We recently caught up with Alvin Lee, founder and managing director of Singapore’s leading offline-to-online (O2O) retail platform, Audio House, to get his thoughts on his career and leadership skills. Inside Retail: Tell me about your career journey. How did you get into the industry, what are some of the different roles you’ve held along the way?  Alvin Lee: I started selling audio products when I was 16 years old. I started my journey as an entrepreneur at 23, co-founding Audio House (then known as T&K) with my younger brother.  From the outset, we poured our hearts and souls ..read more

April retail sales in Hong Kong plunged 14.7 per cent year on year, an ominous figure following March’s 7 per cent decline.  A government spokesman said the decline was in part due to the Easter holidays, which amplified the effects of the changing consumption patterns of residents, with a large number making outbound trips during the holidays.  “This not only affected their local consumption during their time away but also could have reduced consumption in the days before and after the trips,” he said.  “Besides, the unstable weather conditions in April this year, with higher-t ..read more

Luxury shoe retailer Golden Goose has opened its first physical store in Thailand’s Bangkok, at the EmQuartier shopping mall.  The store, spanning 200sqm, is designed with lights running through the ceiling and bare concrete walls and flooring. The store offers a full line of Golden Goose products as well as a service called “Co-Creation,” which allows customers to personalise their items.  Golden Goose has also expanded into the F&B category, opening a coffee shop called Younique next to its Bangkok store.  The Golden Goose’s coffee brand will reportedly expand into other r ..read more

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail‘s net loss worsened despite higher revenue in the fiscal year ended March 31. The Indian conglomerate’s full-year net loss stood at 7.36 billion rupees (US$88.3 million) while revenue rose 12.7 per cent to 139.96 billion rupees. The company saw annual revenue growth across all its Madura Fashion and Lifestyle, Pantaloons, and Ethnic and Other segments. During the fiscal year, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail acquired a 51 per cent stake in Styleverse Lifestyle. It also acquired an additional stake in Indivinity Clothing Retail, taking the total stake to 85.54 per ..read more

Abercrombie & Fitch has posted its best first-quarter sales in its history with double-digit year-on-year growth, largely thanks to the company’s transformation strategy. Net sales for the three months ended May 4 surged 22 per cent to $1 billion, with comparable sales up 21 per cent. With the “extraordinary results”, the company is currently one of the best performers in the retail market, commented Neil Saunders, MD of GlobalData. The analyst attributed this to the years of hard work to reengineer the brand and to connect with modern consumers. “Enacting a 180-degree turn is extremely di ..read more

Total global online retail sales are expected to grow from US$4.4 trillion in 2023 to $6.8 trillion by 2028, a report by research and advisory firm Forrester shows. Online retail sales will record a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.9 per cent during the five-year period, according to the Global Retail E-Commerce Forecast report, which covers data in 40 countries globally. Despite the growth, 76 per cent of global retail sales will still occur offline in 2028, which Forrester says reflects the importance of omnichannel strategies for retailers. In Asia-Pacific, online retail sales for th ..read more

In an era where the allure of fast fashion’s affordability and accessibility seems irresistible, Vestiaire Collective, the world’s leading platform for pre-loved luxury fashion, is challenging this notion with compelling new research.  The recently unveiled report titled “Exposing the True Cost of Fast Fashion” sheds light on the hidden financial and environmental costs associated with the fast fashion industry.  Some of the key findings of the report state that pre-loved curated fashion coats are worn four times more on average vs new fast fashion coats. This results in a cost-per-w ..read more

“Reebok sort of stagnated in the late ’90s,” Joe Foster, Reebok’s founder, previously told Inside Retail, but clever collaborations and an irreverent business strategy are priming the brand for its best performance yet. Tapping into sub-cultures is how Reebok plans to avoid returning to its “stagnated” ’90s state. Ironically, a part of Reebok’s resurgence strategy is the reimagining of its Beatnik slide — originally introduced in the ’90s. Collaborating with brands at the forefront of fashion, innovation and craftsmanship like, Japanese clothing label Needles, is how Reebok aims ..read more

On Wednesday, Abercrombie & Fitch Co reported a 22.1 per cent year-over-year increase in net sales in Q1, to just over US$1 billion, marking the best first quarter in the company’s history. Net income rose six times over to hit US$115.1 million, with gross margin expanding by 540 basis points to hit 66.4 per cent.  The results are impressive considering less than 10 years ago, in 2016, the company’s namesake brand, Abercrombie & Fitch, was ranked as one of the most hated retailers in the US by the American Customer Satisfaction Index. At the time, Abercrombie & Fitch was still ..read more

McDonald’s Japan has selected Thomas Ko as its next president, succeeding Sarah Casanova.  Ko is currently a director of McDonald’s Japan and has previously held leadership positions in the company. He joined McDonald’s in 2010 as director of consumer strategy for the Asia-Pacific, Middle East, and Africa regions. He then worked in senior positions at McDonald’s in South Korea and Portugal. According to Nikkei Asia, the new president will succeed Tamotsu Hiiro, who will become chairman of McDonald’s Japan.  Last month, former president Sarah Casanova resigned as chairperson of both t ..read more