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Tag: Technology

  • How technology will play a big role in retail in 2019

    How technology will play a big role in retail in 2019

    Technology has penetrated in every sphere of our lives. We live, love, eat and sleep on #technology now. Each year, we see technology moving deeper and deeper into our existence. It’s good and bad – both. Good because it helps us in doing more in less time and efforts. Bad because interweaving of tech in our lives has left us dependent, vulnerable and very anxious. Let’s see what 2019 has in store for us – specifically 5 technology leaps to look out for in retail.

    Omnichannelisation – The technology approach to seamlessly tie all sales channels in a see-anywhere-buy-anywhere way in picking up steam with mainstream brands and retailers. Omni channel technology is also being used as a strategic advantage by multichannel stores and small brands/retailers to scale their operations while centralizing the inventory. The main advantage is higher brand loyalty due to “all touch point” approach – and much lower active inventory requirements. In 2019, we expect omni channel to penetrate deeper into all spheres of retail through simplification and customization of omni-tech.

    Cashier-Less Shopping – Yes, it all started with #Amazon GO, a proprietary technology that eliminates the need of checkout registers and cashiers. Customers can activate a geo-sensed resident app (Amazon GO app), walk in, pick up what they need and walk out – and all transaction happens in the backdrop through something what Amazon calls “Just Walk Out” (JWO) Technology. Ease of use, time savings and low cost operations are at the core of this technology. In 2019, you’ll see Amazon and a few other technology providers opening more of these JWO stores worldwide.

    Virtual Retail Experience – According to #emarketer report, two thirds of US customers were interested in using Virtual retail experience – where you could get near-real brand and store experiences using head mounted or holographic hardware. 2019 could see a surge in virtual-reality based retail experiences. The upside? No (or very low) rentals and really easy reconfiguration of virtual stores.

    Hyper-Local Retail – Hyperlocal retail refers to the technology where consumers can find and buy products near to them using an app that runs on geolocation. A catalog of products from local stores is uploaded on the app and the customers can discover and buy products from nearby stores. It’s a great cusp between purely online and purely offline retail experience. This is very useful for daily needs products, appliances and electronics. It’s awesome for the retailer since it allows for expansion of product-discovery while minimizing store footfall. Overall, a win-win for retailer and consumer. In 2019, watch out for companies like #nearbuy and #zopper making it big in India.

    AI-based Consumer Insight – Artificial intelligence and machine learning is growing leaps and bounds in almost every segment. Retail is no exception. In 2019, AI and ML is expected to grow manifold in terms of demand forecasting, inventory planning, customer service bots, natural language based customer engagement and customer’s next purchase (and time) prediction. Though it may sound a bit nerdy, but the more data flows through the AP engines, the more powerful they get at predicting consumer behavior; and provide more powerful strategic advantages to the brands and store. Watch out! If you have that weird feeling that your phone purchase was somehow orchestrated – but cannot put a finger on anything concrete, you may have been Artificially Driven into that purchase!

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  • Artificial intelligence is $300 billion cost-saving opportunity

    Artificial intelligence is $300 billion cost-saving opportunity

    The use of artificial intelligence in the retail sector is a $300 billion cost-saving opportunity for retailers which are able to scale and expand the technology, though just 1 per cent of retailers have achieved the necessary level of development, according to research from Capgemini Research Institute. The study looked at 400 global retailers, and how they are implementing the burgeoning technology at different stages of maturity, and found that over a quarter of retailers are deploying AI in their businesses – a seven-fold increase from 2016.

    “For global retailers, it appears reality has kicked in regarding AI, both in terms of what the technology can achieve and what they need to do to get there,” Capgemini vice president global consumer products and retail sector Kees Jacobs said.

    “Of course, deploying and scaling will be the next big objective, but retailers should be wary not to chase ROI figures without also considering the customer experience.”

    According to the research, retailers deploying AI systems were eight times more likely to be working on high-complexity projects rather than smaller projects which are easier to scale, and generally lack a focus on customer usability.

    Only 10 per cent of such retailers noted customer experience as a driving factor of these developments, and only 7 per cent noted customer pain points as a priority. Meanwhile, cost (62 per cent) and ROI (59 per cent) are driving most investment into the space.

    Despite this, 98 per cent of retailers surveyed expect customer complaints to decrease, while 99 expect to see an increase in sales, as a result of investment into AI – far ahead of the more contrasted expectations noted in 2017.

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  • Retailers, mall operators embrace high technology

    Retailers, mall operators embrace high technology

    Malaysian retailers and mall operators are jumping on the technology bandwagon, adopting technologies such as shopper tracking systems and facial recognition cameras, using data analytics to capture important shopper information. Sunway Velocity Mall general manager centre management Danny Lee said the mall completed the installation of its shopper tracking system in early December that identifies a unique ID of each mobile phone carried by shoppers, and is testing the system now.

    “It enables us to know how many times a person comes to the mall and where they go. At the same time it tells us the number of shoppers at the mall and is able to give us an accurate count of how many people visit the mall every week or month. This is phase one.

    “This will then later link into us getting data of who they are so that we can use that as an intelligence system to know our customers and to push promotion to them. For example, we’d be able to detect automatically if it’s your birthday today when you visit the mall, and if there’s a special promotion in certain outlets during your birthday, you’d get certain discounts. We’ll be working on that in phase two,” Lee said recently.

    “How the system works is that it will detect shoppers who carry smartphones. The shoppers’ travel history, traffic pattern will be recorded. Insights of shopper traffic flow in the mall, visit frequency (new traffic or returning traffic) and dwell time can be viewed on the online portal. There is also provision for integration with mobile application (to identify shopper profile to offer more personalised engagement), as well as additional reports based on user requirement.”

    Adding that it has a formula to include children and discount double counting, Lee said Sunway Pyramid had rolled out the shopper tracking system first, followed by Sunway Velocity.

    “It lets us know whether our campaign for a period of time is effective or not compared to other campaigns. In this mall (Sunway Velocity), we have 55-56 sensors throughout the mall. So it covers different zones and it can track where a person goes to, from one zone to another, and capture how many people are there. At what time, how many people are there in this atrium… we’re able to generate reports on that,” explained Lee.

    He revealed that the set-up costs for this system range from RM120,000 to RM150,000, with recurring costs of RM10,000 every month per mall.

    “Some malls have (this system) but not many have this in the Klang Valley, compared with malls in Singapore that have a lot more.”

    Meanwhile, MRCA Academy, the training arm of the Malaysia Retail Chain Association (MRCA), is promoting awareness on technology adoption, especially in the areas of facial recognition and data analytics, to help MRCA members be more efficient in running their retail businesses.

    MRCA Academy deputy chancellor Stan Singh-Jit, who is also National ICT Association of Malaysia councillor, said technology will be a catalyst that will help retailers grow their business and that it is a tool that retailers should take advantage of.

    Stan is the founder and principal consultant of Ironhorse Asia Sdn Bhd, which provides solutions for in-store point-of-sale requirement, head office merchandising needs, warehousing, supply chain management, web-store, internet business, social media consultation, maximising return on investment via customer analytics, harnessing on merchandising analytics, among others.

    He said while the recording of images is illegal due to the Personal Data Protection Act, there is another facial recognition technology that captures the identity of shoppers in a different way.

    “It tails the person… it tells you whether the shopper is a male or a female and gives you the person’s age group. If I have data today that tells me the people that come to my store, their age and gender groups, I’m able to do more of what I’m selling. This is an important factor that is missing in the retail scene.

    “Facial recognition can tell whether the person is a staff or supplier. If a customer walks past your store but doesn’t walk in, it can also tell you how many people didn’t come into your store. It’s a way to find out why people don’t come in. And if my store is here but you spend more time looking at the merchandise there, that tells me a story,” explained Stan.

    He said this method differs from a footfall counter machine, which counts every walk-in, walk-out and hence the latter may not produce accurate numbers.

    He disclosed that since this facial recognition technology is new, there are five proofs of concept for such technology in the Klang Valley at the moment, of which one is for a department store. He said that a camera may cost some RM130. A department store may have three to four floors and many cameras on each floor.

    “All good things about buying begins at the store and there are many touchpoints in the store. As a customer walks into the store, how do you capture those points… how do you prioritise the value…. we’re helping MRCA members to understand the technology and how they can use it,” he said.

  • Hyundai reveals a glimpse of the future

    Hyundai reveals a glimpse of the future

    Hyundai Motor Group offered a glimpse of its new concept autonomous car Friday in a short video. The concept car is electric. In the video, the electric car finds its way to a charging station inside a nearby parking lot on its own after the driver gets off at its destination. The station offers wireless charging. When charging is finished, the car then parks itself in an empty lot to make room for other vehicles to charge. When the driver calls the car back using their smartphone, the car drives itself to the requested meeting point.

    The Korean automaker described the feature as an “automated valet parking system.” The feature could take the burden off drivers struggling to park and also save time as they won’t need to find charging stations or empty lots.

    For this system to work, parking lots, cars and drivers need to continuously share information through a connected network, Hyundai said. For instance, parking lots need to send the location of charging stations and empty parking lots to cars, and wireless chargers need to notify drivers of cars’ battery status via text message or other means.

    “In the upcoming era where autonomous driving cars become prevalent, there will be growing demand for various driving control features using self-driving technology,” a spokesperson from Hyundai Motor Group said. “We will focus on developing services that enable drivers to make convenient and safe use of self-driving cars.”

    The company said it expects the wireless charging system and automated valet parking system to be applied to its autonomous driving cars scheduled for launch in 2025.

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  • LG U+ says it can download things 10 times faster on 5G

    LG U+ says it can download things 10 times faster on 5G

    LG U+ said Wednesday that it has demonstrated 10 times faster download times compared to 4G LTE on its 5G network. While 4G LTE offers 133.43 megabits per second download speeds on average, according to data from the Ministry of Science and ICT, LG U+ said it realized 1.33 gigabits per second on its 5G network.

    LG U+ claims it is nearly the fastest speed consumers can practically experience on 5G. Next year, when 5G is commercialized for smartphones, the smallest carrier in the country projects data download speeds will increase to as fast as 2 gigabits per second when the 5G network will be coupled with the 4G LTE network.

    LG U+ believes 5G is its chance to move up the mobile carrier ranking, currently dominated by SK Telecom and KT.

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  • Samsung to sell latest generation chip to IBM

    Samsung to sell latest generation chip to IBM

    Samsung Electronics will supply next-generation microprocessor chips to IBM, which will use the chips for artificial intelligence (AI) computing and cloud system applications, both companies said Friday. The product Samsung will manufacture for IBM is a seven-nanometer processor made by extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography technology. The seven-nanometers in the name refers to the width of the circuit through which electricity flows on the semiconductor. The dominant product until recently has been rated 10-nanometer.

    Narrower circuits ensure faster data processing speeds, less electricity consumption and higher area efficiency, with more transistors printed on a given amount of silicon, the base material for semiconductors.

    IBM said in a press release that the strategic partnership will position the two companies to lead “the new era of high-performance computing specifically designed for AI.”

    “IBM selected Samsung to build our next generation of microprocessors because they share our level of commitment to the performance, reliability, security and innovation that will position our clients for continued success on the next generation of IBM hardware,” said John Acocella, vice president of Enterprise Systems and Technology Development for IBM Systems.

    The U.S. company and Samsung have been research and development partners for 15 years.

    For Samsung, the deal is a significant milestone for its foundry business, which is to manufacture semiconductors for external clients that do not have chip fabrication facilities.

    The company is already a leader in DRAM and NAND memory chips, but it is now focusing on the fast-growing foundry market. IHS Markit estimates that the subsector will grow an average of 7.8 percent a year until 2021-which is faster than 5.3 percent expected for DRAMs and 6.1 percent for NANDs.

    Samsung is currently ranked global No. 4 among foundries, with a market share of less than 10 percent. As it works to climbing up the rankings, a client like IBM helps establish momentum for future deals.

    In February, Samsung signed a foundry deal with Qualcomm to supply seven-nanometer processors for 5G mobile devices. The company hopes the seven-nanometer processor chip will help as it works to expand its market share. It is currently one of two foundries known to manufacture the product. The other is Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the No. 1 semiconductor foundry with more than 50 percent market share.

    Samsung’s EUV lithography technology was developed earlier this year to mass produce seven-nanometer semiconductors, as the conventional way of printing circuits on 10-nano chips were not sophisticated enough to print thinner circuits.

    A new facility specializing in EUV lithography is under construction at Hwaseong, Gyeonggi, and is due for completion by the second half of next year. Samsung also revealed in May that it plans for the mass production of three-nanometer processors by 2020.

  • Galaxy A9 has a camera ready for every occasion

    Galaxy A9 has a camera ready for every occasion

    Samsung Electronics started domestic sales of its mid-range Galaxy A9 smartphone today – the company’s first model to be equipped with four rear cameras. The Galaxy A9 was first revealed in October in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and has already started sales in China, India and several countries across Southeast Asia and Europe. In Korea, the device will cost 599,500 won ($530), nearly half the price of Samsung’s most recent premium phone release, the Galaxy Note9.

    Overseas, the A9 comes with either six or eight gigabytes of RAM, but in Korea only the six-gigabyte option will be available. The device comes with 128 gigabytes of data storage, which is expandable to 512 gigabytes with a microSD card. There are three color options – black, blue and baby pink.

    Its most notable feature is its five cameras – one on the front and four on the back – which are the reason it is known as a “quad camera” smartphone. The front camera can take photos up to 24 megapixels and comes with a function to blur out the background when taking a selfie.

    Until a few years ago, Samsung was one of the top manufacturers of smartphones along with Apple. Recently, its global performance has dwindled as demand for up-scale premium phones have retreated. Another big threat is the advance of Chinese manufacturers like Huawei that upped their game in technology and released a wide range of mid-priced smartphones. Budget phones are especially important in that they cater to the massive Chinese and Indian markets, explaining why global smartphone makers are getting so competitive in the price sector. The main rear camera can also take photos up to 24 megapixels with a very low aperture of F1.7, which means the camera will perform better in darker environments. The other three cameras have slightly different functions.

    A 10-megapixel telephoto camera offers a 2X optical zoom lens, while an eight-megapixel ultra-wide camera can capture a up to 120 degrees. The final camera, a five-megapixel depth camera, is used to blur out the background of an image.

    Despite being a budget model, the A9 is equipped with smart camera functions normally found in top-of-the-range models. The “intelligent camera” function can optimize an image’s brightness and contrast after automatically recognizing the object or scene. It also alerts the user if the image is shaky or somebody blinks.

    Samsung said in a statement that it anticipates the five cameras to make the A9 “an optimal model for generations of ‘visual communication’ who mainly communicate with photos and videos.”

    The inclusion of quad cameras on a budget model reflects Samsung’s shifting smartphone strategy that Koh Dong-jin, CEO and head of the IT giant’s mobile business, stressed earlier this year – to apply state-of-the-art functions to mid-priced models.

    “In the past, I brought the new technology and differentiation to the flagship model and then moved to the mid-end. But I have changed my strategy from this year to bring technology and differentiation points starting from the mid-end,” Koh said to CNBC in an interview in October.

    The A9 isn’t the first affordable Samsung phone with high-end features. On Dec. 10, it unveiled the Galaxy A8s, a smartphone in the mid-price range and the first to have a so-called hole display. Its screen covers the phone’s entire front, except for a small hole in the display’s corner for the front camera. The unpacking event, which was Samsung’s first in China, also sent a signal that Samsung is determined to win back market share in the country.

    “You might think this is an ordinary unpacking event, but it’s more of an occasion to send an ambitious message to you all – Samsung Electronics will embark on a full-fledged competition with Chinese manufacturers,” said Kwon Gye-hyun, the company’s vice president for its China business, during the event.

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  • 5 Tips for Digital Transformation

    5 Tips for Digital Transformation

    Retailers know they need to evolve, even though they cannot do it overnight. But while there’s no silver bullet for transforming culture, collaboration, and workflows inside a large organization, there are steps you can take to make sure your business is receptive to the change it’s about to undergo.

    Understand performance goals

    Before you start, you need to understand the business problem and the role that technology is going to play. Solving complex organizational issues needs the relentless management of changes in behavior, process, and technology all working together to support your performance goals and objectives.

    Collaboration is not a KPI

    Decide how you’re going to measure your KPIs. And remember that collaboration is not a KPI – it’s a means to an end. KPIs could include customer satisfaction, getting products to store faster, selling more products per visit, or retention. You need to get down to that granular detail.

    Shut things off

    If you have an existing tool which people did not like and you invest in something new to overcome those challenges and frustrations, you need to have a path to turning that tool off or at least turning off the elements that are now conflicting. This will impact adoption of new tools and ways of working.

    Educate, educate, educate

    Launching a tool is the easy part, the real work begins when people use it. People need to be educated on what they should be using it for. Show some examples of what ‘good’ looks like, and also what the tool should not be used for. Design an internal marketing campaign and treat it exactly the same as an external campaign. A product-driven approach could help here. Think about how companies try to refresh products in the market over time to improve adoption.

    Put somebody in charge

    For any system, and especially for a collaborative experience, you need someone who can get employees to use the tool in the right way at different times. That might be a community manager who understands the business cycle. Putting up content is the single most important driver of getting people to use the platform and to entice them to contribute their own.

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  • WeWork to hold big pitch contest

    WeWork to hold big pitch contest

    WeWork in Korea will hold the Creator Awards, a regional pitch competition, in partnership with the Seoul city government next February. It is the first time the global office-sharing company is hosting the competition with a city government. Seoul is expected to help in the event’s promotion.

    On Wednesday, WeWork announced the date and location for the Seoul Creator Awards, saying it will be held Feb. 28 at Dongdaemun Design Plaza, eastern Seoul.

    The award categories are performing arts, non-profit and business venture. Both WeWork and non-WeWork members can apply to participate in the competition, with a Jan. 10 deadline for submissions.

    In the performing arts and nonprofit categories, winners will be awarded up to $72,000. The entrepreneur award will top out at $360,000.

    ”We are all looking forward to be blown away by the innovative ideas and projects of enthusiastic creators at the Seoul Creator Awards that will make a real difference in the world,” said Matthew Shampine, general manager of WeWork in Korea.

    WeWork opened seven new locations in Korea this year and now has 11 buildings in the country. As of this month, it is an office provider to 1,500 companies in Korea. WeWork’s local team is growing rapidly, rising from 30 employees at the beginning of the year to around 160 today.

    “In 2019, we will continue to open new locations, such as WeWork Seomyeon [in Busan] and WeWork Hongdae, accelerating our expansion into new areas across Korea,” Shampine added.

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  • Samsung to take eight C-Lab start-ups to CES

    Samsung to take eight C-Lab start-ups to CES

    Samsung Electronics will introduce eight in-house artificial intelligence (AI) start-ups at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2019 to take place next month in Los Angeles, the company said Wednesday. All eight start-ups are under Samsung’s C-Lab, an in-house incubating program that allows employees to embark on a one-year project to realize a business idea. Samsung will organize an independent booth to present their products and services at the four-day exhibition scheduled to take off on Jan. 9.

    All eight of the projects use AI as a core part of their business.

    For example, the mobile app SnailSound uses AI technology to remove background noise and provide clear human voices in a tailored way based on the app’s test results of the user’s hearing abilities.

    Another app called Medeo uses AI to select the best shots in a video while it is being shot.

    Prismit is an AI-based news app that shows news articles of the same topic automatically aligned in the form of a timeline.

    The list also includes Girin Monitor Stand, which helps to correct posture while sitting in front of computer screens, and the Alight desk light, which adjusts light in the best way to enhance one’s concentration.

    The Perfume Blender suggests the best perfume recipe based on a user’s preferences and also comes with a device to make the personalized perfume.

    As well as the eight in-house start-ups that are currently working under Samsung’s C-Lab, eight groups that have already graduated from the scheme will take part in CES 2019 to set up booths of their own.

    Among them, three have earned awards from this year’s CES. Since the program’s launch in 2012, C-Lab has produced 36 spin-offs that now conduct business as start-ups outside of Samsung.

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  • Signify launches Interact IoT platform in India

    Signify launches Interact IoT platform in India

    Signify (formerly known as Philips Lighting), the world leader in lighting, has launched its new Internet of Things (IoT) platform, called Interact in India, which will enable its professional customers to unlock the full potential of connected lighting for the IoT.

    The platform delivers new insights to help customers drive operational efficiencies and take more effective decisions. It also supports the company’s strategy to deliver new data-enabled services as value expands from lighting products and systems to services.

    Signify has already installed 29 million connected light points worldwide and plans for every new LED product it produces to be connectable by 2020. This growing number of connected light points, sensors and devices, as well as systems, can collect large volumes of data for which Interact was designed to handle. The highly secure, scalable cloud-based Interact platform uses sophisticated and modern data management and data processing capabilities, including machine learning, to bring sense to all manner of data – creating data-enabled services for customers that will deliver benefits beyond illumination. It also offers a growing suite of licensed open application program interfaces (APIs) which will foster innovation from third-party developers, development partners and customers, enabling various data enabled services to be developed.

    A typical example of such a service is occupancy data from different buildings, combined and analyzed to help managers to understand and predict how people use office space. Such insights can help deliver savings by optimizing the use of existing office space and support better designed, more efficient buildings.

    In addition, data from authorized third-parties can also be analyzed by Interact. For example, for a municipal authority, news articles and social media posts, reacting to a new lighting installation on a bridge, can be analyzed and data sent to a social impact app dashboard that summarizes the public sentiment.

    Launching the platform in India, Sumit Padmakar Joshi, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Signify’s operations in India said, “First, we led the way in energy efficient LED lighting, then in connecting lighting to deliver operational benefits for our customers. Now that light points are smart enough to collect data on their performance and the environment around them, we are tapping into that intelligence. By analyzing the data from our connected lights, devices and systems, our goal is to create safer cities, energy efficient buildings and industries and smarter retail stores in the country. We are confident that this platform will deliver immense value for our professional lighting customers in India”.

    Interact connected lighting systems

    These connected lighting systems, offering a unified user experience, feature applications that address industry-specific verticals. Available now are:

    – Interact Office – enables you to turn your office into a smart sustainable workspace with software that allows you to increase building efficiency and employee productivity.

    – Interact City – helps improve street lighting, safety, reduce energy consumption, improve efficiency and support your sustainability goals and beautify the urban landscape across roads.

    – Interact Retail – enables customers to group, zone and schedule connected lighting to create stopping power in stores. It also supports in-store location-based marketing services to increase shopper engagement and indoor navigation to improve staff productivity.

    – Interact Landmark – aids in managing and triggering light shows with dynamic architectural lighting to help increase tourism, regenerate downtown areas, and stimulate commerce.

    – Interact Sports – aids in monitoring, managing and coordinating across all lighting infrastructure from a single dashboard from pitch lighting, entertainment light shows, hospitality areas and exterior architectural lighting.

    – Interact Pro – an intuitive cloud-based software for small and medium enterprises that automates lighting and allows management via the Interact Pro dashboard.

    Signify became the new company name of Philips Lighting as of May 16, 2018. The legal name of Signify will be adapted in India in the beginning of 2019.

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  • How Pizza Hut is mixing technology with pizza

    How Pizza Hut is mixing technology with pizza

    Yum! Restaurants-led Pizza Hut is betting big on technology. The brand is investing technology at each every step from taking orders to delivery of the pizza. Elaborating more on the same, Managing Director, Pizza Hut (India Subcontinent), Yum! Restaurants, Unnat Varma said, “We are using technology in sorting out our kitchens. So kitchens are becoming better in terms of layout, efficiency, optimising labour. Apart from this, we are also using technology to schedule riders to make sure that pizzas reach hot and fresh to the consumers.”

    “To ensure a seemless experience to the customers we have again using technology. We have a new online experience for customers, it is one of the best friction-less experience. From getting customer’s location to ordering the pizza, the entire process has been reduced to a four-step journey,” he added.

    The brand is also not shying away from using drones to deliver the pizzas in the near future.

    “We are closely watching the drone delivery space. However, there is no current successful model. There has to be regulation, approval from the Government that drones can fly in the air space and to understand that how does it work for food as food is very atypical, it cannot loose temperature and it has to be accurate, it has to reach in a certain stipulated time and it has be delivered straight. We will host the space, we are very open, we are transforming ourselves digitally and technologically, if this space helps us unlock some future possibilities, we will definitely go ahead with it,” Varma revealed.

    Enhancing Customer Experience

    To add to the overall consumer experience, the brand has been constantly improving its products.

    According to Varma, “These days the customer experience is always around product and product excellence and there we have been making a continuos effort to make our product more delicious, fresh and hot but in addition to that it is about the entire experience – how fast customer can place the order, how fast cusotmer can locate our store, can we give cusotmers a great value deal, can we understand their requirements, can we customise, can we help them earn and let them use some loyalty points in the future.”

    Expansion Plans

    Pizza Hut India plans to open over 200 more outlets in India by 2022 to expand its retail footprint. Currently, it operates 422 stores in the country.

    “‘Pizza Hut is a very democratic brand, it is used by segments of the consumers in the market, so our attempt is to go to as close to consumer as possible, it could be going after the shoppers in the shopping mall or it could be going close to residential areas, or going to captive locations where we have people working, so we are open to all kind of opportunities that exist. We are even open to open our outlets at airports and railway stations too,” asserted Varma.

    The pizza chain runs a franchise model in the country, where investments for opening new outlets mainly comes from franchise partner.

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  • Xiaomi India to foray into appliances, white goods space

    Xiaomi India to foray into appliances, white goods space

    Xiaomi is all set to convert its India arm into an end-to-end consumer durables company. According to a report, Xiaomi officials are currently identifying potential categories including air-conditioners, washing machines, refrigerators, laptops and small appliances like vacuum cleaners and water purifiers for the Indian market. All the products will be smart appliances based on Internet of Things (IoT) or which can connect to the internet and other devices, and operated remotely.

    Xiaomi entered the Indian television market in February this year with products 30-50 percent cheaper than the top three brands — Samsung, LG and Sony. It eventually expanded TV sales to offline stores and started assembling them in India in partnership with contract manufacturer Dixon. It recently announced having shipped more than a million televisions into the Indian market.

    The company will follow the same model for appliances. The products will be priced aggressively in line with its announced strategy of keeping just 5 percent profit margin for itself and start local assembly after gaining some scale to take advantage of Make in India duty benefits, according to the report.

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  • LOL launches digitally customisable fashion platform Cozmic Lab

    LOL launches digitally customisable fashion platform Cozmic Lab

    Malaysian apparel brand LOL has launched an innovation platform called Cozmic Lab. The concept is a collaboration between LOL and Brother, an international printing and imaging technology brand. “Moving beyond the ready-to-wear apparels, Cozmic Lab offers customers an exciting, cost-efficient and environmentally friendly avenue to co-create or customise their own apparel,” said Joey Chong Yan Kit, CEO of Super Gem Resources, the parent of LOL.

    Using digital technology, customers are able to select the apparel’s design, quality, quantity, types and location to collect the final product. And budding entrepreneurs are invited to create their own fashion products using Cozmic Lab.

    “We are bringing a unique blend of fashion and technology to LOL fans,” said Chong.

    “Blending fashion and technology is a global trend and being a fashion-forward brand, LOL believes that Cosmic Lab is a powerful way for us to connect to our customers and engage them through a distinct, innovative and customisable way to shop and experience our brand.

    “Cozmic Lab is also revolutionising the way fashion retail brands do business; we are inviting other entrepreneurs to use the platform to create their very own range of products,” Chong added.

    Exclusive collaborations

    Cozmic Lab has a series of designer and international brand collaborations to enable customers to create apparel unlike anything currently available at LOL. Iconic characters and brands like Doraemon, Peanuts, Sega’s Sonic and Nasa will be among more than 200 visuals customers can choose from – and people can also upload their own creation.

    The Brother digital garment printer takes just one minute to print one item of apparel. Selected footwear and accessories can be custom printed as well.

    Cozmic Lab is available now at the LOL store in IOI City Mall in Putrajaya, and will be opening at LOL stores in Sunway Pyramid, Sunway Velocity, Berjaya Times Square and Paradigm Mall Johor Bahru, this month.

    Fast-growing LOL was founded in November 2015 as a joint venture between Superb Apparel Supply and Parkson Retail Asia. In June this year, the founders acquired Parkson’s 70 per cent stake in the company.

    Currently, LOL has more than 200 employees and 15 stores across Malaysia, including 10 in the Klang Valley, two in Johor Bahru, two in Sarawak and one in Melaka. It plans to open five more next year, most in the Klang Valley.

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  • 7-Eleven tests facial-recognition technology

    7-Eleven tests facial-recognition technology

    7-Eleven Japan has opened an experimental concept store in Tokyo offering payment through facial-recognition technology developed by NEC. The trial is a precursor to a planned rollout of unmanned convenience stores in locations such as office buildings, car parks and factories allowing consumers to purchase essential items where it may not be commercially viable to operate a full-scale staffed store.

    The test store is located inside a building which is home to companies from the NEC group and can be accessed only by employees.

    Facial-recognition technology identifies shoppers when they enter the store and again when they make payment. The cost of purchases is deducted from their salaries.

    Rival retail groups including Aeon and FamilyMart have already adopted self-service payment checkouts and Lawson is trialling a scheme using barcodes scanned by smartphones.