Mall Group eyes 8-10% sales growth despite Bang Khae shutdown

The group saw growth of about 10 per cent in the first 11 months compared with the same period last year.

Chamnarn Maytaprechakul, senior chief marketing officer at The Mall Group, said 2011 sales growth would end up better than the earlier target of 5 per cent set at the beginning of the year.

“We experienced a slowdown in year-on-year growth to 2 per cent in October. That growth was driven by supermarket sales, as consumers rushed to stock up amid panic about flooding in Bangkok,” he said. “However, we posted a significant drop of 10 per cent in November as people had no mood for shopping. Consumers, especially in areas at risk of flooding, preferred to stay home and protect their houses in case they were attacked by the floods.” 

Chamnarn said the floods also limited consumers’ ability to access its shopping malls in some flood-risk areas, such as Ngamwongwan, Bang Kapi and Tha Phra.

The Mall Group yesterday launched its “Midnight Sale” campaign, which was postponed from last month. The campaign, costing about Bt30 million, will be held until next Monday, offering special discounts of up to 70 per cent.

“We will adjust our strategy from emotional to functional to promote our Midnight Sale campaign, which is expected to generate about Bt900 million in sales,” Chamnarn said.

 

‘Season of sharing’ 

The group will spend about Bt400 million on its “Season of Sharing” campaign, which will be held from December 16 to February 5 and cover three major seasonal festivals: Christmas, New Year, and Chinese New Year, he said. The group expects Bt7.7 billion in sales from the campaign.

Chamnarn said the group expected 5-per-cent growth in sales next year. He added that the growth would depend on how fast consumers, as well as flood-affected suppliers, rehabilitate themselves after the disaster.

Chamnarn said 2012 “will be another tough year for us amid many uncertainties such as politics, natural disasters and global recession.

“As a retailer, we need to know ourselves in terms of key competency and our customers,” he said. “We have to adjust our strategy very quickly to the situation, which is expected to change quite rapidly.” 

He said the group had learned a lot from the flooding crisis and had applied these lessons successfully. It allowed the group to improve its business plan and strategy, especially in crisis management.

“Speed will be another significant factor next year, as we need to respond quickly to the market and customer demand, both in communications and launching new marketing campaigns,” Chamnarn said.