Just-Eat getting ready for aggressive international expansion

Just-Eat secures funding for international expansion. 

London based Just-Eat, an online take-out ordering service, has closed a financing round of $48m co-led by two leading VCs, Greylock Partners and Redpoint Ventures, with existing investor Index Ventures also participating. Although now based out of London it was originally founded in Denmark.

Just-Eat now plans an international roll-out. Right now it’s in ten countries and three continents and working with 15,000 restaurants. The company claims to generate over $500m of revenue for local businesses in 2011 by linking up normal restaurant POS and ordering systems with an aggregator site which takes orders for takeaway food. 

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Cruise industry must expand internationally

International expansion key to cruise industry profitability.

A slate of cruise industry executives at an industry conference and trade show, Cruise Shipping Miami 2011,on 3/15 said they looked forward to a future of fewer new ships, global expansion and stronger prices.

A record 15 million people worldwide cruised in 2010, the Cruise Lines Industry Association reported. And 2011 is shaping up to draw even more passengers, industry leaders said, citing the large untapped market of potential cruisers in North America (where only 3 percent of the population has cruised,) a growing presence in Europe that could draw European vacationers and the strong value of cruising when compared to other vacations.

Profitability, however, has been depressed due to a low-price strategy to retain customers during the recession. 

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Certero continues its international expansion

International expansion continues for Certero.

According to a PR Log Free Press Release, March 16, 2011, Certero has announced it has established a presence in Scotland. 

John Lunt, Managing Director of Certero, said: “In parallel with our growth plans internationally, it is important to Certero that focus is still maintained in the UK. To this end, we are delighted to be investing in Scotland. Having expert local people to focus on the Scottish market both demonstrates how important Scottish organisations are to Certero and also provides a focal point for Scottish organisations to engage with Certero.” 

It applies centralised computing power policies to enable organisations to save money, reduce their carbon footprint and prolong the life of their computer equipment. PowerStudio tackles the problem of energy waste, driven by PCs left switched on overnight, over the weekends and even over holidays. PowerStudio enabled a UK council to save around 390 tonnes of CO₂ annually by powering down PCs when not in use. 

To fulfil this demand internationally, Certero is expanding its presence globally, and it recently established a local market presence and sales operations in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. 

Start of international expansion for BlueGlass

Forming of Australian company is the start of international expansion for the leading interactive agency

Thus starts a press release through

PRNewswire on March 16, 2011. 

BlueGlass Interactive, Inc., a leading integrated Internet marketing company, announced today it is has opened an Australian sister company, BlueGlass Australia in partnership with Ireckon Pty. Ltd.  The expansion coincides with one of the founding visions of BlueGlass to take their holistic marketing services and product set and expand it across the globe.

BlueGlass Australia is a full service Internet marketing agency exclusively serving the Australian market.  Utilizing BlueGlass' Internet marketing tools and talent combined with Ireckon's expertise in app, tool and web development, the agency is able to offer the Australian marketplace unparalleled Internet marketing expertise.

"For us, making Australia

 the first step in our global expansion was a relatively easy decision," said Greg Boser, President of Services and Products for BlueGlass Interactive. "It was fueled by a growing need for marketing services on the Australian continent, a strong, stable economy and an amazing partner on the continent that shared our vision for where online marketing services are going."

Becoming a truly global agency is a must in today's environment where companies find their customer base being citizens of the world and not one geographical region. The move also allows BlueGlass to bring competitive marketing tools to regional markets that are completely underserviced.

International Expansion: EABG acquires rights to another US brand

EABG makes another international expansion possible. 

Frederick's of Hollywood Group Inc. announced that it has entered into an exclusive multi-year licensing agreement with Abu Dhabi-based Emirates Associated Business Group (EABG) to build and operate Frederick's of Hollywood retail stores in the Middle East.

The agreement provides for EABG to open at least 10 Frederick's of Hollywood retail stores in six Middle Eastern countries over the next three years, with additional store openings based on a mutually agreed upon expansion plan. In addition, a flagship store in Abu Dhabi is scheduled to open in April 2011.

Thomas Lynch, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Frederick's of Hollywood Group Inc., stated, "Frederick's of Hollywood is known as a fun, sexy brand for women around the world; however, we currently only sell our products in North America. The agreement with EABG to open stores in multiple Middle Eastern countries is an exciting first step for Frederick's of Hollywood in our strategy to extend our customer reach to new parts of the world. By utilizing licensing agreements to enter new geographic markets, we can cost effectively and quickly grow our business, while also benefiting from our partners' knowledge, presence and experience in these new retail environments."

Raid Abu Hudra, Chief Executive Officer of EABG, stated, "We believe that the Frederick's of Hollywood brand's fun and luxurious image will successfully carry over to the Middle East and will be a hit among young Middle Eastern women. As such, we have an aggressive strategy in place to open Frederick's of Hollywood retail stores across the area, with our flagship retail location slated to open in Abu Dhabi next month. We are looking forward to a long and successful partnership with Frederick's of Hollywood."

Qatar Airways continues international expansion including to Oslo Norway

Qatar Airways Wednesday announced that three cities will join its rapidly growing global network during the second half of 2011, part of a continued international expansion strategy focused on new routes and capacity increases, paylessbg.com reported.

India, Norway and Bulgaria have been earmarked for new route development as the airline spelled out its ongoing commitment to international growth, targeting both popular and underserved markets in Europe, Middle East, North America and Asia, from its Doha hub.

Beginning October 5, Qatar Airways builds on its successful operations in Scandinavia with the start of five-flights-a-week to Norway s capital city of Oslo. The airline already operates scheduled services to the Swedish capital Stockholm and Denmark s capital city of Copenhagen.

With Oslo set to be part of our network, Qatar Airways will strengthen its presence in Scandinavia as the biggest Gulf-based airline flying to the region.

No longer the world’s largest fast-food chain?

Both McDonald's and Subway have been pursuing aggressive international expansion, and Subway, in terms of locations, has finally caught up with its arch rival. But this is really comparing apples and oranges, because the number of units is a poor measure of success. Rather, one should look at market share and profitability, which are both dominated by McDonald's, both on the corporate and franchisee side. 

Here's the latest from (Crain's) — McDonald’s Corp. is no longer the world’s largest fast-food chain — at least, in the number of restaurants.

Subway sandwich shops outnumbered Golden Arches worldwide at the end of 2010, with 33,749, compared with 32,737 McDonald’s outlets, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Subway has been gaining on McDonald's for a while. In 2009, McDonald’s had just 402 restaurants more than Subway, according to Chicago-based Technomic Inc.

In the U.S., Subway has long been more ubiquitous than McDonald’s, surpassing the Oak Brook-based fast-food giant in 2002. The sub chain is owned by Doctor’s Associates Inc. of Milford, Conn.

In 2009 — the most recent figures available from restaurant industry tracker Technomic — McDonald's had 13,980 U.S. restaurants to Subway's 23,034.