PHILIPPINE RETAILING
THAI RETAILER
CENTRAL PUTS $200
MILLION INTO GRAB
Thailand’s biggest shopping mall
owner, the Central Group, will pour
$200 million into the Singapore
ride-hailing and food delivery firm
Grab, as they both look to reel in
customers now buying everything
from food to holidays online.
The
investment
means
Central,
which is also a
major hotelier and
supermarket chain
whose
business
interests
stretch
into Europe, will
acquire a non-
controlling stake in
Grab’s Thai entity.
Tos Chirathivat, CEO of Central Group, said
the big buy-in will give his company’s
stores and hotels access to customers
wherever they are.
“It (Grab) has built a new platform which
consists of food delivery, payment, and
other services,” he said.
World News
“So we can link with it. They can sell or
buy products at our malls and get them
delivered home.” He did not reveal how
much of Grab’s Thai unit he bought with
the $200 million.
Grab is a market leader in the Southeast
Asian ride app industry, having bought out
US-based Uber’s regional business last year
in return for a stake.
Grab chief executive officer and co-founder
Anthony Tan said the Central deal brings
together Thailand’s
“local
retail
champion” with the
“local
technology
champion,”
and
would cement the
service’s position as
Thailand’s “everyday
app.”
8
Global demand for
halal cosmetics is
surging, and
the
market is expected to
exceed $53.81 billion
by 2025 from an estimated $16.32
billion in 2015, verification, testing
and certification company SGS said.
The Asia-Pacific region dominates the
market, representing roughly three-fourths
of the market’s overall revenue in 2015.
The Middle East and Africa region follows
with 17% of total revenue.
And while Muslims make up an estimated
23% of the world population, it is not only
Muslims who buy halal cosmetics, but an
increasing number of non-Muslims, as well.
Southeast Asia’s ride-hailing market is
expected to reach $20 billion by 2025,
according to research by Google and
Temasek. The report said that with a growing interest
in eco-ethical conscious products affecting
markets all around the world, terms such
as ‘vegan’ and ‘organic’ are increasingly
adding a premium price to a product.
Rappler, 01/31/2019 Business Mirror, 01/19/2019
India
has
recently
updated
its e-commerce policy, where
e-commerce platforms with foreign
investment will not be able to sell
products of companies in which
they own equity, or form exclusive of their sales via any single e-commerce
marketing
arrangements
with marketplace.
sellers to directly, or indirectly
influence the price of their product. This will have an adverse impact on the
The revised e-commerce policy also forbids
companies from selling more than 25%
GLOBAL HALAL
COSMETICS MARKET
TO TOP $54 BILLION
BY 2025
Grab
has
big
ambitions,
aiming
to hook the region’s
consumers on its app and enter joint
ventures with major retail players.
INDIA MODIFIES
E-COMMERCE RULES
This new policy has affected two big ticket
investors such as Amazon and Walmart
that recently infused billions of dollars in
their respective India-based e-commerce
businesses.
1ST QUARTER 2019
sales of global electronic and smartphone
brands. Smartphones and electronic
items make up over 50 percent of total
e-commerce sales in India.
Insights from a recent industry analysis
estimate that the e-commerce restrictions
will reduce online sales by US$46 billion by
2022.
Government authorities claim that the new
curbs will ensure a level playing field and
promote fair competition between different
retail channels. The changes are in response
to complaints made by domestic traders
against e-commerce players who offer deep
discounts to their consumers, using their
affiliated and exclusive agreements with
global brands.
The recent regulatory changes governing
foreign direct investment (FDI) in
e-commerce are not new but tighten the
already existing policy.
The e-commerce rules allows for 100% FDI
only in the marketplace model, wherein
an e-commerce company cannot hold
inventory that it sells. They must only
operate as marketplaces connecting buyers
and merchants.
India Briefing, 01/29/2019
Column
1ST QUARTER 2019
PHILIPPINE RETAILING
Retail secrets found in a fairy tale
Some lessons from Alice in Wonderland … by Lewis Carroll.
MARKET
WATCH
DARREL WISBEY
www.darrellwisbey-retailadviser.com
Darrel Wisbey is a chief mentor and retail adviser who has 30
years of retail experience and has built a reputation for being
a leader who interprets the market accurately, define strategic
direction and deliver success by motivating, developing and
inspiring teams to achieve continual improvement
Recently I was thinking about the White Rabbit,
(from the storybook Alice in Wonderland), and his
catch cry of “I’m late, I’m late, for a very important
date” and so I decided to return to the book to
see if I could really understand the meaning of
the phrase. Was it simply the White Rabbit was
late for his appointment or is there a deeper and
more symbolic meaning hidden
within his words?
My original memories on this story
came from listening as a child
to my Grandmother reading the
book to me as a bedtime story, so
I was interested to compare what I
remember hearing as a child versus
what I would now understand as
an adult.
Well what a surprise it was as I read
to discover lesson after lesson that
fits perfectly in parallel with not
just life but in the business world
of retail.
Maybe the author could have
been a very successful retailer
as embedded within his storybook are many valuable
messages. The reader might simply skip over the
whimsical sayings without much in deep thought – after
all it is only a children’s store book – but the thinking
reader can find exceptional business lessons if they give
serious thought to these lines.
zero base. Could it be that these retail
icons had three fundamental strengths
that set them apart from the rest?
They:
1. Have many bold ideas and visions no
matter how impossible they may seem
2. Trust in themselves and inspire
those around them to also believe that
impossible is possible
3. Apply unswerving determination
to overcome barriers to make the
impossible possible
Alice: “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to
go from here?”
Cheshire Cat: “That depends a good deal on where you
want to get to.”
For success, the best retail operations have a clear
picture on who and where they are in the market,
(strategy), know who they serve (the customer), and
forecast the returns (ROI). With this clarity, everything
they do must remain consistent to the vision. Successful
retail businesses “know where they want to get to”:
these businesses show:
1. Absolute clarity and structure wide commitment to
where the business must be positioned
2. Management wide honesty in
knowing where the business is currently
positioned
3. Detailed clarity on the actions and
behaviours required to achieve the
determined goals
There is a further part of this quotation
and that is:
Alice: “I don’t much care –”.
Cheshire Cat: “Then it doesn’t matter
which way you go.”
Businesses that “do not care much”
meander along being buffeted by
immediate trading conditions, changes
in management and leadership,
competitor behaviour and even more
“interrupters” that result in “knee jerk”
decisions with limited or even detrimental impact on
long-term success.
“Begin at the beginning,” the King said, very gravely, “and
go on till you come to the end: then stop.”
The Queen: “Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six
impossible things before breakfast.” I would suggest that here the message is when you
plan for new direction, new initiatives, changes in
market position or indeed any other significant
action then ensure the plan is clear, detailed, and well
communicated and most critical is accepted by all those
responsible for implementation:
When I read this phrase I was reminded of the character
and determination of the most successful retailers and
especially those who built new retail empires from a 1. Any implementation pathway must be detailed, logical
and sequential.
2. Critical team members must be committed to the
Read on for some quotes from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in
Wonderland with strong business messages:
journey in mind, spirit and
actions.
3. Allocate sufficient time
and resources to complete
the plan.
4. Do not skip segments nor
work out of synchronisation
without considered
agreement.
5. Set and meet at appropriate
time checkpoints to honestly
assess program progress.
6. Complete the agreed
plan with commitment and
determination and success follows.
Alice: “How long is forever?”
White Rabbit: “Sometimes, just one second.”
Now I feel closer to understanding the White Rabbit
and his preoccupation with time. In retail, (as indeed in
life), the most valued resource we have at our disposal
is time. Once past time cannot be relived and what was
done, (or not done), is history and you cannot go back in
time to do it again.
Time according to the White Rabbit is not guaranteed.
This is possibly the most valued lesson for me as too
often we simply view time as the gap between birth
and death with the presumption being we have time on
our side whilst in reality time may just be our greatest
enemy.
In implementing change, introducing new initiatives,
changing business direction, opening new retail channels,
delivering results and more it is critical to allocate the
“correct” time. Taking too long can be retail suicide and
at the same time trying to implement change too fast
can be just as dangerous.
The critical issues in managing time in successful
business usually will consider:
1. Sufficient time to complete the homework required to
create a detailed plan of action
2. Allocate realistic timeline to complete all action steps
and allow for “detour” contingencies
3. Awareness on interconnecting timelines such that one
step is not detrimental to another
4. Avoid the temptation to cut time in an attempt to get
to the end faster – a recipe for failure
5. All “stake holders” aware of and accept realistic
timelines, (and then deliver results on time)
The children’s story book usually has a happy ending so
one question I had for myself is: Is there a happy ending
to my discovery of life and business lessons embedded
within Alice in Wonderland? The answer is yes… Retail
is an industry that is in constant change and yet the
underlying messages for success are not necessarily new
ideas and can be found in some of the most unusual of
places.
Who would have thought so many lessons for retail
success could be found inside a story book, so I am now
off to read my next fairy-tale. How many more lessons
will I find?
9