South China Morning Post –04 Mar
Stelux in sight of China turnaround on Boyu vision
Stelux Holdings, a Hong Kong-based retailer of mid-priced spectacles and watches, said its co-operation with the private equity firm Boyu Capital creates operating synergies that will help it to turn around its China business within three years, aided by online sales and relocation to second-tier cities.
Joseph Wong, chairman and chief executive of Stelux, which operates the Optical 88 and City Chain stores, said: “Boyu Capital offers industry expertise and seasoned managers in the competitive middle-class industry on the mainland, creating more synergies than its investment in our company.”
Boyu Capital, a private equity firm specialising in China investment founded by former Ping An president Louis Cheung and Mary Ma, invested in the retailer through a subscription for HK$371 million of convertible bonds in November.
Stelux appointed Ma, a former chief financial officer at Lenovo and executive at US-based Texas Pacific Group, and Boyu’s Alex Wongas non-executive directors responsible for its expansion plan on the mainland. Joseph Wong said he believed that Ma and Alex Wong would control costs with the aim of breaking even in the financial year 2015.
Joseph Wong, 52, who took the helm at Stelux in October 2011, said the two parties had been in private discussion since April last year and subsequently appointed an external consulting firm to lay out new strategy in China, where it will roll out an online shopping site in September this year, and shift its retail network into second-tier cities.
Stelux in sight of China turnaround on Boyu vision
Stelux Holdings, a Hong Kong-based retailer of mid-priced spectacles and watches, said its co-operation with the private equity firm Boyu Capital creates operating synergies that will help it to turn around its China business within three years, aided by online sales and relocation to second-tier cities.
Joseph Wong, chairman and chief executive of Stelux, which operates the Optical 88 and City Chain stores, said: “Boyu Capital offers industry expertise and seasoned managers in the competitive middle-class industry on the mainland, creating more synergies than its investment in our company.”
Boyu Capital, a private equity firm specialising in China investment founded by former Ping An president Louis Cheung and Mary Ma, invested in the retailer through a subscription for HK$371 million of convertible bonds in November.
Stelux appointed Ma, a former chief financial officer at Lenovo and executive at US-based Texas Pacific Group, and Boyu’s Alex Wongas non-executive directors responsible for its expansion plan on the mainland. Joseph Wong said he believed that Ma and Alex Wong would control costs with the aim of breaking even in the financial year 2015.
Joseph Wong, 52, who took the helm at Stelux in October 2011, said the two parties had been in private discussion since April last year and subsequently appointed an external consulting firm to lay out new strategy in China, where it will roll out an online shopping site in September this year, and shift its retail network into second-tier cities.
“Boyu has introduced a veteran manager who has extensive knowledge in e-commerce retail sales of electronic goods and apparels,” said Wong, who highlighted the fact that Boyu is one of the major stakeholders in China’s largest e-commerce firm, Alibaba, suggesting that the Hong Kong retailer had therefore found an ideal partner for its China venture.
The increasing usage of the internet by shoppers has revived bargain online stores such as Taobao.com, a popular e-commerce marketplace owned by Alibaba, a fast-growing internet giant founded by Jack Ma Yun, the 48-year-old godfather of the Chinese internet.
Online retail sales in China are expected to triple to more than US$360 billion by 2015, powered both by a growing number of internet users and greater consumer acceptance of e-commerce, Boston Consulting Group said in a note last year.
Wong said to avoid cannibalisation between physical stores and online sales, the two would offer different products andprices, with exclusive products only available online.
Hong Kong Daily News –04 Mar
Online shopping becomes a key trend in Mainland China
中國網購已成大勢
現在中國有不少地方比香港及其他西方國家更先進，網購便是其中一例。
很多香港人根本沒有試過網購或者對此甚感懷疑，因為沒有看過實物，只憑網上的印像去購物，怎會有安全感呢？在下在沒有了解網購之前也有同樣的看法，而且絕不相信網購可以取代到商店購物的習慣。最近，在下到內地策劃電視製作，認識了一群年輕的朋友，在他們的提點之下嚐試網購，才不得不服，而且可以肯定，網購必然會成為購物的趨勢。
首先，很多人認為網購不安全。錯，因為現在中國出現了很多組織嚴密，效率超快的購物網，只要不光顧沒有信譽的商家，基本上是不會出問題的，舉個例子來說，你可以選擇貨到付款，如貨不對辦可以拒絕收貨，即使對貨物不滿，也可以退換甚至退款，在下曾試過兩次退款，由打電話到錢退回銀行戶口用不上二十四小時。
第二，有人認為網購對貨物了解不多，不如到商店去選購。這也是錯的，因為，商店根本不可能提供太多的選擇，在下曾在網上購買一輛電動自行車，如果去商店買，大不了可以提供十種八種款式，但網購可以提供數百種不同款式和最好的價錢，而且詳細的照片、影片和說明，細膩到連
車燈及傳動系統的詳情也巨細無遺，這是在商店看實物也無法比擬的，再說，賣家非常重視他們的商譽，因為只要你發一條劣評上網，他們就完蛋了，所以售後服務也相當好。
總而言之，中國的網購已經成熟，相信很快就會流行，香港地少人多，舖租太貴，相信網購將會是香港的發展方向，更可能會挽救香港的經濟。
特區政府應該在這方面多作研究。
China Daily Hong Kong Edition –04 Mar
Online advertising surges to $11.7 billion
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2013-03/04/content_16271725.htm
E-commerce companies become the ‘most favoriate’ platforms for ads
The turnover of China’s online advertising market hit 73.1 billion yuan ($11.7 billion) last year, a jump of 48.4 percent compared with 2011, said an Analysys International report. Online search and electronic-commerce were the biggest contributors.
Internet search engines remained the major profit driver throughout the industry last year but, with the growth rate of Chinese people going online for the first time slowing, online search providers encountered difficulties transferring eyeballs into profits, said the report.Baidu Inc, the provider of the country’s most used search engine, took about 80 percent of the market share in terms of revenue last year, followed a long way behind by Google Inc and Sougou.com, said a separate Analysys International report. Both Google and Sougou took less than 20 percent of the total revenues in the search sector.
Baidu earned more than 22 billion yuan in advertising revenue last year, making it the country’s most profitable online advertising platform. Google registered 17.2 billion yuan in advertising revenue during the same period.
Although Baidu was able to dominate the Internet search market in China, it is still worth noting the mounting threat from search engines specializing in the mobile Internet sector, analysts said.
Mobile Internet companies have become strong competitors in splitting traffic among traditional Web firms,said the report. Mobile Internet —as an emerging business —proved to be weak in monetizing the growing traffic.
The e-commerce sector was another major advertising platform in the industry.
Because of robust traffic to websites such as taobao.com and tmall.com, e-commerce companies became the “most favorite” platforms for advertisements, said Beijing-based consultancy iResearch Inc.
Taobao.com, the largest customer-to-customer retail website in the nation, registered more than 17 billion yuan in advertising revenue, making itself the second biggest online advertising platform after Baidu.
Data from China Internet Network Information Center showed that of the 564 million Internet population in China, about 400 million were online buyers.
Research from iResearch indicated e-commerce may contribute more revenue to the online advertising business. Roughly one-third of Internet-based advertising turnover will be generated by e-commerce companies by 2016, making the sector the biggest marketingplatform.
The top position is currently dominated by search companies.
Advertisers started to pay more attention to the online video sector as more people started to use the Web to watch video content, according to the report.
The total revenue of the nation’s online video market hit 9.25 billion yuan in 2012 with advertising revenue taking nearly 73 percent, iResearch estimated.
The company projected the market could be worth more than 33 billion yuan by 2016 and advertising income will take about70 percent of the total revenue.
In the third quarter of last year, Youku.com, a video platform operated by Youku Tudou Inc, took more than 21 percent of the market measured by revenues, said Analysys International. Second-placed Iqiyi.com enjoyed 10.3 percent of the markets and Sohu.com ranked third with 10 percent.
However, most of China’s Internet video websites are losing money, largely because of increasing operational costs and stiff industry competition.
Tencent Holdings Ltd, the country’s No 1 Internet giant, pledged to spend more on content this year, including purchasing copyrights and making its own programs. The Shenzhen-based company expects to make a profit in a year or two despite its video arm only taking 6.5 percent of the market share in terms of revenue.
“The advertising price for China’s online video sector is set to increase as more advertisers realize it is a strong platform for brand promotion because the video websites are able to reach as many as 450 million viewers in total,” said Yan Huawen, an analyst with iResearch.
“Because there are more people watching online videos than using search engines, video became the nation’s No 1 Web service last year. The earnings outlook will become optimistic in 2013,” Yan added.
In addition, researchers found large portal sites will find it increasingly difficult to lure advertisers.
Portals such as Souhu.com and Sina.com earned around 2.5 billion yuan respectively from advertisers last year, farbehind search engines and e-commerce platforms, according to the iResearch report.
Portal sites contributed 13 percent of the total Internet marketing revenues in 2012, but the proportion is likely to drop to less than 9 percent by 2016, it estimated.
The increasing usage of the internet by shoppers has revived bargain online stores such as Taobao.com, a popular e-commerce marketplace owned by Alibaba, a fast-growing internet giant founded by Jack Ma Yun, the 48-year-old godfather of the Chinese internet.
Online retail sales in China are expected to triple to more than US$360 billion by 2015, powered both by a growing number of internet users and greater consumer acceptance of e-commerce, Boston Consulting Group said in a note last year.
Wong said to avoid cannibalisation between physical stores and online sales, the two would offer different products andprices, with exclusive products only available online.
Hong Kong Daily News –04 Mar
Online shopping becomes a key trend in Mainland China
中國網購已成大勢
現在中國有不少地方比香港及其他西方國家更先進，網購便是其中一例。
很多香港人根本沒有試過網購或者對此甚感懷疑，因為沒有看過實物，只憑網上的印像去購物，怎會有安全感呢？在下在沒有了解網購之前也有同樣的看法，而且絕不相信網購可以取代到商店購物的習慣。最近，在下到內地策劃電視製作，認識了一群年輕的朋友，在他們的提點之下嚐試網購，才不得不服，而且可以肯定，網購必然會成為購物的趨勢。
首先，很多人認為網購不安全。錯，因為現在中國出現了很多組織嚴密，效率超快的購物網，只要不光顧沒有信譽的商家，基本上是不會出問題的，舉個例子來說，你可以選擇貨到付款，如貨不對辦可以拒絕收貨，即使對貨物不滿，也可以退換甚至退款，在下曾試過兩次退款，由打電話到錢退回銀行戶口用不上二十四小時。
第二，有人認為網購對貨物了解不多，不如到商店去選購。這也是錯的，因為，商店根本不可能提供太多的選擇，在下曾在網上購買一輛電動自行車，如果去商店買，大不了可以提供十種八種款式，但網購可以提供數百種不同款式和最好的價錢，而且詳細的照片、影片和說明，細膩到連
車燈及傳動系統的詳情也巨細無遺，這是在商店看實物也無法比擬的，再說，賣家非常重視他們的商譽，因為只要你發一條劣評上網，他們就完蛋了，所以售後服務也相當好。
總而言之，中國的網購已經成熟，相信很快就會流行，香港地少人多，舖租太貴，相信網購將會是香港的發展方向，更可能會挽救香港的經濟。
特區政府應該在這方面多作研究。
China Daily Hong Kong Edition –04 Mar
Online advertising surges to $11.7 billion
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2013-03/04/content_16271725.htm
E-commerce companies become the ‘most favoriate’ platforms for ads
The turnover of China’s online advertising market hit 73.1 billion yuan ($11.7 billion) last year, a jump of 48.4 percent compared with 2011, said an Analysys International report. Online search and electronic-commerce were the biggest contributors.
Internet search engines remained the major profit driver throughout the industry last year but, with the growth rate of Chinese people going online for the first time slowing, online search providers encountered difficulties transferring eyeballs into profits, said the report.Baidu Inc, the provider of the country’s most used search engine, took about 80 percent of the market share in terms of revenue last year, followed a long way behind by Google Inc and Sougou.com, said a separate Analysys International report. Both Google and Sougou took less than 20 percent of the total revenues in the search sector.
Baidu earned more than 22 billion yuan in advertising revenue last year, making it the country’s most profitable online advertising platform. Google registered 17.2 billion yuan in advertising revenue during the same period.
Although Baidu was able to dominate the Internet search market in China, it is still worth noting the mounting threat from search engines specializing in the mobile Internet sector, analysts said.
Mobile Internet companies have become strong competitors in splitting traffic among traditional Web firms,said the report. Mobile Internet —as an emerging business —proved to be weak in monetizing the growing traffic.
The e-commerce sector was another major advertising platform in the industry.
Because of robust traffic to websites such as taobao.com and tmall.com, e-commerce companies became the “most favorite” platforms for advertisements, said Beijing-based consultancy iResearch Inc.
Taobao.com, the largest customer-to-customer retail website in the nation, registered more than 17 billion yuan in advertising revenue, making itself the second biggest online advertising platform after Baidu.
Data from China Internet Network Information Center showed that of the 564 million Internet population in China, about 400 million were online buyers.
Research from iResearch indicated e-commerce may contribute more revenue to the online advertising business. Roughly one-third of Internet-based advertising turnover will be generated by e-commerce companies by 2016, making the sector the biggest marketingplatform.
The top position is currently dominated by search companies.
Advertisers started to pay more attention to the online video sector as more people started to use the Web to watch video content, according to the report.
The total revenue of the nation’s online video market hit 9.25 billion yuan in 2012 with advertising revenue taking nearly 73 percent, iResearch estimated.
The company projected the market could be worth more than 33 billion yuan by 2016 and advertising income will take about70 percent of the total revenue.
In the third quarter of last year, Youku.com, a video platform operated by Youku Tudou Inc, took more than 21 percent of the market measured by revenues, said Analysys International. Second-placed Iqiyi.com enjoyed 10.3 percent of the markets and Sohu.com ranked third with 10 percent.
However, most of China’s Internet video websites are losing money, largely because of increasing operational costs and stiff industry competition.
Tencent Holdings Ltd, the country’s No 1 Internet giant, pledged to spend more on content this year, including purchasing copyrights and making its own programs. The Shenzhen-based company expects to make a profit in a year or two despite its video arm only taking 6.5 percent of the market share in terms of revenue.
“The advertising price for China’s online video sector is set to increase as more advertisers realize it is a strong platform for brand promotion because the video websites are able to reach as many as 450 million viewers in total,” said Yan Huawen, an analyst with iResearch.
“Because there are more people watching online videos than using search engines, video became the nation’s No 1 Web service last year. The earnings outlook will become optimistic in 2013,” Yan added.
In addition, researchers found large portal sites will find it increasingly difficult to lure advertisers.
Portals such as Souhu.com and Sina.com earned around 2.5 billion yuan respectively from advertisers last year, farbehind search engines and e-commerce platforms, according to the iResearch report.
Portal sites contributed 13 percent of the total Internet marketing revenues in 2012, but the proportion is likely to drop to less than 9 percent by 2016, it estimated.
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