BJC launched "Donjai", a new retail business model to support Mom and Pop Store

This alliance with both suppliers and commercial banks will be announced next year. The plan is to open up more 8,000 stores with a target of 30,000 more stores by 2027.

Mrs. Thapanee Techajareonvikul, Senior Executive Vice President of Chief Executive Officer of Berli Jucker Public Co., Ltd. or BJC said, “The concept of ‘Donjai’ originated from Khun Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi who wanted to participate in helping to develop local entrepreneurs to be able to generate long-term growth, developing Sho Huay stores to have a modern management system with information data base to drive sustainable sales. The soft launch project of Donjai began in early 2022 was well received. Approximately 1,000 grocery store operators have joined us and we will continue to launch official partnerships in early 2023.”

The 2023 goal is to increase the network to about 4,000 stores and to continue having a network of 30,000 stores nationwide by the year 2027. The stores joining the network are 1 of over 400,000 grocery stores nationwide. It is a small to large community retail store that sells directly to consumers, including wholesalers.

Mrs. Thapanee said, “Although there are many large operators under this model, I think it's good to help develop entrepreneurs of grocery stores to have better management skills to bring sustainable growth in the long term. Grocery store operators are important in driving the grassroot economy. Their weaknesses in terms of management especially in stock management added a significant cost over the years and this the number of grocery stores nationwide did not increase much.”

Mrs. Thapanee added that the highlight of “Donjai” is that store operators can design their own investments and select products for sale without sharing profits with anyone even though the investment budget is not high. The store format is divided into 2 types: the first format, BJC uses Big C, Retail stores under BJC group to be a distributor of products for the convenience of ordering products and the second format is to adapt the POS system developed to suit and meet business needs of grocery stores. BJC will renovate the shops to have a modern style and attract more customers. The shop owners can choose the scope of improvement or decorate the shops by themselves according to the budget. No matter which types they choose, the project will charge a monthly expense as a system administration fee of about 4,000 baht that will be returned to the store based on the products purchased.

The distribution of products to the store will be under Big C network with over 200 branches to assist in the delivery. The operators can ensure that there will be no problem in managing the products that will be sold in the stores with this developed POS system showing clearly the information of which products sell best or what products are needed by the community to enable efficient management and to reduce costs and solve the problem of stock management. 

“‘Donjai’ was born on the basis of our intention to come and help develop grocery stores to have good management. This will ultimately affect the sustainable growth of the whole system, not only BJC's affiliated businesses like Big C whose customers are part of the grocery trader only but also, to grocery store operators and suppliers, product owners who join in the Eco system of Satisfaction to grow together in Thailand. We also look at developing projects Donjai in Vietnam by using the prototype from Thailand to develop further there. This will be another opportunity for Thai products to be able to expand and the opportunity to sell to Vietnamese people as well.” Mrs. Thapanee concluded.