.
According to Izham, MAB’s cost base has been significantly changed to bring it in line with its peer network airlines.
As of today, the group has one of the lowest cost bases among its peer network airlines on a cost per available seat kilometre basis.
The company has also seen material gains in productivity with a more competitively sized workforce, which is further complemented by a commitment towards continuous talent development.
“A stronger local talent pool has now been established,” he said.
On the group’s IT system, which is an integral part of overall airline operations, Izham said the complete overhaul had now been completed.
He said the new Passenger Service System and migration to a cloud-based data centre had improved reliability and cyber security, as well as enhanced agility and better time-to-market.
He said customer experience had also improved with market-driven metrics based on the company’s customer survey and net promoter measures showing significant positive gains over the last two financial years.
On the operational front, Izham said the supply chain in engineering had been significantly tightened, which had helped the airline’s on-time performance, although it was still impacted by external factors beyond its control.
“Since the set up of NewCo (MAB, which took over the operations, assets and liabilities of Malaysian Airline System Bhd or MAS) in 2015, we are showing progress and have recorded a double-digit compound annual growth rate growth (of 21%) over the last three years.
“That is improvement straight to the bottomline,” he explained.
MAB managed to record “steady year-on-year (y-o-y) performance” in the second quarter of 2018, with a marginal yield improvement, while revenue per available seat kilometre remained steady with a growth of 2% y-o-y.
Going forward, Izham said MAB would continue to focus on the customer while making sure to deliver a strong schedule and great service for its customers.
The airline also aimed to build a diverse Asia-Pacific network with a simplified fleet structure and operations to ensure consistency, and removing complexity in service delivery as well as pursuing a gradual and progressive growth strategy across markets, he said.
Commenting on Khazanah Nasional Bhd’s plan to relist the national carrier as part of the recovery plan sometime from now until 2020, he said “the plan has always been to re-list Malaysia Airlines”.
“We are working hard to stabilise the company and return it to profitability before any initial public offering plans can be considered,” he added. Khazanah owns 100% equity interest in MAB.
In 2014, the sovereign wealth fund had injected investments amounting to RM6 billion to support the airline’s five-year turnaround plan with the aim of returning MAB to profitability by late 2017 and to relist the company by 2018 or 2019.
Khazanah de-listed MAS from Bursa Malaysia on Dec 31, 2014.
New store openings are maintaining a modest 7-Eleven Malaysia sales growth rate – but improved margins are driving solid profit improvement. The listed convenience store operator released its third-quarter results on Friday, which showed third-quarter sales growth of 1 per cent and year-to-date growth of 1.3 per cent. But net profit was up 4.1 per cent for the quarter and 13.3 per cent year to date.
CEO Colin Harvey said net profit grew 27.6 per cent quarter on quarter.
“However, this is only the first step in the right direction towards where the organisation should be, and there is scope for improvement. I am confident that our strategy roadmap focussed on strengthening the key areas of, assortment, supply chain, operational excellence, store base, and digitally enabling the organisation will bear fruit in terms of financial performance, and overall customer shopping experience.”
He said the group’s net revenue of RM1.66 billion year to date was driven by growth in new stores and consumer promotion activity.
Continued store expansion has taken the network to 2259 stores.
7-Eleven Malaysia expects trading conditions for the next quarter to improve with the anticipated heightened consumer sentiment.
“We expect to see further improvements in the next quarter by pursuing our core strategy pillars of operations excellence, cost management and commercial innovation,” the company said.