Tag: Philippines

  • Owndays Europe marks first foray outside Asia-Pacific

    Owndays Europe marks first foray outside Asia-Pacific

    After rapidly building a network of stores across Asia, Japanese eyewear retailer Owndays has made its European debut.

    Owndays Europe has opened its first store in the Netherlands, the design largely true to its Asian format and its simple pricing model seamlessly converted into local currency with frames and lenses paired at between 98 euros and 198 euros.  A 20-minute “quick processing” promise is also included in its in-store marketing, two two promises being the eyewear chain’s unique selling points.

    Owndays Netherlands 1

     

    The 80 sqm Dutch store opened last week in a traditional street-front location, rather than a shopping mall, where most of its stores are located in Asia; at Passage in The Hague, a trendy area bustling with retail and food & beverages establishments.

    Owndays Europe plans to open 30 stores in the Netherlands in the next three years.

    The brand began its international expansion just three years ago and is already trading in Singapore, the Philippines, Australia, Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand, Cambodia and Malaysia, making the Netherlands its 10th market.

    owndays-netherlands

    Owndays Europe stores carry more than 1500 designs of frames ranging from basic and functional to stylish and fashion-forward so customers can pick the right pairs of glasses to suit their lifestyles or to match occasions and functions. With a team of in-house designers based in Japan, the brand regularly adds new designs to its existing collections so customers always see something new each time they visit the shop.

    Owndays already has more than 170 shops in Asia-Pacific and sells more than 1.5 million pairs of glasses a year. It is one of the few optical retailers internationally which has adopted an entirely private label system, managing the entire process from design and manufacturing to inventory management and retail.

  • UFC Gym plans 30 outlets for Philippines

    UFC Gym plans 30 outlets for Philippines

    UFC Gym plans to open the first of 30 MMA-inspired gyms in the Philippines early next year.

    Under a new 10-year partnership with the Fitspiration Philippines Corporation, the first signature branch will be at Glorietta mall in Makati.

    “Filipino fight fans understand our brand, and partnering with Fitspiration PH is a perfect fit to help Manila’s fitness enthusiasts ‘train different’ while working to achieve their individual fitness goals,” says UFC Gym CEO Brent Leffel.
    “In almost two decades of bringing major players in the fitness industry to the country, I know a winner when I see it – and make no mistake, UFC Gym is a winner,” says Fitspiration PH president Mark Dayrit.

    “Asia is one of the UFC’s fastest-growing markets, and fight fans in the Philippines are some of the most passionate around the world,” says UFC Asia executive VP/GM Kenneth Berger. “We are excited to be leading the way, making MMA [mixed martial arts] more accessible for Filipino fans to train and increase their fitness through the sport.”

    Since its debut in 2009, UFC Gym franchise has opened more than 135 locations throughout the US, Australia, Canada, South America and the UAE. Offering a range of fitness classes, group and private MMA training, group fitness, personal and group dynamic performance-based training, plus MMA youth programming, UFC Gym has programs to suit all ages and fitness levels.

    Membership includes unlimited access to UFC’s Octagon and signature classes such as Daily Ultimate Training, Muay Thai, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, kickboxing, boxing and women’s self-defence.

  • Globe deploys CEM suite from NICE

    Globe deploys CEM suite from NICE

    Globe Telecom has become the Philippines’ first operator to implement NICE’s Total Voice of the Customer (TVOC) suite to help improve the customer experience.

    The operator has deployed the suite across seven of its customer-facing touchpoints, including the contact center, retail centers, self-service points and outbound calls.

    NICE TVOC combines instant solicited feedback with interaction analytics for insight into the drivers of customer satisfaction.

    This improved visibility has given Globe the ability to take immediate action for recovery, when necessary, as well as to identify best practices to be shared with all service representatives. Insights from the TVOC solution are being used to bring company services in line with customer expectations.

    TVOC is the latest addition to the portfolio of NICE enterprise solutions Globe has implemented, which also include applications for workforce management, interaction analytics and quality optimization.

    “Seeing that telco is a very dynamic space to be in, it is important for us get as much insight as we can about our customers so we can engage them at their ‘moment of truth’ and deliver real impact,” said Rebecca Eclipse, chief customer experience officer at Globe Telecom. “Eventually, this will be our competitive edge, as we can quickly identify opportunities to better serve our customers and immediately take action.”

  • Makansutra brings Singapore street hawker food to Manila

    Makansutra brings Singapore street hawker food to Manila

    Singapore food culture company Makansutra has created what it describes as one of the most modern but retro looking heritage food halls in Manila.

    Founded in 1997 by entrepreneur-photojournalist, KF Seetoh Makansutra aims to celebrate and promote food culture through food guides, online content, eateries, specialised events, projects and TV shows. Now it has brought 11 stalls and a refreshment and snack station to a 14,000 sqft prime retail space in the SM Megamall.

    “It has been a year coming, fraught with complex building issues, ingredients sourcing problems, lack of proper local equipments and expertise… among others,” explained Seetoh. “But Makansutra Hawkers has now launched in Manila.”

    Five famous hawkers and street food restaurants from Singapore and Malaysia made their international debut there: Geylang Claypot Rice, Alhambra Padang Satay, HK Street Old Chun Kee, Jin Ji Braised Duck and Kway Chap and the iconic Donald and Lily from Malacca. All, except for Geylang Claypot Rice which is a stall requested by show host Anthony Bourdain for his Bourdain Market in New York, were featured at the recent World Street Food Congress held in Manila.

    Makansutra

    The other stalls were new hawkers licensed under Makansutra and trained by the hawkers in the team. There’s Mian Ji (fried Hokkien prawn mee and soup version), Baoji Xiang (Chicken rice and paper wrapped chicken), Ah Tee (oyster omelette and carrot cake), Adam’s Ribs ( bak kut teh), and Curry Flurry (roti prata, fish head curry and nasi briyani).

    “The hawker centre’s design is a throwback to the era when street food was de rigueur and was like a treat, back in the 1960s and 1970s. We used corrugated zinc sheets for a ceiling and plain polished concrete floor with graffiti on the walls, construction beams smack in the middle of the eatery and the furniture don’t match,” explained Seetoh.

    Makansutra Hawkers is located on the second floor of SM Megamall Building A in Mandaluyong City. It is open from 10am to 10pm.

  • Philippines raises 100 bln pesos through retail T-bond sale

    Philippines raises 100 bln pesos through retail T-bond sale

    The Philippines raised 100 billion pesos ($2.1 billion) from the sale of retail treasury bonds, the government said on Monday.

    The nine-day public offer for 3.5 percent 2026 bonds closed on Sept. 16.

    Proceeds from the sale will be used to finance the government’s plan to increase infrastructure spending.

    ($1 = 47.9100 Philippine pesos)

     

  • Globe to deploy fiber in 20,000 villages

    Globe to deploy fiber in 20,000 villages

    The Philippines’ Globe Telecom has committed to connect 2 million Filipino homes with high-speed internet access with a speed of at least 10Mbps and above by 2020.

    The operator plans to deploy fiber in 20,000 villages across the country to achieve this goal.

    “That will change a lot for families because families today are so dependent on the internet,” said Globe President and CEO Ernest Cu at an event on Friday night.

    “Industries and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) also cannot flourish without dependable connection to the United States, the UK, Australia and to the rest of the world.”

    “We are committed to spending $500 million to upgrade the network of Globe to enable continuous growth among enterprises in the Philippines,” he added.

    Since the joint purchase of the telco assets owned by San Miguel Corporation (SMC) by Globe Telecom and PLDT last May, both companies have been rolling out LTE 700-MHz cell sites across the country. In the Globe network, around 250 such cell ties will have been activated in Metro Manila by the end of this month, at least 188 of which will be active in the National Capital Region.

    Cu said the goal is to deploy at least 500 LTE 700-MHz cell sites nationwide by the end of 2016.

    The majority of these sites will cover major business districts and highly urbanized and populated areas in the country, including Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, and Metro Davao.

    Globe’s chief executive emphasized that the company is maximizing the use of the previously idle 700-MHz band in fulfillment of its commitment to the National Telecommunications Commission to improve the overall internet experience of its customers following the sell-out of SMC’s telco assets.

    “One of our goals its to try to create an experience as close to first world internet as possible. You can now do this with mobile, given the amount of spectrum that we have,” he said.

    Parallel to this, Globe has also started rolling out a capacity expansion program for its corporate data network to address the bandwidth requirement of its enterprise clients. The company will be equipping 61 of its corporate sites with fiber technology.

  • SaladStop! raises $5m from new partners

    SaladStop! raises $5m from new partners

    Singapore salad bar chain SaladStop! has raised S$5 million (US$3.6 million) from private equity firmsDSG Consumer Partners and Hera Capital who took a minority stake in the company.

    SaladStop! has 15 outlets in Singapore and eight in the Philippines, with stores in Hong Kong, Indonesia and Japan scheduled to open by the end of the year. Its first round of funding will be focused on further growing its footprint in Singapore, investing into new ventures and continuing to develop its technological platforms.

    A family business, SaladStop! was founded by hotelier Daniel and Adrien Desbaillets in 2009 and is co-headed by daughter Katherine and son-in-law Frantz Braha.

    Hera Capital’s Thierry de Panafieu says the company benefits from the growing middle class in Asia and increasing awareness toward healthy and sustainable eating.

    SaladStop!’s motto, Eat Wide Awake, encourages consumers to be more knowledgeable about their food. It is pioneering a food movement that believes in the basic human right to truly eat well.

    Hera Capital is a private equity firm investing in fast-growing SMEs in the consumer retail, media and digital sectors with a focus on Southeast Asia. Hera Capital has invested into such firms as ActSocial, Bel Perfumes, CashCashPinoy, Creme Simon and Sophie Paris.

    DSG Consumer Partners is a venture capital fund focussed on early-stage consumer businesses in India and Southeast Asia. Brands funded and backed by the founders since 2004 include Bakers Circle, Burger King India, Chai Point, Eazydiner, Raw Pressery, Saffronart, Saraf Foods, Smoke House Deli, Sula Wines and Veeba Food.

  • MHPS Opens Global Service Center for Thermal Power Plants in the Philippines

    MHPS Opens Global Service Center for Thermal Power Plants in the Philippines

    Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS) has opened a Global Service Center (GSC) for thermal power plant operators, centered on the Southeast Asia region in Alabang, Muntinlupa City in Metro Manila, Philippines. The Center will support the optimal operation and maintenance (O&M) of thermal power plants, harnessing the latest Information and Communications Technology (ICT), such as remote monitoring, and MHPS’s extensive accumulated knowledge of thermal power systems. In addition, it will provide training to increase the expertise of clients’ O&M engineers. The Center will begin to provide services this fall.

    An opening ceremony was held locally on the 16th and was attended by many VIPs such as Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Undersecretary Rowel Barba and Ambassador Kazuhide Ishikawa from the Embassy of Japan, as well as executives from Southeast Asian and Japanese power plant operators, financial institutions and trading companies. President and CEO Takato Nishizawa and Executive Vice President Masao Ishikawa also attended from MHPS and presented an outline of GSC and its services for thermal power plants using ICT.

    The Global Service Center follows the remote monitoring centers set up in Takasago, Hyogo Prefecture in 1999 and Orlando, Florida in 2001. It will open with approximately 20 employees with excellent communication and technical skills from local group companies with the aim of promoting globalization and consideration will also be given to technology transfer from Japan and development of new services designed to meet the needs of Southeast Asia.

    The Center will have three main functions:

    – The Service Solution Center will act as a ‘one-stop shop’ for client needs, providing services such as management of maintenance parts and dispatch of emergency personnel.

    – The Remote Monitoring Center will not only perform remote monitoring but will also provide solutions for improving O&M based on early fault detection and optimized outage management as well as data collection and forecasting analysis.

    – The Training Center will feature an operations simulator to facilitate response training for various scenarios to enable client engineering teams to acquire advanced skills.

    MHPS will use GSC as a base to offer comprehensive services to a wide range of operators including remote monitoring, control, O&M and single-point centralized management that is optimized for each power plant. This includes clients currently using generation equipment supplied by other manufacturers. The company will promote enhancement of client asset value through achieving improvements in plant availability and efficiency. Development efforts continue on an ICT platform that can significantly improve the operational efficiency of client facilities by taking advantage of MHPS’s world-class R&D and product engineering capabilities and IoT (Internet of Things) technology.

  • Agatha Paris opens first stand-alone travel retail outlet

    Agatha Paris opens first stand-alone travel retail outlet

    French fashion jeweller Agatha Paris has opened its first stand-alone travel retail store, at Haikou Meilan International Airport on China’s Hainan Island.

    Opened in partnership with Hainan Duty Free, the 20 sqm store has a contract until September 2019.
    Agatha Paris will present its latest collections, including several travel-retail exclusive sets, at the upcoming TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes. The brand showcased a range of stainless-steel jewellery at this year’s TFWA Asia Pacific exhibition in Singapore.

    The brand’s collections are divided into five themes: Iconic, Timeless, Modern Chic, Classy and Sparkle. This year’s collections include African Art Deco, Grand Palais, Opera and Olympia.

    Global head of travel retail Karan Tuli says the brand launched into travel retail three years ago, initially with a sole focus on inflight sales to gain exposure. It has since expanded its network, with 330 points of sale in 25 countries, and listings with 30 airlines. Its 14 ground shop locations in Asia include China, Japan, the Philippines, South Korea and Thailand.

    “Business in Australia, Cambodia, Singapore and Vietnam is on the radar for the coming months,” says Tuli.

    “Southeast Asia and China are seeing fast expansion, and the potential for the brand to grow its travel-retail footprint is more positive than ever. Costume jewellery is a tough category, but recent spending trends have supported a positive outlook for us.”

    King Power Group founder Antares Cheng acquired the Agatha Paris brand in 2006.

  • Villar Group expanding All Day stores

    Villar Group expanding All Day stores

    Sta. Rosa, Laguna, Philippines – The Villar Group, through its retail arm All Value Holdings Corp., is investing an additional P1.4 billion to fund the continued expansion of its All Day supermarket chain.

    The company opened yesterday its third branch, located in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

    This followed the opening of the first two stores in Vista Mall in Taguig and Starmall Edsa-Shaw.

    In an interview during yesterday’s opening ceremony, All Value chairman Manuel B. Villar Jr. said two more branches were expected to open before the end of the year. Plans are underway to build four to five more branches in 2017.

    “Each branch may cost us about P180 million or less,” Villar told reporters.

    He said the sites of All Day Supermarkets are leased from Vista Malls of sister company Vista Land & Lifescapes, while the inventory is largely consigned by suppliers.

    Villar said the fourth branch, located in Vista Mall Bataan would be even bigger. It is targeted for opening this month.

    The fifth and last outlet to open this year will be in Vista City in Daang Hari. Target date for the opening is December.

    All five stores will have a total floor area of about 20,000 square meters.

    For next year, the target is to open All Day Supermarkets in Mega Manila.

    “All of our supermarkets are successful. The response from consumers is very good. They have an upscale look but the prices are low so they cater to the masses,” he noted.

    All Day Supermarket offers a wide assortment of goods, bigger floor areas, nice store interiors and new services. It also opens as early as 8 in the morning.

    The supermarket’s goods are guaranteed fresh by their accreditation from the National Meat Inspection Service.

    It sells fresh meat, poultry and produce as well as seafoods. It also offers a “paluto” section that cooks food the way customers like it.

    There is also a Quick Fix Section dedicated to every family’s hardware and repair needs, which means that customers don’t need to leave the supermarket for their hardware needs.

  • Kebab Turki Baba Rafi chain heads to Philippines

    Kebab Turki Baba Rafi chain heads to Philippines

    Indonesia’s Kebab Turki Baba Rafi chain is set to open in southern Philippines.

    Parent company BabaRafi Enterprise says it wants to increase its Philippine footprint, after spending the last three years getting established here.

    “We’d like to expand our outlets not just here in Manila but we’re also heading in other islands as well,” said Hendy Setiono, president and director of BabaRafi Enterprise, in a press conference at the Management Association of the Philippines International CEO Conference.

    “So after Cotabato, we’d like to go to Zamboanga. Hopefully that would be a great venture in the southern part of the Philippines,”

    Setiono said the company has already secured a franchise partner for the south.

    Armed with a budget of US$1 million, BabaRafi has set itself an ambitious goal of opening more than 100 stores in the Philippines over the next three years.

    “The first three years was only a testing period where we tried the market first and opened 14 outlets but we believe the Philippine market is our biggest ASEAN market outside Indonesia.”

    BabaRafi, whose stores are an equal mix of company-owned outlets and franchised operations, also operates in Singapore, China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Netherlands.

  • Singapore flagship leads Uniqlo Asia plan

    Singapore flagship leads Uniqlo Asia plan

    Japanese casual-clothing chain Uniqlo’s new store in Singapore takes up three floors – and marks its biggest gamble in Southeast Asia yet.

    In the Orchard Road shopping precinct, the 2700 sqm Uniqlo Singapore flagship is the brand’s largest store in the region. Its parent, Fast Retailing Co, is opening Uniqlo stores in the US, London and across Asia to help reduce its dependency on its home market where household spending is falling.

    Uniqlo Singapore - Orchard store 1

    Uniqlo has about 130 outlets across Southeast Asia, opening a six-storey China flagship store in Shanghai a year ago. Chairman Tadashi Yanai says he has plans to open 100 stores a year in China on it way to a potential 3000. There are about 30 stores each in Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines.

    Uniqlo Singapore - Orchard store

    Meanwhile, in Japan Uniqlo closed a net six stores in August, as same-store sales decreased by 1 per cent year-on-year. Sales at company-owned stores slipped by 0.5 per cent, but the company’s increasing online business saw overall sales increase by 0.2 per cent.

    Uniqlo cited cooler temperatures in the first half of the month and heavy typhoons from mid-month onward for the store sales decline.

  • Delsey Philippines flagship opens

    Delsey Philippines flagship opens

    French luggage brand Delsey has opened its first flagship in the Philippines.

    The Delsey Philippines store’s opening coincides with the brand’s 70th anniversary and marks another Asian market in a growing footprint in the region.

    Located in Ayala, Glorietta 4, the store follows the global concept “Maison de Voyages” featuring French design features such as European tiles, Chen Karlson drop lights and moldings bearing a resemblance to the Louis XVI era.

    “This new store concept is in line with Delsey’s global standing as the premier French luggage brand,” said Reginald de Vera, brand manager of Delsey. “We are very happy to set up more Delsey Maison de Voyage stores in the Philippines as these will transform the way Filipinos shop for luggage and other travel necessities.

    “This is also a good venue for us to showcase our collections that are innovative, stylish and very French,” he said.

  • British bank names first Filipino CEO

    British bank names first Filipino CEO

    Standard Chartered Bank, a British financial services company and the oldest international bank in the Philippines, has announced the appointment of Lynette Ortiz, currently managing director and head of international corporates and financial institutions, as the new chief executive for the Philippine branch effective Oct. 1, 2016.

    Ortiz will replace Anirvan Ghosh Dastidar, who has been appointed as the new chief executive of Standard Chartered Brunei effective same date.

    New Standard Chartered Bank Philippines
    chief executive Lynette Ortiz

    Ortiz returned to Manila in June this year from her regional posting as head of capital markets for Asean based in Singapore. She has gained reputation as a highly regarded banker both locally and within the region having led a number of landmark transactions for Asean issuers, in both domestic and international markets, in recent years.

    Prior to assuming her regional role, Ortiz was financial markets and capital markets head for the Philippines. She has over 25 years of solid banking experience starting with Citibank in New York, and has held senior roles in risk management, treasury, corporate finance and capital markets in foreign and local institutions.

    Coming back to lead the Philippine branch is both pride and tall order for Ortiz. In May, Standard Chartered announced an agreement with EastWest Bank for the transfer of retail banking business which is expected to be completed within the year.

    Post the retail business transfer, Standard Chartered in the Philippines will be operating as a purely corporate and institutional bank. “Our corporate and institutional banking business in the Philippines has built a strong track record as a leader in providing client-centered value propositions that are innovative and transformative. Over the recent years, the business has seen sustained growth in securing mandates for capital markets, corporate finance and transaction banking segments,” Ortiz said.

    Standard Chartered takes pride in having Ortiz as the first female Filipino CEO for its Philippine branch. The bank said that under the leadership of someone with such caliber and solid background in corporate banking, financial and capital markets, it is confident of Ortiz as its new country head.

    “Her appointment demonstrates the bank’s recognition of a local talent that is truly global in quality and competency. Given Lynette’s extensive banking experience, knowledge of the markets and strong client relationships, she will play a key role in delivering growth momentum and further deepen our corporate and institutional banking business in the Philippines,” said Dastidar, the outgoing chief executive.

    Ortiz is expected to lead SCB Philippines’ efforts to build its clout in the developing and growing capital markets in Asean, in a bid to support the financing and investment requirements of its clients in the Philippines, including business players who are actively bidding for major infrastructure projects in the public-private partnership program.

    Standard Chartered has been present in the Philippines for over 144 years, and is the oldest international bank in the country. The bank views the Philippines as a strategic part of its Asean network, and it represents a key part of the bank’s unique international network.

    Standard Chartered has played a key role in helping fuel the Philippines’ trade, economy and markets, participating in the PPP projects, as one of the book-runners in the Republic’s sovereign bond issuances, developing and growing capital markets, acting as a sovereign ratings advisor and supporting corporate clients’ growth into international markets.

    “The work that we have done and continue to do both domestically and overseas with large corporates in the country and with the Republic itself is testament to the importance of the market to us, and of the differentiated value that we bring to it,” said Ortiz.

     

  • AirAsia’s Tune Labs, rewards program startup ZAP form JV

    AirAsia’s Tune Labs, rewards program startup ZAP form JV

    The partnership will see AirAsia BIG, the loyalty program for AirAsia and the Tune group of companies, leverage on ZAP’s platform to allow BIG members to earn and redeem points from daily purchases at physical stores with just a mobile number.

    Based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Tune Labs was launched last April 2015 as a startup incubator and accelerator program aimed mostly at the Southeast Asia region. Its goal is to identify, fund and nurture early stage companies in the travel, finance and retail sectors.

    The advanced AirAsia BIG loyalty program will be launched in the third quarter of this year tartegeting over 100 partner establishments in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia before expanding to neighboring countries in Southeast Asia. Partners will include restaurants, services, and retail shops in commercial centers.

    AirAsia BIG has over 17 million members across the Asia-Pacific region and was recently named Loyalty Programme of the Year at the 2016 Loyalty & Engagement Awards.

    AirAsia BIG CEO Eddy Leong said customer loyalty is a large part of AirAsia’s success and the joint venture is part of their retail strategy.

    “ZAP is the tech partner to help AirAsia BIG achieve our goal of having loyal customers earn BIG points and redeem for their flights faster and easier than ever, by rewarding members’ everyday life,” Leong said.

    According to ZAP CEO Dustin Cheng, the partnership will fast-track ZAP’s expansion through the region.

    “The joint venture allows us to leverage on millions of AirAsia’s customers,” Cheng said. “Our goal in ZAP has always been to empower merchants of all sizes with an easy-to-use loyalty and CRM platform.”

    Founded in 2012, as a mobile number-based loyalty program for brick-and-mortar merchants, ZAP is one of 26 digital tech startups funded by Kickstart Ventures Inc, a wholly-owned venture capital subsidiary of Globe Telecom Inc.

    ZAP today caters to over 300,000 members and works with close to a thousand partner establishments within Metro Manila in the Philippines.

    Kickstart president Minette Navarrete said the ZAP co-founders have the high energy and agility to expand across the region, and the joint venture capitalizes on AirAsia BIG’s scale and ZAP’s growth momentum.

    “AirAsia and the Tune group of companies are among Southeast Asia’s success stories, with an ethos we truly admire. The ZAP founders have proven their ability to effectively drive customer and revenue growth, and adoption of a technology platform in a high-touch retail environment,” Navarrete said.