You don’t need to be a devoted games industry observer to have noticed something of the recent rise of eSports. Organised competitive gaming has been around along time, of course. eSports’ nascent form was forged in the earliest arcade gaming tournaments in the 1970s, where players competed to win a patch declaring their prowess; presumably to be sewn onto an oversized distressed denim jacket. By the 1990s the notion of a ‘pro-gamer’ making money from prize winnings was established, but even then [...]

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The latest ad expenditure report by the Advertising Association and WARC, published on 8 November, shows record investment, with overall ad spend up 7.2% year-on-year, during the first half of 2018, hitting a total of £11.4bn. ExchangeWire asks industry thought leaders to share their views on the report, and the state of the UK digital advertising market. The overall market growth was driven by online advertising, with full-year projection figures being upgraded to 13.3% growth, resulting in a prospective £13bn being [...]

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In this edition of Weekly Focus APAC: Singapore Shoppers Want Unified Retail Experiences; Indonesia Sets Up Shop on Tmall; APAC Travellers Using Corporate Cards for Personal Purchases; and Alibaba Annual Active Consumers Hit 601m. Singapore Shoppers Want Unified Retail Experiences Singapore shoppers look for speed, ease, and delivery of their choice and will reward retailers that provide these services with their loyalty. For instance, 28% of consumers in the country said the ability to pay in-store for items that were not in stock, [...]

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In this weekly segment, ExchangeWire sums up key industry updates on ad tech from around the EMEA region – and in this edition: Global Makes Strategic Acquisition, Bringing DAX to Canada; CMOs: Poor Data Management Costing Millions, Research by SBDS; Consumer Interest in Subscription-Based Apps Is a Boon for Marketers as Cost to Acquire Customers Drops by 50%; UK Brands Set to Unleash the Power of AI to Deliver More Personalised Digital Experiences by 2020. Global Makes Strategic Acquisition, Bringing DAX to Canada Global, the [...]

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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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In this edition of Weekly Focus APAC: JD.com Launches Smart Logistics Lab & Parcel Delivery Service; Lazada Singapore Customers Can Collect Purchases at 7-Eleven; and Nets Lets Businesses Collect Invoice Payment Electronically. JD.com Launches Smart Logistics Lab The Chinese e-commerce giant has launched a research facility to develop new technologies in urban logistics that can support smart cities in China. Located in Xiongan, the new Urban Smart Logistics Institute will focus on planning for urban logistics hubs, design for urban logistics systems, as [...]

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M&C Saatchi Mobile recently announced a change in direction, and a rebrand to M&C Saatchi Performance, reflecting the dramatic shift towards hyperconnectivity. ExchangeWire speaks with James Shepherd, managing partner, Growth, M&C Saatchi Performance, about the launch.  ExchangeWire: Why is M&C Saatchi Mobile repositioning to M&C Saatchi Performance? James Shepherd: Back in 2006, we had a firm belief that mobile was going to radically change marketing – and it did. In 2018, mobile alone doesn’t accurately reflect what we do. Today’s consumer is [...]

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This week, Grab and Fave have formed a new partnership that aims to grow the companies’ online platforms and services in Singapore and Malaysia. Under the alliance, daily deals site Fave would integrate GrabPay and GrabFood on its platform, enabling its merchants to access Grab’s e-payment and food delivery services. Grab also would integrate the Fave mobile deals on its app and enable its GrabPay users to purchase Fave deals. This would be facilitated through GrabPlatform, which is a suite of APIs [...]

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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, Singapore electronics retailer Audio House has rolled out a new payment system that lets customers scan QR codes to complete their purchases; and they can do so using their own banking apps. Audio House said it had adopted NETS QR payment platform, enabling shoppers to select the payment mode at the cashier and scan the QR code displayed on the terminal to initiate the payment process. Developed by payments vendor Network for Electronic Transfers of Singapore (NETS), the QR platform [...]

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