Tesco â€˜s â€“ 7 Eleven â€“ BJC Giant Retailers Buying And Expanding Their Markets!

August 31, 2013

Tesco 's – 7 Eleven - BJC paraded over the new opening branch in neighboring countries following the strategic route linking the ASEAN countries that should be completed within 2015.

Giant retailer Tesco are focusing more on neighboring provinces as their market. Expansion is a key driver to strategic growth of the “retail”. In this case the expansion is likely to spread to more provinces. Currently the Bangkok market has become saturated by the opportunities is endless in other provinces since they have strong purchasing powers especially those provinces that are near the border.

Tesco opening new branches in neighboring countries

Ms. Salin Siphan, Vice President of Corporate Affairs, Tesco Ek – Chai Distribution System Co. Ltd. claims that even though the purchasing power of consumers is slowing down but the company’s investment plan to stabilizes . They have openedb300 new small branches, 10 giant branches since the beginning of the year. They have already opened 100 branches a total of 1,500 branches across the country and by the end of the year there will expand to 1,700 branches.

They are currently focusing on opening new branches in other provinces because the capital Bangkok is already saturated. For the past one to 2 years they have been continuously planning to expand their branches to other provinces but they have to see the potential purchasing power of the locals and its neighboring countries as well as lifestyle and the expansion of the provinces.

For example the Masot province branch had remodeled its store from “hypermarket” to “extra”. Recently in July Chiang Khong province opened a hypermarket model, other provinces that have a branch i.e Udon Thani.

The Masot branch that remodeled into an “extra” has plenty of local customers and Burmese customers. As for the Udon Thani province, they have plenty of Laos customers that usually cross the border especially during long holidays or weekends to shop. These customers buy for personal use as well as for resale in their country. Moreover, after observing these markets and once they’ve received permission regarding the land they will continue expanding.

Trading in the borders is booming!

Mr. Clin Sarnsin, President and Director of the Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade of Thailand , said Thailand ‘s overall economy continues to slow in the first half of the year .

However, there are several channels opportunities for Thai market in form of border trade. It has clearly been shown that the Thai border trading market has grown drastically. It is believed that the second quarter of the year, the trading market will continue to grow as well and will also stabilize the purchasing power of these neighboring countries.

There are also many ways to prepare to open border trade including border district of Chiang Khong . Chiang Rai, at the Friendship Bridge Thailand – Lao 4, which will be completed and launched later this year. Tesco have recently opened a new branch in Chiang Khong at The Friendship Bridge Thailand – Laos, many Chamber members will participate and invest.

7-Eleven and Makro alliance

Mr. Piya Thitasanthawarakun Managing director of CP All Company Ltd presided as chairman of the board for retailers and wholesalers conference which was held at Board of Trade of Thailand. It is projected that regarding the retail market there has been no signs of improvement in the next five months of this year. On the other hand the border trade and tourism markets have shown growth and expansion. The border trades for retail markets have also shown a positive trend. Makro currently opened new branches in neighboring border provinces and have resulted in great sales.

Provinces that are located near borders have resulted in improved sales because they have 1. Local customers 2. Thai tourist customers 3. Foreign tourist customers and residents in the neighboring countries.

Currently 7-Eleven has 700 branches and have opened new branches at potential neighboring countries such as Cambodia , Myanmar, Malaysia, as well as three new branches in the three South provinces.

Countries are becoming more developed, border trade and transportation are becoming easier, and the AEC announcement has resulted in a much more dynamic trade.

BJC Vietnam – Laos retailers Flag

Mr. Pisanu Pongwathana, Vice President of Retail Department Berli Jucker Public Company Limited or BJC revealed that after the financial help given to Phu Tai Group, repurchase the convenience stores in Vietnam from Itochu Japanese owned and currently had it changed to Family Mart and Phu Tai Group together creating a customized store. Changing its name from family Mart to‘’Bizmart’ for 41 branches and have also planned to open 300 new regional branches in the next three years.

Next goal is to integrate into the neighboring countries starting from Laos at the end of this year. It is a good chance because the market is still new and there are no competitors. It is a matter of time since they have to build infrastructure which will hopefully be completed by 2015.

After the ASEAN Economic Community ( AEC ) there will be a need to expand and strengthen the current model before actually launching a full model in Thailand where the high risks of competition is fairly high.

The retail expansion in Indochina and the borders of the strategic trade route that will have roads connecting ASEAN so that. To that logistics, trade routes and freight routes. They were promised that by expanding the Vietnam-Laos branches called the highway 309. It will start from Laos cut across Vietnam and then to Thailand through Pisanulok province. Once this route is expanded the next expansion would be linking between Cambodia and Burma.