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A NEW study has found that 39% of young people in Asia feel more connected to another country’s popular culture than that of their own country.

The innovative pouch sorter SSI Carrier, which is ideal for e-commerce and omni-channel distribution, has been named one of the “Best of 2018” recently.The patented and highly-dynamic SSI Carrier pouch sorter system from SSI Schaefer has received an accolade from Huber Verlag für Neue Medien (Huber New Media Publishing) — one of the largest providers of direct information services and press services in the major technology sectors.

More online merchants are choosing to utilise drop-shipping — a retail fulfilment method where an e-store purchases merchandise from a third party and ships directly to the customer — according to online payments company PayPal gets more insights from Rahul Shinghal, managing director, PayPal South-east Asia and head of Merchant Support, PayPal APAC, on why some Web retailers have transitioned into this business model as their primary method of order fulfilment. 

In the era of the digital revolution where bricks-and-mortar shopping is affected by e-commerce and new purchase habits from millennials and Generation X. Bruno Zysman, founder and CEO, GoToMalls.com, shares with  on how the platform is bringing shoppers back to malls and stores.The retail industry is constantly reinventing itself to stay competitive to drive customers to their stores. One way to achieve this is to focus on providing customer experience and timely information through a convenient channel. Developed by Singapore-based tech firm Dominopos and founded in July 2016, online-to-offline (O2O) platform GoToMalls aims to do that by connecting online shoppers with offline malls’ stores.

It is hard to separate shopping from tourism when it is time for holidays, which explains why travel retail is booming at a steady rate in Asia-Pacific goes on a journey of finding out the state of the sector and how close collaboration between retailers and brands can boost sales year on year.

 International payments company Airwallex recently announced the successful completion of its Series B fundraising. The company has now secured US$80 million from venture capital investment, taking their total fundraising to US$102 million.

 To combat fraud, Mastercard recently announced its partnership with the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) of the Singapore Police Force to implement the Mastercard Forensic Reader (MFR) -- cited to be the world’s first device to help law enforcement agencies detect payment card fraud with greater speed, accuracy and efficiency.

 German luxury brand MCM has opened its first MCM HAUS in South-east Asia. Located at the Paragon along Singapore's shopping belt Orchard Road, the 2,160 sqft store offers a full range of products including leather goods, ready-to-wear apparel as well as shoes and accessories.

 The Singapore series of the UN Environment’s #BeatPlasticPollution campaign organised by real estate development company City Developments Limited (CDL) and event management company Global Initiatives, Singapore, joins 11 other Asia-Pacific cities that have created recycled plastic art installations for the UN Environment’s campaign.

 Singapore shopping mall The Cathay has commissioned London-based artist Whatshisname and local creative studio Mighty Jaxx to create four super-sized balloon dog sculptures, in an effort to creatively integrate contemporary art into the shopping landmark.

 Singapore-based software product company Capillary Technologies has been appointed as a strategic partner of Bata. The partnership will help the shoe brand strengthen their omni-channel customer relationship management (CRM) strategies in Philippines and Vietnam in the second half of 2018.

 Singapore-headquartered software as a service (SaaS) technology company Anchanto has raised US$4 million in the first round of its on-going Series C investment, led by MDI Ventures, Telkom Indonesia’s corporate venture capital arm.

 Owned by real estate investment trust company CapitaLand Mall Trust and managed by real estate company CapitaLand, Funan unveiled its digital blueprint encompassing customer analytics comprising transaction and demographics data, robotic automation that includes Singapore’s first deployment of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and robotic arm in a retail setting, and a 24-hour click-and-collect drive-through supplemented by warehousing facilities within Funan.

 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.

 Vehicle telematics company Skyfy Technology announced it has expanded its offering to include a last mile logistics management system built by Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) based on Artificial Intelligence (AI).