Singapore

With 800,000sqf of retail space and boasting more than 170 luxury and premium brands spanning across bespoke menswear, women’s collections, luxury children’s labels, as well as luxury watch and jewellery brands, there is much variety on offer for the luxury shopper, under one roof.

Rising operating costs, lower sales and an increasingly competitive environment continued to plague retailers in Singapore and Malaysia in the last quarter, eroding the performance at many retail establishments in the two countries.

Helene Raudaschl, managing director of Indoguna, is very much into food. And so is her staff. For 22 years, they have grown through perseverance in pursuing their mission to source the best quality food products for their customers that include top hotels and restaurants, gourmet shops, supermarkets and airline caterers.

Raymond Hom, Wincor Nixdorf’s regional software sales director, APAC, shares with Vanessa Ching on omni-channel trends and the ‘store of the future’.

The crème de la crème of the franchising and licensing industry in Singapore were recognised and awarded at the annual regional Franchising and Licensing Association (FLA) Awards 2015 (Singapore) held at the Marina Mandarin hotel in October. The awards saw a 20% increase in entries with an upward trend in participants hailing from unconventional sectors, such as property, retail and health and fitness, even as veteran industries, such as F&B and education, remained strong in the franchising and licensing playing field.

The recently-concluded Oishii Japan 2015 attracted its biggest number of participants to date, and 76% of those who attended have said they were keen to take part in next year’s event. Some 87% of participants said they would recommend Oishii Japan to their industry counterparts.

Retail Asia speaks with Dione Song, managing director of Zalora Singapore, on its strategy to convince more consumers to buy online.

Ikea, the world’s biggest furniture retailer, has brought innovation to its products and store concept, among other industry milestones.

Asking ‘why not’ has been a career mantra of  Terry O’Connor, CEO of Courts Asia. Vanessa Ching catches up with O’Connor on what keeps him driven, his leadership perspectives and the values he has instilled in Courts Asia’s company culture.

Visual merchandisers, the ‘creatives’ in the retail industry have their challenges, when the CFOs are constantly looking at budget cuts. What role does the visual merchandiser play in retail and the bottom line, and what do retailers have to consider? Vanessa Ching speaks to some creatives in the industry at the POPAI Asia Summit.

When it comes to considering retail as a career, the ‘retail reality’ is that retail is generally not the first choice for students when choosing their course of study or career path. Vanessa Ching looks into this challenge and how retailers can seek to dispel this negative perception.

Bob Neville, global retail creative director of New Balance, shares with Vanessa Ching his thoughts on creativity, the importance of storytelling and creative talent.

There is no minimum wage rate in some Asian cities. Hence, retailers there will set their own wage rate based on what their business models can bear and what they think is fair.

Fast Retailing, operator of Uniqlo, the Japanese-based casual wear chain, has teamed up with Accenture to use cutting-edge technology to hone its production capability and to provide more personalised services to shoppers.