Taiwanese-French hypermarket venture RT-Mart (
Simon, currently the chief operating officer, will replace Kaufmann Wei (
Despite the change in leadership, RT-Mart's operation strategies and organizational structure will remain unchanged, the retailer said in a statement yesterday.
Simon has set a goal to open at least one new outlet in the nation starting next year and of expanding annual revenues by more than 4.5 percent, it said.
Simon has vast experience in the region. He came to Taiwan in July 2004 as the hypermarket's human resources vice president and was promoted to chief operating officer last year.
Before Taiwan, Simon was based in China for seven years, managing new store openings and procurement.
Wei, meanwhile, will serve as president of the Shanghai-based C-Store (喜市多) convenience stores -- a business affiliate.
Wei joined RT-Mart in 1998 to oversee the Jhonghe (
He will apply RT-Mart's successful formula in Taiwan to C-Stores across the Taiwan Strait, the statement said.
C-Store was set up in April 2001 in China and now has more than 150 outlets.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
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