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Tag: Taiwan

  • Burger King AsiaPac to invade Taiwan market

    Burger King AsiaPac to invade Taiwan market

    Burger King AsiaPac has signed a master franchise agreement with Nexus Point Management to further develop the fast-food brand in Taiwan.

    Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.

    Burger King president Jose Cil says Taiwan is one of the largest quick-service restaurant markets in Asia Pacific.

    Nexus Point managing partner Kuo Chuan Kung says it will accelerate the expansion of Burger King restaurants in the market and make further investments in technology and infrastructure.

    The burger chain also has outlets in China, India, South Korea and Vietnam. Founded in 1954, i has more than 16,000 locations in more than 100 countries. It is owned by Restaurant Brands International.

    Nexus Point is an Asian private equity fund with a focus on greater China.

  • Line Friends to open Pop-Up stores in Seoul City

    Line Friends to open Pop-Up stores in Seoul City

    A Line Friends pop-up will open at luxury speciality store BoonTheShop in Seoul on Saturday.

    Running until January 14, the Korean character brand’s outlet will introduce its latest merchandise, BT21. The range includes dolls, cushions, fashion items, limited-edition postcards, posters and bag charms – all based on a set of characters created by K-pop boyband BTS and the Line Friends team.

    LINE FRIENDS

    The same line will also start selling at Line Friends’ New York flagship on the same day via a “BT21 Zone”, and at other stores in Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan and Thailand, as well as online early next year.

    BT21 was initially launched as stickers on Line App with more than 17 million downloads and 200 million Twitter exposures. The first Line Friends’ collaboration with artists, the BT21 range joins signature characters such as Brown, Choco and Cony.

    LINE FRIENDS Unveils BT21 Merchandise at Its Flagship Store in New York (PRNewsfoto/LINE FRIENDS)

    Line Friends has 91 stores in 11 international markets.

  • German burger chain Hans Im Gluck opens in Singapore

    German burger chain Hans Im Gluck opens in Singapore

    Following a holiday in Singapore last year, a restaurateur couple has returned to open a casual gourmet burger restaurant, Hans Im Gluck, in Orchard Road.

    The brand’s 50th outlet and first outpost in Asia, it specialises in vegan, vegetarian, beef and chicken burgers served alongside salads, tea infusions and cocktails.

     

     

    Hans Im Gluck was launched seven years ago by Gunilla Hirschberger, a vegan, who set herself the goal of shaking up Germany’s meat-focused dining scene. The 53-year-old Munich-based Swede saw a gap in the market for vegan-friendly offerings at burger restaurants, and with her German husband Thomas Hirschberger opened the first Hans Im Gluck in 2010, named after a German fairytale by the Brothers Grimm.

    They now run 49 outlets in Germany and Austria, with more coming up in Italy and Switzerland.

    Meanwhile, the Singapore restaurant is in a purpose-built outlet between International Building and the Royal Thai Embassy. Next year, the couple will open two more outlets – at Boat Quay and at Republic Plaza, Raffles Place.

    For 15 years, the Hirschbergers ran a Californian-Mexican restaurant chain with 40 outlets across Germany, which they have since sold. When they visited Singapore they say they felt an instant connection to the city.

    “Singapore has a good spirit and is full of different kinds of cultures. People here are open-minded and happy to see new things,” says Gunilla. “The city is innovative and has a good flow.”

    Their Singapore store features imported German-made oak furniture and 180 birch logs, installed throughout the restaurant to resemble a German forest. The menu, which looks like a children’s storybook, features 30 burgers.

    It has its own sauces including vegan mayonnaise and orange mustard, as well as multigrain and sourdough buns made exclusively for the chain and sent frozen from Germany.

    At 4000sqft (370sqm) and seating 180 diners, the restaurant is small compared with the German outlets, of which 23 are family-owned. Those restaurants are usually about 10,000sqft with about 400 seats, excluding the terrace.

    The Singapore restaurants are wholly owned by the Hirschbergers, and the chain is looking to expand into other parts of Asia, including Hong Kong and Taipei.

  • Alipay Launches “Double 12” Global Shopping Festival in Hong Kong

    Alipay Launches “Double 12” Global Shopping Festival in Hong Kong

    Alipay, the world’s largest online, mobile payment and lifestyle platform operated by Ant Financial Services Group, today launched this year’s “Double 12” Global Shopping Festival in 15 countries spanning across four continents. In addition, Ant Financial’s strategic partners in Hong Kong, India, Thailand and the Philippines will introduce campaigns for their local e-wallet users for the first time. These partners include Paytm in India, TrueMoney in Thailand, and GCash in the Philippines. Together with CK Hutchison Holdings (“CK Hutchison), AlipayHK was launched in Hong Kong earlier this year to further develop local service offerings in the city.

    In short, we call it ‘glocalization.’” Douglas Feagin, President of International Business, Ant Financial Services Group said at the launch ceremony. “This concept is about developing Alipay globally while also developing localized service offerings.”

    “Working with our global merchants network, we also continue to focus on enhancing the Alipay mobile payment experience for Mainland Chinese tourists wherever they travel,” he added. “In particular, some of our most attractive Double 12 promotions are in the Greater Bay Area, where millions of Chinese travellers regularly visit.”

    As part of this year’s Double 12 Shopping Festival, almost 10,000 merchants in Hong Kong and Macau will offer exclusive discounts throughout December to Alipay users from Mainland China. This year, a key feature of this year’s Double 12 offering is focused on Hong Kong delicacies to attract Mainland China users. In Hong Kong’s Mongkok district, a promotion of “Hong Kong snacks for 1 RMB” can be enjoyed by Alipay users. In the Guangdong province, Alipay users will receive a cashback for every payment made in over 2 million stores.

    Venetia Lee, General Manager of Alipay Hong Kong, Taiwan & Macau said, “Our aim is to provide a seamless payment and travel experience to millions of Alipay users who constantly travel to the Greater Bay Area. We will plan to launch more integrated campaigns to further enhance our user experience and bring more value to our merchant network in the region.”

    Jennifer Tan, CEO designate of the joint venture between CK Hutchison and Ant Financial that offers AlipayHK separately commented on plans for Hong Kong. “Building on Alipay’s success in mainland China, we are rolling out a creative, localized payment experience for our Hong Kong users. Participating in this year’s Double 12 Festival is a first step towards that, and we are very excited to be partnering with so many local merchants to bring this festival to life by providing exclusive offerings to AlipayHK users.”

    CK Hutchison and Ant Financial first announced the strategic partnership in September 2017. The joint venture remains subject to regulatory approval, and is expected to complete in the first quarter of 2018.

    AlipayHK has partnered with over 8,000 brick-and-mortar stores to offer exclusive gifts, discounts and rewards throughout December. In addition, vendors in the Po Tat Market will offer “1 Dollar Groceries” flash sale on December 12.

    Alipay is also working with partners across Southeast Asia to launch localized versions of Double 12 shopping festival. In Thailand for example, more than 10,000 merchants will be participating in the 1212 D-day Deals for TrueMoney users while 3,000 merchants will offer exclusive discounts on 1212 GCash Day in the Philippines.

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  • Carrefour Taiwan adds four stores in one week

    Carrefour Taiwan adds four stores in one week

    Carrefour Taiwan has opened four more stores, three in Taipei and one in Tainan.

    The French hypermarket chain introduced the stores all in a space of a week, and all will be open 24/7.
    First up was Tainan Yu Nong at 650sqm, followed by Luzhou Guanghua (515sqm), Taipei Jinan (670sq) and Shi Lin Zhong Cheng.

    These stores follow the Carrefour formula of offering fresh and grocery items as well as basic bazaar, textile and small-appliance items. Shoppers are offered free Wi-Fi access, dining, coffee and ice cream.
    Carrefour has 64 hypermarket and 45 supermarket in Taiwan.

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  • Shopee giant leaps on its second year

    Shopee giant leaps on its second year

    Fast-growing e-commerce platform Shopee has released impressive statistics in marking just its second birthday.

    Combined annualised GMV from Taiwan and the six Southeast Asian markets where it operates has reached US$5 billion. It has more than 180 million active listings by more than 4 millions sellers, including 5000 leading brands and distributors. Its app has been downloaded more than 80 million time.

    In Singapore alone, where it has its own mall portal, the app has had more than 1 million downloads and features more than 70,000 sellers and brands.

    “Shopee has undergone tremendous transformation since we first launched, and while we are proud of all that we have achieved, this is only the beginning,” said Zhou Junjie, chief commercial officer of Shopee.

    “Shopee has always been committed to listening to the needs and preferences of our users, and has worked to create a platform that is tailored to exactly that. Whether it is providing a fuss-free and convenient shopping experience for buyers, or offering a reliable and secure platform for brands and budding entrepreneurs to expand their online presence, Shopee strives to continue improving the lives of the region’s consumers and businesses with technology,” said Zhou.

    “This year has been a great one for Shopee and we would like to thank our customers, sellers, and partners for their continuous support. Moving forward, we will continue to focus on improving our platform and diversifying our product assortment. We remain committed to helping brands and local entrepreneurs grow and continuously strive to push the boundaries of e-commerce to become the leading online shopping destination of choice in the region.”

    As part of its birthday celebration, Shopee Singapore will be holding a 10-day birthday sale until December 13, featuring promotions across over 10,000 items.

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  • Oriental Watch Holdings sales back up

    Oriental Watch Holdings sales back up

    Easing rents, the closure of unprofitable stores and a trimmed-down inventory all helped Oriental Watch Holdings record a 10-fold increase in profit in its latest quarter.

    In the six months to September 30, Oriental Watch increased its post-tax profit from HK$4.12 million last year to $45.93 million, on sales down marginally from $1.545 billion to 1.508 billion. Same-store sales rose 14 per cent year on year.

    At the end of the period the luxury watch retailer operated 63 retail and wholesale points (including associate retail stores) in greater China: 47 in Mainland China, 12 in Hong Kong, three in Taiwan and one in Macau.

    Chairman Yeung Ming Biu said the return of mainland tourists and improving business confidence.

    “Most importantly, the stabilising sales performance along with rent adjustment has also become one of the key drivers for the group this year, which provided greater improvement in profitability with less rent burden suffered compared to the past few years.”

    During the quarter, the company’s rent costs fell by 26 per cent to $84 million, now accounting for 36 per cent of overall operating expenses, compared with 45 per cent in the same period last year.

    “The group has successfully negotiated better rental rates and more flexible leasing terms for the lease renewal,” he said. “In addition, regular internal assessment on the performance of all retail stores and closedown of high-rent yet non-performing stores are also the group’s strategy for better resources allocation.

    “The group will continue to closely monitor the store performance and its efficiency and hope the above measures together with the rent adjustments can improve profitability of each store in the forthcoming years.”

    Inventory management

    Yeung Ming Biu said careful monitoring of inventory of high-ticket items and reordering only when predetermined stock levels were reached had seen inventory cut by 10 per cent over six months.

    Meanwhile, Swiss watch exports by value increased by 4.1 per cent into Hong Kong and by 17.2 per cent into Mainland China between January and September, indicating that demand for luxury watches has rebounded.

    “Looking ahead, the group remains cautiously optimistic on the business outlook of the luxury goods market and expects retail sales in Hong Kong will hold stable amidst the sustained recovery in visitor arrivals and the resilience of local consumption demand,” he said.

    Same-store sales growth in China rose 14 per cent increase during the quarter.

    “On the other hand, the retail market in Hong Kong has begun to turn up after having bottomed out and these have provided good preconditions for the group’s development in Hong Kong,” he concluded.

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  • L’Occitane growth and China’s contribution

    L’Occitane growth and China’s contribution

    China was among the fastest-growing markets for cosmetics and wellbeing products group L’Occitane International for the six months to September 30.

    Along with Japan and Hong Kong, it was among the key contributing countries to overall growth.

    China’s net sales rose 18.2 per cent year on year to €60 million (US$70 million), the group’s interim results show. At constant exchange rates, the growth was 22.7 per cent, driven mainly by same-store sales growth of 15.8 per cent. As well as the recovery of China’s retail market, the company says a marketing campaign featuring Chinese artist Lu Han continued to draw traffic both online and offline.

    T-mall sales continued to grow at triple digits and were ahead of plan, and B2B also delivered an excellent performance thanks to growing orders from independent hotels and the Shangri-La chain, says L’Occitane.

    In Hong Kong, net sales edged up 0.4 per cent to €51.1 million (2.6 per cent at constant exchange rates), growth being driven mainly by the travel retail channel. As well as duty free, this included airlines in China and Japan.

    The retail market was still sluggish, and two underperforming stores were closed. There were also some temporary closures for renovations.

    Hit by typhoons

    Typhoons forced store closures in Japan, where net sales fell 4.8 per cent (1.8 per cent at constant exchange rates) to €99.4 million. Same-store sales growth was 1.4 per cent. However, e-commerce showed low double-digit growth. Melvita remained the growth engine in Japan with new stores. At the end of September, Japan had 30 Melvita outlets.

    Same-store sales deteriorated by 7.9 per cent from the first quarter for Taiwan, where net sales for the six months dropped 3.6 per cent (71 per cent at constant exchange rates) to €15.3 million.

    “Retail sales were hindered by the less-generous summer promotion offered by department stores, a couple of mediocre launches and the timing difference in anniversary sales in department stores,” says L’Occitane.

    Nonetheless, sales of skincare products stayed strong, in particular the Immortelle and Reine Blanche ranges.

    Overall, despite a challenging retail backdrop, group net sales were €548.2 million, down 0.6 per cent (up 1.1 per cent at constant exchange rates), with like-for-like sales growth 2.3 per cent.

    Gross profit margin reached 82.8 per cent, 0.6 points higher, while operating margin fell by one point, mainly because of currency exchange headwinds. Profit for the period ended at €10.7 million.

    During the year the company disposed of Le Couvent des Minimes, and excluding this and a one-off deal for L’Occitane au Brésil in September last year, the group’s sales grew by 2.3 per cent at constant rates and 0.5 per cent at reported rates.

    Retail locations increased from 3037 at the end of March to 3104 as at September 30, while the group increased its own retail stores from 1514 to 1519.

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  • Alibaba to buy major stake in Taiwan’s RT-mart business in China

    Alibaba to buy major stake in Taiwan’s RT-mart business in China

    Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., China’s biggest e-commerce company, agreed to acquire a stake in a hypermarket chain partly owned by the Taiwan-based company Ruentex Group in its effort to push into offline retail.

    Alibaba said on Monday that it would invest US$2.87 billion for a 36.16 percent stake in China’s top hypermarket operator, the Hong Kong-based Sun Art Retail Group, which operates more than 440 RT-Mart and Auchan stores in China, reported CNA.

    Under the agreement between the three companies, the deal would give French retailer Groupe Auchan, China’s Alibaba Group and Taiwanese conglomerate Ruentex 36.18 percent, 36.16 percent and 4.67 percent stakes respectively in Sun Art.

    According to Financial Times, the investment is the latest in a series of deals by Alibaba designed to blur the lines between online shopping and physical stores and explore new opportunities in China’s food retail sector.

    Ruentex, meanwhile, said the deal will help the three partners to create a strategic alliance in the retail market in China.

    Ruentex Vice Chairman Peter Huang said in a statement: “Ruentex is delighted to see the win-win collaboration between Sun Art and Alibaba with high synergies in online and offline that will meet the needs of consumers for a better life with better products and services and higher efficiency.”

    Ruentex Group is a Taiwan-based company principally engaged in the manufacture of textile products, the wholesales of commodities and investment businesses.

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  • Dairy Farm sales stagnate

    Dairy Farm sales stagnate

    Dairy Farm sales were described as “flat” in the third quarter to September 30.

    The Hong Kong-headquartered company said improved performances in health and beauty, Ikea, restaurants and Yonghui were offset by lower sales in the food and grocery division.

    “The lower food division sales, together with new store pre-opening costs in home furnishings, (Ikea) led to underlying profits being marginally below the same period in the prior year,” the company said in a statement issued in London, where it has a secondary listing. “Similar trading conditions are expected to continue for the remainder of the year.”

    Dairy Farm said the weakness seen in food and grocery sales was principally driven by difficult trading for the hypermarket and supermarket operations in Southeast Asia, where it operates Giant hypermarkets and Cold Storage supermarkets. It says reviews of “a number of the businesses” are being undertaken.

    The results from greater China (including its Hong Kong Wellcome supermarkets) showed improvement over the same period last year. Convenience store operations (including 7-Eleven stores in Hong Kong and Singapore) produced improved sales and profitability.

    Yonghui reported a strong 20 per cent  growth in revenue and 131 per cent increase in profit in the quarter.

    Improved sales in the health and beauty division (Manning’s, Guardian and Rose Pharmacy) were driven principally by a strong performance in Hong Kong and Macau. Home Furnishings (Dairy Farm has the Ikea franchises in Hong Kong and Taiwan) traded well, although profitability was reduced due to pre-opening expenses for the new store in Hong Kong.

    Maxim’s (which also includes Starbucks operations in Hong Kong, Vietnam and Cambodia) had a seasonally strong quarter in both sales and profit, benefiting from record mooncake sales during the Mid-Autumn Festival period. In September, Maxim’s acquired the existing business and exclusive rights to operate and develop Starbucks franchise stores in Singapore.

    In August, the group completed the acquisition of the remaining 34 per cent interest in Rustan’s in the Philippines from its joint venture partner.

  • More investment for Lanvin

    More investment for Lanvin

    With slumping sales since a design shake-up two years ago, Lanvin fashion house is expecting a cash injection before the end of the year.

    France’s oldest fashion house says this is coming from Taiwan businesswoman Shaw-Lanh Wang, who is the majority shareholder.

    Auditors at the privately owned firm have filed a warning with a commercial court in Paris over its financial troubles, Reuters has reported. Sources say recapitalisation is needed to buy breathing space and to save it struggling to pay salaries in January.

    Lanvin says it is working on a new strategy and that Wang, a Chinese-born media magnate who owns 75 per cent of the firm, will put in more money. No further details have been released by the company, which does not publish earnings.

    The funds will be used to back future projects to help reposition Lanvin, says the firm.

    Dating back to 1889, the company was named after couturier Jeanne Lanvin and had a revival a few years ago under designer Alber Elbaz. Sales fell following his surprise sacking in 2015, being forecast to deepen this year by another 30 per cent after a 23 per cent drop last year.

    Wang’s close adviser Nicolas Druz, who has just been appointed deputy-MD, says Lanvin is looking at branching into new avenues such as “art of living” products. The label may also look at hotel projects using the Lanvin name.

    “It’s not just about new capital – we’re thinking about other revenue streams too,” Druz says.

    Lanvin is on its second designer since Elbaz, appointing former Balmain menswear designer Olivier Lapidus to the position in July.

  • Giordano post a “quite okay” result

    Giordano post a “quite okay” result

    Third-quarter sales for apparel retailer Giordano International have been edging ahead in most markets, an exception being South Korea, a 48.5 per cent JV with an independent management team.

    While e-commerce sales jumped by 17.6 per cent in Mainland China, overall sales growth reached only 2.6 per cent, with a decrease of 2.5 per cent in directly run stores. The company closed 32 non-performing outlets.

    Comparative own-store sales grew by 8.4 per cent, with an 0.5-point decline in gross margin because of a change in channel mix as the contribution from the lower-margin e-business.

    In Hong Kong and Macau, sales for the three months to the end of September grew by 3.2 per cent.

    Gross margin fell 1.6 points as a result of sales promotions to counter an unusually hot and rainy summer and late autumn. These promotions pushed up sales volume by 13.8 per cent while reducing the average selling price by 9.2 per cent.

    Comparative-store gross profit rebounded in Taiwan, where sales and gross margin rose by 2.9 per cent and 1.1 points respectively. Giordano says the improvements are sustainable for the rest of the year. Gross margin also benefited from lower product costs on a strong local currency.

    In the rest of Asia Pacific sales increased by 5.4 per cent at constant exchange rates. The acquisition of Vietnam business in July contributed to 5.1 per cent of sales in the region.

    Unusually strong sales in Thailand last year resulted in an unfavorable year-on-year comparison for the quarter.

    Ramadan effect

    Indonesia sales rose by 3.5 per cent as a result of shop expansion. While comp-store sales fell by 4.1 per cent and gross profit eased 1.8 per cent as a result of the different timing of Ramadan, comp-store sales from June to September this year increased by 9.7 per cent against the same period last year.

    Early Ramadan also affected sales in Malaysia, which grew by 4.3 per cent. Comp-store sales rose by 2.6 per cent while gross profit eased 1.4 per cent. Comp-store sales for June to September strengthened 20.4 per cent compared with the same four-month period last year.

    Both comp-store sales and gross profit dropped in Thailand, by 4.9 and 6.3 per cent respectively, against an unusually high base in the same quarter last year.

    Sales fell 3.6 per cent in South Korea while gross margin improved by 0.7 points. The decline was mainly because of summer clearance sales and unusually hot weather in September hitting fall/winter merchandise sales.

    Overall group sales rose by 3.6 per cent to HK$1.2 billion (US$153.8 million). Group gross profit increased by 3 per cent on improved sales, partially offset by a 0.3-point decline in gross margin.

    Giordano attributes this partly to the change in channel mix and selective promotional activities. Group comparable-store sales and comparable-store gross profit for the quarter grew by 2.3 and 1.5 per cent respectively.

    At the end of September, the group’s distribution network comprised 2370 stores in more than 30 countries, about half of these being standalone stores. Most stores were in Greater China, South Korea and Southeast Asia.

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  • Tesla cuts Model 3 part orders to Taiwan supplier Hota

    Tesla cuts Model 3 part orders to Taiwan supplier Hota

    Luxury electric carmaker Tesla plans to slash by 40 percent its orders for parts for the new Model 3 mass-market sedan from Taiwanese auto component maker Hota Industrial Mfg from December, according to a media report.

    Shares of the parts maker dropped nearly 9 percent after the Economic Daily News reported, citing Hota Chairman Shen Kuo-jung, that Tesla had told the firm orders would be cut to 3,000 sets per week from 5,000 sets starting December, due to a “bottleneck” in the production of Model 3.

    Tesla may delay scheduled weekly shipments of 10,000 parts in March by a few weeks until May or June, the report added.

    Hota, which makes gears and axles for vehicles, and Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    Earlier this month, Tesla said production bottlenecks had left the company behind its planned ramp-up for the new Model 3 sedan. It began production of the model in July.

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  • FamilyMart Taiwan deploys e-wallet

    FamilyMart Taiwan deploys e-wallet

    FamilyMart Taiwan has launched an e-wallet known as “My FamiPay”.

    The application, launched in collaboration with Cathay United Bank (CUB) and Soft Space, integrates debit/prepaid/credit cards and other various stored value cards to facilitate in-store purchases and utility bill payments.

    Loyalty points can be seamlessly collected and used to redeem or make payments at the counter. Furthermore, the application accepts transactions from over 21 non-cash payment providers via barcode scanning.

    The application will also support pre- order purchases offered exclusively to FamilyMart customers.

    According to eMarketer, Taiwan is the most mobile country in the world with 73.4% of Taiwan’s population using smartphones.

    By using Soft Space’s e-wallet, CUB aims to offer tailored financial and digital services, while FamilyMart Taiwan’s members can benefit from CUB’s extensive client list.

    Soft Space also plans to offer analysis services for FamilyMart Taiwan and CUB to embark on big data analytics.

    Further plans include making the “MyFamiPay” app available to a third party payment processor that allows business owners to accept money online seamlessly.

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  • Matsumoto Kiyoshi finds partner for Taiwan

    Matsumoto Kiyoshi finds partner for Taiwan

    Japanese drug and cosmetics store chain company Matsumoto Kiyoshi has taken a step toward entering the Taiwan market.

    President Kiyoo Matsumoto has signed a memorandum of understanding with Tai Lung Capital chairman Huang Chiao-chang for the two companies to co-operate on the venture.

    Matsumoto Kiyoshi opened its first overseas outlet in Thailand in 2015 and now had 12 stores there.

    Matsumoto says Taiwan will become the company’s second overseas investment destination.

    “Japan is a favourite destination for Taiwanese travellers, and many of them like shopping in the drug and cosmetics store chains there,” he says.

    Huang says Tai Lung has devoted itself for a long time to enhancing economic and cultural exchanges between the two countries. It already distributes Japanese ice cream brand Meiji in Taiwan and jointly runs a miscellaneous goods chain, Hands Tailung.

    Established in 1932, Matsumoto Kiyoshi manages more than 1500 stores around Japan.