FROM THE DESK OF DEBORAH WEINSWIG

BirdEye offers a next-generation business reputation and customer experience platform based on a new perspective on how customer feedback is used to acquire and retain connected customers. The platform allows businesses a comprehensive view of what their customers are saying across all channels: review sites, social media, net promoter score surveys and support cases.

Bringsy offers same-day delivery for businesses. The company connects businesses to its network of existing professional courier companies by means of an adaptive API and scalable platform that works with any point-of-sale software.

Everfave offers a mobile-based customer platform for physical stores, brands and retailers. The mobile app enables users to patronize the places and services that their friends like while keeping a list of their own favorites and earning rewards at those locations.

FoldiMate offers a robotic clothes-folding machine that relies on patented 3D technology that the company claims is unlike anything currently available. The folding machine is compact and affordable for most households.

Inmoji offers “powered” clickable icons that enable users to share their favorite brands, products and experiences directly within messaging apps. Users can simply tap an Inmoji to access content without ever leaving the app they are using. The platform offers an innovative software development kit that creates new revenue opportunities for messaging applications while building relationships between people and brands.

OmniLync offers friction-free access to full-basket point-of-sale data, removing a major barrier to adopting digital marketing solutions. Its patented approach will be sold through partners who provide loyalty and shopper marketing applications. Revenue will be generated from the sale of merchant data to data buyers, researchers and big-data analytics vendors.

ZippyApp is a recruitment marketplace for hourly jobs. Job seekers fill out a common employment application and can apply for any job with just a few clicks or by scanning a QR code at the location. The company has a wide distribution network and algorithms that enable employers to rank and select applicants efficiently.

• The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the eurozone decreased slightly in December 2015, to 10.4%, from 10.5% in November. This was the lowest rate recorded since September 2011 and beat the expected rate of 10.5%.
• The overall numbers continue to mask big disparities. While Germany’s unemployment rate stands at 4.5%, according to Eurostat, the rate in both Greece and Spain remains above 20%. The youth (those under age 25) unemployment rate in the eurozone was 22% in December. This was lower than the 23% recorded a year earlier, but still quite high.
• The European Central Bank (ECB) forecasts that eurozone unemployment will average 10.5% in 2016 before dropping to 10.1% in 2017. ECB President Mario Draghi said in January that the governing council will review its stimulus policies in March, as collapsing oil prices risk pushing the region’s inflation rate back to zero.

US RETAIL EARNINGS

Source: Company reports

US RETAIL HEADLINES

Tablets Had a Bad Year

• Tablets had a rough 2015, according to the latest numbers from IDC and Strategy Analytics. The tablet market was down by as much as 10.1%, with an estimated 206.8 million tablets shipped last year, says IDC, versus 230.1 million in 2014.
• Things are a bit better (but still not great) according to Strategy Analytics’ numbers, which say 224.3 million tablets were shipped in 2015 compared to 242.2 million in 2014—a decline of 8.1%. Both firms agreed on who the biggest losers were in terms of overall sales. IDC says ASUS saw a 39.9% decline in sales in 2015, while iPad maker Apple saw a drop of 21.8% and Samsung a drop of 16.1%.

Frye Refreshes Image, Anticipates Lifestyle Push

• Frye CEO Adrienne Lazarus hired creative agency Wednesday Group to redesign the company’s logo with a new tagline, “The original craftsmen of American footwear.” The logo launched this week, and new packaging is set for fall. The spring campaign was shot by Lachlan Bailey and styled by Melanie Ward.
• The updated branding comes on the heels of a retail expansion last year, when the company opened three new stores (in Atlanta, Long Island and Washington, DC), for a total of eight freestanding stores. There are three more stores planned for 2016, in Austin, San Francisco and Nashville.

Time Inc.’s New Beauty Site Is an E-Commerce and Data Play

• Time’s beauty-related publications have joined forces on a new beauty product recommendation site. Powder, which launched Tuesday, provides recommendations for beauty products and articles based on readers’ needs.
• In a bid for personalization, users are asked to answer a few questions in a number of beauty categories. The site then offers products and content, drawing on the wisdom of Time’s beauty editors from Marie Claire, InStyle and Woman&Home, among other publications. When users click through to the product pages, they are linked to the retailer’s page. At launch, only L’Oréal had been named as a brand partner.

Apple Stores Are No Longer the Star of the American Mall

• The Apple Store might be losing its place as the king of the American mall, according to a mall operator whose properties house 46 of Apple’s 268 US stores. “We experienced sales increases throughout the country,” General Growth Properties CEO Sandeep Mathrani said on an earnings call. “Nearly every major retail category was up, with the exception of electronics, primarily due to Apple.”
• General Growth Properties said that sales at its tenants with stores smaller than 10,000 square feet (a metric that strips out department stores) grew by 3%, to $588 per square foot over the last year. Excluding Apple, sales for that group grew by 4.5%, Mathrani said.

EUROPE RETAIL EARNINGS

Source: Company reports

EUROPE RETAIL HEADLINES

Sainsbury’s Agrees to Buy Home Retail Group for £1.3 Billion (US$1.9 Billion)

• British supermarket Sainsbury’s has agreed to buy Argos owner Home Retail Group for approximately £1.3 billion (US$1.9 billion). Under the terms of the offer, Home Retail Group shareholders will receive 0.321 new Sainsbury’s shares and 55 pence (79 cents) in cash per Home Retail Group share.
• Once the deal is completed, Home Retail Group shareholders will own nearly 12% of the combined group shares. Sainsbury’s expects to unlock £120 million (US$172 million) in annual savings over the next three years, but nearly £140 million (US$200 million) will be spent on one-off exceptional costs, and the company will also incur an equivalent amount in capital expenditure.

Boots UK to Lay Off Up to 350 Store Management Staff

• Boots, the UK’s leading health, drug and beauty retailer, has announced that it is beginning formal consultations and negotiations with assistant store managers in its larger stores. As part of its three-year strategy to simplify its business, Boots expects to make about 300 to 350 posts redundant.
• The retailer stated that it will adopt a new, multiskilled advisor model that will help staff better address customer needs. Those selling its No7 cosmetics brand will receive special training to impart personal advice to customers in up to 200 extra Boots stores. Contact center management company Teleperformance will help Boots run its customer support hubs.

Coolblue to Deliver Home Appliances in the Netherlands

• Coolblue, one of the largest online retailers in the Benelux area, has announced that it will expand its own “CoolblueBezorgt” home appliance delivery service across the Netherlands.
• Until recently, “last mile delivery,” or the transit of the package to a customer’s doorstep, was delegated to a third-party delivery service. By expanding its service, the retailer intends to widen its control over the logistics and delivery process, and so increase customer satisfaction.

Carrefour and Intermarché Launch Connected-Home Product Scanners

• In the week beginning February 8, French retailer Carrefour will launch its connected-home scanner, called Pikit. At the same time, French supermarket Intermarché will launch its own device, called Api.
• Pikit is priced at €59.90 (US$65.05) and allows customers to buy products online by simply scanning the barcodes with the device. Pikit can also be activated by voice and works with Carrefour’s existing mobile apps and website. Intermarché’s device, however, works only with its own app. Reportedly, several other retailers in France also intend to launch such scanners soon.

Lidl Follows ASDA’s Suit, Says All Bananas Will Be Bought from Sustainable Sources

• Discount grocer Lidl this week said that, by the end of 2016, all the bananas it sells will come from 100% sustainable sources. This follows ASDA’s announcement in November 2015 that all of its bananas would be sourced from sustainable farms.
• Lidl will only source bananas from farms that are certified by the Rainforest Alliance or the Fairtrade Foundation—NGOs that guarantee socially and environmentally conscious production practices. This follows Lidl’s decision to ensure that coffee for its deluxe range is also sourced from farms certified by the NGOs.

ASIA TECH HEADLINES

South Korea Outlines Hopeful “Creative Economy” Plan for 2016

• South Korea will increase government support to businesses this year, with an eye on innovative startups in a slew of high-tech fields, including 5G telecommunications, the IoT, cloud computing and biotechnology.
• The science ministry singled out six fields for South Korea as particularly strategic: the IoT, biotech, 5G, cloud, big data and artificial intelligence. It is also keen to support cultural content technologies, such as virtual reality for games and ScreenX, which projects footage on an immersive, 270-degree movie screen.

Fitbit Remains King, as Fitness Tracker Spending Doubles

• The NDP Group reports that sales of fitness trackers have doubled in a year, reaching $1.46 billion in 2015, up from $692 million the previous year. Fitbit remained the top fitness tracker brand in 2015, accounting for 79% of sales.
• The Apple Watch has not put as much of a damper on fitness tracker sales as expected. People likely became more aware of smartwatches thanks to the Apple Watch, but found fitness trackers to be a cheaper, better entry-level option than a $350 smartwatch.

Sequoia-Backed KFit Scores $12 Million in Series A for Further Expansion

• Kuala Lumpur–based KFit, which offers unlimited access to gym and fitness classes in the region, announced that it has raised $12 million in series A funding. The round was led by Venturra Capital, with participation from Susquehanna International Group and Axiata Digital Innovation Fund.
• Founded by Joel Neoh, former head of Groupon Asia-Pacific, KFit offers access to multiple gym and fitness options for a fixed fee, a business model similar to ClassPass in the US. The company is present in several countries in Asia, including Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea and the Philippines.

Singapore’s OCBC Bank Joins Fintech Boom with Startup Incubator

• Singapore’s OCBC Bank announced its new fintech “innovation center,” called The Open Vault at OCBC. It aims to find fintech startups and help them make products and services that the bank can add to its digital banking arsenal or bring to the market.
• The Open Vault is interested in five areas: wealth management, credit and financing, insurance, cyber security, and artificial intelligence, particularly with regard to data analysis and automated advisory services.

Website UI Design Marketplace and Optimization Platform Kaizen Raises $8 Million

• Kaizen, a user-interface design marketplace, raised $8 million in a series B round. Participants include new investors YJ Capital (the venture arm of Yahoo Japan), NTT Docomo Ventures, Saison Ventures KK and COLOPL, as well as returning investors Eight Roads Ventures Japan, GREE Ventures and GMO Venture Partners.
• Founder and CEO Kenji Sudo created Kaizen to help companies save money and streamline the A/B testing process. The company’s platform lets clients present a project to over 2,900 user-interface designers. Revenue is split between Kaizen and all the designers whose proposals were picked for the testing round.

LATAM RETAIL HEADLINES

Starbucks to Expand in Trinidad and Tobago

• Starbucks plans to open a store in Trinidad and Tobago in 2016, marking its 16th market in the Caribbean and Latin American region and fifth market in the Caribbean. Future stores in Trinidad and Tobago will be exclusively owned and operated by restaurant management company Prestige Holdings, which operates the KFC, Pizza Hut, TGI Friday’s and Subway restaurants in 112 locations.
• Starbucks operates more than 940 stores in 15 markets in the region, including 33 stores in Aruba, the Bahamas, Curaçao and Puerto Rico. Currently, 14 stores in the region are operated by licensing partners.

Cencosud Plans to Invest US$2.5 Billion over Five Years

• Cencosud announced its investment plans for the next five years, during which it expects to grow by about 15% per year. Investments will be funded by cash flow. For 2016, it expects revenues of $16 billion and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 7.2%–7.4%, i.e., EBITDA of about $1.2 billion.
• At the same time, the company continues to work on publicly listing shares of its shopping center unit and divesting its noncore assets, as well as improving its leverage and liquidity ratios and reducing foreign currency exposure.

Magazine Luiza CEO Sees 2016 as Challenging, Slashes Expenses

• Magazine Luiza CEO Frederico Trajano stated that the Brazilian retailing sector contracted by 15% in 2015, alongside a decline of 3.7% in GDP, and that 2016 is expected to show similar declines. Trajano hired consulting firm Galeazzi to help create a zero-budget model that called for restructuring the company’s administrative structure and general expenses.
• Management is not implementing job cuts; rather, it has instituted a hiring freeze in an industry that Trajano claims has 30% annual job turnover.

Soriana Begins Process of Selling 12 Stores

• Self-service chain-store owner Soriana has formally begun the process of selling and divesting assets from 12 stores it acquired from Controladora Comercial Mexicana (CCM). On January 7, Soriana completed the purchase of the shares of CCM.
• The sale is open to competitors and other retail operators, real estate developers, investment funds, and other persons and entities of interest.

BRMALLS Reports Preliminary 4Q15 Results

• BRMALLS’ total sales for the year were US$5.7 billion (BRL $22.5 billion), up 3.2%, and 4Q15 sales were US$1.8 billion (BRL $6.9 billion), up 0.3% year over year (figures exclude share sales). Same-store sales increased by 3.0% in the year and by 0.9% in 4Q15, reflecting the deterioration of the macroeconomic backdrop as well as a difficult comparison. Total sales were adversely affected by the poor performance of consumer electronics.
• Throughout the year, the leisure segment outperformed other segments, mainly due to the success of new films released and changes in shopping concepts, as malls are increasingly recognized as a destination for entertainment as well as shopping.