Central Food budgets for new stores

The company aims to add about 70 new stores every year and reach 600 stores in total by the end of 2021.
Central Food Retail started its business in 1994 with 13 supermarkets in Central Department Stores. The company currently operates 205 stores in eight different formats including Central Food Hall (seven locations); Tops Market (85 locations); Tops Superstore (two locations); Tops SuperKoom (37 locations); Tops Daily (51 locations); and Eathai (one location).
The future expansion will focus on the Tops Market and Tops Daily formats, the company’s mid- and mini-scale supermarkets, which are flexible and can be opened at any location throughout the Kingdom.
Alistair Taylor, president of Central Food Retail, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, has said that the expansion will allow the company to maintain average growth of 10-15 per cent over the next five years. However, the company’s organic growth is estimated at about 6 per cent over the period, he said.
“For this year alone, we plan to allocate between Bt1.2 billion and Bt1.3 billion of investment capital in two areas,” he said.
“Between Bt200 million and Bt300 million will be spent on a system to support our growth. Another Bt600 million will be spent on new store [openings], and between Bt400 million and Bt500 million [will be spent] on renovations of our existing supermarkets.
“With the budget, we expect to increase the number of our supermarket outlets from 205 stores currently to 250 by the end of this year.”
Taylor said the company was considering opportunities for the expansion of its supermarkets outside Thailand.
“There are many opportunities occurring all the time,” he said. “Central Group recently made an acquisition deal for Big C in Vietnam. The group has operated retail businesses in many international markets including in Europe, Indonesia and Malaysia.
“There are also many opportunities we have seen in neighbouring countries. However, there is no fixed plan decided by the company at this moment.”
Taylor said from now on the company would focus on key success factors – format strategy, customers and innovation.
Central Food Retail says it has designed new brand concepts for its store formats that meet customers’ changing needs. The company focuses on its customers via many elements including customer experience, technology transformation and product quality.
“We are a customer-centric retailer. We try to find out customer insights and turn those insights into action,” Taylor said.
He said the company had developed new innovations, especially in terms of payment channels. Those innovations include e-signature, tablet, QR (quick response) codes, self-checkout, gift cards and a digital wall.
He said these were “in line with the company’s vision to be recognised as an innovative and exciting supermarket for a wide range of quality foods at good value and a friendly service”.