Limitless Technology aims to be dominant force in the gifting space
Manufacturing sector slowing but may strengthen
IT was not long ago when Maximillian Lotz and Niklas Frassa sat in an apartment in Mont Kiara, Kuala Lumpur and developed an application over one weekend in 2016.
This would become the foundation for South-east Asia-based company, Limitless Technology Sdn Bhd.
Today, the integrated ecommerce player has made leaps and bounds in the gifting space, serving six markets across the globe with plans to expand into more this year.
Lotz, the chief executive officer, tells Starbizweek there are a few new markets on the horizon for 2024 that they are confident in entering, having done it six times already.
At the moment, the group operates in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Hong Kong and Australia, focusing on four main categories – flowers, gifts, cakes and confectionery.
The group started in Malaysia and only entered Australia two years ago. The brands under the group include LVLY, Flower Chimp, Bloomeroo, Cake Rush, Rose Rush, and the recently acquired Happy Bunch.
“We have a playbook for entering new markets, so we know how to do it. We look at markets where our capabilities can be utilised and of course, it is very much based on consumer taste in that particular country. Choosing the right product portfolio has been very important,” he says.
The group will also look at acquiring another brand in the first half of 2024, which is set to be fairly sizable and one that will further expand the brand and its categories.
“We cannot disclose what it is yet but it will be in the celebration space and on a service level. We are excited about it,” he says.
On how the group first started, Lotz says he didn’t know Frassa who is now the chief operating officer or Kai Kux, the chief financial officer when they first met.
All three previously worked for different companies.
But upon identifying a significant gap in the flower delivery industry mainly due to rigid analog methods of selling and delivering, Lotz and Frassa felt they struck gold
SINGAPORE: Singapore’s economy, in the first three months of 2024, grew at its weakest quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) pace in a year as manufacturing slowed, but economists see growth strengthening ahead.
On a q-o-q seasonally adjusted basis, the economy expanded by 0.1% in the first quarter, down from the 1.2% growth in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to advance estimates released on April 12 by the Trade and Industry Ministry.
OCBC Bank chief economist Selena Ling noted that q-o-q growth was the slowest since the first quarter of 2023. It is also lower than the 0.5% gain tipped by analysts ina Bloomberg poll.
Compared with the same period last year, the economy grew 2.7%, higher than the 2.2% expansion in the fourth quarter of 2023. However, this figure also missed the Bloomberg poll’s median forecast of 3% growth.
Ling said: “Importantly, there was no change to the 2024 official growth forecast of 1% to 3% year-on-year (y-o-y), or to the headline and core inflation forecasts of 2.5% to 3.5% y-o-y.
“Singapore’s growth trajectory is tipped to strengthen for the subsequent quarters of 2024, predicated on an improvement in the manufacturing recovery theme, especially for electronics, and accompanied by the financial sector in anticipation that risk appetite should be buoyed by the global monetary policy easing cycle in the second half of 2024.”
Maybank economist Chua Hak Bin said the economy is cruising once again, but the growth is somewhat uneven.
He said the manufacturing and electronics recovery is weaker than expected, while the services industries are buoyant because of visa waivers for China tourists, a stronger trade-related services sector, as well as a Taylor Swift boost.
Chua added that revenge travel may lose some steam for the rest of the year even though it made a strong comeback in the first quarter.
In the services sectors, wholesale and retail trade, and transportation and storage collectively grew 2.7% y-o-y in the first quarter, up from 1% in the previous quarter.
Sectors comprising the information and communications, finance and insurance and professional services sectors grew 4.2% y-o-y in the first quarter, faster than then the 3.6% growth in the previous quarter. The ministry said growth in the information and communications sector was bolstered by continued strong demand for information technology and digital solutions, while that in the professional services sector was mainly driven by the head offices and business representative offices segment.
The accommodation and food services, real estate, administrative and support services and other services sectors expanded by 2.9% y-o-y in the first quarter, up from 2% in the previous quarter.
Manufacturing growth, however, slowed to 0.8% y-o-y in the first quarter, lower than the 1.4% expansion in the previous quarter.
“Within the sector, output expansions in the chemicals, precision engineering and transport engineering clusters more than offset output contractions in the electronics, biomedical manufacturing and general manufacturing clusters,” the ministry said.
The construction sector grew 4.3% y-o-y in the first quarter, down from the 5.2% growth in the previous quarter, led by a decline in private sector construction output. —