Retail News CRM

Tag: sweden

  • IKEA Offers Discount to Pregnant Women

    IKEA Offers Discount to Pregnant Women

    Ikea Sweden is offering pregnant women a discount on cribs ‒ but a specimen is needed to qualify.

    Taking its cue from at-home pregnancy test kits, the furniture giant includes a swatch in its latest print advertisement. By adding urine to the special panel, a chemical reaction reveals a lower price for the crib being advertised, says Adweek.

    Devised by Stockholm advertising agency Akestam Holst, the technology was created by Marcene Labs and is being used in the advertisement in a Swedish women’s magazine. The agency even claims that technical advancements made during the work on the campaign “have the potential to improve medical diagnostics”.

    The crib in question, the Sundvik, is available online for US$119. For the discount price, available only in Sweden … mums-to-be know what to do. Or maybe they can just waddle in to the store if it is obvious they qualify.

  • Singapore Airlines swings in to Stockholm in Sweden

    Singapore Airlines swings in to Stockholm in Sweden

    Singapore Airlines has arrived in Sweden. On 30 May the Star Alliance carrier began five times weekly service from Singapore (SIN) to Stockholm Arlanda (ARN) via Moscow Domodedovo. The 9,651-kilometre route will be flown by the airline’s A350-900s. This is the first route to be served at the Swedish airport using this aircraft type. Jonas Abrahamsson, President and CEO of Swedavia, said: “The new route to Singapore is the result of several years of intense work, and it is a highly desired destination.

    The route is crucial in enabling business travellers to reach markets in Asia easily and also provides potential for greater cargo traffic between the two countries. It is a strategically important intercontinental route in Stockholm Arlanda’s development to be the leading airport in Scandinavia by 2020.” Singapore Airlines now serves 15 destinations in Europe across 11 countries.

  • Ikea may take over BHS sites

    Ikea may take over BHS sites

    Swedish furniture and homewares retailer Ikea is reportedly planning to take over the leases of an undisclosed number of BHS sites in the UK.

    Such a move would mark a strategic change of direction for Ikea, propelling it onto High St rather than its traditional trading space of big barns in destination centres outside city CBDs.

    The Times newspaper has reported that Ikea has held talks with the administrators of BHS and says if a buyer cannot be found for the entire BHS business it will act.

    An Ikea UK and Ireland spokesman, Daniel Lundholm, said: “I can confirm that we have not and will not be bidding to buy the BHS business out of administration. However, we are exploring a number of potential locations across the UK for more order and collection points.”

    Ikea has 18 stores in the UK.

    Meanwhile, the Daily Mail has reported that BHS’s former owner Retail Acquisitions, run by twice-bankrupt ex-racing driver Dominic Chappell, burnt through more than £100million in 13 months at the company after buying it from Sir Philip Green for £1. The firm’s management battled to block ‘inappropriate’ spending but the company is now in administration putting 11,000 jobs at risk while the Pension Protection Fund is overseeing a £571 million pension deficit.

    BHS, founded in 1928, collapsed last month.

  • Gunnebo looks to expand above inflation

    Gunnebo looks to expand above inflation

    Sweden-based security service provider Gunnebo Security Group is looking to see its Indonesian business grow by better than inflation, especially with support from infrastructure projects and its newly installed cash-management facility, the company’s regional executive says.

    Senior vice president for Gunnebo’s Asia-Pacific region, Sacha de La Noe, said on Tuesday that his company would keep its investment focus on cash-management products, one of the group’s backbone businesses, while at the same time he expected growth from other lines, such as from its fire-system services.

    De La Noe said the presence of a local production facility in the country was also expected to have a significant impact on regional sales, with about 70 percent of the local production being shipped to other countries, he added.

    “With more cash to handle in society, we need to find more effective ways to manage that cash. In Indonesia, I see a high number of notes in circulation, and retailers are looking for better ways to handle the cash and that will increase,” he said.

    The group announced in a press statement dated Jan. 15 that it would optimize its cash management manufacturing footprint by transferring production from its Trier plant in Germany to manufacturing units in Binefar, Spain and in Indonesia, to improve customer service levels and manufacturing efficiency. The Trier plant has turnover of around 9 million.

    Indonesia is the second-largest market for Gunnebo in Asia Pacific, with the largest being India. Indonesia contributes around 20 percent to regional sales.

    Gunnebo Indonesia country manager Hindra C. Kurniawan said his company’s revenue normally grew by around 10 percent annually. He added that his company expected that local cash-handling facilities would be its backbone in five years.

    Among its attempts to boost its cash-handling business in Indonesia, Gunnebo has cooperated with taxi operator Express Transindo Utama (Express Group) since 2014 to provide cash-handling equipment in taxi pools in the greater Jakarta area.

    Besides focusing on the cash-handling business, Gunnebo is also looking to see growth in other businesses, such as fire systems, which will be supported by a number of infrastructure projects in the country.

    Among the company’s key projects is providing a fire system for a major power plant in Cirebon, West Java, and with the government’s massive 35-gigawatt power-generation expansion, De La Noe said the group expected an increase in future demand.

    He also said that his company would work with state-run airport operator Angkasa Pura to provide security services in 32 airports that were being built and expanded across the nation. He said that a discussion with the airport operator was scheduled in March.

    The company is also involved in Jakarta’s Mass Rapid Transport (MRT) project, providing, among other facilities, entrance security and ticketing, with De La Noe stating that the MRT’s security system was among the group’s key businesses.

    According to a previous report, Gunnebo produces 30,000 safety deposit boxes annually; 60,000 fire extinguishers and 5,000 to 10,000 cash-handling machines at its factory in Cibitung, West Java.

    Gunnebo had annual turnover of around 610 million in 2014. It has 32 sales companies worldwide, 11 factories across the globe and around 100 additional networks. Its businesses include cash management, safes and vaults, entrance security, electronic security and specifically in Indonesia, fire security.

  • Sweden’s H&M opens doors in Sydney

    Sweden’s H&M opens doors in Sydney

    An artist’s impression of the H&M store in Pitt Street Mall’s Glasshouse building.

    The opening of Swedish fast fashion giant H&M Australia’s store this weekend in Sydney’s Pitt Street Mall will boost revenue for city retail landlords, agents says.

    It follows Forever 21, Zara and Uniqlo onto the strip. They were the first major international brands to put the area on the global map.

    CBRE said that with openings or leases secured on more than 30 new stores, the pace of first-time international brand entrants and expansion in Australia continued unabated.

    This compares with more than 35 new openings and lease deals for 2014, CBRE’s third-quarter 2015 Retail MarketView​ shows.

    CBRE’s senior research manager, Danny Lee, said Sydney and Melbourne had had the highest activity in 2015, followed by Brisbane and Perth.

    “Foreign brand penetration in Australia is fairly low in comparison to other countries at 28 per cent, which is a key attraction for these offshore retailers,” Mr Lee said.

    “It would take an additional 50 brands to enter the market to reach the same level as some Asian countries, such as Singapore and Hong Kong, with 90 more required to reach the UK’s level of 57 per cent.”

    CBRE’s head of retail tenant representation Australia, Tim Starling, said the low penetration rate in Australia served to minimise competition between foreign brands.

    “Other key attractions for foreign retailers include the fact that Australia is one of the highest-consuming developed nations, with consumption per capita growing at twice the rate of the US between 2008 and 2014,” Mr Starling said.

    CBRE’s head of retail brokerage leasing Australia, Leif Olson, said the impact on the market would also mean that super prime rents would grow by a forecast 4 per cent per annum over the next three years