Daily deals app Fave is amassing a wealth of data and aiming to tap these customer insights, as well as industry partnerships such as Grab and Alipay, to boost returns for its merchants. Such efforts would include further enhancements to a dashboard, Fave Biz, designed specifically for merchants to access data intelligence and improve their service offerings, Ng Aik-Phong, managing director of Fave Singapore, said in an interview with RetailTechNews. The company’s roots began in 2015 as fitness platform KFit, before [...]

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In this edition of Weekly Focus APAC: JD.com Seeds Food Production Business With Hydroponic Plant; Alibaba Signs Up Belgium in E-trade Pact; Grab Brings Mobile Wallet to Philippines; and Frasers Property Builds Partnership with Honestbee & EZ-Link. JD.com Seeds Food Production Business With Hydroponic Plant The online retailer has begun its foray into the food production business with the launch of a hydroponic facility, alongside partner Mitsubishi Chemical. Located in the southeast Beijing district of Tongzhou, the factory sits on 11,040 square [...]

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In this edition of Weekly Focus APAC: SEA E-Commerce Market to Hit £17.92bn; Mobile to Outpace Desktop Online Sales; Carousell Deploys Visa Sensory Payment Technology; and Global Trade Wars Threat to APAC Economic Growth. SEA E-Commerce Market to hit £17.92bn The Southeast Asian e-commerce economy is projected to generate more than USD$23bn (£17.92bn) in gross merchandise value (GMV) by end-2018, growing more than fourfold since 2015. Back then, the industry was worth just USD$5.5bn (£4.28bn), according to the latest annual e-Conomy SEA [...]

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In this edition of Weekly Focus APAC: JD.com Flies with Tianjin Air into Cargo Air Freight; Razer Pay to Launch in Singapore with Nets Partnership; Shopee Basks in 11.11 Shopping Glow; Visa Brings ‘Everywhere’ to Singapore in Search of Commerce Innovation; and Flipkart CEO Resigns Amidst Misconduct Allegation. JD.com Flies with Tianjin Air into Cargo Air Freight Chinese e-commerce player JD.com has signed a partnership agreement with HNA Group’s Tianjin Air Cargo to move goods on a dedicated cargo aircraft, marking [...]

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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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Singapore shoppers want the flexibility to choose between online and offline platforms when they buy goods and services, but most retailers are still not providing these options and, as such, are missing out on potential revenue. Because they can buy most things online, consumers in Singapore are not looking specifically to purchase items when they go out shopping. Instead, they want to be entertained, engaged, and experience new things, according to Roelant Prins, chief commercial officer at Adyen. The payments [...]

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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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This week, online marketplace Honestbee has opened up a dining-cum-grocery store in Singapore that is closely integrated with modern technologies to offer “a multi-sensory” shopping experience. Spanning 60,000 square feet, Habitat by Honestbee is touted as a “full supermarket, speciality fresh grocer, online fulfilment centre, and experiential dining destination” all rolled into one location. It marks the first time the Singapore-founded company has ventured into the brick-and-mortar retail space, three years after it first began offering online food delivery services. It [...]

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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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