Tag: Singapore

Singapore – Food and beverage company Ebb & Flow has launched Sunny Slices, the country’s first full-on vegetable pizza joint to a growing response of vegetarians in the country.

The pizza joint will be offering six flavors, namely:

  • Homestead Harvest (broccoli, butternut squash, green capsicum, Spanish onions, oyster mushrooms topped with toasted cashews on a tomato base) 
  • Katzoo (vegan chicken Katsu on a homemade vegan Bulldog sauce base, topped with shredded purple cabbage, vegan kewpie mayo, nori, and sesame seeds) 
  • Mushroom & Pesto (three different kinds of mushrooms, pesto and topped with baby spinach)
  • Peking Jackfruit (charred young jackfruit, cucumber, and spring onions on a homemade hoisin sauce base)
  • Seafood Laksa (“Prawns” and “Squid” made from Konjac, laksa leaves and topped with fried shallots)
  • Meatless Lovers (Omni Pork ™ and Impossible Meat ™ accompanied by onions and black olives on a spicy tomato base, topped with garlic oil and fresh basil)

Feline Gondokusomo, chief strategy officer of Ebb & Flow Group said, “It was clear to us that there was a gap in the market for consumers who enjoy fast food but with plant-based options. People have a misconception that vegan food has to be plain and healthy but we want to show that it can be fun and delicious.” 

The pizza joint will be spearheaded by head chefs Addis Tan and Dylan Choong. Tan is head chef of Love Handle Burgers and 8ASH and Choong is previously with Cheek by Jowl and Tippling Club. 

“We decided on plant-based pizza because it’s close to our ethos – it’s fun, approachable, convenient, and challenging. And the best part about Sunny Slices is that after indulging in our pizzas, you will still feel good about yourself,” said Tan.

Sunny Slices is available on sunnyslices.com for islandwide delivery or via Foodpanda, Deliveroo, or Grab Food within the Orchard area.

Singapore – As part of the board’s ongoing SingapoRediscovers tourism campaign, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) is partnering with American augmented reality (AR) technology company Niantic to promote and support local businesses through the game Pokémon Go.

Pokémon Go, which is known as an AR-based game, will allow players through this strategic partnership to discover tourism establishments and lifestyle offerings. Throughout the game, players can capture Pokémons and visit newly-placed virtual PokéStops and Gyms, amounting to 300 of them, across tourist spots in the nation.

Once players visit these PokéStops and Gyms on Pokémon Go, in-app STB ad campaigns will appear and take users to a microsite, describing all offerings and promotions of STB through various partner tourism establishments. Furthermore, the game encourages walking around and discovering other local business establishments and nearby precincts. 

“We are excited by this collaboration with Niantic, which allows us to connect with the passionate community of Pokémon GO players in a fun and innovative way. As they pursue their favorite Pokémon across Singapore, we hope players will explore our precincts, discover hidden gems, and support local business – while staying safe and observing the necessary precautions,” Lim Shoo Ling, STB’s brand director stated.

Gary Chang, APAC business development lead at Niantic commented that “Our strength is to influence people to walk physically from location to location, and we are hoping to utilize this to encourage people to explore different parts of Singapore in-depth and boost domestic travel needs.”

There are future plans in this partnership to host Pokémon GO special Raid Battles in some partner areas to further boost local business tourism in the country.

Singapore – India-headquartered IT and consulting firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has partnered with global technology company Zoho to adopt its solutions in customer relationship management, IT service management, and e-commerce for its global-wide businesses.

Within the partnership, TCS will utilize Zoho’s technological application stack in data analytics, AI business leverage, and unified search to help improve their clients’ approach to CX strategy, design, and customer insights as well as in marketing, sales, and service transformation.

“TCS has a business-led approach to consulting and enterprise transformation. Zoho takes the same approach to its technology, offering a vertically integrated platform of leading business applications and services. We are confident that through TCS’ reach and influence in the market across 46 countries, more enterprise organizations globally will experience the benefits of Zoho’s deep technology stack and world-class applications,” said Sridhar Vembu, co-founder and CEO of Zoho Corporation.

Furthermore, the alliance will allow future business clients to explore new revenue opportunities and gain operational efficiency, whether from remote or in-office locations.

“Enterprises are adopting best-of-breed product suites for customer service functions, because they provide the digital power and flexibility required to create the right engaging customer experience at the right moment,” said Aarti Devi, global head of customer experience management and enterprise application services at TCS.

Singapore – Ascenda, a loyalty solutions company, has launched OffersHub, a meta-aggregation and personalization engine that allows merchants to personalize their offers and loyalty programs for their customers.

Primarily targeted to banks and other digital payment platforms, the recent product launch aims to allow these merchants create customer connections through their reward values.

“Our proposition delivers a rich pool of personalized offers with sustainable funding mechanisms – all delivered in a turnkey solution. The unique meta-aggregation engine at the heart of OffersHub enables our enterprise clients to tap into deal content across multiple sources, so they can provide the most compelling proposition to their customers and capture the greatest return of investment (ROI) on their marketing investments,” Mark Mullinix, head of strategy & partnerships at Ascenda stated.

Included within Ascenda’s offering are streamlines for various gateways of reward programs such as card-linked offers, coupons, e-commerce affiliate rewards, and discounted gift card purchases. A hyper localized approach is also offered to predict relevance factors such as demographics and geo-location.

Singapore – As COVID-19 restrictions are in place, more and more Singaporeans are shifting towards patronizing digital gateways, a report from customer experience management company Qualtrics shows.

About 57% of the respondents said they have made more online purchases at this time, and shifted towards using online banking; while the study also found a 44% increase in online grocery shopping was also evident among respondents.

“After months of disruption, we are beginning to see new behaviors and preferences emerge that are likely to remain post-pandemic. There is no doubt that there has been a massive shift towards digital, making it critical for brands to ensure they are able to optimize the experience they deliver on their digital channels including mobile applications,” said Harish Agarwal, Qualtrics’ head of CX strategy for Southeast Asia.

The study also probed on Singaporeans’ concerns during the pandemic, where the majority of respondents, 92%, shared that they are still worried about the global pandemic and its effects on normal activities.

Despite growing pandemic concerns, some Singaporeans were shown to be optimistic about resuming routine activities such as  using public transport (61%), eating out at restaurants (58%), visiting a park (51%), and going to the mall (50%) in the next six months.

“Simultaneously, even though Singaporeans are beginning to go back to some previous habits, high levels of ambiguity remain, meaning businesses must be able to understand and quickly respond to changing environments,” Agarwal added.

Singapore – Amid a cemented social distancing practice among communities, insurance company AXA has just launched a virtual hug creator that enables people to craft the perfect virtual hug – from the design of the hug to the sweet, touching message that people want to send to their loved ones. 

Dubbed as the #AXAHugsForGood challenge, the initiative is with longstanding corporate responsibility partners Singapore Cancer Society (SCS) and SportCares, where for every virtual hug sent, S$5 will be donated to the said partners. 

Up until 31 December 2020, individuals in Singapore are invited to join the challenge via AXAHugsForGood.com.

On the website, users need to hit the ‘Create your hug now’ button to get started. From a wide selection of ‘hug’ GIFs, users have the option to choose which they want to send, whether a GIF showing a hug between two or three people, or GIFs of hugging animal characters, with designs also available in sporty, festive, and fun themes. 

Once a ‘hug’ is selected, AXA assists with crafting the perfect message you want to say to your loved ones. On the website, users can choose from ready-made ‘messages,’ and ‘reminders.’ AXA has prepared messages such as “It’s been a while, hope you’re doing alright,” “Just wanted to say ‘You’re awesome!’” and “Thanks for working late on the project!” Senders can also put additional ‘reminders,’ choosing from caring phrases such as “Take care and stay safe!” and “Have a good night’s sleep!”

Before finally sharing to social media, users can review their hug, with the new hug now bearing their chosen messages. The hug can be shared to numerous social media channels such as on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, among others, with an option as well to send to Zoom and Microsoft teams. 

This is the fourth edition of the AXA ‘For Good’ challenge with SCS and SportCares, which is designed to engage the community in doing good together and to foster a spirit of solidarity in Singapore. Challenges in the previous years involved doing burpees and bounce exercises with a message to engage in a healthy lifestyle and to “bounce” back from adversity. 

CEO Jean Drouffe said that through such social media engagement, AXA wants to show that its support for customers remains steadfast during this challenging time. 

“We recognize that the implications of the pandemic across our society are far-reaching, affecting the livelihoods and physical and mental well-being of many,” Drouffe said. 

He added, “Through #AXAHugsForGood, we hope to spread care and words of encouragement across Singapore with every virtual hug sent. Social distancing is likely to remain in place for some time, but there are ways we can connect with one another even from afar. The simple act of a hug, even a virtual one, can bring comfort and brighten someone’s day.”

Singapore – APAC rewards and discovery platform ShopBack has announced its newest brand ambassador – comedy veteran Kumar.

The partnership between ShopBack and Kumar will be running for a year, beginning with the approaching 11.11 sale event of the platform, whereby Kumar will be playing the lead character in their music video ‘ShopBack, Get Paid to Shop!’

After 11.11, Kumar will continue to front a range of campaigns and marketing initiatives to promote the ShopBack brand and engage with shoppers through the year-end sales season and in the future.

Kumar is a Singaporean Indian comedian, television host, and drag queen, who made his name performing in the now-defunct cabaret nightclub Boom Boom Room during the late 1990s.

In the music video, Kumar switches between various cross-dressing get-ups, from a schoolgirl outfit to an elderly grandmother, and takes center stage dancing and rapping to the ‘ShopBack, Get Paid to Shop’ song.

In the opening of the music video, Kumar boasts that “everyone loves a good lobang but no one knows about lobang better than me” before reminding viewers to use the ShopBack app to Get Paid to Shop. The lyrics of the song encourage consumers to shop smart by getting the best deals and earning cashback on their purchases.

“It is an immense pleasure for us to have Kumar on board. He is a well-loved personality and household name in Singapore, and we are proud to have him represent the ShopBack brand and amplify the message of Smarter shopping and saving money to Singaporeans,” said Imran Mohamad, head of marketing at ShopBack Singapore.

Mohamad said the brand chose Kumar to incorporate the exuberance and comedy he carries to the brand’s marketing assets.

“We hope that Singaporeans watching him in our 11.11 music video will feel as though a trusted friend or family member is reminding them that a dollar saved is a dollar earned, and that they can maximize every cent with ShopBack,” he added.

Kumar expressed his excitement and trust to the brand, saying, “Whether you are buying bubble tea, a walking stick, or groceries, you can earn cashback on all your purchases with ShopBack. You should always remember to check on ShopBack before making a purchase from your favorite brands so you can ensure that you are getting it at the best price on the internet. If any Singaporean is still not getting paid to shop by ShopBack, I don’t know what else to say to them already lah,” said Kumar.

For 11.11, ShopBack has lined up cashback offers of up to 60% from over 600 brands. On 10 November, it will be running a Vouchers Bonanza, offering up vouchers from brands including Amazon, Grab, Fairprice, Qoo10, and Zalora.

Singapore – The global convenience store chain 7- Eleven has just been added on food delivery app Foodpanda, where users from Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Taiwan are now able to obtain their quick essentials from the store within the app. Foodpanda said about 2,500 7-Eleven stores across the said countries have been partnered for the new addition.

Foodpanda brings to customers hundreds of 7-Eleven items including hot food, ready-to-eat insta-meals, snacks and alcohol, and even pre-paid mobile phone cards.

In the beta phase for the store’s integration into the Foodpanda “shops” feature, the number of 7-Eleven orders grew by 50% month-on-month over the past six months.

7-Eleven stores on the app offer over 1,000 unique items on average across the four markets. In the Philippines, the largest variety available from a 7-Eleven store via Foodpanda is almost 1,600 unique items. In Taiwan, consumers have a preference for post-dinner orders from 8pm to midnight, especially for snacks.

Industry watchers like IGD have predicted growth in online grocery retail with more brick-and-mortar retailers partnering with delivery and technology companies to grow their online footprint, even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is in line with the rise of the ‘convenience economy’ over the past few years, as consumers get accustomed to food and grocery deliveries.

The company said in a statement, “[This] partnership underscores Foodpanda’s dual focus on growing its core food delivery business as well as its q-commerce offerings.”

Singapore –  In order to aid shoppers in sifting through the multitude of items for their holiday haul, Amazon Singapore has launched its holiday gift guide. In a dedicated page within the site, Amazon compiled and laid out a roster of items according to different categories, such as to whom the shopper intends to give the gift to, gifts within a certain price range, and gifts by interests. 

Shoppers are able to view a list of appropriate gifts for men, women, and teens, as well as for kids, babies, and even pets. For those who are price-conscious, Amazon has grouped items that are capped off at S$25, S$50, and S$100. 

Amazon has also enabled it for users to browse items according to their intended purpose this holiday, presenting consolidated selections for decorating, gift wrapping, arranging parties, as well as selections for toys, books, and beauty products.  

Within the holiday shopping page in Amazon, there is also a mounted ‘Holiday Toy Store,’ which houses a curated list of Top 100 Toys and Top 100 Board Games. 

Aside from the guide itself, Amazon has announced its early deals for the featured items. Up until 26 November, shoppers can enjoy from 15% to 50% discount across its product categories – baby products, beauty and health, toys, groceries including wine and spirits, as well as, home and kitchen items, electronics, and pet products. 

In fulfillment of a new partnership, shoppers are also given a chance to help underprivileged children, with Amazon pledging a donation of S$5 with every order above S$50 spent on products purchased from the non-profit organization Children’s Wishing Well’s gift guides. Amazon.sg said it will be donating a minimum of S$10,000 to the organization.

Singapore – IT service provider Logicalis Asia is acquiring a majority stake at Singapore-based digital transformation company iZeno in expanding digital transformation strategies to their respective clientele base.

“There is strong alignment between Logicalis and iZeno, in terms of vision, opportunities for joint value creation, and mutual focus on customer-centricity. Our customers are prioritizing their digital transformation agendas. The skills and innovation that iZeno brings to the group strengthen our core value proposition as we fulfill our mission of helping customers unlock value through digital transformation,” Logicalis Asia CEO Lee Chong-Win stated.

The recent partnership will focus on modernizing the approach  to IT frameworks amongst businesses, with a greater focus on customer relationship management. Strategies such as data analytics, development operations (DevOps), and hybrid cloud are also included in integrating modern strategies to businesses.

With local markets targeted at Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, iZeno’s regional presence will help Logicalis Asia’s goal of providing impact solutions to businesses in the aforementioned markets.