🇯🇵 Itochu Plans to Take Full Ownership of FamilyMart with a $5.4 Billion Tender
Itochu is tired of slow decision-making in FamilyMart. Now, the Japanese trading house plans to shell out 581 billion yen ($5.4 billion) in a tender offer to kick the dilly-dallying to the curb.
If successful, Itochu, which currently owns 50.1% of FamilyMart, will take full control of the convenience store chain.
ICYMI, FamilyMart is Japan’s second largest convenience store chain, with more than 24,000 stores worldwide. (The largest is 7-Eleven which has more than 70,000 stores spread across the globe.)
Despite being found in almost every corner of Japan, FamilyMart is showing signs of struggle:
Even before the COVID-19 outbreak, FamilyMart Japan has already laid off 800 employees to reduce its operational costs.
In May, FamilyMart Japan put a stop to midnight grocery runs by introducing shorter business hours at 787 stores across the country.
Then just last month, Central Retail — the biggest food retailer in Thailand — zeroed in and acquired FamilyMart Thailand.
So, what’s in it for Itochu? Well, full ownership of FamilyMart means that the trading house is free to pivot from the troubled energy and mining business to the considerably more stable consumer sector.
Besides, the fast-moving Itochu has also made plans to sell a 4.9% stake in FamilyMart to Norinchukin Bank. All for the very affordable price of 57 billion yen (USD$533 million). Once sold, the trading house will retain a 94.7% stake.
Let's just say we expect to see many more changes in store for FamilyMart.
🇦🇺 Amazon Continues With Its Plans to Expand Across Australia
Amazon’s plan to take over the world continues with an expansion of its businesses down under. The online retail giant is building one of Australia’s biggest warehouses in Western Sydney.
Look away now if you’re worried about a robot uprising as the new warehouse will be Amazon’s first robotics fulfilment center in Australia. There, robots will step in to cut down unnecessary walking and boost processing times.
So, besides a robot-led apocalypse, what else can we look forward to?
To start, the project will inject a much-needed boost to the local workforce. The 200,000 square meter warehouse — that can stock up to 11 million items — will bring with it about 1,500 new jobs.
But, according to the Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney Stuart Ayres, these are no traditional warehouse jobs. Instead, the new opportunities are for the more technologically-inclined, including technicians, computer engineers, and programmers.
That’s not all. The warehouse is good news for the local e-commerce sector too. Small and medium businesses in Australia will benefit from Amazon’s access to millions of customers across the world. Plus, they will also be able to enjoy the retail giant’s packing and shipping facilities.
Here’s more scoop on the warehouse:
Construction is already underway at Kemps Creek.
The warehouse is expected to start delivery by Christmas 2021.
An additional 700 jobs will be created during construction.
🇨🇳 Alibaba Fires Head Exec for Nepotism and Accepting Gifts
There’s no room for preferential treatment and conflict of interest at Alibaba. According to an internal memo obtained by Reuters, the Chinese e-commerce giant has fired Zhao Yan, the head of its live streaming division for nepotism.
Better known as Taobao Live, this live streaming behemoth saw Chinese consumers spend around 350,000 hours each day viewing its programs. However, things took an unpleasant turn after Zhao was found to have used his position to unfairly help third-party live streaming firms score contracts and favorable positioning on the platform.
It gets worse. The former top dog allegedly also secured a high-paying job for his girlfriend at one of these live streaming agencies and accepted various gifts from them.
However, there is no news on who reported these transgressions or how the allegations were investigated.
This is not the first high-profile controversy to rock Alibaba’s execs this year. In April, the company demoted Jiang Fan — a once-promising candidate for the chief executive job — after allegations of improper behavior with an influencer.
🇨🇳 Luxury Brands Battle It Out for Chinese Shoppers… Digitally
Luxury brands are now setting their sights on China with aggressive digital campaigns to woo the country’s shopaholics and hopefully cushion the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, reports Nikkei.
In the last few months, dozens of premium brands — including Prada, Cartier, and MontBlanc — have set up online shops in China as brick-and-mortar shops were shuttered and international flights grounded.
To appease the luxury connoisseurs in China, multiple luxury brands have launched flagship online stores on Tmall — an online marketplace by the Alibaba Group. Among its partners are Balenciaga and Michael Kors.
Spicing up the competition for Tmall is JD.com. According to JD.com, over 20 luxury brands have partnered up with its platform since January.
And, oh, that’s not all.
To class up the online shopping experience, JD sends out its orders with couriers donning formal attire and white gloves. And, lest you’re worried about the environment, they also deliver the products in electric cars.
But, with the country rapidly reopening, will customers opt for the colder but safer online shopping or will they prefer heading back to brick-and-mortar stores? For now, it is anybody’s guess.
🇰🇷 Tesla Takes South Korea By Storm
Tesla’s popularity has skyrocketed among well-to-do young professionals in South Korea. So much so that the automaker hit a record-high in June — it sold 2,827 vehicles, with the Model 3 accounting for most of the sales.
The US electric carmaker entered the Korean market in 2017. But, Tesla-fever only hit after the launch of Model 3 last August. The other models sold in Korea are Model S (starting price of 111 million won) and Model X (starting price of 119 million won).
Once overlooked due to the lack of electric vehicle incentives, Model 3 has clawed and climbed its way to the country’s no. 2 imported vehicle spot. Only the heavyweight Mercedes E-Class lands ahead of it in the top spot.
Thankfully, there’s no literal queuing necessary for a Tesla, but with 4,000 to 5,000 customers on the backlog, the carmaker seems to be banking on the power of delayed gratification.
So, who (or what) to thank for Tesla’s sudden popularity in South Korea? Well, we are guessing it’s something to do with South Korea’s new, more-than-generous subsidies of 12.43 million won (USD$10,380) for the Model 3. The subsidies bring the car’s price down to less than 32 million won (USD$26,000).
This is a significantly more affordable figure considering that the average take-home annual salary in South Korea is a tad bit above 51 million won (USD$43,000).
Of course, Tesla’s free advertising by popular South Korean heartthrob Yoo Ah-in — who has the audacity to drive his Tesla to grocery stores — certainly doesn’t hurt either.
🍿 The Bite-sized Pieces 🍿
Hugo Boss, undeterred by the pandemic, looks to expand its online reach in Asia Pacific.
Alibaba’s Southeast Asia e-commerce platform, Lazada, appoints Chun Li as new group CEO.
Havaianas to expand its footprint in Asia with a $50 million investment.
Jerasia, which operates Mango outlets in Malaysia, is venturing into the production of personal protection equipment (PPE) for local and export markets.
Topshop will permanently close its last (flagship) shop in Hong Kong come October, the latest of foreign retailers drove out by the coronavirus-caused dwindling sales.
🛍️ #Add2Cart #NotSponsored #JustSharing 🛍️
ETTE TEA COMPANY® is a Singapore-based tea company and we are in love with their eclectic blends. Our personal favourites include Lychee Konnyaku and Strawberry Ispahan. Still in two minds about trying their peanut butter tea though. Hit us up in the comments section if you think we should go for it!
The Crispy Crew would like to thank you for dropping by and reading all the way to end! Even if you just scrolled all the way down without reading, we appreciate you all the same.
We’d love to know more about you - your thoughts on the stories we’ve covered, what you want to read next and whether you’ve ever ridden in a Tesla. Tell us all about it at thecrisp@substack.com, until then crunch on!