EDITOR’ S NOTE
The ephemeral yet eternal nature of flash retailing
On my recent trip to Kuala Lumpur, I planned to get my hands on some dUCk Cosmetics— a Malaysian beauty brand that’ s creating a buzz on the Internet— and was disappointed to discover the retail store had rolled its shutters down by the time I got to the mall.
Luckily for me, the brand had a pop-up event in the same mall that I was still able to visit. The inviting pop-up space had a theme and colours that fit the branding, along with attentive and engaging sales associates; and it offered me a comfortable ambience to browse through the products for sale. After my purchase, I was invited to play a simple game for a chance to win additional merchandise from the brand and I walked away from the pop-up a happy customer with my purchase and prize.
My experience there illustrates the nature of temporary retail set-ups that give customers a new sense of excitement for the brand and products, and grants an added edge to the shopping experience. Pop-ups also let retailers experiment and try something new at a relatively low cost, thus minimising business risks if you consider the lower rental and flexible lease duration.
This seems to be a successful recipe for F & B chain Old Chang Kee, which specialises in Singapore heritage snacks such as curry puffs. Last year, the brand brought a pop-up to Kentish Town in London— we heard they were completely sold out in four hours! And this year in June, it opened a permanent outlet at Covent Garden to give Londoners a taste of Singapore all year round( see page 9).
In this combined June / July issue, we unearth the appeal of temporal pop-up retailing, its impact on traditional bricks-and-mortar stores, and the permanence of this transient format. Retail space rental agency PopUp Angels tells us more about its role in the retail industry on page 17.
As the world has just observed World Environment Day with the theme“ Beat Plastic Pollution”, Retail Asia checks in with the first zero-waste store in Singapore to find out how the operators run a retail business that avoids excessive plastic packaging and reduce food waste( page 21). We also highlight how companies and brands such as Zara and Nespresso are doing their part for Mother Nature( pages 25 and 26).
As we cross the midway mark of 2018, we are excited to share the 2018 Retail Asia-Pacific Top 500 ranking of retailers from 14 economies in the region across 11 retail formats. Retail Asia is proud to partner with
Euromonitor International for the 15th year to present thesee findings( pages 39-73) and we hope it brings you some actionable insights on the state of our retail industry in the region.
Publisher / Editor Andrew Yeo
Deputy Editor
Muneerah Bee
Production Editor
Zuraini Ridzwan
Junior Sub-Editor Eva Meango
Senior Multimedia Designer Raymund Jaudian
Contributors
Dr Lynda Wee Brian Moore Shirish Nadkarni Tina Arceo-Dumlao Prakash Sakti Jayanthi Iyengar Eleanor Yap
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Muneerah Bee
Deputy Editor
MCI( P) No: 024 / 06 / 2018 PPS 1116 / 12 / 2011( 028340) Printed by Markono Print Media Pte Ltd
4 Retail Asia June / July 2018