China

 Starbucks Coffee Company and Alibaba Group Holding recently announced a deep, strategic New Retail partnership that will enable a seamless Starbucks Experience. Collaborating across key businesses within the Alibaba ecosystem, including Ele.me, Hema, Tmall, Taobao and Alipay, Starbucks announced plans to pilot delivery services beginning September 2018, establish “Starbucks Delivery Kitchens” for delivery order fulfilment and integrate multiple platforms to co-create a virtual Starbucks store – a more personalised online Starbucks Experience for Chinese customers.

 Who knew lipstick could be a tool for creating art? Shopping mall Harbour City recently invited American lipstick artist Alexis Fraser, better known as Lipstick Lex, to hold her first solo exhibition in Hong Kong where she planted over ten thousand kisses to make a new work of art titled Victoria Harbour Sunset.

Effectively integrating colour into product design and brand strategy is essential for building a strong brand and product identity.Colour is the most important design element to attract consumer attention and create a mood, influencing 50%-85% of consumer product purchasing decisions. This is according to a presentation by colour systems provider Pantone at a recent seminar organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC).

 Alibaba Group has announced the launch of ‘Malaysia Week’, a special online promotion initiative that seeks to attract Chinese consumers to buy all-things Malaysian from the 6-12 July this year.

 

Starbucks Corporation recently presented the company’s key drivers that will fuel China’s market growth over the next five years at its first-ever China Investor Conference.

Singapore-based real estate company CapitaLand has written a new world record as it embarks on the complex crowning process for Raffles City Chongqing, the 1.12 million-sqm urban district located on Chongqing’s famed Chaotianmen riverfront.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and Alibaba Business School recently enrolled the first class of 37 Asian entrepreneurs for the eFounders Initiative at an opening ceremony held on the Alibaba campus in Hangzhou, China.

Alipay, a digital payment platform operated by Ant Financial Services Group and commerce-enabling technology provider First Data, recently announced an expanded partnership that adds 35,000 merchants to the growing roster of businesses accepting Alipay in store.

Schenker Jinbei Logistics (SJL), the joint venture between DB Schenker and Jinbei Automotive, officially celebrated the opening of its multi-user facility in Shenyang, China recently.

Product lifecycle management (PLM) software provider Centric Software recently announced the release of a success story video about its customer, clothing and accessories company Bestseller.

Tencent Holdings, JD.com and Vipshop Holdings recently jointly announced that investment holding conglomerate Tencent and Chinese e-commerce company JD.com have entered into definitive agreements with Vipshop, an online discount retailer for brands in China, such that Tencent and JD.com will invest approximately US$863 million in cash in Vipshop at the closing of the transaction.

Starbucks Reserve Roastery in Shanghai opened recently -- culminating in Starbucks most ambitious project ever. The world’s second Starbucks Roastery is created three years after the inaugural Seattle Roastery and it a multi-sensory coffee experience in an interactive coffee and retail destination, according to the company.

Singapore-based software solutions provider Y3 Technologies has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Aerospace Digitnexus Information Technology (Shenzhen) Limited, a subsidiary of China Aerospace International Holdings, and Singapore cloud-tagging solutions provider veriTAG to advance the developments in the Belt and Road cross border e-commerce by establishing an ASEAN-China supply chain system to fulfil cross-border e-commerce deliveries.

Suning, China's second largest non-state-owned enterprise by revenue, recently published a White Paper uncovering the future of Smart Retail.

As retailers strive to stay relevant and serve the needs of evolving customer demands, the recent Asia-Pacific Retailers Convention and Exhibition (APRCE) provided a platform to examine creative strategies to give customers an engaging shopping experience, as Muneerah Bee discovers.