Retail News CRM

Tag: revenue

  • Ooredoo to deploy Ericsson cloud-ready revenue system

    Ooredoo to deploy Ericsson cloud-ready revenue system

    Ooredoo Group has signed a five-year contract with Ericsson to implement the Swedish vendor’s revenue management system across the group’s operations in the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia.

    Ericsson Revenue Manager, a cloud-ready convergent charging and billing system, provides Ooredoo with a number of advantages as the telco group updates its product portfolio and drives the development of digital innovation across its markets.

    Simple configuration reduces dependency on technical departments, makes it easier and faster to launch new services with tailored pricing and packages. This enables Ooredoo companies to offer customers new services and the products they need in minutes, rather than months, the companies said.

    The solution will also help Ooredoo more easily create digital services that spans beyond telecoms and integrates with partners from different industries.

    “Across our footprint, Ooredoo is aiming for data experience leadership, and placing renewed emphasis on empowering our customers and giving them the services they need when they need them,” said Waleed Al Sayed, deputy CEO at Ooredoo Group.

    “Through this agreement with Ericsson, we will enable every Ooredoo operation to deliver fast, customer-oriented offers and launch new data products and services that support our growing portfolio of digital services and enables the growth of the Internet of Things.”

    Ooredoo will begin rolling-out the solution for Indosat Ooredoo, its largest operation in Indonesia, over the next month, before deploying across its other operations later this year and 2017.

    Upon the completion of the project, Ooredoo is expected to realize significant cost savings from replacing its existing systems and local agreements with a pioneering new group-wide license model.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Cost-cutting isn’t cutting it anymore for Singapore’s struggling retailers

    Cost-cutting isn’t cutting it anymore for Singapore’s struggling retailers

    Profits plummeted by 30% over the last 5 years.

    Retail firms have been thinking out of the box in terms of cost-cutting to constrain cost growth, but they can only do so much on back of the struggling retail industry.

    According to a report by BNP Paribas, retail trade firms have seen persistent erosion of profit margins.

    “Aggregate revenue growth for the roughly 22,000 retailers has been hard to come by (5-year nominal CAGR of 1.2%). This likely reflects slower domestic growth and the impact of macro-prudential tightening,” the report noted.

    Additionally, retailers have also grappled with labour market policies spurring strong wage gains (5Y CAGR of 7%) and, more recently, rising debt service.

    “As a result, we estimate industry-wide pre-tax profits fell by 30% over the last 5 years,” the report added.

    Meanwhile, similar sinking trends in profit margins are also manifest in the services sector, as labour market data indicates firms are now attempting to pass the problem on to households by shedding jobs.

    “In turn, these developments allude to slower wage income growth and a potential vicious cycle as highly-indebted households struggle with their own debt service,” the report noted.

  • Shopping malls generate HK$1.3b rental income for Swire Properties

    Shopping malls generate HK$1.3b rental income for Swire Properties

    Shopping malls generate HK$1.3b rental income for Swire Properties

    Swire Properties (1972) shopping malls including The Mall at Pacific Place, Cityplaza in Taikoo Shing and Citygate Outlets at Tung Chung generated gross rental income of HK$1.35 billion in the first half, the company reported today. At June 30, 2016, the retail properties in Hong Kong were valued at HK$52.79 billion. Of this amount, Swire Properties’ attributable interest represented HK$46….

    Swire Properties (1972) shopping malls including The Mall at Pacific Place, Cityplaza in Taikoo Shing and Citygate Outlets at Tung Chung generated gross rental income of HK$1.35 billion in the first half, the company reported today.
    At June 30, 2016, the retail properties in Hong Kong were valued at HK$52.79 billion. Of this amount, Swire Properties’ attributable interest represented HK$46.46 billion.

  • China’s Alibaba Q1 revenue leaps 59%, best since IPO

    China’s Alibaba Q1 revenue leaps 59%, best since IPO

    Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba saw revenues leap 59 percent year-on-year for the quarter ended in June, it said Thursday, its strongest growth since it listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014.

    Revenue for the company, seen as a proxy for China’s increasingly crucial consumer sector, reached 32.15 billion yuan ($4.83 billion) in the June quarter, it said in a statement.

    Alibaba is China’s dominant player in online commerce, with its Taobao platform estimated to hold more than 90 percent of the consumer-to-consumer market, and its Tmall platform is believed to have over half of business-to-consumer transactions.

    But according to the company net income plunged 77 percent year-on-year to $1.08 billion in the quarter, the first of its financial year.

    Still, Alibaba’s chief financial officer Maggie Wu described the results as “excellent”.

    “The 59 percent revenue growth for the company overall and the 49 percent revenue growth of our China retail marketplaces represent the highest growth rates we’ve achieved since our IPO,” she said in the statement.

    The company’s gross merchandise volume (GMV) — a measure of value for online sales — rose 24 percent year-on-year to $126 billion in the June quarter, the statement said, matching the growth of the previous three months.

    The company, often compared to eBay or Amazon of the United States, has expanded outside its core e-commerce business, in sectors ranging from sports to entertainment.

    “Our results show the scale and leverage of our ecosystem, as we strengthen our competitive positions in core commerce, cloud computing and digital media and entertainment,” Alibaba chief executive officer Daniel Zhang said in the statement.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Mobile video revenue on pace to $25b by 2021

    Mobile video revenue on pace to $25b by 2021

    Worldwide revenue from mobile video will reach $25 billion by 2021, according to the latest research by Strategy Analytics.

    Growth in mobile video revenue is expected to be driven by advertisers seeking to reach an increasing audience of users that are consuming video on their smartphones and tablets.

    The report also predicts users of mobile video to more than double to 2 billion users by the end of 2022, equal to 36% penetration among the global mobile users.

    Social platforms with audience scale, like Facebook, Twitter, WeChat and others are increasingly looking to video to increase user engagement rates while reducing churn, but will offer potential for monetization in future.

    Source: Strategy Analytics

    “Despite growing video consumption on mobile devices, advertiser expenditure on mobile video has yet to catch-up with this growth,” said Nitesh Patel, director at Strategy Analytics.

    “Furthermore, new modes of mobile video services such as live streaming platforms like Periscope and Facebook Live are focused on building audience before revenue,” said Patel.

    “Currently, social networks have launched live video streaming as a tool to increase user engagement and to extend the time spent by users while inside of social networks, but we expect direct monetization to follow.”

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Bauhaus annual net profit down nearly 60 pct

    Bauhaus annual net profit down nearly 60 pct

    Hong Kong clothing retailer Bauhaus International (Holdings) Ltd saw its annual net profit plummet by 59.1 per cent to HK$52.9 million (US$6.6 million) for its past fiscal year, due to the plunge in the company’s earnings from the Hong Kong and Macau markets.

    According to its filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange last Friday, the retailer’s total turnover posted a year-on-year decrease of 5 per cent to HK$1.5 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, compared to some HK$1.59 billion one year ago.

    “As a result of Mainland China’s uncertain economic prospects, instability of financial markets and the appreciation of the Hong Kong dollar against other Asian currencies (including the Renminbi), the consumer spending momentum obviously deteriorated during the year under review and resulted in highly volatile and discount-driven retail dynamics,” it claimed.

    For the financial year, the clothing seller generated some HK$1.03 billion from its sales in Hong Kong and Macau, which represents a year-on-year decrease of 8.8 per cent compared to HK1.13 billion one year ago.

    In addition, the company claimed that a negative same-store-sales growth rate of some 9 per cent was recorded in the two cities.

    The decreases in sales in the two cities led to a slump in the company’s profit before tax from the segment, down by 46.6 per cent year-on-year to HK$99.6 million.

    As at the end of March, Bauhaus was operating 214 self-managed outlets, including 86 stores in Hong Kong and Macau, 94 in Taiwan and 34 in Mainland China, as well as 11 franchised outlets in the country.

    The company’s turnover derived from the Mainland China market also registered a decline of 2.8 per cent year-on-year to HK$128.8 million, but turnover from Taiwan jumped by 9.2 per cent year-on-year to HK$342.2 million for the year, according to the filing.

    The retailer proposed a final dividend of HK6.0 cents per ordinary share to its shareholders, which is down by 56 per cent year-on-year compared to HK$13.5 per cents for the 2014/15 financial year.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Revenue up for Global Brands Group

    Revenue up for Global Brands Group

    Branded apparel, footwear, fashion accessories and lifestyle product company Global Brands Group Holding has had a US$4118 million revenue increase for its latest reporting period – covering 15 months because of a change of the financial year end date to March 31.

    Its revenue growth was partially offset by a decrease in the euro exchange rate, the tail-end impact of exiting underperforming brands, and an unseasonably warm winter in North America.

    The core operating profit and net profit for the period were $75 million and $25 million respectively, reflecting the typically weak first quarter.

    “Since Global Brands’ independent listing two years ago, our business has progressed along a steady growth trajectory,” says CEO/vice-chairman Bruce Rockowitz. “We have focused on leveraging our competitive strengths as we grow around our core segments. Today, we enjoy a unique position in our industry as no other company operates in the same space in the categories in which we specialise, at our vast scale, across so many countries and regions.”

    Its total margin has continued to trend up since 2013, reaching $1379 million, or 33.5 per cent as a percentage of revenue. As a result of the group’s investment in key controlled brands and adding new licences to the portfolio, running costs grew to $1304 million.

    “We continue to sharpen our focus on our key product categories and high-performing brands, while expanding our platforms where relevant,” says president/COO Dow Famulak. “Our kids category remains a highly successful franchise delivering consistently positive results, while our footwear and accessories business also performed well, particularly our key footwear brands.

    “We made excellent progress expanding the direct-to-consumer reach and increasing the product offering of our key controlled brands, such as Frye, Spyder and Juicy Couture. Under Seven Global, we extended the David Beckham brand to the menswear product category through a partnership with Kent & Curwen, and recently to the men’s grooming category through a partnership with the men’s skincare brand Biotherm Homme.”

    Rockowitz says the group is committed to global growth. “We will continue to expand our footprint in Europe and in Asia, as well as look for new avenues to further build upon our already strong presence in the US.”

    Lees ook:

  • Michael Kors result ‘disappointing’

    Michael Kors result ‘disappointing’

    At headline level Michael Kors has ended its fiscal year on a strong note with total revenue up by 10.9 per cent, underpinned by a robust increase of 22 per cent in retail sales.

    However, most of the uplift is thanks to the fact the company opened some 142 new stores over the past year and has also expanded its online operations. When these are factored out, underlying growth is anemic – rising just 0.3 per cent over the prior year.

    Such a soft comparable number is disappointing, especially as it comes off the back of a very weak comparative in the prior year when same-store sales dropped by 5.8 per cent. Licensing revenue also shrank, down by 13.6 per cent on a year-on-year basis. That growth only came from expansionary activities rather than from underlying productivity gains shows on the bottom line where net income fell by 3.5 per cent.

    Michael Kors’ numbers are also something of a mixed bag on a regional basis. In North America, which remains the company’s biggest market, revenue rose by a respectable, but fairly modest, 4.6 per cent. Europe came in slightly stronger with a 15.6 per cent increase, but Asia was the star of the show with a 216.4 per cent increase over the prior year. This variance is no coincidence and reflects the differences in maturity of the Michael Kors brand in terms of both physical coverage and saturation levels with consumers. That said, even with the variances, Michael Kors is showing a much better growth story than many rival brands, including Coach.

    While North America remains in growth Michael Kors will struggle to boost its sales in the US over the next few years, mainly because consumer interest in the brand seems to have peaked. It is notable that Nordstrom has started to cut back on Michael Kors inventory, while a number of other department stores are offering heavy discounts on its product. This underlines the continued issues of saturation and ubiquity in the home market.

    This dynamic means it is fortunate that Michael Kors has other regions to turn to for growth, with Asia having the most potential. Here we are encouraged that Michael Kors has acquired Michael Kors (Hong Kong), which was previously a separate operation licensed to sell into China and a number of other Asian countries. This will, allow the business to ramp up the pace of expansion in the region and, over the medium term, boost earnings potential. That said, in the short term investments in new openings and marketing are likely to act as a brake on bottom line growth, as indeed will the continued impact of the strong dollar.

    Given that it will take time to ramp up growth in Asia, and that pressures at home continue, the start of the new fiscal year is likely to see a slight dip in comparable sales accompanied by a deterioration in profit.

    Longer term, the outlook is more positive as Michael Kors reaps the benefits of its growth program.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Macau Casinos Stung as Fewer Chinese Come and Spend Less: Chart

    Macau Casinos Stung as Fewer Chinese Come and Spend Less: Chart

    Mainland Chinese have toned down their spending, shelling out 1,762 patacas ($220) per person in the first quarter on non-gambling purchases, down almost a third from 2014. That’s bad news for casino operators such as Wynn Macau Ltd. and Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd. as they shift focus to casual gamblers and tourists to lift revenue from hotels, retail and conventions amid a two-year gambling slump. Chinese still make up about two-thirds of Macau’s visitors, even as their numbers last year fell for the first time since 2009 and eased a further 1 percent in the first four months of this year, according to data released Monday.

    Lees ook:

  • Tencent Holdings revenues grow 43 per cent

    Tencent Holdings revenues grow 43 per cent

    First-quarter Tencent Holdings revenues grew 43 per cent to RMB31,995 million (US$4893 million).

    The Chinese company’s subsidiaries provide media, entertainment, internet and mobile phone value-added services and online advertising services in Asia.

    Revenues from its value-added service increased by 34 per cent to RMB24,964 million, while its online games business achieved 28 per cent growth, primarily driven by new smartphone games and key PC titles.

    Tencent’s social networks attracted a 48 per cent rise in revenue to RMB7879 million, mainly through the growth of virtual item sales and also from digital content subscription services and QQ membership subscription services.

    Revenues from online advertising business ballooned 73 per cent to RMB4701 million, while performance-based advertising, mainly driven by its mobile social and media platforms, had 90 per cent growth to RMB2532 million.

    Brand display advertising revenues grew by 56 per cent to RMB2169 million, reflecting higher revenue contributions from Tencent’s mobile media platforms such as Tencent News and Tencent Video.

    Mobile QQ usage benefited from enhanced features in areas such as video messaging and virtual gift exchanging. User activity in Interest Tribes, the interest-based communities embedded in QQ, benefited from enriched content discovery features, such as targeted feed-displays.

    Tencent says the volume of commercial payments via Weixin Pay, such as eCommerce payments and O2O service transactions, grew significantly, while C2C transactions also increased in volume.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • L’Occitane sales on the up despite disappointing performance in Hong Kong

    L’Occitane sales on the up despite disappointing performance in Hong Kong

    French beauty brand L’Occitane has announced sales for the year ending March 31 increased by 8.9 percent at 1.28 billion euros.

    Growth surged on in China – which saw sales grow by 16.8 percent – France, Japan, Brazil and Russia however a poor performance in Hong Kong saw total retail sales in Hong Kong and Macau fall by 15.2 percent. The disappointing results were attributed to a fall in mainland Chinese tourists visiting the region, which also affected Hong Kong’s travel retail sector.

    L’Occitane has a strong presence in Hong Kong with 36 stores in the region.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Harbour City books HK$5.94b retail revenue

    Harbour City books HK$5.94b retail revenue

    Revenue at Tsim Sha Tsui’s popular luxury shopping mall, Harbour City, (excluding hotels) increased by 6 percent to HK$8.56 billion, Wharf Holdings (0004) reported today.

    Operating profit grew by 6 percent to HK$7.48 billion. Retail revenue increased by 5 percent to HK$5.94 billion.
    The occupancy rate was nearly 100 percent, the company reported today.

    New openings or commitments including Miu Miu (Canton Road), Philipp Plein, J. Crew, Pandora, Sulwhasoo and Rado further improved the tenant mix, the company said. The introduction of various Hong Kong and Kowloon debuts across distinct categories including Maison Margiela, Issey Miyake, Christian Louboutin Men and Tea WG Boutique continued to raise the retail and culinary experience, Wharf said.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Philippines retail to get yearly revenue boost from nationwide grand sale

    Philippines retail to get yearly revenue boost from nationwide grand sale

    Philippine retail will get a yearly revenue boost from the recently launched nationwide grand sale called “Philippine Shopping Festival,” which is being eyed to become a yearly event.

    The Philippine Retailers Association (PRA) and Department of Tourism-Tourism Promotions Board (DOT-TPB) partnered to revive the Philippine Shopping Festival and decided to make it an annual event to make the Philippines a new shopping destination in Asia Pacific region.

    PRA Chairman Roberto Claudio said the Philippine Shopping Festival 2015 will put the Philippine retail close to the sophisticated and globally known shopping industry of Singapore and Hong Kong.

    In Singapore, there is an eight weeks event called Great Singapore Sale, which usually occurs in the last week of May until the third week of July

    An international report showed that shoppers, a mixture of foreigners and locals, had spent a five-year high of US$2.12 billion using their MasterCard cards during the Great Singapore Sale this year.

    To be held on October 23 to November 8, the Philippine Shopping Festival will be a two weeks sale where shopping malls and retailers in the country will offer different discounts and promo to entice people, mostly foreign tourists, to shop.

    Claudio said that the first attempt of PRA to do something like this happened two to three years ago but it wasn’t that successful.

    Now, the group and the DOT are banking on the two big regional events that will happen in the country in November as this year’s major drivers for the festival.

    The events that he was talking about are Asia Pacific Retailers Convention and Exhibition (APRCE) and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings which will both bring thousands of foreign delegates.

    Claudio emphasized that as per DOT data, each foreign tourist visiting the country allocates a daily shopping expenditure of US$300.

    “Just imagine if thousands of foreign delegates will spend US$300 a day just for shopping,” Claudio said.

    Around 94 malls will be participating in the nationwide grand sale.

    Lees ook:

  • China Nepstar boosts gross sales, reduces loss

    China Nepstar boosts gross sales, reduces loss

    NYSE-listed China Nepstar Chain Drugstore has introduced a similar retailer gross sales improve of 13.6 per cent for the primary quarter.

    Complete income elevated by 11.9 per cent to RMB759.1 million, or US$122.5 million and it posted a lack of $500,000, only one fifth of that of the identical interval final yr.

    Chairman Simin Zhang stated the improved efficiency was the results of decreasing administrative bills, leveraging its retailer community and growing in-store promotions and advertising efforts for pharmaceutical merchandise.

    In the course of the first quarter of 2015, China Nepstar opened 26 new shops and closed 37, leaving it with 1969 immediately operated retail shops as at March 31.

    The corporate expanded its personal label vary to 2146 varieties of merchandise as at March 31, with gross sales of personal label merchandise now representing 15.four per cent of complete income and 22.7 per cent of gross revenue.

    Zhang stated the corporate is happy by the momentum in its enterprise improvement within the first quarter of 2015.

    “We’ll proceed to give attention to sustaining progress, managing bills and enhancing margins.  We consider that our robust retailer community, optimised product choices and proactive steps to enhance buyer expertise and loyalty, will proceed to drive retailer visitors and income within the close to time period,” stated Zhang.

    Based mostly on retailer numbers, China Nepstar Chain Drugstore is one in every of China’s largest retail drugstores with retailers in 74 cities and 15 regional distribution centres.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Osim profit plummets

    Osim profit plummets

    Lifestyle company Osim has posted a 53 per cent profit drop for the first quarter on declining sales.

    The retailer of massage chairs and other remedial devices, says sales fell 13 per cent quarter-on-quarter, blaming a lack of new products and a drop-off in mainland Chinese tourists into Hong Kong, a key market for the Singapore-listed company.

    Total first quarter sales were S$150 million, and Osim profit $18 million

    “This has been a challenging quarter where retail sales across the core countries has been
    soft and there have been no new major Osim product launches,” the company said in its earnings statement.

    “Despite these challenges, our dominant brand has enabled us to maintain a stable gross margin and highly cash generative business. We are continuing to invest for growth supported by a strong balance sheet.”

    Osim has 560 retail stores and China remains its largest market, where it has 252 stores in 45 cities.

    “Products including uInfinity Luxe, uDiva, uHip, uSqueez Air, uTrek and uShape Music have sustained our dominant position in the market. We have just launched a new massage chair uMagic in April with favourable response and will be introducing more innovative products this year.”

    Osim also operates 233 GNC/Rich Life stores and 44 TWG Tea stores, with plans for 15 more this coming year.

    “With the upcoming planned new product launches we remain positive about the outlook for
    the remainder of the year.”

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook: