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Malaysian MasterCard holders spent US$67.1 million during the first weekend of the Malaysia Mega Carnival 2010, an increase of 34 per cent, when compared with US49.7 million spent during the first weekend of carnival last year.

MasterCard Worldwide, in a statement today, said the total number of transactions made by Malaysian cardholders increased nine per cent to 910,588.

Vice President and Senior Country Manager, Malaysia and Brunei, MasterCard Worldwide, Jim Cheah said the encouraging expenditure data reflected the increased consumers confidence among consumers in Malaysia.

“We hope this positive trend will continue and more shoppers will use their MasterCards to take advantage of the various privileges it offered this year,” he added.

Bernama

UNIQLO, Japan’s number one fashion brand and world leader in casual wear, will open its first store in Malaysia in November in Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur. Making its debut as an anchor tenant in the newly renovated Fahrenheit 88 shopping centre, the large-format store will occupy a three-level retail space of 2,140 sq m, which conveys the appeal of UNIQLO – stylish, high quality and affordable clothing, complemented by an unparalleled modern Japanese shopping experience.

The 27-year-old KL Plaza will be opening for business on Sunday after a refurbishment of more than RM100mil.

It will be officially launched next month, mall manager Kuala Lumpur Pavilion Sdn Bhd said.

New York design house of modern fashion accessories Coach Inc will take control of its domestic retail businesses in Malaysia and Singapore currently operated by Valiram Group.

In a statement Wednesday, Coach said both parties had agreed for a phased transition of the retail businesses over the next two years, beginning with Singapore in July 2011.

“This is consistent with Coach’s strategy of directly operating select Asian markets.

“As part of the plan, Coach also expects to name a new local partner for the domestic market in Australia and transition of this business from Valiram over the next 12 months,” it said.

It said the companies had also agreed to transition the current regional distributorship with Valiram, allowing it to focus on travel retail.

“Under this new agreement, Valiram will continue to operate Coach travel retail locations in Singapore, Malaysia and Australia.”

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Thousands of shoppers flocked to malls nationwide as the Malaysia Mega Sale Carnival 2010 kicked off on Saturday.

The carnival, which will run for 55 days, is an opportunity for bargain hunters to find the best deals. It ends Sept 16.

The annual sale, now in its 11th year, coincides with Hari Raya in September .

Thousands of shoppers crowding the Sogo shopping complex in Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman in Kuala Lumpur for bargains as the country kicked off its annual mega sale on Saturday. The 55-day shopping carnival ends on Sept 16.

With the festival, shoppers can shop for, among others, designer goods, home decor items, computer peripherals and electrical appliances.

Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said amendments to the Trade Descriptions Act 1972 would provide for stern action against traders who cheat or hike the prices of their goods.

He said the amendments were expected to be gazetted before Ramadan.

Under the amendments, traders would then be required to inform the ministry of a sale at their outlets and the list of existing prices of their goods 14 days in advance before they offer price cuts.

Shops will also have to slash the prices by at least 70% of their goods.

Ismail Sabri said the amendments were to prevent consumers from being cheated by unscrupulous traders.

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Kicking it off: Dr Ng launching the Malaysia Mega Sale Carnival at Sg Wang Plaza, Kuala Lumpur, yesterday. Also present were (from left to right) Tourism Ministry deputy secretary-general Datuk Haji Ab Ghaffar A.Tambi, Deputy Tourism Minister Datuk Dr James Dawos Mamit, Sungai Wang Chairman Yong Kei Seng and Tourism Malaysia director-general Datuk Mirza Mohammad Taiyab.

More products should be made duty free to make shopping attractive for tourists.

Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen said the shopping component of tourism had registered RM15.11bil, or a 28.3% share of tourism revenue.

If you’re a bargain hound, here’s a great Twitter account for you to follow: @EarlyBird, the latest official Twitter account from the company itself.

It will tweet out time-sensitive and/or limited-quantity deals from various companies and brands — giving special advantage to the retail-obsessed who are also social-media savvy.

How does the EarlyBird work? Twitter() will partner with select advertisers to help them promote relevant, timely offers for Twitter users. The offers will vary in availability, price, product and other terms. Twitter will make money based on these partnerships, and users who follow the account will benefit by getting “first dibs” on limited-time and limited-quantity specials.

EarlyBird — which was first spotted by ReadWriteWeb on Friday — marks yet another evolution in Twitter’s business model, with Promoted Tweets coming to life this spring to expose users of the site to relevant content from advertisers.

Many businesses have included Twitter in their social media marketing strategies. “We believe that surfacing deals through the @earlybird account will help you discover the best of those deals,” reads Twitter’s statement on the new account.

We’re pinging Twitter for more details, such as the kinds of deals to expect and how often to expect them. Stay tuned for updates!

And in the meantime, let us know what you think: Is @EarlyBird a good idea for Twitter users who love a good deal, or is it the online equivalent of a mailbox stuffed with coupons and junk mail?

UPDATE: A Twitter rep got back to us; while they can’t name specific advertisers yet, our contact did say, “You can expect deals in fashion, tech, travel and entertainment.” In other words, there’s likely to be something for everyone, like a Twitter-themed version of Woot. We look forward to learning more soon.

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LOST NO MORE: With Convep Mobility’s MyMall app, users can simply use their phone to navigate through Sunway Pyramid shopping mall with ease.

Have you ever walked around in circles at a shopping mall, feeling completely lost or followed the signs to only discover you have completely gone the wrong way?

For shoppers at the Sunway Pyramid mall, this promises to be a thing of the past thanks to a nifty free app that patrons can download and install into their phones to locate shops, restaurants and even the nearest restroom.