Lazada, a leading eCommerce platform, today announced an annual investment of US$100 million in the Lazada Affiliate Programme (“LazAffiliate Programme”). Announced at the Lazada Affiliate Southeast Asia Awards 2025 held in Bangkok, the strategic investment aims to transform affiliate marketing into a scalable, results-driven engine for growth across the region.

Today, affiliate marketing has risen to become an important driver of eCommerce sales. Research found that 82% of Southeast Asian consumers have purchased a product that was recommended by an influencer in 2024, a 3% increase compared to 2023. This high level of penetration and engagement have led to affiliate-driven sales campaigns accounting for approximately 20% of Southeast Asia’s online sales or US$15 billion in Net Merchandise Value (NMV) in 2024.

Lazada’s $100 million investment will thus empower brands to capitalise on this strategic advantage, further reaffirming its leadership in enabling performance-based digital commerce—empowering both emerging creators and established influencers to turn recommendations into real revenue and viable income streams, while offering brands and sellers a measurable and ROI-positive sales channel.

Expanding revenue opportunities for affiliates

The revamped LazAffiliate Programme features an industry-leading incentive structure and a new suite of advanced features tailored to empower affiliates – from established influencers and creators to emerging micro-influencers ands everyday shoppers – to maximise monetisation on their platforms and amplify their impact.

The key enhancements and new features include:

• Affiliate Channel Upgrade: The refreshed affiliate channel features a more user-friendly interface which makes product selection experience more seamless and efficient.
• Custom Storefronts: Affiliates can now build their own curated product storefronts, making it easier for their followers to browse, discover and purchase endorsed items.
• Campaign Rewards Accelerators: During major online shopping festivals like 9.9, 11.11, and 12.12, affiliates will have access to special bonuses, higher commissions, and gamified challenges to boost seasonal earnings.

This upcoming 6.6.’s campaign rewards accelerator will include up to 36% commission for affiliates who promote brand partners via store vouchers.

• High-Commission Product Curation – A dedicated list of top-converting, high-commission products allows affiliates to prioritise what sells best.
• Performance Dashboard: Real-time data on click-throughs, conversions and commissions help creators fine-tune content strategies for greater ROI.

Driving ROI for brands and sellers through affiliate marketing

Lazada is also enhancing its value proposition for brands and sellers by co-developing performance-based strategies that prioritise sales conversion, transforming creator collaborations into measurable, sustainable, and scalable revenue channels. Through its growing affiliate network, brands can gain access to a powerful and diverse creator ecosystem of influencers, content creators and KOCs (key opinion consumers) who drive authentic engagement and lower customer acquisition costs.

Key partnership areas include:

• Lazada-funded store vouchers: Additional incentives on top of affiliate commissions to drive consumer purchases.
• Diverse affiliate ecosystem: A network of influencers, content creators, and key opinion consumers (KOCs) to amplify product visibility and improve product discovery.

6.6 Mega Sale: Top affiliates to access US$100,000 reward pool

Starting with Lazada’s upcoming 6.6 mega sale, the affiliate programme will roll out region-wide gamified challenges and a total of US$100,000 in reward bonuses for top 10 performing creators in the region. In partnership with over 80 leading brands across fashion and beauty, this initiative signals a new phase of collaborative brand-affiliate growth in the social commerce space.

“Lazada is committed to enabling influencers and content creators across Southeast Asia to unlock new income streams and scale their impact,” said Jared Chan, Head of Regional Affiliate, Lazada Group. “With this investment, we aim to cultivate a vibrant affiliate ecosystem that not only supports entrepreneurial growth but also builds more authentic, localised connections between brands and consumers.”

LazAffiliate is Lazada’s flagship affiliate programme that connects a growing network of creators – ranging from influencers and content creators to passionate everyday shoppers – with brands and sellers. By driving traffic and conversions through personalised recommendations, affiliates earn commissions for every successful sale with no cap. The LazAffiliate Programme offers a no-barrier entry into creator commerce, with no minimum following required – just share, recommend, and earn.

News Credits- PR Newswire

Gillette India (GILE.NS), posted a 60% rise in third-quarter profit on Monday, driven by strong demand for its grooming products.

Shares of the company climbed nearly 10% after the results.

The Procter & Gamble (PG.N) owned company, known for its razors and shaving creams, reported 1.59 billion rupees ($18.7 million) in profit for the quarter ended March 31, compared with 991 million rupees a year earlier.

The firm continues to see strong demand for its new products and designs, including its multi-blade systems and gel shaving creams.

India’s rural consumer demand, lifted by good harvests and state support, has become a bright spot for consumer companies, helping the sector partially counter a sales slowdown in urban areas, where demand remains under pressure from rising costs of living.

Revenue from Gillette India’s core grooming segment, which produces razors and accounts for more than 80% of its total revenue, jumped 15.6% to 6.45 billion rupees in the reported quarter.

Sales in oral care, its smaller segment, were largely flat year-on-year.

The company has been ramping up its ad spend to stay competitive, with advertising and promotion expenses surging nearly 61% to drive a nearly 5% increase in total quarterly expenses.

Author Credits- Ananta Agarwal
Reuters

The consumer affairs ministry is set to meet with key e-commerce companies on 28 May to combat dark patterns that mislead consumers. The meeting will also focus on compliance measures, penalties for infractions, and feature discussions on consumer rights protection and industry best practices.

New Delhi: The government has called major e-commerce platforms for a meeting to push for stronger measures against dark patterns as well as to discuss penal actions for regulatory violations, the ministry of consumer affairs said in a statement on Monday.

The meeting will be held on 28 May and chaired by Union minister for consumer affairs, food and public distribution, Pralhad Joshi.

Dark patterns—deceptive user interface design tactics used by online platforms to manipulate consumers into making unintended choices—have increasingly come under the scanner for undermining consumer trust in digital markets. As per the government, curbing such practices is key to ensuring a fair and transparent e-commerce ecosystem.

Industry giants including Amazon, Flipkart, Swiggy, Zomato, Apple and Meta will participate in the meeting, the ministry said.

The meeting will also showcase best practices adopted by certain companies towards protecting consumer rights, as well as include industry associations, consumer bodies, and law universities for research-backed insights on framing better compliance systems, a senior government official said.

In response to an email query, a spokesperson for EaseMyTrip said, “We take the issue of dark patterns seriously and were the first in the travel industry to engage an independent consultant to proactively identify and address any unintentional dark pattern concerns. We fully support the department’s initiative and believe it is a much-needed step toward fostering greater trust and accountability in the digital ecosystem.”

“Despite all the consumer-centric initiatives taken by the government, some e-commerce players are still not adhering to the prescribed norms. We have already taken action against a few of them and will continue to do so wherever there is non-compliance,” the official said, requesting anonymity. “At the meeting, all major platforms will be asked to stop such malpractices and will be informed of the consequences if they fail to comply within a stipulated time.”

Consumer protection and business ease are not conflicting goals, the official said. “The government’s approach is not to punish innovation but to ensure that technology does not come at the cost of consumer exploitation.”

Centuries-old heritage brands and contemporary jewellers from India are opening stores in North America, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and the UK, but few have broadened their offering to appeal to a client base beyond the South Asian diaspora.

Indian jewellers are expanding their retail footprint to serve the vast diaspora dotted around the world and outbound travellers from across the subcontinent.

Large and small Indian jewellers offer a mix of handcrafted traditional and modern pieces at mono-brand stores in the US, UAE, UK and other markets.

US tariffs may slow some brands’ expansion plans, but Indian industry bodies and company executives are hopeful about ongoing trade negotiations.

A few years ago, 125-year-old Vummidi Bangaru Jewellers (VBJ) started doing roadshows across the US, prioritising cities with high concentrations of Indian Americans. The jeweller that once made an elaborate gold sceptre for former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru to symbolise the transfer of power from the British to India now does around 30 sleek events annually for clients in cities like Chicago, Dallas and Atlanta.

“Indians living in the US are more closely affiliated with our traditions than those at home. Even for the smallest function, they meet, wear Indian clothes and jewellery. They want to be as traditional as possible [on those occasions] because the rest of the time they miss it,” VBJ managing partner Amarendran Vummidi told BoF, adding that the roadshows typically attract hundreds of visitors at each location.

By 2023, the Chennai-based jeweller had moved beyond roadshows and opened its first international boutique in Dallas. The sprawling Texan store offers gold, silver, platinum and diamond jewellery, featuring traditional fare such as oddiyanam, ornate waist belts worn on festive occasions, in addition to other handcrafted items.

The company has plans to open more stores in the US, in locations like Virginia, Georgia and California’s Silicon Valley, but is waiting for clarity on the outcome of India’s negotiations with the US over president Donald Trump’s threat of ‘reciprocal tariffs,’ which would add a further 26 percent on top of existing levies on Indian imports.

“Tariffs are a dampener since at the end of the day the consumer is the one who’s going to pay. Since we manufacture and sell jewellery under the same retail name, there’s really no question of absorbing anything. … The cost increase would be passed on to the clients … making it unviable for [some of them] to buy,” said Vummidi.

In the meantime, VBJ and other Indian jewellers continue to capitalise on the diaspora‘s love of traditional jewellery in the US, home to about 4.8 million Indian Americans in 2022.

Tanishq, a brand owned by Tata Group’s Titan and fronted over the years by Indian film stars like Deepika Padukone and Nayanthara, has expanded its retail network to cities like Atlanta, taking the total number of overseas stores to 21. Titan’s Caratlane brand chose suburban New Jersey for its first international outlet last year.

Beyond the US, Indian jewellers have also expanded to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Singapore, Australia, Canada, South Africa, the UK and other foreign shores.

“Global expansion is enabling Indian jewellers to strategically enter diaspora-rich markets, unlocking new revenue streams and reinforcing India’s position as a leading source for high-quality gems and jewellery,” stated Kirit Bhansali, chairman of the country’s Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC).

Joyalukkas was an early mover overseas with its Abu Dhabi boutique back in 1988 and more recently opened in South Asian neighbourhoods of London like Southall and Upton Park. Chairman Joy Alukkas recently said the Kerala-founded firm, which operates 170 stores worldwide, is planning to open 12 more overseas locations this year.

It is a good time for jewellers to make capital investments, analysts suggest, because the category remains a bright spot in an otherwise decelerating luxury market.

“If you’re looking for a branded handbag, it’s a super crowded market. If you’re looking for a piece of branded jewellery, it’s a finite, very limited environment right now. So it’s fantastic that you have new [jewellery] brands coming on board because there’s a need for variety,” said Erwan Rambourg, global head of consumer and retail research at HSBC.

Prioritising the Middle East and the Anglosphere

The Indian diaspora, totalling 34.4 million people globally, is a tempting proposition for Indian jewellers. Another potential customer base consists of members of the wider South Asian diaspora. It isn’t surprising then that Malabar Gold and Diamonds is set to enter its 14th international market with a debut in New Zealand, while deepening its store network in countries like the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, the US, the UK, Australia and Canada.

“Our showrooms will primarily cater to the Indian subcontinent diaspora, while also appealing to local customers through curated collections that reflect each region’s local value chains and preferences,” said M.P. Ahammed, chairman of Kozhikode-based Malabar Group, using the term “showroom,” which is used in India to describe a retail space.

Unlike in the India market, where wedding jewellery reigns supreme, Malabar Gold adjusts its offering to local cultural influences and trends. In the UK and North America, it caters to higher demand for contemporary diamond and lightweight jewellery, whereas in the Gulf region of the Middle East it offers traditional designs, elaborate pieces and exclusive collections inspired by regional culture such as its “Brides of Arabia” and “Brides of Oman” ranges.

Malabar Gold, which posted about $6 billion in revenue in 2024, is now exploring expansion to European countries beyond the UK, where it already has four stores, such as France. Ahammed said the company is not averse to the idea of a retail presence in Africa and Latin America either, two regions which are under-penetrated by Indian brands.

For its part, VBJ sees enough demand in the US for 8–10 stores, after which it will look at the Gulf region, Singapore, the UK and Australia.

It’s not just the mega-brands making inroads abroad. Viren Bhagat, a sought after jeweller known for making pieces for notable clients including members of the Ambani family, opened an appointment-only salon in London’s Mayfair in January to showcase one-of-a-kind jewels.

“It gives us a base in the best connected city in the world and means we can share our creations and look after our clients more easily,” said the fourth-generation jeweller in a statement about the London outpost. Bhagat, whose family’s jewellery business was founded in 1877, creates less than 60 pieces a year at his workshops in Mumbai, using rare gemstones, such as Kashmir sapphires, Colombian emeralds and Golconda diamonds.

Jaipur-based Amrapali Jewels was an early entrant in London with a shop-in-shop at Selfridges in 2002, where it sold gold and silver jewellery. This was followed by Harrods where it sold fine jewellery next to major international brands like Cartier and Bulgari. However, the jeweller scaled down its UK business after the pandemic and the removal of VAT refunds for overseas visitors.

Amrapali now participates in private exhibitions such as the Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition and sells to international clients online via Net-a-Porter, Maxfield and Moda Operandi. The jeweller plans on opening a collaborative boutique with luxury home and apparel store Good Earth in Dubai this year.

Dubai is also a focus for Hazoorilal Legacy Jewellers, a 73-year-old family business started by Hazoorilal Narang with a store in Dariba in the old quarters of Delhi. This year, the jeweller opened its first international boutique at the Dubai Hills Mall after participating in jewellery exhibitions across the GCC region for over a decade. Rohan Narang, managing director of the firm and grandson of the founder, says interest from wealthy Indians and others from the subcontinent as well as Emiratis prompted them to have a permanent address in Dubai.

Most Indian jewellers operating in the Gulf are focused squarely on the South Asian diaspora. Kalyan Jewellers, which has more than 300 stores in India and the Middle East, changes its curation for different retail calendars at Dubai’s Gold Souk Mall, which it says Indians with diverse regional heritage as well as tourists from different parts of the world visit at different times of the year.

The offering at each international store is fine-tuned to the local area, says Ramesh Kalyanaraman, executive director of Kalyan Jewellers. “The inventory is curated for the population which is living in that particular micro market,” he explained, citing the brand’s stores in the UAE as an example. “The Karama Centre in Dubai is [frequented] by more South Indians, Meena Bazaar in Dubai sees more Gujarati customers. Bur Dubai sees more South Indians. Sharjah in the UAE is a predominantly Malayali market.”

Further west along the Gulf coast, Birdhichand Ghanshyamdas Jewellers opened its first international store in Doha, Qatar earlier this year. The jeweller, whose origins can be traced back to Jaipur’s Johri Bazaar in the 1930s and whose pieces have been spotted on Bollywood stars such as Kareena Kapoor Khan and Alia Bhatt, has also been doing private previews for clients in Dubai and London.

Capturing the Imagination of Non-Diaspora Clients

A few big jewellers are taking small steps to appeal to a wider clientele beyond the diaspora and clients who have a natural affinity for Indian aesthetics such as those in the Gulf.

VBJ, for example, is now collaborating with a French and an Italian company to design and manufacture a collection targeting western clients and Indians looking for more modern jewellery. Vummidi says the aim is to offer “European design at Indian prices.” He also notes that a minority of the clients coming to US roadshows are Korean, Chinese, Egyptian and Mexican.

India already has jewellers with a history of working with high-profile international clients.

Jaipur’s Gem Palace, which has been in the trade since the 1700s, has catered to the likes of Princess Diana and Jackie Kennedy. The late Munnu Kasliwal, a jewellery maker and member of the family that owns Gem Palace, was invited by the Metropolitan Museum of Art to design a special collection to sell alongside an exhibition there in 2001. His son Siddharth Kasliwal, a Gem Palace partner, runs a studio in New York and showcases at Bergdorf Goodman.

About a quarter of Siddharth Kasliwal’s clients abroad are non-resident Indians (NRIs, or India-born people living abroad), he says, while the rest are Americans, Europeans, Middle Easterners and others. Gem Palace has no plans to expand in the US but the brand is actively looking at the east Asian markets after exhibiting at the Shinsegae Department Store in Seoul.

“Koreans were only used to seeing European brands like Tiffany & Co and Cartier. [Most] hadn’t seen the colour of Indian gold jewellery, which is its purest form, [and] only seen 18 carat gold jewellery. So they were impressed by the brush or matte finish on gold which you can only achieve when crafted by hand,” said Kasliwal.

Pockets of East Asia might be an easy sell but it remains to be seen whether Indian jewellers can take market share from major western players in their home markets of Europe and North America. Some experts seem to think it’s possible but only with significant product development and adjustments to advertising, marketing and packaging.

“There’s no hurdle for an Indian company to be successful with a non-Indian target consumer if the design resonates and the price point makes sense,” said Rambourg, cautioning that it will take time for Indian companies to make inroads.

Multiple challenges await Indian companies looking to go mainstream in the west and Vummidi believes branding is the biggest one of all. “Branding is an expensive proposition. Companies need to spend millions and that’s the reason [global jewellers] charge 10 times for their products, which helps them afford rent on [prime location] streets. That is one of the disadvantages for us,” he concedes.

Anand Ramanathan, a partner at Deloitte India and lead of its consumer products and retail sector, highlights retail operations as a challenge. “[Indian jewellers’ overseas] businesses needs to be light and effective and the unit level store economics is critical for them to master,” he said.

Yet as Indian companies quietly make their mark on the world stage, some are learning, personalising and localising as they go.

They also have advantages over some international peers, namely cost, sourcing agility and manufacturing prowess. India processes 90 percent of the world’s diamonds, and is one of the largest suppliers of rough coloured stones, like emeralds and rubies. The country also boasts an ancient guild of craftspeople who are well-versed in jewellery techniques.

“When you’re making fine jewellery, the stones have to be cut and recut to match the design, and all that can be done in India since all of these factories are close by [so] it’s easy for us to create something exclusive and manufacture it while keeping the costs down. Plus we have huge skilled labour at a reasonable cost,” said Vummidi.

The Indian jewellers that have developed more contemporary ranges for young cosmopolitan locals may be better positioned to go global without having to rely too much on the “diaspora dollar.” One thing that could help them go further, experts suggest, is to develop their own recognisable motifs that become timeless signature pieces such as the Alhambra series by Van Cleef & Arpels or Cartier’s love bracelet collections.

Will Trump’s Tariff Uncertainty Play Spoilsport?

American ‘reciprocal tariffs’ would be a significant burden on Indian exporters and US consumers alike, according to the GJEPC’s Bhansali. “In the long term, we foresee a reshaping of global supply chains. In the short run, we anticipate challenges in sustaining India‘s current [gem and jewellery] export volume of $10 billion to the US market,” he said.

Rambourg says major international jewellery brands may need to increase prices by 4–5 percent to offset the impact of tariffs but the hit on consumer confidence will be more significant.

“The issue is not the impact on the prices, the issue is the impact on psychology,” he said. “Given the mood right now in the US, the risk is people will postpone purchases. People don’t [necessarily] buy jewellery or luxury because they’re wealthy but because they’re confident about the future. That confidence about the future just took a big hit in the US.”

Amrapali Jewels, which has four factories and employs about 1,600 craftspeople, says 60 percent of its export business caters to the American market. Shortly after the ‘reciprocal tariff’ announcements were made by the Trump administration, all except one US client paused their orders to the jeweller, said the creative director and CEO of the company, Tarang Arora, who nevertheless remains optimistic about the market.

Meanwhile, a trade agreement between the UK and India signed in May, which lowers British taxes on some goods imported from India, including gems and jewellery, opens new possibilities for the industry to expand there. And the European Union’s recent resumption of negotiations with India for a free trade agreement signals growth potential elsewhere.

The only question is whether India’s jewellers will adapt enough to fully grasp these overseas opportunities.

Author Credits- Arnika Thakur
Business Of Fashion

DUBAI: The e-commerce space in Saudi is thriving — every so often, the market sees a new entrant, whether in fashion, beauty or lifestyle.

Its newest player is Maison Safqa, a private-sale platform offering premium-to-luxury brands at special prices — but only for a limited time. Co-founded by Lea Mehweg, who serves as CEO, her sister Georgia, and former colleague Estelle Nasr, the concept draws inspiration from France, where private sales have long offered brands a discreet way to offload past-season inventory without diluting their image.

“It’s a private-sale platform where we offer premium to luxury brands at discounted prices,” said Mehweg. “The whole concept is to support the brand, take their collections — even from previous seasons — and put them in a very elevated and premium shopping environment.”

Maison Safqa’s approach differs from traditional outlet platforms. Rather than overwhelming users with thousands of items, the site hosts limited-time “drops” that spotlight specific categories or designers — from accessories and ready-to-wear, to upcoming plans in homeware, beauty, and lifestyle services like staycations and wellness. “It’s not like a year-round outlet with hundreds of items spread across endless pages where you eventually get lost,” Mehweg said. “On Maison Safqa, we drop new brands every week — or even every few days — and each one stays on the platform for a limited time.”

Access to these exclusive drops is available to registered members only, reinforcing the platform’s sense of community and curated exclusivity. While membership is currently free, a premium tier with added benefits, such as early access and free shipping, is in the works.

Saudi Arabia was a natural choice for the full launch of the new platform. “The fashion and luxury industry is booming here. More brands are entering the market, which naturally leads to excess stock, and that’s where we come in. We want to be the first to offer a structured private-sale platform that supports brands while delivering real value to customers,” Mehweg said. Unlike the saturated off-price market in Dubai, Mehweg sees untapped potential in Saudi Arabia, especially in the premium and luxury segment.

Having grown up in France, Mehweg recalls rarely buying items at full price, knowing they would soon appear on curated private-sale platforms. That same smart, style-savvy mindset is what Maison Safqa aims to tap into.

Another key USP is local relevance. It is rare to see regional designers featured on off-price platforms, but Maison Safqa is committed to championing homegrown talent. Alongside global names like Coach and Victoria Beckham, the platform also features Saudi and regional designers. “Most off-price players are based outside the GCC and rarely include local talent,” said Mehweg. “For us, cultural resonance matters.”

Though first tested in Dubai, Maison Safqa is now fully operational in Saudi Arabia, with plans to expand across the GCC in the coming months. As the platform grows, its goal is clear: To redefine the off-price experience in the region by blending premium access, local relevance and a curated lens for the modern Middle Eastern shopper.

Author Credits- HANADI MERCHANTHABIB
ARAB NEWS

A strategic move that highlights the brand’s commitment to innovation and deepening its presence in the Kingdom

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Dyson is accelerating its expansion in Saudi Arabia with the launch of its latest Dyson Demo Store at Riyadh Park, a strategic move that highlights the brand’s commitment to innovation and deepening its presence in the Kingdom.

Strategically positioned at the mall’s main entrance, opposite Mont Blanc and Lululemon, the 128 sqm space offers an immersive and hands-on environment where visitors can experience Dyson’s latest technologies first-hand. From haircare and air purification, to intelligent floorcare and next generation audio, the new Demo Store puts the full innovative product range on display.

With growing demand for Dyson’s cutting-edge solutions in the Saudi market, the Riyadh Park location joins a growing portfolio of demo spaces across the Kingdom. The new store features two private styling stations and a wash basin, designed with veiled customers in mind, where visitors can book personal styling sessions and test Dyson’s advanced haircare tools in a comfortable setting.

In-store Dyson experts will walk shoppers through the brand’s latest haircare launches, such as the newly launched Dyson Supersonic r, the Dyson Airwrap i.d.™ multi-styler available in the latest colourway, Jasper Plum, the Supersonic Nural™ hair dryer, and the Airstrait™ wet-to-dry straightener. Each session is tailored to individual needs, helping customers choose the best tools for their hair type and styling routine.

Visitors can also discover Dyson’s latest innovations across other categories, including the 360 Vis Nav™ robot vacuum, which delivers edge-to-edge deep cleaning with advanced navigation, the Big+Quiet™ Purifier, engineered for powerful whole-room purification with minimal noise, and the recently launched Dyson OnTrac™ headphones, featuring immersive audio and 55-hour battery life.

The new store opening represents another significant milestone in Dyson’s expansion in the Kingdom, following the successful launch of the flagship store in Nakheel Mall, Riyadh last year and Red Sea Mall, Jeddah in March this year. Dyson remains dedicated to providing consumers with direct access to its cutting-edge technology, creating dedicated spaces for immersive, hands-on experiences. The brand continues to focus on enhancing the in-store experience, allowing customers in Saudi Arabia to explore, test, and discover its revolutionary technology up close.

Buy directly from the people who made it

All of Dyson’s products are available for purchase online at www.dyson.sa or from Dyson stores located in Nakheel Mall in Dammam and Riyadh, and Red Sea Mall in Jeddah.

Contact 

For more information, please contact:
Nadia Taha: nadia.taha@dyson.com
Weber Shandwick: Dyson@webershandwick.com
Or visit https://www.dyson.ae/en-AE/newsroom

About Dyson

Dyson is a global technology company with engineering, research, development, manufacturing and testing operations in Singapore, the UK, Malaysia, Mexico, China and the Philippines. Having started in a coach house in the UK, Dyson has consistently grown since it was established in 1993. Today, it has a global headquarters in Singapore and two technology campuses in the UK spanning over 700 acres in Malmesbury and Hullavington. Since 1993, Dyson has invested £1.7bn in its Wiltshire offices and laboratories that house the early-stage research, design and development of future Dyson technology. Dyson remains family-owned and employs 14,000 people globally including a 6,500 strong engineering team. It sells products in 85 markets in over 439 Dyson direct retail stores around the world, including a Dyson Virtual Reality Demo Store too.

Dyson is investing £2.75bn in the business to conceive revolutionary products and technologies, and has global teams of engineers, scientists and software developers focused on the development of solid-state battery cells, high-speed electric digital motors, sensing and vision systems, robotics, machine learning technologies and A.I. investment. Since inventing the first cyclonic bagless vacuum cleaner – DC01- in 1993, Dyson has created problem solving technologies in air purification, robotics, haircare, lighting, hand drying, and now audio, with the Dyson Zone noise cancelling headphones with air purification.

The Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology is a new model for engineering education combining the academic rigour of a traditional university with hands-on and real-world experience of working on live product and technology projects inside a global technology company. Dyson’s 156 Undergraduate Engineers are paid a salary from day one and pay no tuition fees; 33% of the Undergraduate Engineers identify as female, compared to a sector average of 19% for engineering and technology undergraduate courses. The Dyson Institute offers not just an education, but the start of an accelerated Dyson career.

Founded in 2002, the James Dyson Foundation is an international charity that empowers aspiring engineers, supports engineering education and invests in medical research, donating over £145m to charitable causes to date. The James Dyson Award is the Foundation’s annual design competition and is open to current and recent design and engineering students. Since starting in 2005, the Award has supported more than 400 inventions worldwide, providing funds to support their commercialisation; 70% of James Dyson Award past global winners are following up and pursuing their inventions full time.

The Dyson family established Dyson Farming in 2012. It is one of the largest farming businesses in the UK, extending to 36,000 acres across Lincolnshire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and Somerset. It is a family-owned enterprise unlike any other, focussed on long-term investment in British farming and the countryside. Sustainable food production, food security and the environment are vital to the UK’s health and economy. There is a real opportunity for agriculture to drive a revolution in technology and vice versa. Dyson Farming is developing new approaches to efficient, high-technology agriculture and food production.

Dyson Farming grows a range of produce including wheat and barley, potatoes, onions and peas – of which it is the largest single producer on the UK. It also produces beef and lamb, and grows British strawberries out of season in its state-of-the-art glasshouse which is heated by an adjacent anaerobic digester.

Key Products

• Dyson Supersonic Nural™ hair dryer: Smarter styling starts here. Powered by Dyson’s digital motor V9, the Supersonic Nural™ dries fast while protecting scalp health with Scalp Protect™ mode. Intelligent sensors adjust heat and pause airflow when set down, while a range of attachments – including the new Flyaway tool – caters to every hair type.
• Dyson Airwrap™ multi-styler: Dyson’s best performing and most efficient Airwrap yet, reengineered for faster, easier styling. One machine. 13 attachments. Multiple styles. Multiple hair types. Curl, shape, smooth and hide flyaways. With no extreme heat.

• Dyson Airstrait™ straightener: A new way to straighten, from wet to dry with air and no hot plates. No heat damage[1]. High-pressure airflow projected downwards at a 45° angle creates the tension needed to align hair for a smooth end style. Straightens from wet to dry, simplifying your routine. Engineered to create a natural straight finish.
• Dyson Corrale™ straightener: The only straightener to use flexing plates that shape to gather hair, this control enables styling with less heat and damage. It incorporates an intelligent sensor to regulate and adjust the temperature of its plates 100 times per second.
• Dyson Supersonic r™ Professional hair dryer: Dyson’s lightest, smallest, and most precise styling tool enabled by a new, energy-dense heater technology, as well as Dyson’s highspeed electric motor and intelligent Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) on its attachments to automatically adjust performance.
• Dyson OnTrac™ headphones: The most advanced noise-cancelling headphones powered by Dyson’s custom Active Noise Cancellation algorithm, delivering best-in-class noise reduction of up to 40dB. Featuring 40mm neodymium drivers and an enhanced frequency range of 6Hz to 21kHz, these headphones offer a fully immersive listening experience.
• Dyson Gen5detectTM cordless vacuum: The most powerful HEPA cordless vacuum that is powered by the new Dyson Gen5 Hyperdymium motor to deliver up to 280AW of suction power. It features our Fluffy OpticTM cleaner head that reveals twice the amount of invisible dust and traps 99.99% of particles down to 0.1 microns, the size of viruses.
• Dyson WashG1™ wet floor cleaner: Dyson’s first dedicated wet cleaner, designed for hard floors, launched in 2024. It uses dual rotating microfiber rollers and a continuous clean water system to remove wet and dry debris, ensuring efficient and hygienic cleaning.

News Credits- ZAWYA BY LSEG

In February 2025, Reliance Retail, under the leadership of Isha Ambani– the only daughter of billionaire Mukesh Ambani– brought back Shein to the Indian market, nearly five years after the Indian government had banned the original Shein app.

Earlier this year, Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, and his daughter, Isha Ambani, brought back Chinese fast-fashion brand, Shein, into the Indian market after a five-year ban imposed by the Indian government. However, Shein’s previous popularity has not translated into current success as the popular Chinese fashion brand has failed to gain any significant traction in India since its return.

Shein fails to make impact in India

According to data revealed by AppMagic, a US-based app performance tracker, the downloads of Shein India app plunged from 50,000 daily downloads in February, shortly after its launch, to just 3,311 in early April.

Recently, the Shein app has seen renewed interest after being in the news following US President Donald Trump’s tariff war against China, but experts are unsure whether this could translate into sustainable growth.

Reliance fails to make inroads into Indian e-commerce market

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries has for years attempted to capture India’s bustling e-commerce market, and wrest market share away from industry leaders Amazon and Walmart-backed Flipkart who control a combined 60 percent of the country’s e-commerce sector. Despite acquiring majority holdings in firms ranging from digital services, online pharmaceuticals, to quick commerce and online retail in the last five years, Reliance has failed to pose any major challenge to market leaders Amazon and Flipkart, according to experts.

Reliance hopes to leverage Shein’s AI trendspotting capabilities

As per market analysts, Isha Ambani-led Reliance Retail– India’s largest retailer– pinned hopes on leveraging Shein’s AI-powered trendspotting and automated inventory systems to capture a major chunk of market share in India’s e-commerce market, which is expected to hit $345 billion by 2030.

Experts believe that Reliance could make use of customer data sets– that includes over 476 million Jio subscribers, 300 million JioMart users, and 452 million subscribers for Reliance’s news and entertainment portfolio, consisting of 63 channels, a streaming service, and digital news outlets– to feed Shein’s AI algorithm to create customized inventories for Indian consumers.

Notably, Shein’s original app employs AI-driven models to spot trends and for intelligent warehousing before the brand manufactures any new product. Shein website boasts a catalogue of over 600,000 items at any given time, and manufacturing is tweaked or scaled up, according to feedback.

However, the Shein India app fails to match up to its Chinese original, as is evident from customer reviews on Google Play and and Apple App Store, with users pointing to flaws like higher prices and reduced choices.

Isha Ambani brings back Shein– but a watered-down version of original?

In February 2025, Reliance Retail, under the leadership of Isha Ambani– the only daughter of billionaire Mukesh Ambani– brought back Shein to the Indian market, nearly five years after the Indian government had banned the original Shein app in the country in wake of India-China tensions at the time.

However, the Shein which was brought back by the Ambanis is a watered-down version of its global platform, and instead of selling Chinese-made clothes and accessories directly to consumers, Shein is now reduced to a technology partner while Reliance Retail handles everything from sourcing and manufacturing to distribution, as well as consumer data.

Author Credits: Gazi Abbas Shahid
India.com

Kmart Group’s new managing director Aleks Spaseska has outlined plans to double the discount department store’s sales to $20 billion within a decade by focusing on younger shoppers and expanding its beauty range.

At the centre of the Wesfarmers-owned retailer’s massive expansion strategy is its wildly popular Anko home brand, which Spaseska hopes to expand internationally, including with stand-alone stores in the Philippines. If successful, Kmart could roll out stores across South-East Asia.

Spaseska, 41, outlined her plans at a Wesfarmers strategy day after becoming the youngest divisional head at the conglomerate in April. Kmart Group runs its eponymous department stores, as well as the Target chain and a growing Anko business that started in-house and now has tie-ups with international retailers, including Walmart Canada and toy giant Mattel.

While Perth-headquartered Wesfarmers operates national stationery brand Officeworks and a major hardware chain in Bunnings, alongside a large lithium and chemicals division, its discount department store business has been powering the company’s earnings growth in recent years.

It had targeted $10 billion in sales, and surpassed that milestone last year. Spaseska told investors on Thursday that she aimed to double that figure and reach $2 billion in earnings over the next five to 10 years.

To achieve that, the company is planning a new store format targeting shoppers aged under 30 with a more curated fashion and beauty display. It has also introduced click-and-collect options, a technology that appeals to younger shoppers. Spaseska pointed to the growing number of users active on the Kmart app every month – doubling over the year to some 1.3 million – as evidence that the strategy was beginning to work.

Kmart is also opening a new $200 million distribution centre in Sydney’s west. The 100,000 square metre site will begin operating late in 2027 and will be used for stores and online orders for both Target and Kmart to replenish products faster, improve availability and reduce costs.

Anko was established as Kmart’s own brand in 2019 and now sells more than 1 billion items – from linen to fashion and toys – in Australia each year. Last year, Wesfarmers revealed the brand accounted for 85 per cent of sales at the department store, more than $4 billion in six months. Jarden analysts have previously valued Anko alone at more than $8 billion.

Spaseska is trialling stand-alone stores in the Philippines, where it is hoping to target a growing middle-class and already has two outlets. Three more will open by the end of the year, and if successful, the company may roll out stores across the region, Spaseska said in an interview.

“We’re taking a very methodical approach,” she said. “We’ll be able to test how that performs in different shopping centres and across different demographics across the country, and that’s going to provide critical data because it will allow us to be able to estimate how big it could be.”

Having already trialled selling products in the United States, Anko homewares and furniture is now on sale through Walmart Canada. The brand has also signed a distribution deal with European supermarket Action. “They are very large, and they are rapidly growing, and we see them as a really great partner into a number of European markets,” she said.

Tom Kierath, a Barrenjoey analyst, said that while Spaseska had not provided a clear timeline for the $20 billion sales target, the plan “illustrates the confidence management has in the Kmart growth trajectory”.

Kmart had “a number of growth drivers”, he said, which included the new format stores, the rollout of Anko internationally, and productivity improvements from new technology. Management “flagged it expects earnings to outpace sales growth”, indicating higher margins, Kierath said.

Wesfarmers’ chief executive, Rob Scott, said the Anko brand was crucial to the conglomerate’s growth, as were several other businesses. Among those were the company’s Priceline pharmacies business, which Wesfarmers has been investing in since acquiring its owner, Australian Pharmaceutical Industries, off the ASX in 2021 for more than $760 million.

The company is also developing its Atomica brand in a bid to capitalise on the booming demand for beauty and skincare products. The Australian Financial Review reported in March that Wesfarmers had begun experimenting with a new-look rebrand of some Priceline stores to compete with top-end Mecca and the lower-end MCoBeauty in the booming beauty category.

“It’s still early days, we only have a handful of stores that we’ve opened, but the attractive thing has been customers when they come into the store, they spend more, and international brands see it as a really exciting format,” Scott said about the success of the trial Atomica stores.

Scott, in an interview after the strategy day, said the Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision to cut interest rates this month was welcome news, but the central bank would need to cut twice more to spur spending. Small businesses, in particular, are important for Wesfarmers’ biggest division, Bunnings, and Officeworks.

Barrenjoey’s Kierath said that Wesfarmers continued “to execute well and delivered a measured but relatively strong earnings growth outlook across the board”, although he was more wary of its chemicals division.

Wesfarmers shares fell 97¢, or 1.2 per cent, to close at $83.09 on Thursday.

Author Credits- Carrle La Frenz
FINANCIAL REVIEW

Crocs‘ Terence Reilly is going to be busy creating brand heat for both the Crocs and Hey Dude brands.

Reilly, who rejoined Crocs in April 2024 as president for the Hey Dude brand, is now set to take over the newly created role of executive vice president and chief brand officer for both brands, effectively immediately.

According to the company, the former Crocs chief marketing officer — he left in 2020 to become president of the Stanley brand — will have both marketing and communications oversight for the two brands. He will continue to report to Crocs Inc. chief executive officer Andrew Rees, and will collaborate with both Anne Mehlman, executive vice president and brand president for Crocs, and the Hey Dude brand leadership team to drive strategy and execution. Rees will serve as interim president for the Hey Dude brand until a permanent structure is announced, the company said.

During Reilly’s tenure as brand president, he built a brand leadership bench that included bringing in Rupert Campbell as chief commercial officer and Kerstyn Chang as chief product and merchandising officer. Both Campbell and Chang will continue to drive forward the Hey Dude vision and will report to Rees.

“The power of the Crocs and Hey Dude brands is unlike anything I’ve seen in my 25-plus years of connecting with consumers and culture to drive lasting business results. We have two of the largest casual footwear brands in the world, loved by communities of passionate fans,” Reilly said. “While we have seen remarkable success over the last decade from Post Malone to Jelly Roll and so much in between, I believe we are just getting started.”

The collaboration between American rapper and singer Post Malone and Crocs began in 2018, while the first collaborative shoe between singer and songwriter Jelly Roll and Hey Dude was launched in October 2024. Crocs acquired the Hey Dude brand in 2022.

“Since Terence rejoined Crocs, Inc. in 2024, the Hey Dude brand has seen significant traction under his leadership. He has galvanized a team, sharpened the brand’s strategic focus and re-established authentic connections with our consumers. I am confident that the green shoots we are seeing today are building the foundation for sustainable long-term brand growth,” Rees said. “With Terence in this new role and in partnership with our proven leadership team, this shift will create an elevated focus on driving heat and energy for both our brands and spark disruptive innovation as we engage with our consumers and customers around the world.”

Reilly’s appointment as the firm’s chief brand officer comes at a time when growth in athleisure footwear is viewed as a period of opportunity for Crocs. UBS softlines analyst Jay Sole said in April that the global footwear industry has a compound annual growth rate of 5 percent to 6 percent, skewed to sports footwear. Athleisure is expected to drive the category, possibly at an annual 8 percent pace. And with other growth factors such as casualization and the focus on healthy lifestyles, Sole said the trend has extended to casual and comfort shoe styles, which he sees as a benefit to the Crocs brand.

The company on May 8 posted first quarter earnings results that bested Wall Street’s expectations. Net income was $160.1 million for the quarter ended March 31, on revenues of $937.3 million. Adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) were $3.00. Wall Street had expected adjusted diluted EPS of $2.49 on revenue of $907.9 million. While Crocs revenues were up 2.4 percent to $762 million, Hey Dude revenues were down 9.8 percent to $176 million.

During the company conference call after it posted earnings results, Rees said the Crocs brand was making progress in new product introductions, such as sandals. At Hey Dude, he said the team continued to make progress on “stabilizing the brand.”

Author Credits- Vicki M.Young
WWD