In this edition of Weekly Focus APAC: Security Fear Drives APAC Retailers Away From Digital; Singapore Online Firms Find Globalisation Tougher Now; Alibaba Puts Genie in BMW Partnership; and Citi Partners with MoneyBack to Offer Retail Conversion Programme in HK. Security Fear Drives APAC Retailers Away From Digital Three out of five retail businesses in Asia-Pacific say concerns about cybersecurity have hindered the progress of their digital transformation initiatives. Their worries might be founded, as a cyberattack could cost an average of USD$18.7m [...]

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In this edition of Weekly Focus APAC: JD.com Sets Up Shop at Airport & Railway Station; Taobao Finds Gold in China Pet Retail Market; and Grab Ordered to Pay for Impact on Vietnam Competitor. JD.com Sets Up Shop at Airport & Railway Station The Chinese e-commerce giant has opened two stores at an airport and railway station in a bid to target travellers and showcase its latest retail technology. Its new pop-up store at the departure lounge of Beijing Capital International Airport’s Terminal [...]

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In this edition of Weekly Focus APAC: Alibaba Inks Cross-Border Deal with Russian Carrier; Singtel Digital Wallet Now on Apple Pay; 7-in-10 Singapore Travellers Clueless About Overseas Transaction Fees; and JD.com Unveils £791.16m Share Repurchase Scheme. Alibaba Inks Cross-Border Deal with Russian Carrier Volga-Dnepr Group has inked a deal with Alibaba Group’s logistics arm Cainiao Smart Logistics Network as part of efforts to strengthen its cross-border shipping capabilities and support increasing demand for faster delivery services. Under the agreement, the Russian air-freight [...]

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In this edition of Weekly Focus APAC: Singapore Pilots Locker Service to Support E-Commerce Growth; Starbucks Brews Up Virtual Store with Alibaba; JD.com & Intel Launch IoT Lab for Smart Retail; and Lazada Replaces CEO After 9 Months. Singapore Pilots Locker Service to Support E-Commerce Growth Singapore has launched a pilot for a last-mile delivery service that aims to offer parcel collection points in public spaces across the city-state. Called ‘Locker Alliance’, the service was introduced to support the growth of e-commerce [...]

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Alibaba Group has chalked up ¥213.5bn (£23.81bn) of gross merchandise volume (GMV) on its annual 11 November Singles Day Shopping Festival, crossing one billion in delivery orders for the first time this year. Also coined ‘11.11’, the event marked its 10th iteration this year, having started out in 2009 as an initiative to increase awareness of online shopping amongst Chinese consumers. Back then, 27 merchants participated in the shopping festivities. This year, more than 180,000 brands were on board, up from [...]

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In this edition of Weekly Focus APAC: Tencent Joins JV to Drive Grocery Retail Business in Chinese City; SEA Centennial Online Shoppers Will Abandon Cart if Preferred Payment Option Unavailable; JD.com Unveils Blockchain Research Lab with Two Partners; and Grab Partners Mastercard for Prepaid Cards. Tencent Joins JV to Drive Grocery Retail Business in Chinese City Tencent has banded with two retail groups, A.S. Watson Group and Yonghui, to form a joint venture aimed at creating “the largest grocery retail business” [...]

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This week, Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com has officially launched an e-commerce site in Thailand alongside local retail group, Central Group. The new addition is part of JD.com’s efforts to expand its presence in Southeast Asia, where it currently operates an e-commerce site in Indonesia and has invested in Vietnamese business-to-consumer e-commerce operator, Tiki. The Thai platform, called ‘JD Central’, had been running in beta since 18 June, offering products across various categories, including electronics, fashion, home appliances, books, processed foods, and cosmetics, [...]

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This week, Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com has unveiled plans to expand its network of fresh food stores, 7Fresh, across China as well as made its foray into the Korean market with a new office set up in Seoul. JD.com said it inked agreements with 16 real estate companies to facilitate the expansion of its supermarket chain, which was launched earlier this year, into Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Chengdu. The partners included China Poly Group, Vanke, and Yuexiu Property. Fresh produce accounts for [...]

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This week, Alibaba Group has unveiled a one-year leadership succession plan as its executive chairman, Jack Ma, prepares to leave the company he co-founded and hand over the reins to current CEO Daniel Zhang. Ma, whose face and name have become synonymous with the e-commerce giant, will remain in his role until 10 September next year to ensure a smooth transition to Zhang, according to Alibaba. The announcement, which was released on 10 September when Ma celebrated his 54th birthday, also revealed [...]

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Lazada is banking on data to help retailers offer better a shopping experience on its e-commerce platforms and, hence, drive sales of their products. In this aspect, the Southeast Asian online marketplace already has been tapping the industry knowhow and technologies of its majority shareholder, Alibaba. Such sharing has included the Chinese e-commerce giant’s search algorithm and deep-learning technologies, Jing Yin, Lazada’s co-president of commercial, said in an interview. The executive himself had spent five years based out of Alibaba’s Hangzhou [...]

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