The Knowledge to Decide

Spire Research and Consulting group’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Bahar was honoured to be a guest speaker at the International Franchise Conference 2018. The conference was held on 21 April 2018 in Kuala Lumpur, organized by the Malaysian Franchise Association. Jeffrey Bahar shared insights on the growth of the regional retail industry, focusing on key trends and the attractiveness of various emerging markets across Asia. With global retail sales set to rise from USD25 trillion in 2018 to USD28 trillion in 2020, the Asia Pacific is expected to record USD10 trillion in retail sales by the end of 2018. Bahar highlighted that Asian players were also among the top 250 global retailers in 2016, with China’s e-commerce player JD.com and Japan’s retailer Seven & I Holdings at the 28th and 20th rankings respectively. With technology development, urbanization and the rise in working women, customers are demanding more innovative services, and retailers are responding. For e

Right now, five out of the world’s top 10 travel destinations are cities in the Asia Pacific. But it is widely acknowledged that the region punches well below its weight in tourism, which is why there is plenty of room for growth. How will Asia’s tourism industry evolve? Travel sector looks upbeat for Asia-Pacific region? According to a study conducted in 2013, the year was good for international tourism and strongest for destinations in the Asia Pacific region – Asia saw six per cent growth. Moreover, the number of international tourists increased by 14 million to reach 248 million. South-East Asia (as a sub-region of the Asia-Pacific) registered a 10 per cent increase. China emerged with a record number of international tourist arrivals in 2013, at 55.69 million. Asia’s tourism industry employs 65 million people and supports one in 12 jobs – exceeding industries such as financial services. Needless to say, this growth also led to the generation of 1 million new jobs a