Latest news with #Mun
RTHK
05-07-2025
- Climate
- RTHK
Chinese Embassy in Japan warns against disasters
Chinese Embassy in Japan warns against disasters Residents and visitors have been evacuated from an island in Kagoshima prefecture. File photo: Reuters The Chinese Embassy in Japan on Friday issued a notice to remind Chinese citizens in the country to be vigilant against natural disasters as earthquakes have frequently jolted southwestern Japan. The Tokara island chain region in the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima has been hit by over 1,000 felt earthquakes since June 21, with a strong quake measuring in the lower 6 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 logged on Thursday, according to a local meteorological observatory. Heightened seismic activities have prompted Japanese authorities to urge residents of Akusekijima, part of the Tokara island chain, to be prepared to evacuate at any time. On Friday, 13 residents evacuated the village of Toshima on Akusekijima and arrived at Kagoshima Port by ship, local media reported. The embassy also warns of Typhoon Mun, which is expected to move northward over the sea east of Japan, as well as scorching temperatures, which are expected to persist across Japan until September. The embassy reminds Chinese nationals residing in Japan and tourists visiting Japan to strengthen their awareness of natural disaster prevention, pay close attention to earthquake updates, weather warnings and disaster prevention information, and evacuate to safe areas as soon as possible when necessary. (Xinhua)
Yomiuri Shimbun
03-07-2025
- Climate
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Typhoon Mun Forms near Ogasawara Islands; Moving Northward over Sea East of Japan
Typhoon Mun, also called Typhoon No. 3, emerged at around 3 a.m. on Thursday near the Ogasawara Islands. The typhoon is expected to move northward over the sea east of Japan. According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, as of 9 a.m. on Thursday, the typhoon is located approximately 300 kilometers east of Chichijima Island, moving northwest at a speed of 10 kilometers per hour. The central pressure is 1,000 hectopascals, with maximum wind speed of 18 meters per second near the center and maximum wind gusts of 25 meters per second.
GMA Network
02-07-2025
- Climate
- GMA Network
PAGASA monitoring tropical storm outside PAR; Southwest Monsoon rains to persist
PAGASA said it continues to monitor Tropical Storm (TS) Mun, which is still outside the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR). Rains, however, will persist in many parts of the country, due to the Southwest Monsoon. TS Mun was last spotted 2,500 kilometers east northeast of extreme Northern Luzon bearing a maximum sustained winds of 65 kilometers per hour and gustiness of up to 80 km/h. It is moving northwestward at 15 km/h. Meanwhile, as of 2 a.m. Thursday, the weather bureau also said that the Low Pressure Area (LPA) inside PAR has a "medium" potential to develop into a tropical depression within the next 24 hours. The LPA will bring cloudy skies with scattered rains and thunderstorms in Ilocos Region, Cordillera Administrative Region, Cagayan Valley, and Aurora. Metro Manila, Pangasinan, Zambales, Bataan, Cavite, Batangas, and Occidental Mindoro will have occasional rains due to the Southwest Monsoon. Western Visayas and the rest of Luzon will experience cloudy skies with scattered rains and thunderstorms as a result of the Southwest Monsoon. The rest of the country will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms. Sunrise is at 5:31 a.m. and sunset is at 6:29 p.m. —LDF, GMA Integrated News
Forbes
27-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Immigration May Stop But Foreign Brands Keep Coming
The exterior of the Chopard mansion that has become the new Lalique store in New York. The U.S. is the largest and most competitive retail market. Success here brings scale and validation in other markets. Especially in Asia, many consumers aspire to own products that are made by popular U.S. brands. America is often the great unlock for worldwide success and brand growth. While many non-U.S. brands have found success here, they're in the minority. For most non-U.S. brands, America is more graveyard than goldmine for their worldwide ambitions. It's a crowded, fast-moving and mercilessly competitive market that's hard to stand out in. It looks a lot easier to succeed here than it really is. But they keep coming because the promise is so great. So it is that three French brands have recently opened (or re-designed) new stores on expensive, prime real estate in New York. Each brings a unique approach and takes a different kind of retail gamble. One is the department store Printemps. Arriving with a big splash and written about extensively (including by me), its reviews are universally positive. Retail expert, advisor and investor Ken Pilot said about it, 'I can't remember the last time I walked into a store and was blown away.' He loves the displays, the merchandising surprises around every corner and the artful consistency of presentation across brands. As Pilot says, 'art, design and shopping converge seamlessly' in the new Printemps store. The other new store by a French brand is Lalique, the legendary French tabletop brand renowned for its crystal glass creations and iconic bottles and vases. Lalique was founded in 1888 in Paris by Rene Lalique and today the brand also includes jewelry and fragrances. The Lalique store is getting a lot less attention than the Printemps store. So let me show it to you. The outside (pictured above) could not be a more elegant New York entrance. It's a mansion owned by the Chopard family that is now leased to Lalique. When you enter there's a stairs (or lift if you're disabled). At least when I was there, a person greets you at the top of the stairs. The entrance to the store. The rear of the first floor. First floor main area. Second floor selling area. Second floor fragrance area The new store was inspired by the Lalique bar at the well-known restaurant Daniel where it allowed high-end customers and collectors of Lalique to see the brand in a new way. James Mun, CEO of Lalique, said previous U.S. Lalique stores were 'very traditional.' But 'we weren't seeing a lot of our collectors and die-hard fans' in the stores and we 'weren't seeing a lot of new next generation' consumers come in either. So Lalique decided to 'revamp the retail experience' to 'educate the next generation of Americans" about Lalique. The new store is right beside stores of the jewelry brand Graff, luxury brand Hermes and leather brand Goyard. Mun says they hope to attract those high-end customers to the Lalique store. Mun says the townhouse allows them to show other products including fragrance and interior designs which Mun says is the company's fastest growing segement. He says the store is more of a 'home environment' and they are 'breathing Lalique life into it.' The Lalique store is gorgeous and it's a pleasure to be in such a beautiful environment. Mun is right to think about how to integrate their online presence with their store. Consumers want brands to speak with one voice and to shop interchangably between online and physical stores. He's also right to think about attracting younger consumers. If Lalique can't do that, their future is a big question mark. But when I consider the potential success of the store, it makes me wonder about a few things: - Will consumers find it? Lalique isn't big enough to have a giant advertising budget and while the Goyard/Hermes/Graff customer base might see it, few other casual passersby will. It can be fun to shop in a beautiful New York mansion but if you don't know it's there it's not worth much. - What makes retail interesting now? The Printemps store is fun to be in. What makes that true is hard to define exactly and it's a little different for each person. Printemps is offering clothing, footwear, fragrance and beauty but above all, food. Every area of the Printemps store has either a bar or restaurant or some offering where shoppers can sit and be part of the environment. And it has action. The merchandise is different from what you'll see almost anywhere else and the food keeps the people inside. All those elements make it more likely that a consumer will buy something. Lalique doesn't have that. Printemps has people that look like you or what you'd like to look like. It feels right as a customer to be in an environment where you feel like you belong. When I was in the Lalique store on a sunny, 70-degree day, there was one other customer on one of the floors. It makes a consumer wonder: why am I alone here? What does everyone else know? You might say that the private, exclusive, rarefied atmosphere is a key to success in luxury. But Hermes and Chanel do pretty well being on some of the most heavily foot-trafficked streets in New York with tons of traffic in-store. If the Lalique store is going to do well, it will take time for people to find out it's there; Lalique can't afford a blowout marketing budget. The store has to work. It will also take adaptation. They're planning events and there's no doubt that will help. But having a store on an expensive piece of real estate that isn't visible to the high-end consumers going by is kinda risky. If you build a store that looks like someone else's, it's not interesting and consumers don't come back. That's what's so interesting about the newly redone Longchamp store on Spring Street in Soho in New York. When you enter, you're looking at what must be one of the most interesting stairs in a public place in New York, here: Stairs at entryway of Longchamp store in Soho, New York And the view from the top of the stairs is just as interesting. It makes you want to walk on it. Top view of the staircase at Longchamp store in Soho, New York The store is on a busy shopping street with lots of pedestrian traffic, the window is inviting and the store is intriguing. But of course the product and the store experience are what will make it succeed or not and here Longchamp acquits itself well. Longchamp store shop floor area in Soho, New York There's no question when you're in the Longchamp store that handbags and small leather goods are the brand's identity, there's no mistaking it. The prices are accessible, you can buy a handbag for well under $200 and it's hard to find one more than $600. The sales staff is well trained, knowledgeable about the product and helpful without being overbearing. They are also keyed in to comment kindly on something about how you look. I was not told what the rent is or how much the improvements cost so I can't say if Longchamp is getting a good return on its investment. But the store works and it's both a great showcase for selling and a fun place to be. I'm not the only one who thinks so. The store is busy and there were many customers even though I was there on a rainy weekday afternoon. There are multiple events and activities going on in the store they'd like to try, like painting photography and refreshments. All three stores, Printemps, Lalique and Longchamp are unique in their own ways. That's important because consumers don't want more sameness. But uniqueness can be risky because American consumers can be fickle and often don't respond the way non-U.S. consumers do. If Printemps and Longchamp keep doing what they're doing it appears that their New York stores will be successful. But the Lalique store is less clear. They need to get more people in the store and the path to doing that is difficult and costly. It's one of the most vexing problems in retail: how do you adapt an established brand that works well abroad to what U.S. consumers want now? If you're successful in your home market, it's easy to believe you'll be successful in the U.S. and that motivates brands to try. But success in America isn't guaranteed by pedigree and it's a big investment to market in the U.S. For foreign brands, the formula requires deep consumer understanding, smart store design and often, a willingness to rehtink legacy. But it's also a big opportunity. And that's why, no matter what happens with immigration, the scale, status and singular challenge of retail success in America will keep the brands coming.
Business Times
22-05-2025
- Business
- Business Times
From Singapore to the world, creating products to solve problems
[SINGAPORE] From making and selling computers in the 1980s to now designing and manufacturing electronics for major brands, Aztech Global has come a long way since its inception in 1986. On the cusp of its 40th anniversary, Aztech has kept to a simple philosophy in deciding which products and sectors it enters. 'When you create a product, you have to solve a problem, because when you encounter a problem, you find a solution,' said Michael Mun, chief executive officer, Aztech Global which won the Enterprise Award at the Singapore Business Awards. With expertise in data communication, Aztech has produced everything from modems to WiFi-enabled cameras to the Powerline products that allow for data transmission over a power line. Powerline in particular has seen much success outside of Singapore, due to older buildings having a lack of an Internet point to connect to. 'Until today, we are still selling this product in European countries; Germany is one of the big markets,' said Mun. In the last 10 years, Aztech has entered into the Internet of Things (IoT) segment, where sensors or devices are connected in a network to share data. The majority of the company's income comes from the IoT segment now, said Mun. GET BT IN YOUR INBOX DAILY Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up VIEW ALL Innovating for a breakthrough The company is not content with the status quo, constantly looking to innovate and find a breakthrough to make a product better. Driven by a lack of solutions, one such product that Aztech branched into was lighting, entering the LED lighting market 15 years ago when options were limited to fluorescent and incandescent lighting. Responding to a potential lighting project for Jurong Town Council, Aztech designed a LED lighting product, which the town council eventually accepted. This led to more LED lighting projects across other town councils. 'We started from Singapore and went international, we sell a lot of LED lighting into Europe and Japan,' said Mun. Part of Aztech's success is its commitment to research and development (R&D). Rather than just purely competing on manufacturing or price, the company competes on its expertise. 'If you are fighting on price, we can never succeed or survive, because it is very competitive. We are almost 40 years old because of R&D, and customers come to us because of our design capability,' said Mun. International markets From its base in Singapore, Aztech has grown to serve international customers, with North America making up the bulk of revenue in 2024 at 79.1 per cent, and Europe taking second place at 15.5 per cent. The company set its sights on international markets early on, during its start as a PC manufacturer, breaking into the old Eastern Bloc markets of Poland, Hungary, Russia and East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall. 'Without going international we won't be where we are today because, realistically, the local market is too small for us,' said Mun. Aztech's research and development efforts are also not confined to Singapore, with R&D centres in Hong Kong and China. Singapore's small labour pool necessitated expansion into other markets to get the right talent to join the company's team. Besides making their own products, Aztech is also active in contract manufacturing and joint design and manufacturing, partnering with customers to design and manufacture their products. In helping customers design and manufacture products, a key question that Aztech asks is what is their target price. This is important as the price point has to be palatable to the eventual end-users for the product to sell. 'Whether you have a market, I think it has to be a price the consumer will be able to accept, because if the price point is not affordable, consumers cannot buy, then there is no point to create the product,' said Mun. Copycats and geopolitics There are challenges that Aztech faced in getting to this point, dealing with copycats and geopolitical tensions. Consumer electronic makers face the issue of seeing a copycat version pop up soon after their products hit the market. Aztech is not afraid of others copying their products, said Mun. Competitors will often buy your products to open up, analyse and see what they can learn. 'You have to continue to invest and expand your R&D capacity so you will be ahead of them, then you will be able to compete,' said Mun. Closer to home Dealing with geopolitical challenges have also led Aztech to move manufacturing closer to home in Malaysia, setting up a manufacturing plant in Pasir Gudang, Johor. This plant is an alternative to Aztech's China plant, and allows for products to be shipped with lower tariffs. The factory in Malaysia is about 300,000 square feet, and has led to the downsizing of the plant in China due to geopolitical tensions. 'In fact today our Malaysia plant contributes almost 80 per cent of our sales,' said Mun. Aztech's DNA still remains in product development, design and manufacturing, with the company continuing to invest in R&D for manufacturing. Automation will be a key focus moving forward, for Aztech's factories, with a combination of artificial intelligence and machines to improve quality checks. Looking to leverage on Aztech's background in electronics and automation, the company will be looking to apply this knowledge back into the two manufacturing plants. 'We develop a lot of things, but we use it inhouse. Eventually we can sell it to our customers too,' said Mun.
