The Knowledge to Decide

Singapore’s online retail market grew from SGD717 million in 2010 to about SGD1.08 billion in 2014, and is projected to reach SGD2.06 billion by 2019. Will traditional retailers change their business strategies in response? Japnit Singh, Senior Director of Spire Research and Consulting, Singapore and India, shared his insights on Channel News Asia – Today Online. As online retail continues to record increasing sales in Singapore, traditional retailers are struggling to keep up with the fierce competition. As the retail sector is a major component of Singapore’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), this results in money and tax revenue flowing out of the Republic, since e-commerce is dominated by overseas merchants. Many Singaporeans now prefer online shopping. Singh highlighted that out of the estimated SGD4.5 billion generated in the e-commerce space, 55% involves cross-border transactions. The obvious benefits include Goods and Services Tax (GST) savings as well as lower prices, b

Shopping carnivals initiated by Chinese e-tailers are generating massive sales. China’s famous Cyber Monday (11 November) registered record sales of USD10 billion within 24 hours in 2014. Has China entered the age of digital payments? Spire Research and Consulting shared its insights, published on the US Consumer Electronics Association’s blog. Chinese e-commerce giants including Alibaba Group and JD.com offer huge discounts during such e-commerce shopping carnivals to propagate digital payment technology, to the massive acclaim of Chinese consumers. As China’s e-commerce market expands, third-party payment platforms lead the way. This space is dominated by Alipay (Alibaba), UnionPay, 99Bill and Tenpay (Tencent). The potential is evident from Alipay’s hike in transaction value to USD9 billion in 2014 in comparison to USD8 million in 2009. At the same time, payments are not only limited to the e-commerce realm but include mobile payments as well. These include E-wallet, re

The retail and food & beverage (F&B) sectors contributed MYR 434 billion to Malaysia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2013. In a bid to facilitate the contribution of franchising to retail growth, the Franchise International Malaysia 2014 Conference gathered industry professionals to share insights and explore opportunities within the local retail market. Jeffrey Bahar, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Spire Research and Consulting, was amongst the guest speakers at the Franchise International Malaysia 2014 Conference held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In his presentation, Bahar emphasized the steady rise of Malaysia’s retail market. Malaysia had seen impressive economic growth compared to its Asian neighbours; registering 6.2% real GDP growth in Q1 2014, while Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia reported -0.6%, 4.9%, 5.1% and 5.6% GDP growth respectively. The retail sector had been a key contributor to this growth. The average Malaysian consumer still pr

Identifying VIPs with strong purchasing power is crucial to retail success. More often than not, retail staff fail to do this in time. Facial recognition technology can help prevent this. But does it put our privacy at risk? With high-spending customers making out-sized contributions to retail profitability, it is increasingly crucial for retailers to provide personalized customer service the minute a VIP customer sets foot in the store. For instance, Katie Holmes reportedly spent USD100,000 on a fashion makeover and USD14,200 on lingerie alone in 2012! This is where identification technology can play a role. NEC, a Japan-based ICT vendor, has developed an identification application based on a facial recognition system – comparing the individual’s facial features against its database, and sending prompts when a match is identified. The initial purpose of the application was to help identify terrorists and criminals , but it was subsequently adapted to the retail setting.