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Tag: Singapore

  • Singapore retail sales down in August

    Singapore retail sales down in August

    Singapore retail sales eased down by 1 percent year on year in August, after excluding motor vehicle sales.

    A 20.3-per-cent fall in the value of motor vehicles sold during the month caused the topline figure to decline by 4.1 percent.

    However, month on month, real retail sales rose by 2.2 percent (they fell by 1.3 percent with motor vehicle sales included in the data).

    On a year-on-year basis, sales of furniture & household equipment and watches & jewelry fell by 9.8 percent and 8.6 percent respectively, largely attributed to lower demand for household equipment and jewellery, according to Statistics Singapore.

    Other retail industries that recorded declines in sales included petrol service stations (down 3.3 percent), recreational goods (down 2.7 percent) and food retailers (down 2.3 percent).

    Conversely, sales of apparel & footwear, in department stores, and of medical goods & toiletries rose by between 4 percent and 4.9 percent.

    Online sales comprised 5.5 percent of the total.

    Sales of food & beverage services

    Meanwhile, sales of food & beverage services grew by 3.6 percent year on year in August.

    On a seasonally adjusted basis, sales rose by 1.4 percent, month on month.

    Turnover of fast-food outlets, restaurants and food caterers increased by between 3.7 percent and 10 percent, while sales of other eating places (such as cafes) decreased by 0.4 percent.

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  • Most Singaporeans purchase online overseas every month

    Most Singaporeans purchase online overseas every month

    A recent survey has shown that around 75 percent of Singaporeans purchase overseas products at least once a month.

    According to Southeast Asian and Taiwanese e-commerce platform Shopee’s Global Deals Survey 2019, which polled more than 4000 Singaporeans about their overseas online purchasing habits, more than 90 percent of survey respondents indicated that they buy overseas products on Shopee more today, as compared to three years earlier. Reasons cited include convenience, cost-savings, increased product variety and being able to purchase products not available in Singapore. The survey also found that shoppers prefer to purchase overseas products from sellers who have a wide variety of products available (70 percent) and offer free shipping (30 percent).

    A recent YStats report found Singapore to be the top market for cross-border shopping in Southeast Asia, and according to a Forrester report, 60 percent of e-commerce sales consist of overseas orders.

    Japan is the fastest-growing market for overseas purchases, as demand for health supplements rises. Over the years, Japanese brands have increasingly made inroads in Singapore, gaining ground in the local retail scene with the entrance of a new wave of Japanese fashion labels and discount stores.

    According to Shopee’s survey, when it comes to purchasing Japanese products, quality (70 percent), variety (75 percent) and items that are not available in Singapore (73 percent) are what fuels the appetite of Singaporean shoppers.

    Shopee has recently unveiled a dedicated in-app space where users can access more than 50 million deals from six popular shopping destinations. Named Global Deals, the feature introduced deals from China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia and Hong Kong, and is accessible via a dedicated button on the Shopee homepage.

    “Singaporean shoppers have become globalized consumers who now have the world at their fingertips, and they are constantly on the lookout for convenience, quality and variety,” said Shopee CCO Zhou Junjie.

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  • Louis Vuitton launches online offers in Singapore and Malaysia

    Louis Vuitton launches online offers in Singapore and Malaysia

    Global luxury fashion brand Louis Vuitton has launched an e-commerce offer specifically for Singapore and Malaysia.

    Exclusive products will feature on the brand’s new online service, as well as its ready-to-wear items for men and women, bags, leather goods, shoes, accessories, luggage and fragrances, now available for purchase in the territory at louisvuitton.com.

    The e-commerce store is expected to offer limited edition colorways of popular Louis Vuitton leather goods, as well as hot stamping and engraving personalization services.

    The store’s “White Glove Service” offers complimentary same-day or next-day delivery, with a “Click and Collect” option also available.

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  • New distributor for Salomon Singapore

    New distributor for Salomon Singapore

    Salomon in Singapore has chosen sports retailer Outdoor Venture as its official distributor.

    The Salomon Singapore selection will range from trail running, hiking and performance to apparel. Trail running products are already available across Outdoor Venture’s LivActiv and Running Lab retail outlets. Road Running gear will be sold exclusively at Outdoor Venture-owned stores in January next year.

    “The Salomon trail running line fits perfectly with Outdoor Venture’s portfolio,” said Walter Tan,

    MD at Outdoor Venture. “In our increasingly urbanized society, more and more

    people are heading back to nature in their leisure time. Salomon is a world leader in trail running, and we are excited to be bringing this brand to Singaporeans.

    “We want to give Singaporeans every incentive to reconnect with the great outdoors, and trail running is a great way to do that in a time-efficient manner,” he said.

    Founded in 947 in France, Salomon has been producing and selling premium footwear, winter sports and mountaineering equipment, and sportswear in more than 40 countries.

    Outdoor Venture is a privately owned company based in Singapore, distributing sports gear from major brands, including The North Face and Helly Hansen and now Salomon in Singapore.

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  • McDonald’s Singapore sleepwear deal crashes app

    McDonald’s Singapore sleepwear deal crashes app

    A deal by McDonald’s Singapore offering free sleepwear along with McNuggets and McWings delivery orders crashed the brand’s delivery app and site within an hour, angering customers.

    The deal went live on Monday October at 6pm, offering a set of limited-edition free-sized men’s or women’s pajamas with a bonus sleeping mask for customers who entered a promo code.

    Online commentators blamed McDonald’s for being insufficiently prepared for the surge in traffic, with some suspecting the firm had deliberately taken down the site rather than admit the sleepwear was out of stock.

    Fans are getting a second chance to purchase the limited edition loungewear later today.

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  • Frasers Property announces leadership changes for Singapore

    Frasers Property announces leadership changes for Singapore

    Frasers Property Singapore CEO Christopher Tang will retire at the end of the year.

    From January 1, Tang will assume the new position of senior adviser, while continuing to serve as a director on the boards of Frasers Property (Singapore), Frasers Centrepoint Asset Management and Frasers Commercial Asset Management.

    “It has been an incredible journey being part of the Frasers Property Group growth story and leading Frasers Property Singapore has been an honor and privilege,” said Tang. “The planned retirement reflects my personal desire to participate in the group’s continual growth in a different leadership capacity.”

    The company also announced an evolution of its Singapore business organization as part of its planned leadership changes.

    A retail-focused platform will be created in Singapore, which will cover the asset, property and development management of its retail assets in the city. The new platform will become a retail-focused business unit in Singapore from October 15, representing an asset size of about SG$8 billion (US$5.8 billion) with development, asset management and property management capabilities in respect of retail assets held across Frasers Property Singapore and FCT.

    Low Chee Wah will be appointed as CEO of the Singapore retail platform

    “Our retail business in Singapore has grown rapidly over the years,” said group CEO Panote Sirivadhanabhakdi.

    “We believe the focused retail platform will allow us to better serve the needs of our customers in this fast-evolving retail landscape. We are looking forward to building upon the meaningful scale of the group’s retail network while further developing our retail capabilities and leadership position for this asset class in Singapore.”

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  • Singapore Fintech Festival 2019 Kicks Off in November

    Singapore Fintech Festival 2019 Kicks Off in November

    The Singapore Fintech Festival is set to kick off on the week of November 11 and will feature over 250 industry leaders to discuss the future of the financial services industry.

    The conference will feature a myriad of topics revolving around four key themes: the future of finance; sustainability; exponential technologies; and global investment and market opportunities.

    Various sessions will be joined by leading global industry names such as HSBC group CEO, Noel Quinn; Standard Chartered group CEO, Bill Winters; LGT group CEO, H.S.H. Prince Philipp von und zu Liechtenstein; and more.

    Last year’s Singapore Fintech Festival was widely attended with more than 45,000 participants from 130 different countries. To learn more about the Singapore Fintech Festival agenda for 2019, click here.

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  • Taiwan overtakes Singapore in broadband speed

    Taiwan overtakes Singapore in broadband speed

    The global average in terms of broadband speed is 11.03Mbps since May 2019, compared to it being 9.14 at the same time last year. The data from this new research was gathered by a US-based open-source project called Measurement Lab (M-Lab).

    “With average broadband speeds rising by 20.65% in the last year the global picture looks rosy. But the truth is faster countries are the ones lifting the average, pulling away at speed and leaving the slowest to stagnate. Last year, we measured the slowest five countries at 88 times slower than the five fastest. This year they are 125 times slower,” commented Dan Howdle, consumer telecoms analyst at Cable.co.uk, with regards to the M-Lab research.

    The top 15 in the league tables of 2019 comprise of all European and Asian countries, with the US being number 16 on the list.

    Some of the European countries that made it to the top 15 were Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. As for Asian countries, it included Japan and Singapore.

    The league table showed that downloading a movie in HD of around 5GB in size takes 8 minutes and 2 seconds on average in Taiwan while it took 30 hours in Yemen, which was the last-placed country in the league table.

    M-Lab is led by a variety of teams based at Code for Science and Society, Google Princeton University’s PlanetLab, New America’s Open Technology Institute among others.

    “Average speed rankings by country are.. a great starting point for deeper research and statistical analysis of the state of broadband using M-Lab’s global broadband measurement datasets,” said Chris Ritzo, M-Lab’s programme management and community lead.

    The research carried out 276 million speed tests, all on 70 million IP addresses.

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  • Miniso $2 format opens first store, in Singapore

    Miniso $2 format opens first store, in Singapore

    Chinese discount merchandise retailer Miniso has launched a Miniso $2 outlet-store format, with its first shop opening in Singapore.

    The store will offer hundreds of household supplies goods at “affordable” prices and augment the 30 standard Miniso stores already trading in the city state. The range includes electrical appliances, home appliances and toys.

    While Miniso has not expressly said so, it is anticipated that the new Miniso $2 format will be expanded across the region. In Vietnam, for example, it has already announced a target of 400 stores by 2022.

    Located at HarbourFront Centre, the Miniso $2 was opened with a lucky draw event via Facebook where customers were selected to join a priority queue at the opening, and given free gifts.

    Founded in 2013 by the Japanese designer Miyake Junya and the Chinese businessman Ye Guofu, Miniso has now expanded to more than 3600 stores worldwide.

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  • Desigual partners with Zalora in Singapore

    Desigual partners with Zalora in Singapore

    Spanish fashion brand Desigual has partnered with Zalora in Singapore to co-host a VIP event and present the label’s Fall Winter 2019 collection in Singa

    The event connected Desigual’s “brand DNA” with Singapore’s local arts scene. The brand set up an interactive artwork from Singapore’s Band of Doodlers for their guests to draw and paint with their creativity.

    The fashion company introduced Desigual’s Fall Winter 2019 Collection through an art performance from Silent Stars Entertainment with dancers wearing the collection.

    Founded in 1984, Desigual recently decided to permanently reverse its logo, highlighting the word “Desigual” which means “different” in Spanish.

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  • Pomelo plans extra 100-strong store expansion in Thailand, Singapore

    Pomelo plans extra 100-strong store expansion in Thailand, Singapore

    Fashion-tech brand Pomelo plans to launch 100 additional Pomelo Partner stores by December on the back of a US$52 million Series C fundraising.

    The brand is intending to solidify its omnichannel retail presence in Asia, starting with Thailand.

    Pomelo Partner stores function as pick-up locations where customers can have their Pomelo items delivered, try on the items and pay only for what they choose to take home. The stores target a demographic of 25 to 34, and are located in convenient suburban locations such as cafes, salons, fitness studios, florists and even other clothing stores frequented by its customers.

    “Creating the best omnichannel retail experience means integrating our products with customer lifestyles, and the first 35 Partners in Thailand allow us to be where our customers live, work and play,” said Pomelo CEO and co-founder David Jou. “The growth of this network in the coming months makes returns easier and allows customers to try on and pay for only products they love with ease at a location nearest to them.”

    The Pomelo Partner store network is set to grow from the current 35 in Thailand to 100-strong come the end of the year. It also plans to cover all provinces in Thailand and then Singapore in preparation for further international expansion; it currently seeks Pomelo Partner store potentials in Singapore and looks to launch the first partner store in the territory by early next year.

    Currently, Pomelo’s nine retail stores and nine pickup locations across Thailand are strategically located in high-traffic urban locations.

  • UOB Loan to Boost Singapore’s Poultry Industry

    UOB Loan to Boost Singapore’s Poultry Industry

    Singapore Poultry Hub hopes to improve its productivity by 26 percent and its capacity by 70 percent with the new smart and green factory.

    United Overseas Bank (UOB) has just announced a loan of S$40 million ($29 million) to Singapore Poultry Hub, which will be used to set up the first smart and green poultry factory in the country, the bank announced in a press release on Monday.

    Singapore Poultry Hub is a joint venture among poultry producers and processors including Mr. Tan Chin Long, Tong Huat Poultry Processing Factory, Kee Song Holdings, Sinmah Holdings and Tysan Food.

    The smart factory will use technologies such as robotics, industrial internet of things and Industry 4.0 at the facility, which will also feature a new waste management system that converts part of the waste generated by the poultry processors into protein to be used as an ingredient in livestock feed, reducing waste by 60 tonnes per day, according to the press release.

    Our support of Singapore Poultry Hub is another example of how we are helping SMEs to transform their business and to seize opportunities from trends such as Industry 4.0, Eric Tham, head of Group Commercial Banking, UOB, said. He added that the bank is working with Singapore Poultry Hub to digitalize the collection of payments and reduce the use of cash and cheques.

  • K-pop girl-group Twice to open first pop-up store in Singapore

    K-pop girl-group Twice to open first pop-up store in Singapore

    K-pop girl-group Twice is to open a pop-up store called Twaii’s Shop in Singapore this month, marking its first Asia stop after the theme stores in Korea and Japan.

    Located at *Scape between October 12 to 14, Twaii’s Shop will feature more than 30 exclusive Twice merchandise items, including the Candybong light stick and Twaii-design T-shirt.

    The Twaii’s Shop will also set up a special lucky draw for fans to win a Twice-autographed album if they spend a S$50 or more on a single receipt.

    The South Korean group successfully held three sold-out concerts in Singapore with the most recent Twice World Tour 2019 Twicelights in July at Singapore Indoor Stadium. They also just released a mini album called Feel Special.

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  • OCBC, JCB Collaborate to Broaden Card Acceptance

    OCBC, JCB Collaborate to Broaden Card Acceptance

    The leading payment card issuer from Japan has announced a partnership to extend its reach in Singapore, bringing added convenience to cardholders in the region.

    JCB International, the international operations subsidiary of JCB, has announced a partnership with Overseas-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC Bank) to broaden the acceptance of JCB payment cards in Singapore, the two firms announced in a statement on Wednesday.

    This partnership brings added convenience to JCB cardholders in Singapore, Japan and Northeast Asia, and the «fast-growing card issuing base in Southeast Asia, the statement said. It also allows OCBC merchants to develop their business through a wider choice of payment schemes to attract more customers.

    This new partnership with JCB is an indication of our continuing work to establish a higher level of card acceptance that goes beyond Visa and Mastercard,» Desmond Tan, head of Group Lifestyle Financing, said, adding that the partnership is «an opportunity for OCBC to extend our comprehensive credit card network to a new consumer base.»

    JCB has 120 million cardmembers worldwide.

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  • Shopmatic acquires CombineSell to consolidate its leadership position in the e-commerce space

    Shopmatic acquires CombineSell to consolidate its leadership position in the e-commerce space

    International e-commerce company, Shopmatic has acquired 100% of CombineSell, a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform that automates & simplifies multichannel e-commerce selling by aggregating popular online marketplaces into just a single platform.

    The acquisition follows Shopmatic’s strategy of consolidating its position in a fragmented e-commerce enabling software sector. The Singapore-based e-commerce enabler had previously acquired a 50.1% stake in retail management and POS solution provider Octopus, to unlock the omnichannel growth strategy for its merchants. Now, Shopmatic has brought Singapore’s top-ranking multichannel e-commerce

    CombineSell leverages innovative technology to enable merchants to sell on multichannel e-commerce platforms, and drive campaigns for business growth. With this acquisition, Shopmatic’s merchants will now be able to leverage the power of selling on multiple channels while managing their online business through a single dashboard. CombineSell has 30+ ecommerce channel integrations available – including those with Lazada, Shopee, Qoo10, Amazon, eBay, Carousell, Redmart, Xero, etc, from a single, centralised platform and has generated over $150M of GMV in the last 12 months. CombineSell was co-founded by June Yong, Amanda Ho & Gerald Lam and has over 30+ people based across Singapore & Malaysia.

    Commenting on the acquisition, Anurag Avula, Co-Founder & CEO, Shopmatic, said, “In our continued bid to drive digital success for our merchants, we have been growing our suite of services on the platform, and are very happy with the acquisition of CombineSell.  This gives us a significant advantage in enabling the overall growth & success of all merchants on our platform. In just a single click, merchants will now have access to selling across numerous channels in various countries across South East Asia. The acquisition of CombineSell further consolidates our position as clear market leaders in digitizing SMBs & Individual Entrepreneurs in APAC.”

    Loh June Yong, Founder & CEO, CombineSell added, “At CombineSell, we understand that growing an online business can be rife with challenges. To the same end, we have been making it easier for sellers on our platform to grow and manage their business across multiple marketplaces. Shopmatic has cemented its position as a powerhouse e-commerce platform for small businesses and individual entrepreneurs. Following the latest development, we are excited to join forces with Shopmatic and together enable the online success of businesses, in the emerging markets.”

    SEEDS Capital, the investment arm of Enterprise Singapore, has been an early investor of Shopmatic. On the acquisition, Geoffrey Yeo, General Manager, SEEDS Capital, said, “Having invested in Shopmatic earlier on, both SEEDS Capital and Enterprise Singapore have been working closely with Shopmatic on its expansion plans in Asia, especially to markets such as India and Southeast Asia where the e-commerce needs are growing rapidly. SEEDS Capital is pleased to have connected Shopmatic with CombineSell, which led to this win-win collaboration for both companies. The acquisition will allow Shopmatic to grow its e-commerce capabilities, and further augment the integration of its e-commerce channels to better serve its customers.”

    Shopmatic continues to create industry disruptions with features, offers and pricing, focused on enabling the success of sellers on its platform. With over 250,000 merchants on its platform, Shopmatic has been setting the trend for enabling sellers to be successful digitally.

    Shopmatic’s customer-first approach has unlocked tremendous growth figures. Following the launch of its disruptive transaction pricing model, Shopmatic clocked a 174% QoQ revenue growth and a 160% hike in transactions on its platforms within the April-June quarter. Empowered by a fervent response from small businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs on its platform, Shopmatic is geared up to bring half a million merchants online in the current financial year.

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