Retail News CRM

Tag: network

  • UBS Extends Partnership With Private Equity Fintech

    UBS Extends Partnership With Private Equity Fintech

    Switzerland’s largest lender is expanding its partnership with the iCapital Network platform to serve wealthy clients in Switzerland and Asia.

    UBS global wealth management is strengthening its ties to iCapital Network to gain access to the technology company’s data and analytics platform for private markets, according to a statement Thursday.

    Details of the deal were not announced.

    The platform, which automates the lifecycle of private market investments, enables UBS wealth managers to access data related to private equity, private debt, and real assets.

    The two parties, engaged in a strategic partnership since 2017,  expect the appetite for the asset class among high net worth individuals to grow, the statement says.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Nokia deploys 5G standalone core network for Taiwan Mobile

    Nokia deploys 5G standalone core network for Taiwan Mobile

    Nokia announced that it has deployed its 5G standalone core network for Taiwan Mobile Co. to enable the operator to provide the most advanced 5G applications for enterprises and businesses, and to strengthen its network services and performance.

    The timely deployment includes Nokia’s voice core, cloud packet core, subscriber data management, signaling, network exposure, policy controller, cloud infrastructure, and security management for radio transport. With a 5G standalone core network, Taiwan Mobile can readily provide the most advanced 5G services such as network slicing and smart city solutions that require ultra-low latency and reliability.

    Nokia and Taiwan Mobile are long-standing partners and Nokia, as the sole supplier of Taiwan Mobile’s 5G network, is supporting the operator’s ‘Super 5G strategy’ focused on sustainability and digital transformation.

    Nokia leads the market in core network deployments, with 25 of the top 40 communication service providers relying on its core network products.

    Tom Koh, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Technology Group, Taiwan Mobile, said: “Introducing SA to unleash the full potential of 5G beyond high-speed to further realize innovative use cases enabled by ultra-low latency and massive IoT is our strategic mission in the 5G era. We are delighted to reach this milestone with Nokia to bring the first true 5G network into Taiwan. Owning the agility of network slicing to swiftly customize the network for accommodating different use cases, Taiwan Mobile will be able to accelerate time-to-market to provide a wide variety of services for everyone and everything and to free enterprises to embrace Industry 4.0. The SA technology is built from cloud architecture, infrastructure-agnostic by design, which paves a critical step to a full software agile virtualization network. It unlocks the use cases with distributed cloud for low latency service with local breakout needed. Taiwan Mobile’s true 5G network will become the innovative engine for consumers to experience as well as verticals to deploy applications without limits.”

    Susanna Patja, Head of Cloud & Network Services, Greater China, Nokia, said: “We are very pleased that the Nokia 5G Standalone Core network is now up and running, on schedule, for Taiwan Mobile. This provides Taiwan Mobile with exceptional capabilities in terms of machine-to-machine communication, extreme automation, and reliability that enables critical 5G uses for enterprises; and does so with the knowledge that this standalone network will continue to function seamlessly with non-standalone networks.”

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Rakuten Mobile partners Cisco to advance network for 5G and IoT services

    Rakuten Mobile partners Cisco to advance network for 5G and IoT services

    Cisco and Rakuten Mobile, Inc. today announced a major milestone for Rakuten Mobile’s network infrastructure in support of efforts to build a better, more inclusive internet for the future.

    Rakuten Mobile operates the world first’s fully cloud-native mobile network. It launched 4G service in Japan in April 2020, and launched 5G non-standalone (NSA) services in September 2020 in record time. With four million subscribers today, Rakuten Mobile continues to advance and scale its network to support new demands driven by the growth of remote and mobile workers.

    With the implementation of Segment Routing over IPv6 (SRv6) and Cisco Routed Optical Networking, Rakuten Mobile plans to expand its capabilities to support enterprise customers with 5G and IoT services. To support its future 5G SA services with network slicing capabilities, Rakuten Mobile will introduce SRv6 micro-segments, an extension to the SRv6 network programming model that is key to addressing multi-domain 5G deployments across its network. Cisco Customer Experience (CX) will plan and implement the overall architecture and design.

    Transitioning to SRv6 will help Rakuten Mobile increase network resiliency and support a wider range of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that are foundational for upcoming 5G and IoT services. With Cisco Routed Optical Networking, Rakuten Mobile can consolidate coherent pluggable optics into a router, making the entire network more automated to deploy services faster (from 100 days down to 40), reduce power consumption by nearly 30 percent, and increase profitability through high-quality services at a competitive price.

    “Reimagining mobile networking is at the very heart of Rakuten Mobile’s strategy, and our decision to go full-speed ahead on SRv6 and Cisco Routed Optical Networking demonstrates our effort to take advantage of technology innovation at every layer of the stack,” said Tareq Amin, Chief Technology Officer, Rakuten Mobile. “We knew that Cisco would walk in lock-step with us as we worked through each phase needed to implement this new technology and align it to our business goals.”

    “Cisco and Rakuten Mobile are on a path to profoundly change the way network infrastructure is built, in order to connect as many people as possible to quality internet services,” said Jonathan Davidson, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Mass-Scale Infrastructure Group, Cisco. “Rakuten Mobile continues to mark important milestones to take its network to the next-level, and together we are showcasing the blueprint for the internet for the future to support our world of wireless and cloud- powered experiences.”

    Lees ook:

  • Accenture to digitally transform Bharat Petroleum sales and distribution network

    Accenture to digitally transform Bharat Petroleum sales and distribution network

    Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL) and Accenture are collaborating to transform India’s second-largest oil and gas company by digitally reimagining its extensive sales and distribution network. Accenture will use its capabilities in data, artificial intelligence (AI), and cloud technologies to build, design and implement a digital platform, called IRIS.

    This platform will integrate real-time data from across BPCL’s countrywide network, including more than 18,000 fuel retail outlets, 25,000 tank trucks, 75 oil installations and depots, 52 liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) bottling plants, and 250 additional industrial and commercial locations, to provide a consolidated view of its extensive operations.

    Driven by analytics based on AI and machine learning technologies, the IRIS platform will subsequently trigger automated alerts and actions, including rapid response to equipment failures or hazardous situations. It will also empower the BPCL workforce of more than 100,000 across the country to make faster and more accurate decisions, including preventative maintenance. This can help increase sales at fuel retail outlets by minimizing infrastructure downtime and ensuring consistent fuel quality, as well as improve the experience for customers.

    By embedding intelligence in BPCL’s sales and distribution network, Accenture is helping BPCL optimize its operational performance and efficiency, enhance security and safety and deliver a superior experience for its retail and commercial customers across the country.

    Arun Kumar Singh, director (marketing and refineries), BPCL, said, “Digital transformation opens up new opportunities for the oil and gas industry. As an organization passionate about embracing change and leading the charge, we look forward to leveraging technology to unlock tremendous value, sustainable growth, and improved efficiency.”

    “With the deployment of this highly automated command and control platform called IRIS, we will not only bolster our digital capabilities significantly but also improve customer experience and transform operations at scale. It will further ensure consistent and uniform delivery of BPCL’s brand promises of innovation, care and reliability to our customers,” said Rahul Tandon, head, digital transformation, BPCL.

    The new platform will be capable of accepting more than three million inputs per second from automated sensors, cameras, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices deployed at all key locations, tracking performance based on key parameters such as fuel stock, safety, compliance, equipment health and boosting asset uptime. BPCL’s field workforce and partner network will have a seamless experience thanks to supporting from a portal, mobile app and call centers in Noida and Chennai.
    The digital sales and distribution platform will use BPCL’s cloud infrastructure, making it more agile and scalable.

    “The future will belong to companies that purposefully combine advanced digital technologies with human skills and creativity,” said Piyush N. Singh, India market unit lead at Accenture. “We believe our industry expertise and extensive digital capabilities can help BPCL drive the next wave of growth and gain a distinct advantage in the market. The powerful combination of human and applied intelligence will facilitate transformative change to ensure BPCL’s operations are safer, more secure and more efficient.”

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Standard Chartered Joins BlackRock’s Provider Network

    Standard Chartered Joins BlackRock’s Provider Network

    The bank will offer integrated front-to-back office investment management solutions to mutual clients across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East on the Aladdin platform.

    Standard Chartered has become the latest bank to ink a strategic partnership with BlackRock’s «Aladdin» provider network, a platform that helps assets managers check risk in their portfolios, trade, manage data management, and other operational tasks.

    The alliance builds on Standard Chartered’s ongoing relationship with BlackRock, leveraging the focus both organizations have on innovation and digitization and is part of the Bank’s longer-term strategic partnership with the global asset manager to provide an enhanced experience for our institutional clients, Standard Chartered said in an announcement on Wednesday.

    Aladdin – or asset, liability, debt, and derivatives investment network – was conceived by the New York-based firm in the late 1990s as an internal tool. Today, it is one of Blackrock’s most powerful tech tools that it sells to smaller rivals, in a bid to stave off pressure on its active management fund arm from cheaper index funds. Credit Suisse and HSBC adopted the platform in 2019 and 2020 respectively.

    Akiyoshi Takeuchi, head of BlackRock Solutions Asia-Pacific, said Standard Chartered’s adoption of the platform «underscores growing momentum in bringing innovative solutions deeper into emerging markets throughout Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.»

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Nokia partners QTnet to launch local 5G network in Kyushu

    Nokia partners QTnet to launch local 5G network in Kyushu

    QTnet, which provides broadband and related services to customers, will now be able to launch new services using Nokia’s local 5G technology, thus creating a sizeable business opportunity. The private wireless network will be based on the Nokia Digital Automation Cloud, a high-performance, private wireless networking and edge computing platform that will power digital transformation across the Kyushu region.

    Together, Nokia and QTnet will also join forces with the Kyushu Institute of Technology to provide new local 5G-enabled services on the Institute’s university campus. This will be the first industry-academia collaboration in Japan to create a local 5G environment in a university campus setting. Services include self-operating stores, walking support for the visually impaired, cafeteria crowd monitoring, and new trials with partners and research labs.

    Sadao Mouri, Director and Senior Managing Executive Officer at QTnet, said: “Local 5G has the potential to enable new applications and business models while dramatically improving users’ quality of life. By deploying robust local 5G private wireless networks in Kyushu, we will enable anchor institutions like education, healthcare, and first responders to reach new levels of efficiency and productivity. Nokia’s track record in providing reliable local 5G networks will be an important milestone in creating new businesses.”

    Donny Janssens, Head of Nokia Enterprise Japan, said: “We are excited to work with QTnet on this 5G initiative, which is the first of its kind in Kyushu. With a high-performance 5G network, Kyushu institutions can take advantage of innovative new services and applications which will transform the way they operate. We look forward to expanding the local 5G private wireless ecosystem while delivering compelling 5G experiences.”

    Lees ook:

  • ZTE launches i5GC to support private 5G networks for vertical industries

    ZTE launches i5GC to support private 5G networks for vertical industries

    The solution introduces 5G capabilities such as large bandwidth, low latency, high reliability and multiple connections into various industries, and integrates technologies such as AI, IoT, cloud computing, big data and MEC to enable the digitalisation of whole industries and build fully-connected intelligent private 5G networks for vertical industries.

    At present, public 5GC is oriented to consumer applications, so it cannot meet industry users’ ultra-high requirements for security, latency, reliability, network control rights, energy consumption and usage environment. ZTE i5GC addresses this by deeply integrating and optimising 5GC functions. It uses 2U general servers to achieve the integration of multiple network functions (NF) and a plug-and-play one-stop deployment mode to achieve minimal space, minimal energy consumption and minimal operation and maintenance (O&M).

    This solution provides non-professional industry users with rapid and accurate 5G network access deployment and excellent service experience. In addition, ZTE i5GC can be flexibly customised according to a user’s diversified requirements for security, traffic processing and autonomy, and provide different function combinations and deployment forms for different scenarios. For instance, the user plane function (UPF) is deployed to the edge, traffic is forwarded nearby, and user data is locally managed. In addition, ZTE i5GC employs a 3GPP service-based architecture (SBA) to seamlessly interconnect with a 5G public network. It can integrate third-party multi-access edge-computing (MEC) applications through open interfaces to achieve flexible expansion and rapid iteration of edge applications, so as to explore and breed 5G killer applications in the vertical field.

    Towards the construction of business-grade 5G networks, ZTE has implemented in-depth 5G applications for use in vertical fields such as mines, medical treatments and ports. For example, for a 5G smart mine project, ZTE uses i5GC to deploy a complete set of 5G networks underground, meeting the mine’s compact space and explosion-proofing requirements, and achieving full coverage from key 5G networks. ZTE i5GC will continue to focus on industry projects, promote the understanding of industry requirements, work with enterprises and operators to build a 5G application ecosystem, help expand the ‘blue ocean market’ opportunity for 5G for business, and drive 5G large-scale commercial use and value monetisation.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Introducing Clubhouse, the invite-only alternative to Linkedin

    Introducing Clubhouse, the invite-only alternative to Linkedin

    Forget The Nice Guy or Soho House. The place to find Hollywood and Silicon Valley powerhouses during the pandemic has been on Clubhouse, the invite-only, audio-driven app that’s quickly gaining steam as a networking tool for those looking to make it in the entertainment and tech worlds.

    Hop on Clubhouse at any given time and you could stumble into conversations led by Wiz Khalifa, Tiffany Haddish, Ava DuVernay, Ashton Kutcher, Brian Koppelman or Scooter Braun, among several other celebs. Kevin Hart, in a story that’s already solidified in Clubhouse lore, recently took part in an hours-long conversation focused on whether he was, in fact, funny. And on the tech side, Clubhouse is packed with entrepreneurs like former Twitter CEO Ev Williams, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, and former Y Combinator President Sam Altman, along with a laundry list of angel investors and venture capitalists.

    Clubhouse isn’t complicated: Users can go on the app and join a “room” where a particular conversation is going on. Often, these conversations are focused on business and networking topics; “Pivoting from live events to virtual events + sponsorships” and “virtual writing cafe” were two rooms pulling in users on Monday, for example. Once inside, users can listen to the discussion and, if approved by the room moderator, chime in and join the conversation themselves. It’s not uncommon to see rooms with a few dozen speakers and a few hundred users listening in.

    Since launching in April, the app has grown to over 100,000 beta users, according to an individual familiar with the company’s internal metrics. The app’s early traction helped it land a $12 million round of funding from Andreessen Horowitz, valuing Clubhouse at $100 million.

    As the new, go-to spot to listen to entrepreneurs and stars, Clubhouse has also become the audio version of LinkedIn for those looking to make connections in Hollywood. Even in normal times, making it in the movie business is tough enough. But for Sade Sellers, a 31-year-old screenwriter from Burbank, California, one of the many problems tied to the pandemic has been the end to casual networking events — coffee meet-ups with executives, conferences and post-work drinks with people in the film industry — that have helped her career grow.

  • Facebook reports strong Q4 and 2020 top and bottom line growth

    Facebook reports strong Q4 and 2020 top and bottom line growth

    Facebook reported its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings numbers today. The controversial social networking site reported advertising revenue of $27.19 billion for the fourth quarter running from October through December. That resulted in a 31% year-over-year gain from the $20.74 billion in advertising revenue that the company earned during last year’s fourth quarter. For all of 2020, Facebook grossed $84.17 billion, up 21% from 2019’s total of $69.66 billion.

    During the fourth quarter, Facebook garnered a total of $28.07 billion compared to the $21.08 billion it took in during the same quarter last year. If you’re counting, that is a 33% hike on an annual basis. For all of 2020, the company collected $86 billion dollars producing a 22% increase from 2019’s top line number of $70.70 billion.

    Let’s move on to the bottom line. For the period from October through December (yes, also known as the fourth quarter), Facebook earned $11.22 billion or $3.88 per share. Net income was up 53% from the previous year’s $7.35 billion while the per-share figure reflected a hike of 52% from the $2.56 per share figure attained during Q4 of 2019. For 2020, Facebook reported profits of $29.15 billion or $10.09 per share. That’s an annual gain of 58% and 57% respectively over 2019’s figures of $18.49 billion and $6.43 per share.

    Facebook achieved 1.84 billion Daily Active Users for December 2020, an 11% gain year-over-year. As of the end of last year, the number of Monthly Active Users amounted to 2.80 billion for a 12% annual gain.

    For the first half of 2021, Facebook expects revenue to be stable, or show a slight gain. CFO David Wehner said that Facebook expects some issues with ad targeting. As you might recall, Apple and Facebook are fighting each other over Apple’s change requiring iOS users to opt-in to receive targeted ads. Wehner says, “We also expect to face more significant ad targeting headwinds in 2021. This includes the impact of platform changes, notably iOS 14, as well as the evolving regulatory landscape. While the timing of the iOS 14 changes remains uncertain, we would expect to see an impact beginning late in the first quarter.”

    Besides owning Facebook, the company owns Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram. It also runs VR headset producer Oculus and makes the Facebook Portal line of smart displays.

    The earnings report failed to excite Wall Street investors. During the regular trading session, Facebook (FB) shares closed down $9.91 or 3.51% to $272.14. After the report was released slightly after 4pm ET, Facebook dropped another $5.14 or 1.89% to $267.

  • 7-Eleven warns of bogus ‘franchisor’ in Cambodia

    7-Eleven warns of bogus ‘franchisor’ in Cambodia

    Convenience-store chain 7-Eleven has warned of a bogus ‘franchisor’ in Cambodia. The company said it received reports that there is an unauthorized party representing itself as 7-Eleven’s master franchisee in the country and attempting to sell outlets.

    The reports promoted the company to issue an announcement confirming that Thailand’s CP All is the sole master franchisee in the market, having the exclusive right to open and operate 7-Eleven stores there.

    Last May, Thailand’s CP Group signed a master franchise agreement to operate the chain in Cambodia. The first store is scheduled to launch in Phnom Penh next year.

    Lees ook:

  • Inditex closing down 800 outlets worldwide

    Inditex closing down 800 outlets worldwide

    Spanish apparel retailer Inditex has temporarily shuttered almost 3800 stores in 39 markets internationally in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak.

    All Inditex locations in its home territory are currently closed for business.

    Affected stores include Zara, Pull & Bear, Massimo Dutti and Bershka-branded outlets, sales at all of which have been strongly affected by the virus.

    Retail takings for the group dropped 24.1 percent in the first fortnight of March.

    While the firm stated it is too early to predict the ultimate impact of the outbreak on its business, Inditex expressed confidence in its business model to weather the crisis, even as European countries begin to enforce government-mandated lockdowns.

    The firm has set up remote working systems at its Spanish head office and closed gym and bus services.

  • HanesBrands about to double Champion Asia store network

    HanesBrands about to double Champion Asia store network

    US apparel company HanesBrands plans to double its Champion Asia store network within two years.

    The company has just announced a partnership with LF Corporation in South Korea which will see its store network there expand from around 10 now to more than 30 by the end of next year, with a further five-year expansion program planned beyond that. LF Corporation will also develop an online offer there.

    LF Corporation directly operates more than 1400 stores in South Korea, including for fashion brands Daks, Hazzys and Lafuma.

    The South Korea Champion partnership is part of a broader strategy by HanesBrands to expand the brand’s store footprint throughout Asia. There are currently more than 200 Champion Asia stores and shops-in-shops across Asia, including in Japan, China, Thailand, Taiwan and Hong Kong, which represent two-thirds of its global network.

    HanesGroup says it wants to more than double the number of stores and shops in those markets within two years.

    Beyond Asia, the company is also continuing to open stores in Europe, the US and Australia, and is pursuing a distributor retail model to open stores in Mexico, Central America and South America.

    Jon Ram, HanesBrands’ group president of global activewear, described its new South Korean partner as “a highly accomplished large-scale distributor” that operates a large network of department stores, shop-in-shops, street shops and online platforms.

    “We are looking forward to the growth that we can generate through the growing power of the Champion brand combined with the retail, e-commerce and brand building expertise of LF,” he said of the ambitious Champion Asia plan.

    LF plans to locate retail stores and shops-in-shops near and in the country’s major department stores and shopping malls. In addition, LF will distribute Champion products to the company’s Around the Corner multi-brand lifestyle-apparel stores and to other parts of its online and store network.

    “Champion is a global leader in sports performance and athletic casualwear apparel and is particularly appealing to younger consumers in their teens and 20s,” said LF Corporation MD Yoo Hyosang. “We believe Champion has the positioning to be an upscale brand in Korea, and we plan to use a dual-distribution strategy of opening Champion stores and expanding points of distribution in other store channels and online platforms. We are eager to tap the growth potential of Champion in Korea.”

    Champion has doubled its global net sales in the past three years with strong double-digit compound annual growth rates in the US, Europe and Asia. Popular with celebrities, sports figures and pop culture artists, the brand has more than 7 million followers on Instagram and has collaborated on apparel offerings with other leading apparel brands, designers and retailers, including Todd Snyder, Kith, Supreme, Urban Outfitters and Vetements.

    Based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, HanesBrands sells products under brands including Hanes, Bonds, Maidenform, Playtex, Bras N Things, L’eggs, Lovable, Wonderbra, Berlei and Gear for Sports.

  • Vodafone network outage affects several countries in Europe & Asia

    Vodafone network outage affects several countries in Europe & Asia

    Issues began at around 14:42 BST according to network monitor Down detector. Customers all over the UK reported issues and so did customers in Spain, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Greece, and Portugal.

    Many customers took to Twitter to express their frustration on the matter.

    Vodafone then acknowledged the outage and tweeted, “We are currently investigating a potential outage to our fixed and mobile services. We thank you for your patience as we work to get this resolved.”

    The company has around 19.5 million UK customers and around 444 million globally.

    Initially, it looked more like an isolated issue with customers in some UK cities thought to have been among those affected; however, Economics Correspondent Paul Cogan at Virgin Media TV noticed that Down Detector showed more maps with even more outages.

    He stated, “Vodafone’s problems don’t seem to be restricted to just Europe. Down Detector outage maps show problems in India, Australia, New Zealand, and Turkey.”

    The global disruption was then confirmed when Vodafone Ghana tweeted, “Vodafone Ghana wishes to apologize for the intermittent network challenges experienced by some of our mobile customers. Resolving it remains our topmost priority. We shall keep you updated. Thanks for your patience.”

    Vodafone then apologized for the inconvenience and said the services were back to normal. “This issue has now been fully resolved and normal service has been restored to customers. We thank you for your patience and sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused.”

    The network outage comes a month after Vodafone set its launch date for its new 5G network in seven UK cities.

    The company last experienced an outage in October 2018.

    Lees ook:

  • India’s Grofers to convert 200 partner stores into its own brand network

    India’s Grofers to convert 200 partner stores into its own brand network

    Indian online grocer Grofers will convert around 200 service-partner stores into its own offline branded outlets.

    The move is intended to expand Grofers’ business without affecting online sales, and has already been put into effect in around 100 such “kirana” outlets, providing training in point-of-sale, retention and loyalty schemes, among other areas. Plans are also underway to expand the network into southern Indian markets.

    “We have converted several grocery stores into our own branded offline stores,” said Grofers VP and offline business head Yeshu Bansal, “around 100 kirana stores in Delhi-NCR have been a part of this effort that started somewhere in November last year. Our target is to have 200 such stores in the coming few months.”

    The firm is aiming to double sales to ₹5000 crore (US$726.7 million) this financial year and is planning an IPO within three years.

    “Using our forecasting tools and data science, we help the offline stores understand what items are selling more and what should he stock for,” added Bansal. “We are taking our experience and tech to the offline store … We are entering kirana stores in residential areas that has middle and the lower middle class population. The goal is to help the retailer scale up his business by getting more footfalls, and for us, it helps push their homegrown brands (private label products) as well.”

    Grofers partners with more than 6000 stores that deliver groceries to its customers.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Lawson Thailand plans Further Network expansion

    Lawson Thailand plans Further Network expansion

    Saha Group is opening a new wave of Lawson Thailand convenience stores in subway stations and airports.

    The firm is establishing a joint venture with its partner Japanese chain in collaboration with Thai advertising business VGI Global Media, which specialises in public transport facilities. The cooperative will launch this Friday with registered capital of THB20 million (US$645,000). Partnership Saha Lawson will hold 60 per cent of the venture, with VGI taking 30 per cent and Saha Group the remaining 10 per cent.

    Saha expects the brand’s focus on public transit customers will give the initiative an edge over leading competitor Charoen Pokphand’s 7-Eleven, which operates around 11,000 outlets. It plans to open 30 Lawson Thailand stores in transport facilities, joining its existing store network in Bangkok’s elevated mass-transit system BTS, by late February 2021.

    Lees ook: