In 2012, Tatsuno India commissioned its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility for the production of petrol and diesel dispensers in addition to other related equipment. The facility is Tatsuno’s largest investment outside Japan and reflects its commitment to the ambitious “Make in India” initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to Arup Chatterjee, Managing Director of Tatsuno India.

“Tatsuno is a research and development-driven company with close to 2,500 patents and registered designs. Our products are renowned for their durability and consistent performance, and our technology sets us apart from the competition. Our tamperproof products have now been proven to be the most secure in India and we are encouraged that our customers and Indian society see the value we deliver,” said Chatterjee.

Recently, Tatsuno has also begun designing more price-competitive products in India by utilizing cutting-edge technology from Japan, which is adapted to the local market. Prestigious clients in India include the National Oil Companies, Shell and Reliance Industries.

In 2013, Reliance Industries invited Tatsuno India to explore opportunities in East Africa. Since then, Tatsuno has grown its business in the region and this year began operations in Nigeria. Tatsuno also supplies dispensers for clean fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas, compressed natural gas and liquefied natural gas; it is also currently working on introducing hydrogen dispensers to the Indian market.

“As a family-owned global business, we are flexible and can move faster than large conglomerates,” said Chatterjee. “While we take small steps, each step allows us to grow in a sustainable manner. Our goal is to continue to grow with the market and be involved in every sphere of automobile fueling in India while developing the brand in Africa.”

www.tatsuno-corporation.com/en/

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The company recently opened its first retail store in Singapore’s famous Takashimaya Shopping Centre on Orchard Road. Today, Meisei & Co.’s flagship store Healthy Port specializes in new product lines imported from Japan. “In Japan, stores such as Healthy Port are relatively common compared with Singapore where such products can only be purchased online,” said Meisei & Co. Managing Director Mike Kataoka.

“We found a niche in the market that we decided to explore and have successfully developed our business.” Japan is addressing issues related to its aging population.

“Japanese companies are developing a wide range of products to improve the quality of life of the elderly by making them more comfortable, mobile and flexible,” said Kataoka.

It is predicted by 2030, a quarter of Singapore’s population will be aged 65 and over — a figure very similar to that of Japan’s demographic today.

One of the leading products Kataoka has introduced to the market is the Geltron gel range of mattresses, pillows and cushions. These utilize the Japan-developed and patented Geltron ‘block-technology,’ which boasts functionality and superior support.

“We have supplied our Geltron mattresses to several hospitals and nursing homes in Singapore and have received very positive feedback,” said Kataoka.

The technology delivers support and breathability and encourages blood flow, which is essential for the elderly or infirm.

“Geltron products are available at Healthy Port and we are actively strengthening consumers’ brand-awareness of these exciting new products,” concluded Kataoka. “In the years to come, as Singapore faces the challenges of an aging population, we fully intend to supply our products to an increasing number of nursing homes and hospitals across Singapore to benefit people’s lives.”

healthyport.meiseisp.com.sg

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“Our ‘user first’ approach ensures we collaborate closely with teachers and schools, and that we adapt our products for the French curriculum,” explained Minoru Takahashi, president of Casio France.

“This year we are launching the G90+E calculator, which complies with the new curriculum in high school, and our FX-92 scientific calculator includes SCRATCH — a basic programming software,” said Takahashi. “This allows students to learn the fundamentals of programming and create small programs.”

Casio’s globally recognized watches such as the G-SH OCK include the GMW B5000 (a revamp of the iconic G-Shock that debuted 35 years ago) that boasts a full-metal shock resistant structure and smartphone link functions via Bluetooth.

With over six decades of providing customers with socially innovative products that have enhanced people’s lives and almost two decades in France working closely with various sectors through its diverse range of products, Takahashi concluded: “France is our No. 1 market in Europe and as a commercial company, we are not simply chasing profit. It is important for us to continue contributing to French society through our products, creativity and ‘user first’ campaign.”

www.casio.fr

“Our sales volume has increased as we share the philosophy behind the Citizen brand, educate customers regarding our technologies and promote the full-range of Citizen watches through over one hundred partner dealers in Hong Kong”.

Face-to-face purchases are hugely important within Hong Kong’s retail sector. While improving the ‘high-street’ customer experience, Citizen Watches (HK) recognizes the importance of online platforms and is enhancing its online promotion activities across each of its markets.

“Helping our business growth in Hong Kong, Citizen has been highly-regarded in mainland China for sixty years”, says Hosogaya. “To celebrate our 100 year milestone and to show our gratitude to our customers in the market, we are offering an extended five year warranty to customers in certain Asia regions”.

Today, Citizen Watches (HK) is responsible for all Asian markets except Japan and works in close cooperation with Citizen in mainland China. The company’s network extends as far as India and the Middle East with sales increasing in key markets such as China, Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Citizen is proud to manufacture the machinery which makes Citizen Watches and has production facilities in Japan, China and Thailand.

The company’s innovations include the world’s first light-powered watch launched in 1976 (now known as the ‘Eco Drive’) and the world’s first light-powered satellite-synchronised watch, the ‘Satellite Wave’ in 2011.

Citizen fuses these technologies with beauty. The pink gold ‘Sakura’ ladies range utilizes cutting-edge plating-technology which encompasses the beauty of Japan’s famous cherry blossom.

“Wearing a watch creates a personal feeling of affection within each of us”, says Hosogaya. “Citizen will continue to deliver innovative technologies and attractive designs as we grow our business in synch with our customers’ expectations and beyond”.

www.citizen.com.hk

explained Sanae Ueno, president director of PT Yakult Indonesia Persada. “Each bottle of Yakult has 6.5 billion Lactobacillus casei Shirota bacteria that help the body, so it is recommended that we drink it daily.

“Every day, our factories receive more than 200 visitors to learn more about Yakult. Not so many factories are open to visitors. While in our factories, you can see the entire process of production,” Ueno added.

The company began manufacturing in Indonesia to serve the domestic market in 1991, but only a few years later it faced challenging times during the Asian financial crisis. Yakult Honsha Co. Ltd. made a strategic move to pursue operations in Indonesia and bought out all the shares of its Indonesian arm to make it a wholly owned subsidiary.

Recovery took some time but the company experienced a turning point in 2007 when it began to focus on further developing the iconic “Yakult Lady” to communicate directly and educate consumers.

There are currently 8,440 “Yakult Ladies” delivering fresh Yakult to homes across Indonesia every day. They are the company’s backbone, outperforming sales generated from retailers in 2017 with a contribution of over 50 percent.

“Every noon across all our offices, the Yakult ladies meet for 45 minutes to talk about various issues like how to improve the market conditions or how to best respond to customer queries and address their concerns,” shared Antonius Nababan, the company’s marketing communication and commercial director.

Among all the Yakult branches around the world, PT Yakult Indonesia Persada has the highest sales by volume. Their coverage allows them to reach 200 million potential consumers, yet only 2.6 percent, or over 5 million, consume Yakult daily. Ueno is confident that the number of daily consumers will increase.

“If our growth continues at this rate, sometime in the future we will have to consider expanding again. But more than our own growth, it is the health of the Indonesian people that is more important to us,” said Ueno.

www.yakult.co.id

“In addition to this historical milestone, the transformational acquisitions of two of our most important competitors – Nuance in 2014 and World Duty Free in 2015 marked the start of a new era for Dufry,” recalls Diaz.

Dufry’s acquisition of World Duty Free was the largest acquisition in travel retail history and transformed the company into the biggest traveler retailer in Europe. Moreover, Dufry’s acquisition of Nuance increased the company’s footprint in the Mediterranean, North America, Central and Northern Europe and gave access to additional concessions in key Asian markets.

“While Asia currently represents ten per cent of our business, we are aiming to double this in the next five years through acquisitions and organic growth while benefitting from passenger growth numbers in Asia”, says Diaz. “We are currently present in seventeen locations across the Middle East and Asia already making us the most international player in the region.”

“And also in Singapore, our company has been active for almost two decades. Singapore is key to our growth strategy for the region,” says Diaz. “The country is an important base as we expand across the region due to its strong commercial trends and solid financial systems. We are firmly committed to growing our business in Singapore and look forward to strengthening our positions in Bali, Hong Kong, Macao, China, Indonesia and Cambodia.”

In Southeast Asia, the luxury cosmetics brand has two branches in Singapore and two in Malaysia.

“Our main priority was to concentrate on the Japanese market and to be the leading company in all major department stores before reaching out to Southeast Asia,” says Kobayashi.

Currently, Albion holds the number one position in six out of the eight major department stores in Japan and is ranked second in the remaining two stores.

“Since accomplishing our goal of becoming a leader in Japan, we are now focusing on key markets in Southeast Asia,” says Kobayashi.

The company’s approach to product placement lies in its commitment to showcasing products in luxury and high-end department stores and shops in Japan. This is the same approach Kobayashi is driving across Asia.

“In order to engage with new customers, we plan to significantly expand our network across Asia and ensure our products are available in high-end stores across the region”, says Kobayashi.

The company’s own lifestyle branded stores, ‘Albion Dresser’ showcase the company’s products alongside fashionable accessories.

“Our goal is to open between 100-150 such stores in Japan and we plan to open our first ‘Albion Dresser’ store in Southeast Asia in the next couple of years,” Kobayashi explains.

As a leading brand, Albion only uses superior ingredients in its products.

“I travel the world seeking original ingredients and quality raw materials to use in Albion products”, Kobayashi states proudly. “In Sri Lanka, we established the ‘Institute of Traditional Plants’ in collaboration with Tokyo University of Agriculture, at which I am a visiting professor, to contribute to the development of the country and the industry there”.

In Japan, the company cultivates forty five types of plants at a 27,000 square meter company owned farm. Albion also sources ingredients from seven locations across Japan, including Sea Salt from the sea of Okhotsk in the western Pacific Ocean.

“Albion products are highly-valued by the medical and academic communities, however with the shrinking Japanese population, it is important for us as a company to reach out to Southeast Asian markets”, concludes Kobayashi. “We have been successful in Japan, and as Japanese women have similar tastes to women from Southeast Asia; these new markets will be our focus in the future. We look forward to bringing our prestigious products to discerning women across the region.”

With nine wineries across Chile amongst them, San Pedro, Tarapacá, Leyda and Santa Helena,VSPT Wine Group has become the leader of fine wine sales in the country. The Group is the second largest exporter of Chilean wine and today delivers some of Chile’s best wines to Asia.

The Group’s Viña San Pedro winery, founded in 1865, is the oldest Chilean large-scale winery. 2015 marks 150 years of viticulture with the winery’s renowned brands including Altaïr, 1865 Single Vineyard and GatoNegro. The winery commercialized its wines for the Asian market in 1940 when the Group first exported wines to Japan.

Viña Tarapacá, founded in 1874, is the number one winery for Ultra-Premium wines in Chile and its “Gran Reserva” has become a leading wine in Chile and abroad.

VSPT Wine Group’s Viña Leyda winery has won numerous awards and gained international recognition. The winery’s location in the region’s cool, coastal climate produces highly sought-after Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noirwines.

The Group continues to strengthen its ties to Asian markets and has significantly increased its sales in China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan.

“We have built our business on our solid business strategy,strong brands and quality products,” says Pedro Herane, VSPT Wine Group’s CEO. “As a global producer, we are today recognized both for our processes and the high quality of our wines”.

The Group currently exports wines to more than 80 countries and this year invested USD 35 million in vineyard plantations and the expansion of its main bottling plant – set to be the most modern in South America.
“This investment will allow us to double our production capacity,” says Herane. “Combined with our world-class infrastructure and technology, we look forward to competing more efficiently within the established and growing international wine markets”.

Viña Carta Vieja’s proud family heritage dates back to 1825 when Carlos Adolfo del Pedregal brought European grape vines from his native Asturias, Spain and planted them in Chile’s Loncomilla valley.

“Our family history can be found in every bottle of wine we produce,” says José Manuel del Pedregal Labbé, CEO of Vina Carta Vieja. “Our family lives and breathes the business and our quality wines are appreciated by our customers.”

‘Since 1825,’ ‘Origen’, ‘Aves del Sur’, ‘Carta Vieja’ and ‘G7’ are the Del Pedregal brands. Ninety-five percent of the wines produced are for exportand a third of these reach China and the rest of Asia.

“China was our first export destination in Asia and we established an office in Shanghai about three years ago as a result of the growth in the market,” says José Manuel del Pedregal Mujica, an eighth generation family member, son of the CEO and the Export Director of America and Europe. “Last year, we recognized the potential of the rest of Asia and moved our operations to Hong Kong.”

In China, the ‘Carta Vieja’ and ‘G7’ brands are gaining popularity. ‘Carta Vieja’ is the most emblematic brand while ‘G7’ represents the pride of seven generations of wine-making.

“We have changed the taste of these wines to make them even more enjoyable” says del Pedregal Labbé. “Our wines reveal the identity of Chile: cool, fresh whites and warm, intense reds.”

With anticipated growth in China and the rest of the world, the family recently bought a new farm and increased their total land area to 1,300 hectares.

“This increase in capacity means we are now self-sufficient in terms of grapes and technology,” says del Pedregal Mujica. “We intend to build our wine brands and deliver excellent wines to our customers in China and the rest of the world”.

“Singapore’s status as a developed nation in the region and its utilization of E-commerce prompted us to start shipping directly to Singapore from our facility in Hong Kong,” he explains. “Singapore was our first export market and we have managed to gain a significant market share there after only a few years”.

The company sells its mobile-power solutions in Singapore through reseller’s websites such as www.battdepot.com/sg/ and delivers to both personal and institutional customers.

“Consumers usually buy batteries from device manufacturers or purchase lower-quality alternatives,” says Huen. “One of our competitive advantages is that we are the only branded battery in this particular niche segment of the industry. As an established Canadian brand with research and development facilities in Asia, customers can expect the highest quality products from us. Our products are manufactured in ISO:9001 certified facilities and our factory testing capabilities meet Conformité Européene/European Conformity (CE) and Underwriters Laboratories (UL) standards. In addition, we have registered trademarks throughout our strategic markets, including Singapore.”

Dr. Power’s premium products include the ‘Advanced Pro Series’ laptop battery packs powered by the latest battery cell technology from Samsung SDI Li-ion. Dr. Power has also partnered with Leyden Energy Inc., a Silicon Valley research and development company and Boston-Power® for the ‘Green Series’ – batteries powered by next-generation lithium-ion battery technology. The company is driven to expand into environmentally-friendly energy product categories.

“Our mission is to continue to develop safe, cost-effective and environmentally friendly products”, says Huen. “We are also developing and marketing our high-quality LED lighting solutions under the brand name ‘Dr. Bulbs’ and our Power Assisted e-Bikes which are branded as ‘Dr. EBIKE’,”

With offices in the U.S., United Kingdom, France, Australia and Hong Kong, the company is strengthening its position as a leading brand in mobile-power solutions for portable electronic devices in strategic international markets.

“As a regional I.T. hub, Singapore remains an important market for us moving forward”, says Huen. “As E-commerce continues to develop in Southeast Asia, we fully intend to expand our footprint across the region.”