Singapore

Lift12, a Singapore-based fashion company, aspires to be as successful as Zara. Just over a year in operations, Lift12 has already established a foothold in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, and it plans to expand into the Australian market.

Home-Fix, Singapore’s leading home improvement and lifestyle store, has introduced a new concept store, Elements by Home-Fixat Marina Square. Beyond the hardware, the new store offers ‘software’ that transforms a house into a home, including consulting services and professional solutions.

Years of working on her retail entrepreneurial business, Poetree Creations, has given Jessie Wong a hard-nosed understanding of what modern consumers appreciate in a product.

Clarks, one of the world’s oldest footwear brand and known for its ‘Everyday Footwear’, is set on a new marketing and distribution strategy to expand its presence in Asia Pacific, particularly China. Retail Asia finds out more from Doug Searle, vice-president of Operational Development for Clarks Asia Pacific. 

As the consumer, retail and development boom goes on across most of Asia, it is an exciting time for the shopping centre development industry throughout Asia, said Michael P. Kercheval, President & CEO of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC).

A survey has identified a strong link between employee engagement and controlling retail losses. But improving employee engagement is only one of many recommended best practices to help retailers sell more and lose less.

Top-tier shopping centres of the future must offer more than diamonds and designer fashions to attract the region’s sophisticated demographic of luxury shoppers; they need to wow their target market with futuristic technology and bespoke experiences. Adam Cook, who leads Retail Project and Development Services for real estate firm JLL, shares more.

NTUC FairPrice has introduced Click&Collect, an extension of FairPrice’s online store, to provide greater convenience to customers.

The convergence of physical and virtual environments allows customers to do more with less, resulting in the new 4Ps in retail customer behaviours:

For years now, the world has witnessed the breathtaking growth of e-commerce – particularly its B2C segment. Globally, B2C sales broke the US$1 trillion mark in 2012 and have not stopped expanding at an awesome pace since. Analysts believe that B2C e-commerce would grow by a massive 20% this year to hit US$1.5 trillion worldwide. The Asia-Pacific region has been the powerhouse of this phenomenal growth. Last year, the year-end holiday shopping season saw numerous record highs in B2C sales. This year’s holiday season would see online shopping continuing to ace retail sales across the region – clearly spelling serious implications for Asian retailers...

Thomson Reuters/INSEAD Survey finds steep decline in business sentiment among Asia’s companies concerned with the uncertain global economy and rising costs. 

A new class of malls transforms shopping in Asia

Zebra Technologies Corporation has announced the ZT400 series printers. The mid-range printers are created in response to changing end-user needs, as more enterprises shift towards adopting a distributed printing model with business operations located around the globe.

Singapore is among the top 20 cities in the world where international retailers have the largest presence and is the most targeted market in Asia for European retailers.  And it continues to be one of the preferred first ports-of-call for retailers new to Asia.

Wincor Nixdorf has unveiled TP.net 5.5 which enables retail businesses to easily and cost-effectively implement omnichannel and mobile strategies to drive sales and operation efficiency and enhance the customer experience. Sharon Tian reports.

Taubman Asia, a subsidiary of US mall operator Taubman Centers, has committed US$600 million to build new shopping malls in Asia, with 40% of the investment budget earmarked for China projects.