Tag: Singapore

Singapore – Singapore-based e-commerce enabler Shopmatic has revealed that it is eyeing further expansion in Southeast Asia. 

Shopmatic, which offers various solutions for SMEs to establish their online store, is currently serving SEA markets Singapore and Malaysia, with a presence in Hong Kong, and India. 

In the nine months into 2020, the company has reported a revenue of over S$7M, between the period of April to December, exceeding its targets by 40%.

According to a press release, Shopmatic has witnessed great demand from customers in its markets, a testament to the digital wave which has been accelerated due to the effects of COVID-19. This led the company to introduce new solutions in response.

In April 2020, Shopmatic focused its efforts on providing managed solutions through one of its locally acquired companies, multichannel e-commerce solution CombineSell, in an aim to help move Singapore SMEs online by providing them an opportunity to outsource their digital team. A month after, Shopmatic launched a special solution for grocery or ‘kirana’ stores to go online and found great adoption from businesses across India and Singapore.

Speaking on what 2021 holds for Shopmatic, Co-founder and CEO Anurag Avula, said, “We are very happy that we were able to close 2020 on a hugely positive note and are now able to step into 2021 with even more aggressive plans to digitize local businesses and entrepreneurs in Singapore, India, Malaysia & Hong Kong.” 

Avula added, “We continue to make significant investments behind key resources to be able to drive our organization to the next level and expand footprint into new markets in South East Asia. At Shopmatic, our focus is to build a sustainable & profitable business and we are delighted that we’ve been able to reach this significant milestone a year ahead of plan.”

The company revealed that it is in advanced discussions with several investors for a Series B fund raise. Just very recently, Shopmatic has launched a whole new range of solutions allowing SMEs to choose from four different ways to run e-commerce via Shopmatic Chat, Shopmatic Social, Shopmatic Webstore, and Shopmatic Marketplaces.

Singapore – KADDRA, a local-based commercial technology company, has announced the conclusion of its first phase of integration with e-commerce platform Shopify in a move to offer a comprehensive e-commerce ecosystem for SMEs on both mobile app commerce and web-based digital stores.

The new integration enables businesses to cover both digital sales channels, while increasing sales, widening marketing reach, and improving customer satisfaction and engagement.

“With its user-friendly accessibility, Shopify is an ideal partner for KADDRA to integrate with, and give both Shopify and KADDRA clients the opportunity to sell their products on both mobile and desktop seamlessly,” KADDRA stated in its press statement.

The local-based tech company provides mobile app commerce and marketing solutions, connecting businesses with their customers through a white label end-to-end platform. This then improves sales processes, marketing reach and customer service to partner SMEs through a subscription-based model.

“We have developed the most advanced mobile solution to date, offering native app commerce technology on a subscription model which fits perfectly with the SaaS model of web solutions like Shopify. E-commerce companies have been instrumental in the last 10 months to transform SMEs digitally and we are now looking at 2021, offering a synchronized mobile and web storefront, to help businesses reach the largest number of customers,” said Quentin Chiarugi, executive chairman and CEO of KADDRA (pictured left).

Meanwhile, Will Beattie, COO & CTO of KADDRA (pictured right) commented, “Our integration will make the sales process seamless and user-friendly. Businesses will be able to use either their Shopify back office or KADDRA back office to run both mobile and web stores simultaneously. Traditional web-based eCommerce has advantages in attracting new customers whereas native mobile app commerce is perfect to keep them close and engaged. Combining the two, will give SMEs the most powerful omni-channel eCommerce ecosystem to date.”

Manila, Philippines – Shakey’s Pizza Asia Ventures Inc., the company behind the Filipino arm of Shakey’s, revealed on Tuesday that it is set to open its first branch in neighboring Southeast Asia country, Singapore. 

The franchising agreement is inked as a seven-year deal with Singapore’s Brenrich Pte. Ltd, allowing it to make inroads in the newly acquired market. 

“We are thrilled to restart our international franchise journey in Singapore, which is at the forefront of global recovery, and we are fortunate to have Brenrich as our [franchise] partner in the Lion City, given their rich experience in the restaurant industry,” said Vicente Gregorio, president, and CEO of Shakey’s.

The new branch will be located in Lucky Plaza mall, along iconic Orchard Road, and is set to open late in the second quarter or early in the third quarter of 2021.

Lucky Plaza mall in Singapore.

According to SGP Business, Singapore-based Brenrich’s principal activity is food courts, coffee shops, and eating houses. Brenrich director Wong Ban Ming said he was “very happy and excited to bring Shakey’s to Singapore.”

Wong, who is also a franchisee of Filipino restaurant brand Tapa King in Singapore, said, “We are certain that many locals, and especially the overseas Filipinos miss Shakey’s, and this will bring back a sense of nostalgia.”

The new branch will be offering Shakey’s complete menu including its thin-crust pizzas and iconic chicken and mojos, although some items will be tweaked to comply with halal standards in consideration of Singapore’s large Muslim population.

In the second half of 2020, Shakey’s has subsequently announced new products and new business movements. In August, the restaurant has similarly partnered with Singapore-based R&B, to bring the milk tea brand to the Philippines. Meanwhile, in the latter part of the year, Shakey’s launched a ‘Plant-based’ burger, which is a first-ever by a restaurant chain in the country. 

Gregorio said, “While the Covid-19 pandemic is presenting challenges to food companies like Shakey’s, it is also serving as an impetus to turn a crisis into an opportunity.”

Meanwhile, Jose Arnold Alvero, Shakey’s vice President for international operations and franchising, said, “The primary target market initially will be Filipinos living in the city-state. But the Lucky Plaza outlet is also seen to attract Singaporeans, as it is located along a busy business district.”

He added, “We have no doubt that Singapore’s discerning guests will be wow-ed with what Shakey’s [will bring] to the table in terms of building the brand, people, and the store.”

Shakey’s currently has three stores outside the Philippines in Dubai. It has a total of 242 branches located around the Philippines.

Singapore – Bakery brand in Singapore Bread Garden has unveiled its new pastry collection for the upcoming Chinese New Year; this is together with the launch of its newly revamped website. 

Bread Garden said its 2021 collection is a balanced palette of perennial best-sellers, and old-school tastes as well as new, innovative sensations that cater to a diversity of taste preferences.

Just like in the previous years, the brand will be introducing new flavors to the collection, such as Mala Lotus, which puts a spicy twist to lotus snacks, and Brownie Almond Cookies, which combines almond with a chocolatey taste. Meanwhile, the established classics that will be gracing the collection will be almond cookies and ‘kueh bangkit, a biscuit made from sago starch. 

“As today’s consumers get exposed to more new food flavors in their everyday consumption, bakeries have been quick to hop onto trends and experiment with new, interesting tastes that appeal to a younger generation of Chinese New Year snack buyers,” said the brand in a press statement. 

Despite the country reopening from the pandemic, large physical events are still discouraged, including Chinese New Year street celebrations. As more people are expected to buy pastry treats online, Bread Garden is offering early customers a “Buy 4 Get 1 Free” promotion from now till 15 January 2021, where the lowest priced item out of every five is given as complimentary.

Bread Garden is also releasing its yearly collection of Chinese New Year Goodies, the Prosperity Gift Set, consisting of a handpicked selection of six most recommended flavors, symbolizing blessings in the six aspects of a life filled with abundance.

Singapore – YouTrip, Singapore’s multi-currency mobile wallet has forged a partnership with Visa, to accelerate its expansion to the rest of Southeast Asia, starting with Malaysia and the Philippines. 

Currently operating in Singapore and Thailand, the partnership comes a year after YouTrip’s first regional expansion to Thailand in partnership with Kasikornbank, one of Thailand’s largest banks. 

YouTrip believes the new partnership presents an opportunity to solve a unique pain point for Southeast Asian travelers, with regional travel poised to be the first step towards international travel recovery. 

“Unlike regional travel in other parts of the world such as Europe or the United States of America, traveling within Southeast Asia requires multi-currency spending. Coupled with the year-long pent up demand for travel and cross-border payment, this puts YouTrip in good stead for further expansion,” said the company in a press statement.  

It added, “Leveraging on Visa’s global network of 70 million merchant locations worldwide, YouTrip aims to enable Southeast Asia travelers with access to cross border payment solutions such as wholesale exchange rates and no foreign currency transaction fees in over 150 currencies.” 

YouTrip looks to Malaysia and the Philippines as the next potential markets in the next six to 12 months, where the company, referring to a PwC report, said both countries are two of the fastest-growing Southeast Asian countries in mobile payment adoption. 

Caecilia Chu, co-founder, and CEO of YouTrip shared, “Our partnership with Visa will enable our continued growth to drive the next generation of payment innovation of cross border payments. We are incredibly excited for the opportunities ahead to serve millions of consumers in Southeast Asia and empower them with the solutions they deserve.”

Kelvin Lam, regional general Manager of YouTrip, added, “In a short span of two years, we have established YouTrip as a leading multi-currency wallet in both Singapore and Thailand. With our strong foundation, we look forward to combining our market-winning expertise along with Visa’s payment innovations to the rest of Southeast Asia, starting with Malaysia and Philippines,” 

Meanwhile, Visa’s Head of Digital Partnerships for Asia Pacific Matt Wood commented, “We are excited to work with YouTrip across Southeast Asia to provide consumers and businesses with a multi-currency payment solution that is ideal for international eCommerce and cross-border travel. Together, we look forward to bringing faster, safer, and more convenient digital payments to people across the region.”

Singapore – A sad news surprised many on Tuesday – GoBear, financial services and data platform in Asia, has decided to cease operations, breaking the announcement on a LinkedIn post. 

GoBear, which started its operations in 2015, revealed on the post that the pandemic has created a challenging operating environment, where despite the company’s best efforts, is unable to raise more funding. 

“It’s with a heavy heart that today we’re sharing that GoBear will be ceasing operations and begin the process of closing the business,” wrote the company. 

It further said, “It’s been quite a ride with the opening of new markets, launching new products, and building our financial services and data platform one step at a time.”

GoBear as a financial services platform assists users in their financial decision-making through comparison guides of different financial products such as credit cards, home loans, travel insurance, and home insurance. It also offers definitive guides on working around bank accounts, personal loans, and credit cards, among others. 

“Our purpose is to improve your financial health so that, together, we can build secure, stable, and sustainable communities. And we’re going to do that by making financial literacy, financial inclusion, and financial security attainable for everyone!” it says on its bio. 

As of current, the platform has presence in seven markets. Having founded in 2014 in its headquarters Singapore, the platform launched in the Lion City and Thailand in 2015. The year after, GoBear expanded to Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, and Vietnam, and finally launching in Indonesia in 2018. 

“We had amazing employees, partners, vendors, and fans along the way that made our accomplishments possible,” concluded the company in the post. 

“Thank you to everybody who believed in us and has been part of our journey,” it said. 

Singapore – As Singapore moves to phase three of reopening its community amid the pandemic, local car-sharing platform Tribecar has launched a ‘Super Economy’ rental for its cars starting at SGD$0.54 per hour.

The pricing package is a new addition to its slew of ‘Economy’ rentals, where the starting rate applies to rentals within ‘super off-peak’ hours, which are weekdays from 12 am to 6 am. In addition, in an aim to provide more value, the rental service has also extended its ‘off-peak’ hours to now cover weekday rentals from 6 am to 6 pm.

Each Tribecar’s service type corresponds to an available fleet for rental. For the ‘Super Economy’ package, only selected automatic vehicle models are available.

Together with the launch of the new service, Tribecar has also announced the adoption of the usage-based car insurance (UBI) by insurance company NTUC Income (Income) and automotive marketplace CARRO where motor insurance is no longer based on a fixed cost but tied to the vehicle’s smart data such as mileage, location and, timing consumption.

In November 2019, the two firms launched the first-ever car insurance model, dubbing it as ‘Pay-as-you-drive’ insurance. 

The joint initiative developed a usage-based motor Insurtech platform, combining telematics, insurance, and data analytics, designed to enable car rental firms in Singapore to mass adopt usage-based programs effectively. Tribecar said the new ‘Super Economy’ category has been made possible through its adoption of the model. 

“We’re very pleased to roll out this program with the aid of Income and CARRO. This adoption of UBI for our cars simply means transparency, lower prices, and tremendous savings for our members,” said Adrian Lee, co-founder of Tribecar.

Meanwhile, Max Tiong, head of digital transformation at Income, commented, “It is very encouraging to see the growing interest in new insurance models like usage-based insurance within the motoring community, which is testimony to the value it brings to drivers – customization and convenience.”

Founder and CEO of CARRO Aaron Tan also commented, “With a usage-based model that allows them to pay insurance based only [on] how much they drive, Tribecar’s customers can now enjoy a new level of flexibility with rental cars. With Income’s support in driving this transformation, we hope this partnership will help catalyze further efforts to use technology to meet the practical needs of today’s drivers.”

Lee revealed that Tribecar is experimenting with new ways to deliver greater value for its members, sharing that it is in talks with authorized car distributors in Singapore to roll out ‘Drive before you buy’ schemes for members that may be keen to buy a new car.

Singapore – Local based coffee shop Crown Coffee gets a new help for their shop duties—a robot barista developed by tech company Intel.

Named Ella after the wife of Crown Coffee’s CEO and founder Keith Tan, the robot does what a typical barista does: taking orders remotely via an online app, making a cup of coffee, notifying the customer when it’s ready, serving it, finalizing the bill and charging the customer’s credit card.

Built under the inspiration of Intel Singapore employees taking a break at the Crown Coffee, Tan gives thanks to Intel for materializing as to what he calls a ‘wild idea’.

“I have plenty of gratitude to Intel, as they helped me realize this idea. They listened to me, understood the problems I was trying to solve, and partnered with me to design and develop prototypes,” Tan stated.

With Ella being present at the Crown Coffee workspace, it solved many of Tan’s initial problems, including compactness of the unit, freeing up labor for efficiency, and coffee preparation safety: a vital feature put into use during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Ella opens new possibilities to food retailers to enable contactless futuristic service and develop alternate revenue models with the data Ella gathers,” said Santhosh Viswanathan, managing director for Intel Asia Pacific and Japan.

“What we are doing is transformational and will be part of the landscape of smart cities where AI-driven robots become deeply ingrained into our daily lives. Also, this is New Retail, which eases retail labor shortages while providing re-skilling employment opportunities for value-added technology and engineering people,” Tan added, citing that Ella is planned to be expanded across their 40 locations on the island, and eventually to Japan.

Guangzhou, China – Nanfang Media Group and Singapore Press Holdings’ Chinese Media Group (CMG) jointly launched a webpage named ‘Explore GBA’ on zaobao.com, a news website in Southeast Asia.

The webpage aims to bring together the enterprises and individuals that contributed to connections between Singapore and China’s megalopolis Greater Bay Area (GBA). It will focus on individual stories that showcase the latest and diverse possibilities for partnership between GBA and Southeast Asian countries.

In general, the two partnering organizations, being one of the biggest media groups in both Guangdong and Singapore, will make use of their resources on the platform to bring insights into China’s highly-anticipated economic plan, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao GBA, and provide information on the Area’s advantageous policies, industrial and economic development, culture and people’s livelihood.

‘Explore GBA’ is a step forward for the partnership between Nanfang Media Group and CMG. Since 2018, the two media groups have been working to facilitate communication and information exchanges between Singapore and Guangdong, one of the most rapidly-developing provinces in China.

In line with the new platform, an online seminar on the topic of digital economy is scheduled for early 2021, where more details are to be shared on ‘Explore GBA’ according to a press release.

Singapore – With the meteoric rise in technology, it isn’t new anymore to hear of innovations from time to time – from robots to never-thought-of digital services, from the next rocking software to just about any tech that aims to automate and digitize every point of human activity. 

In the often dubbed ‘technological hub’ Singapore, homegrown supermarket operator NTUC Fairprice has launched a new branch under its cashless and zero-staff format for food mart brand Cheers, which is turning the ‘convenience’ business on its head. 

In the new Cheers store, a sign is displayed reading “no queues. no checkout. just walk out.”

The new branch is the fourth Cheers store to be opened of the type, where the first one was launched in 2017 at Nanyang Polytechnic in Singapore.

Having partnered with Visa, customers going to the store only need to pick out the items they wish to purchase and are good to go. Cheers uses an advanced A.I. system that is smart enough to detect the items that have been grabbed by customers, where payment will automatically be processed upon their exit. 

Cheers is a 24-hour convenience store with over 160 branches in Singapore. The new location is built in the integrated lifestyle hub Our Tampines Hub. Following the pilot cashless and unmanned branch at Nanyang Polytechnic, the two other tech-driven stores were put up at National University of Singapore.

NTUC FairPrice continues to embrace innovation and develop new service concepts to enhance the shopping experience for customers. We complement the efforts at promoting a self-service culture in Singapore through our unmanned store concepts along other initiatives that facilitate efficient service delivery. By collaborating with our strategic partner Visa, we are able to leverage on our respective strengths and experience to further propel the retail industry forward.

Seah Kian Peng, Group CEO, FairPrice Group

According to a Facebook post by NTUC FairPrice, to enter the store, customers need to download the Cheers SG mobile app, and add their Visa card details as their payment mode. At the gantry after the entrance, customers need to scan the on-screen unique QR code or they can use facial recognition which customers can register in the app. Purchases are automatically added to the virtual shopping cart, and charged to the Visa card upon exit.

This is the first time that Visa is partnering with our retail merchant partner to create this concept of kind in Southeast Asia, and we want to help our merchants power the future of retail and create innovative retail experiences so that consumers and businesses can pay and be paid effortlessly.

Kunal Chatterjee, Visa Country Manager, Singapore and Brunei

In 2014, Singapore announced its national Smart Nation initiative which aims to harness technological advancements to build Singapore’s status as an outstanding place of living. NTUC FairPrice said its efforts are in support of the said direction.