Singapore

Lazada, RedMart, Netflix, Taobao Collection, Uber and UberEATS recently teamed up to offer a range of lifestyle benefits to consumers in Singapore. The new lifestyle membership programme, LiveUp, brings exclusive member-only rewards, promotions and extra savings for Singapore’s digital consumers.

The Breach Level Index by Gemalto reveals a drop in breach incidents and number of records breached within Asia Pacific’s retail and e-commerce industries.

Tiong Bahru may be best known as one of the heritage enclaves of Singapore as well as for the many “hipster” cafés in the neighbourhood but Tiong Bahru Plaza, after undergoing a two-year Asset Enhancing Initiative (AEI) programme, has been revived as a focus point of the area — complete with a slew of new commercial tenants and features.

It is easy to define omni-channel business success by desired outcomes: Happy, loyal customers resulting in increased sales and profits. According to supply chain solutions provider Dematic, what is considerably more difficult is describing how to get there and making it happen. Dematic explains more.

While many are wondering about the state of retail and where it is heading, the main question retailers should be asking is: What are the key conditions and possibilities to factor into a retail business today? Lester J Wan speaks to Richard Paine, managing director, Paya Lebar Quarter by Lendlease, to glean his thoughts from the point of view of a mall developer and to unravel timely retail-store revelations.

Despite uncertain outlook in the retail industry, there are some retailers who are bucking the trend and growing their business and increasing their number of stores. Gerry Lee, deputy CEO (Channels), NTUC FairPrice, shares with Lester J Wan some of NTUC FairPrice’s secrets and his views on how technology can benefit grocery and F&B retail.

Transforming the value chain... 

GLP announced in April it has signed 2.8 million square feet (sqf) of new leases globally over the past three months.

Philips Lighting has launched a chatbot on their Facebook page in Singapore, allowing users to buy the brand’s suite of consumer products conversationally through Facebook’s messenger platform.

The on-going rise of online shopping will further build momentum for an omni-channel retail format, according to the 2017 Retail Vision Study by Zebra Technologies.

PayPal and Visa have extended their U.S. partnership in Asia Pacific that will see them work together to accelerate the adoption of secure, reliable and convenient digital and mobile payments for consumers and merchants in the region.

Two furniture retailers — Singapore-based e-tailer Castlery and Japan’s largest home furnishing chain, Nitori Holdings Group — have initiated partnerships with a technology provider and logistics solutions provider, respectively, in order to meet their own fulfilment needs and to create potential to grow their customers.

Six months on from Diebold acquiring Wincor Nixdorf, Lester J Wan talks to Andrew Phay, regional vice-president, Retail Segment – Asia-Pacific, Diebold Nixdorf, on the developments that have been taking place within the company so far, as well as Diebold Nixdorf’s newest product and solution offerings.

A KPMG survey finds that consumers are becoming more concerned about companies collecting their data, and their fears are not confined to just identity theft and fraud.

Since the start of 2017, Amazon.com, Inc said it has continued to expand its US operations, especially in terms of fulfilment. So far, it has already announced that it will be opening several new fulfilment centres in Jacksonville, Maryland, Colorado, California and Texas, and an air cargo hub in Kentucky.

With the growing expectations of consumers, it is now more critical than ever for retailers to be aware of the opportunities that arise and to fully utilise them to their advantage.