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Tag: Singapore

  • OCBC launches banking app for Apple Watch

    OCBC launches banking app for Apple Watch

    Singapore’s OCBC Bank has launched a new mobile banking app designed for the Apple Watch.

    With the app, users can have instant access to their personal banking information, including the full list of their balances – bank accounts, cards and investments, recent transactions, and the location of the nearest OCBC Bank branch or ATM, on their Apple Watch.

    Customers must first perform a one-time activation on their OCBC iPhone mobile banking app before using the Apple Watch app. Once activated, account information and recent transactions can be viewed on Apple Watch, without the need to login to mobile banking.

    This service is available for customers using mobile devices such as iPhone 5, iPhone 5S, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6S or iPhone 6S Plus operating on iOS 9 and Apple Watch devices running on WatchOS2.

    The service can only be activated on a single pair of Apple Watch and iPhone devices at one time and all account numbers displayed on the watch are partially masked with only the last four digits revealed. No information is stored on the phone or watch and for security purposes, customers can choose to set a passcode on their Apple Watch.

    Market intelligence firm IDC estimates the worldwide wearable device market will reach a total of 111.1 million units shipped in 2016, a strong 44.4% increase from the 80 million units shipped in 2015. By 2019, the five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of wearable devices would be 28%, with Apple smart watch devices taking the lion’s share of the market.

    “Smartwatches represent the next generation of personal mobile devices, and our Apple Watch app will offer the convenience, security and choice that customers demand when it comes to everyday banking on-the-go,” said Aditya Gupta, OCBC Bank’s Singapore head of e-business, said.

    “We are confident the Apple Watch app will be a big hit with our fast-growing number of customers who are mobile and digitally-savvy.”

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  • M1 launches 1Gbps fiber bundle for SOHOs

    M1 launches 1Gbps fiber bundle for SOHOs

    Singapore’s M1 has launched a range of bundled fiber and business communications plans tailored for small and home offices.

    The company’s new SOHO Fibre Broadband plan includes a symmetrical 1Gbps fiber connection as well as business services including web and e-mail hosting, unified communications and fixed voice services.

    M1 is marketing the service towards Singaporean entrepreneurs seeking to start and grow a business from home. SOHO stands for small office/home office.

    The service is priced at S$59 ($43.75) per month on a 24 month contract. This price also includes a 300Mbps mobile broadband service.

    In Malaysia meanwhile, Telekom Malaysia has added a 100Mbps connection option for its Unifi broadband services.

    The company is offering a 100Mbps downlink 50Mbps uplink plan bundled with IPTV, OTT video subscriptions and 600 minutes of free calls. The operator has also introduced a 100Mbps business broadband option.

    But the plans come at a hefty price of 299 ringgit ($77.37) per month for the consumer option and 379 ringgit per month for the business plan. This is a promotional price which will rise to 329 ringgit and 399 ringgit respectively after June 30.

    By comparison, rival Time charges 299 ringgit for a 500Mbps plan, but also has a far smaller coverage area.

  • UNIQLO to Open First Global Flagship Store in Singapore and in Southeast Asia Region

    UNIQLO to Open First Global Flagship Store in Singapore and in Southeast Asia Region

    UNIQLO today announces that it will open its first global flagship store in Singapore, and in the Southeast Asia region, in the autumn of this year. The new store, which will be the largest UNIQLO store in Singapore and in the region, will be located in the Orchard Central mall along Orchard Road, the fashion hub of Singapore for both local residents and international visitors.

    “We are very honored, and excited, to open our first UNIQLO Global Flagship Store in Singapore. Having been a member of the local retail scene since 2009, we remain committed toward contributing to the local community and being an integral part of Singapore’s growth and future,” said Taku Morikawa, UNIQLO Southeast Asia CEO. “We will continue our effort to design and create innovative clothes that enrich the daily lives of people, as a reflection of our LifeWear philosophy,” he added.

    The Singapore Global Flagship Store will provide an extensive range of the latest lines for women, men, kids and babies, in a sales area of approximately 2,700 square meters across three levels in the Orchard Central, the first and tallest vertical mall in Singapore. Modelled on highly successful UNIQLO flagship stores around the world, customers will enjoy the best that UNIQLO has to offer, in a truly unique retailing setting – from the product range to the store’s interior and layout.

    The opening of a Global Flagship Store in Singapore highlights its prominence in UNIQLO’s expansion plans worldwide and will add to global flagship stores in key locations today, including New York’s Fifth Avenue, London’s Oxford Street, and Ginza in Tokyo. Through its innovative, high-tech displays and extensive product lineup, the new Singapore Global Flagship Store will serve as a launch pad to display the brand’s LifeWear to a wider audience. The latest UNIQLO Global Flagship Store will create more than 300 jobs in Singapore.

    UNIQLO Singapore Global Flagship Store (official name to be announced at a later date)

    Opening Date: Autumn 2016 (Planned)
    Address: 181 Orchard Rd, #01-01, Singapore 238896
    Sales Area: Approx. 2,700 square meters across three levels

    About UNIQLO LifeWear

    Apparel that comes from the Japanese values of simplicity, quality and longevity. Designed to be of the time and for the time, LifeWear is made with such modern elegance that it becomes the building blocks of each individual’s style. A perfect shirt that is always being made more perfect. The simplest design hiding the most thoughtful and modern details. The best in fit and fabric made to be affordable and accessible to all. LifeWear is clothing that is constantly being innovated, bringing more warmth, more lightness, better design, and better comfort to people’s lives.

    About UNIQLO and Fast Retailing

    UNIQLO is a brand of Fast Retailing Co., Ltd., a leading global Japanese retail holding company that designs, manufactures and sells clothing under seven main brands: Comptoir des Cotonniers, GU, Helmut Lang, J Brand, Princessetam.tam, Theory, and UNIQLO. With global sales of approximately 1.6817 trillion yen for the 2015 fiscal year ending August 31, 2015 (US $13.88 billion, calculated in yen using the end of August 2015 rate of $1 = 121.18 yen), Fast Retailing is one of the world’s largest apparel retail companies, and UNIQLO is Japan’s leading specialty retailer.

    UNIQLO continues to open large-scale stores in some of the world’s most important cities and locations, as part of its ongoing efforts to solidify its status as a truly global brand. Today the company has a total of more than 1,700 stores in 17 markets worldwide including Japan, Australia, Belgium, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, U.K. and the U.S. In addition, Grameen UNIQLO, a social business established in Bangladesh in September 2010, currently operates several Grameen UNIQLO stores in Dhaka. UNIQLO manages an integrated business model under which it designs, manufactures, markets and sells high-quality, casual apparel. The company believes that truly great clothes should be supremely comfortable, feature universal designs, are of high quality and offer a superb fit to everyone who wears them.

    With a corporate statement committed to changing clothes, changing conventional wisdom and change the world, Fast Retailing is dedicated to creating great clothing with new and unique value to enrich the lives of people everywhere. For more information about UNIQLO and Fast Retailing, please visitwww.uniqlo.com andwww.fastretailing.com.

  • ShopBack explores giving Cashback for everyday activities

    ShopBack explores giving Cashback for everyday activities

    In a bid to venture beyond its core offering of paying people to shop online, ShopBack Singapore has conducted a weeklong public polling exercise to find out what are the everyday activities that Singaporeans would like to get paid for.

    shopback 1

    Since ShopBack’s establishment in September 2014, the start-up has given almost SGD2,000,000 in Cashback to shoppers’ preferred bank or PayPal accounts. Currently, the Singapore market has a base of over 250,000 shoppers.

    “Apart from getting Cashback for shopping online at any one of our 500 over retailers, we’ve learnt that some of our customers hope to get paid for their daily actions as well,” said Ms. Josephine K Chow, Country Head, ShopBack Singapore. “So we ran a poll to consolidate the top actions that Singaporeans do, and really wanted to get paid for.”

    “One of the popular picks is getting Cashback for passing through Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) gantries. Perhaps Singaporeans will be more forgiving towards ERP, satellite-based or not, if there’s Cashback available?” she quipped.

    2

    A weeklong poll was conducted from 21 March 2016 to 28 March 2016. Over 300 responses have been captured.

    “We’re still in the midst of sorting out the results and discussing feasibility of giving Cashback for the suggested daily actions. The top five actions will be announced at 10.00AM this Friday,” said Ms. Chow.
    Other crowd favourites include getting Cashback for getting matches on dating apps, paying penalty for bringing durians on MRT and catching bosses for swearing.

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  • Telstra, Singtel agree to build Perth-Singapore cable

    Telstra, Singtel agree to build Perth-Singapore cable

    Singtel, Australia’s Telstra and SubPartners have jointly entered an agreement to build a new subsea cable linking Australia and Singapore.

    The new APX-West cable will run between Perth on the west coast of Australia to Singapore. The two fiber pair cable will have a minimum design capacity of 10Tbps.

    Construction of the 4,500km cable is expected to commence at the end of July and scheduled for completion in 2018.

    APX-West will serve as an alternative to the SEA-ME-WE 3, the current data bridge between Signapore and Perth, and will help expand data connectivity and capacity between Singapore and Australia.

    “The APX-West cable will be a new data superhighway to expand data connectivity and capacity between Singapore and Australia, providing network redundancy and the lowest latency from Australia to Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Europe,” Singtel group enterprise VP for carrier services Ooi Seng Keat said.

    “With these capabilities, the Singtel Group, including Optus, can meet customers’ growing data requirements for bandwidth-intensive applications such as unified communications, enterprise data exchange, internet TV and online gaming.”

    Telstra is Australia’s largest operator by revenue, and Singtel operates Optus, Telstra’s main rival.

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  • Singapore start-up betting on more luxury consumption

    Singapore start-up betting on more luxury consumption

    The global economic chill may have helped cool the runaway growth in luxury brands as consumers start to think twice before splurging. One e-commerce player, however, is hoping for an Indian summer.

    Daniel Lim, one of the co-founders of Reebonz, said the “aspirational middle class” – particularly in Asia – will underpin demand for personal luxury products.

    Reebonz sells new and pre-owned designer bags, shoes and other personal luxury items on its website and mobile app. It has a service, Reebonz Closet, available in selected markets, that lets users buy and sell directly to one another.

    Merchants from around the world are also able to list their items on Reebonz Marketplace, creating variety in selection. The company also has in-store presence in Australia and pop-up stores in Singapore.

    Aspiring toward luxury

    Lim’s forecasts come at a somewhat challenging time for personal luxury goods. A study by management consulting firm Bain & Company released in December showed the real growth in the global personal luxury, at constant exchange rates, was only 1 to 2 percent in 2015. This compared with a 3 percent growth in 2014 and 7 percent in 2013.

    Bain said in the report that a combination of currency fluctuations, contracted local spending, government reforms against graft, and tourist arrivals influenced regional performances in 2015.

    “Macroeconomic factors will always be there,” said Lim in an exclusive interview with CNBC. However, “luxury is one of the few classes of products, where people aspire to constantly upgrade,” he said.

    Erwan Rambourg, global co-head of consumer and retail research at HSBC echoed the sentiment, telling CNBC that luxury demand is “often driven by social, cultural and fashion trends rather than by mere financial means.”

    Unlike other purchases, luxury items have great resale value, the Reebonz co-founder added.

    Online shopping has seen rapid growth over the last several years, underpinned by emergence of e-commerce giants such as Amazon and Alibaba. Euromonitor data showed in 2015, internet retailing totaled $990.7 billion worldwide, up from $851.20 billion in 2014.

    Luxury players have been relatively slow to adopt e-commerce due to fear among brands of not being able to replicate the experience of in-store buying, according to Lim.

    Data from Bain showed online shopping currently comprises only 7 percent of the luxury market, with 93 percent of market share still resting with brick-and-mortar stores.

    But Lim expects more innovation to take place as more players explore online options and models to sell to customers. “We have only touched the tip of the iceberg,” he said.

    Since its foundation in 2009, Reebonz has expanded into several developed and developing markets in Asia Pacific, including Australia and Indonesia among others. While the company is still focused on Asia Pacific, it delivers to 30 countries worldwide, including the United States.

    Tackling China

    Last April, Reebonz entered Asia’s largest luxury consumption market: China.

    Lim said Reebonz’s decision to enter China was influenced by favorable cross border e-commerce tax policies, the huge market for luxury, and strong local partnerships the company has forged.

    Even though some of the tax policies that attracted his company to China are now being reversed, Lim remains unfazed.

    Last week, China announced it will charge imported retail items purchased online in the same way as any other imported goods, scrapping a provision that enabled e-commerce companies to import goods more cheaply, reported China’s Xinhua news agency. The changes will be effective from April 8, said Xinhua.

    The move will see many e-commerce retailers experience a cost increase through higher taxes, according to Yating Xu, an economist at IHS Global Insight. Xu told CNBC the tax reform is designed to level the playing field for traditional retailers, who have, in recent years, been hurt by the tax benefits enjoyed by e-commerce players.

    He acknowledged, however, the steep competition Reebonz faces from local players in China.

    Many luxury brands, such as Burberry, Estee Lauder, and Calvin Klein, have launched e-boutiques on Alibaba’s Tmall platform to penetrate broader areas of China, according to Hui Wan, research team lead at Euromonitor International.

    Other brands such as Alexander McQueen and Balenciaga have established official websites “to present their brand image, launch their new collections and sell products as well,” she said.

    Wan told CNBC, currently “Chinese consumers prefer to browse online but buy at the stores, especially for luxury goods purchases.”

    Lim is banking on Reebonz’s strong reputation for selling authentic products, wide range of options and good customer service to make headway into the biggest luxury market in Asia Pacific.

    “Penetrating China obviously will take a bit of time but I think we see a great opportunity there.”

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  • Ted Baker Asia trading ‘a challenge’

    Ted Baker Asia trading ‘a challenge’

    Global fashion chain Ted Baker overcame an uncertain backdrop in Asia to boost profits by 18.6 per cent last year.

    Rebecca Marks, an analyst at Verdict Retail, said Ted Baker’s strong full year results demonstrate the strength of the brand, driven by its reaction to trends “and signature mix of quality and attention to detail”.

    Ted Baker reported a pre-tax, full-year profit of £58.7 million.

    But the company said while trading generally was in line with expectations, the Ted Baker Asia business trading environment “continues to be challenging”.

    “Whilst Asia currently represents a small part of our business at 3.4 per cent of revenue, we remain positive about the long term opportunities to develop the brand in this territory,” the company said.

    “In Asia, we remain focused on building brand awareness in this market where we are in the relatively early stages of investment. In line with our development strategy in this territory, we have opened another store in Beijing and we are opening further concessions in China and Japan.”

    Marks said the overall results showed Ted Baker was on track to establish itself as a global lifestyle brand.

    “The  investment in brand-building in newer markets paying off,” she said.

    “A strong performance in North America demonstrates the brand’s growing recognition, enhanced by 22 retail and wholesale openings in this market throughout this period. Closer-to-home, the brand is investing in a new distribution centre in the UK to service its European markets – a necessary move to support the growing popularity of its e-commerce platform, where its 45.8 per cent growth primarily reflected its performance in the UK.”

    While womenswear sales were up 15.9 per cent year-on-year, menswear collections outperformed with 20.1 per cent growth.

    “As the prevalence of celebrity and fitness culture continues to heighten male’s interest in fashion and personal appearance, Ted Baker opportunely responded to its typical 25-45 year old male shoppers’ growing demands for increased choice and style with its fashion-led quality collections justifying its premium price points,” said Marks.

    “A raft of planned store openings planned in the coming year, alongside continued investment in its eCommerce platforms and personalisation globally, will help ensure Ted Baker is positioned to enjoy another flourishing financial year ahead. Initial reactions to its Spring/Summer collections have been positive, tapping into the growing activewear market with its new contemporary collection of premium sportswear for women, Fit to a T.

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  • Singapore Post Ramps Up China E-commerce Push

    Singapore Post Ramps Up China E-commerce Push

    Despite signs of a slowdown of imports into China, Singapore Post (SingPost) remains bullish on the prospects for e-commerce flows into Asia’s largest economy. The postal agency has upped its stake in Shenzhen-based e-commerce provider 4PX Information Technology.

    SingPost forked out US$25.6 million to acquire an additional 17.91% position in 4PX, one of China’s top e-commerce cross-border players, whose scope of services ranges from forwarding, express delivery and warehousing to software and consulting services for e-commerce vendors. The postal operator now holds a 36% stake in the Chinese firm.

    4PX runs warehouses in China, Australia, UK, Germany and the US, employing north of 2,600 staff. The company has over 20,000 customers in more than 50 locations in China and globally.

    “The additional investment in 4PX, with its extensive logistics capabilities in warehousing, express delivery and freight forwarding, is a key part of SingPost’s strategy to strengthen our integrated end-to-end e-commerce logistics solutions and to leverage on the rapid growth in China’s e-commerce activities,” said Goh Hui Ling, deputy CEO (international mail) of SingPost.

    With general cargo growth in the doldrums, logistics providers are keen on developing a footprint in e-commerce, which promises rich pickings and robust growth momentum. According to one estimate, global B2C volume is expected to reach US$2.26 trillion a year by 2020, with an annual growth rate of 15 to 20%.

    International carriers are particularly gung-ho on China, citing Chinese consumers’ rising cravings for international brands. Anselm Eggert, head of e-commerce at Lufthansa Cargo, stated that they are showing strong interest in European brands, especially health and beauty products.

    Freighter leasing firm Airborne Global Solutions invested US$16 million last September for a 25% stake in the nascent United Star Express, a new Chinese freighter operator that is expected to take to the skies halfway through this year. Its partners in the venture are Chinese Boeing 737 operator Okay Airways, a developer and an investment company, and Vipshop, the third-largest e-tailer in China, according to AGS president Rich Corrado.

    Postal agencies are pushing aggressively into this arena, their eagerness intensified by a need to make up for the ongoing shrinkage of their traditional letter mail business. With their delivery networks they have a strong advantage over competitors in the critical final-mile segment in their home markets, but they are also increasingly targeting international flows to other markets.

    Japan Post established its own website in China last autumn to offer Japanese merchandise to Chinese consumers. Orders are consolidated and moved by ocean vessel to Shanghai for overland distribution.

    China Post has been in hot pursuit of e-commerce business, which is reflected in the rapid growth of China Postal Airlines. According to one source, China Southern Airlines’ decision last year to bring two parked 747-400 freighters back into service was prompted by the Chinese postal agency.

    To develop its traffic from the postal agencies of Hong Kong and China, Cathay Pacific has implemented barcode scanning of mail at its stations in China and in Hong Kong. This enables the electronic transmission of departure, transit and arrival information. In a second phase, the airline is looking to integrate various IT interfaces – from booking to space management and mail warehouse transit management – to establish real-time data flow, said Mark Sutch, the airline’s general manager of cargo sales and marketing.

    For now many airlines view postal business as the biggest inroad into B2C e-commerce, but this will likely change. Eggert envisages greater involvement from carriers down the road. At this point Lufthansa is studying the market in order to be able to develop more targeted options later on.

    “I think in the future we will go beyond mail. I think the industry needs to think how to work together with partners,” Eggert said. This will require closer alignment, including some degree of IT integration. In light of the fact that the air cargo industry does not have a stellar track record in developing joint solutions, this will be a challenging avenue for operators to pursue, he added.

  • Indonesian shoppers flock to Singapore as rupiah surges

    Indonesian shoppers flock to Singapore as rupiah surges

    Tourist arrivals will spike this year.

    Buoyed by the resurgent rupiah, Indonesian holidaymakers are once again trooping to Singapore to shop and splurge, according to a report by Bloomberg.

    The rupiah has surged 9.9 percent against the U.S. dollar over the past six months, second only to Malaysia’s ringgit among emerging markets, as slowing inflation and a nascent commodity-price recovery lured money to the nation’s assets.

    “The rupiah has done really well this year and it makes things look cheaper elsewhere for Indonesians,” said Nizam Idris, head of foreign-exchange and fixed-income strategy at Macquarie Bank Ltd. in Singapore. “The currency will find support from decent yields and bottoming commodity prices.

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  • Here’s why new NFC-enabled SIM cards may flop in Singapore

    Here’s why new NFC-enabled SIM cards may flop in Singapore

    The service is too costly. Singapore’s telco operators recently unveiled new NFC-powered SIM cards, which will allow commuters to pay fares using their mobile phones. The SIM cards will also be accepted at 30,000 ez-link terminals across the island.

    However, the new SIM cards might fail to gain enough popularity because of several stumbling blocks, according to a report by DBS.

    The report noted that the popularity of iPhones in Singapore is a big hurdle to the rise of the new SIM cards. The NFC-powered SIM cards are incompatible with iPhones, which only support Apple Pay and make up a third of mobile phone sales in the country.

    DBS also highlighted that ez-link is not accepted at 7-11 stores and many other retail outlets, which prefer NETS and credit cards.

    Apart from these hurdles, the cards are also extremely expensive at $37.50 apiece.

    “EZ-link is not widely popular for retail transactions even in Singapore. Plus NFC enabled payment is not adding any security feature to the ez-link card while “Apple Pay” adds security to credit card transactions. So we do not see that the NFC enabled SIM based payments will be widely used. Anyway, telcos may not get much commission out of the transactions, as the bulk may go to ez-link for its large customer base using it for buses and trains,” the report noted.

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  • Uniqlo to open flagship store in Singapore

    Uniqlo to open flagship store in Singapore

    Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo is set to open its first global flagship store in Singapore and the Southeast Asia region at Orchard Road by the second half of this year.

    The store, spanning across three levels at Orchard Central (a total area of 2,700 sqm), will generate more than 300 jobs here. It will be Uniqlo’s biggest outlet in Singapore and the region.

    “We are very honoured, and excited, to open our first UNIQLO Global Flagship Store in Singapore. Having been a member of the local retail scene since 2009, we remain committed toward contributing to the local community and being an integral part of Singapore’s growth and future,” said Taku Morikawa, CEO of Uniqlo Southeast Asia.

    Uniqlo fans can expect the flagship store to provide an extensive range of Uniqlo’s latest lines for women, men, kids and babies. The store will also serve as a platform to showcase the brand’s LifeWear collection.

    There are currently 13 global flagship stores around the world, including cities such as New York, London, Paris and Shanghai.

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  • Standard Chartered opens Singapore innovation lab

    Standard Chartered opens Singapore innovation lab

    Standard Chartered Bank has opened a new innovation lab in Singapore to explore the use of emerging technologies and data sciences in support of the bank’s digital transformation strategy.

    The ‘eXellerator’ builds upon Standard Chartered’s established technology outpost in Silicon Valley, SC Studios, and is the bank’s first dedicated space for innovation in Asia, located at the heart of its main office building at Marina Bay Financial Centre.Anju Patwardhan, Standard Chartered’s global chief innovation officer, says: “This is where we can tap the depth of knowledge and talent, as well as work with local universities and research organisations, to help drive the bank’s innovation agenda.”

    The bank has secured the support of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in establishing the facility. MAS has been actively encouraging the development of a ‘Smart Financial Centre’, in line with country’s ‘Smart Nation’ plan, and recently appointed a ‘chief fintech officer’, Sopnendu Mohanty, to co-ordinate its efforts.

    Says Mohanty: “The financial sector is an integral part of Singapore’s ambition to be a Smart Nation. A Smart Financial Centre with an open architecture and collaborative fintech community will promote innovation, application of technology advancements and talent development in financial services.”

    Standard Chartered has already laid the groundwork for the new lab through a multi-year collaboration agreement with A*Star’s Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R) – Singapore’s national information and communications technology research institute – to jointly work on data science research and experimentation by tapping the Institute’s network of data scientists and software engineers.

    It has also partnered with DBS Bank and Singapore’s Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) to successfully complete a proof of concept (PoC) on the application of distributed ledger technology in trade finance invoicing with the objective of reducing risk around duplicate invoice financing for banks while preserving client confidentiality.

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  • Cruise business up 14% in Singapore last year

    Cruise business up 14% in Singapore last year

    The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) reports that the country witnessed encouraged growth in the cruise and business segments as the Singapore Cruise Centre (SCC) was named the number one cruise port in Asia in 2015.

    Interestingly, the cruise industry saw a 14% year-on-year increase in cruise passenger throughput last year to more than one million.

    In addition, the country welcomed a total of 385 cruise ships, including international cruise brands such as TUI cruises, and Royal Caribbean, as well as nine maiden calls – new to Singapore and Southeast Asia.

    GROWING CRUISE INCENTIVES…

    The STB added that Singapore also launched the inaugural unified Southeast Asia Cruise brand​ and forged MOUs with Vietnam and Thailand to develop the regional cruise business. ​

    The tourism body also manages the Cruise Development Fund (CDF) which actively supports the ‘home-porting’ of new cruise ships or extension in deployments of existing home-ported cruise ships out of Singapore, with the aim of growing Singapore’s cruise industry and tourism generally.

    Significantly, the Royal Caribbean International cruise company signed its first-ever multi-million dollar marketing collaboration with STB and the Changi Airport Group (CAG) last year to promote overseas fly-cruising out of Singapore.

    This tripartite agreement now operates between 2015 and 2018 and all parties are estimating it could attract an additional 170,000 overseas visitors to Singapore on Royal Caribbean cruises over this aforementioned period.

    DFS AND HEINEMANN

    All of which is good news for DFS Singapore, which operates the departure-transit and arrivals transit shops alongside Ocean Duty Free’s outlets at the Singapore Cruise Centre.

    Heinemann Asia Pacific opened its third and largest duty free shop (157sq m) in partnership with the Singapore Cruise Centre (SCC) at the Harbourfront Ferry Terminal last January. Around 5m passengers use this terminal each year-Ed.

    The grand looking SCC

    The grand looking Singapore Cruise Centre.

    As reported, the STB is now forecasting that this year’s total tourism receipts will be between S$22bn and $22.4bn ($16bn to $16.3bn) representing a growth range between 0% and 2%. By contrast, it is forecasting international visitor arrivals of between 15.2m and 15.7m – a growth of between 0% to 3%. ​

    This follows a year when international visitor arrivals grew by 0.9% to 15.2m in 2015. However, tourism receipts declined by -6.8% to S$22bn ($16bn) with this attributed mainly to the decline in BTMICE visitor arrivals and spending. By contrast, leisure visitor arrivals grew by 2%.

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  • Singapore’s SME retail exporters can now gain better access to US market

    Singapore’s SME retail exporters can now gain better access to US market

    The revised de Minimis Threshold increases the limit to the United States from US$200 to US$800.

    Web-based small and medium enterprises (SMEs) retail exporters in Singapore can now gain better access to the United States market with the revision of de Minimis Threshold.

    The revised de Minimis Threshold – the amount at which US import duties apply – increased the limit from US$200 to US$800. This means that sellers no longer need to pay the US import duties when the price of their products is under US$800.

    “The revised de Minimis Threshold provides a timely opportunity for local businesses to internationalise. The US is the number one export destination for eBay Singapore sellers with its strong consumer purchasing capacity and high expenditure in e-commerce,” said Teri Canayon, country manager of eBay Singapore Cross-Border Trade. “With a lower barrier for cross-border e-commerce for our Singapore SMEs, there will be even greater incentives to boost exports to the US market, ultimately driving greater growth.” 

    Sellers can also mail higher value products directly to the US market, which allows them to better manage their supply chain and inventory costs.

    In addition, the cost of products to American consumers is lowered. This encourages them to buy more overseas, which may eventually give Singapore businesses a better chance to grow sales in the US market.

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  • Real Singapore retail sales rise

    Real Singapore retail sales rise

    Real Singapore retail sales recovered slightly in January, rising 1.4 per cent year-on-year.

    The headline figure widely reported by business media of a 7.5 per cent increase included motor vehicles.

    Real retail sales fell 0.5 per cent from December to January, and by 1.2 per cent with vehicles included.

    The total retail sales value in January 2016 was estimated at $4.1 billion, higher than the $3.8 billion in January 2015.

    Retail sales Jan 2016 Singapore

    Medical goods and toiletries and department stores showed the strongest year-on-year gains, while telecommunications goods and computers accounted for by far the largest fall.

    The accompanying charts show the sales trends by product category.

    Sales of food & beverage services (seasonally adjusted) increased 2.4 per cent month-on-month in January Year-on-year, they declined by 0.6 per cent in January.

    The total sales value of food & beverage services in January 2016 was estimated at $685 million.

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