Ian Pye, centre, president of Central Food Retail, at a media conference yesterday to announce the company’s rebranding strategy for Tops Supermarkets.

Central Food Retail, Central Retail Corporation's food retail subsidiary and operator of the Tops Supermarket chain, has entered the coffee-house and wine-cellar businesses.

The new ventures are in line with the company's vision of becoming one of the premium food retailers in Asia in offering diverse products at reasonable prices and convenient locations.

The company has recently won the local licence to open the Segafredo Italian coffee house in Thailand. It has also launched Central Wine Cellar, with its first standalone outlet opening last month in Hua Hin.

"We want to be an expert in many fields of food retailing. The new diversified food businesses will also serve our vision to become one of the leading premium food retailers in Thailand as well as Asia," said Chiranun Poopat, senior vice president for buying, merchandising and marketing.

She said the first Segafredo coffee house had already opened at Central World Plaza, followed by others in Bangkok at Soi Thonglor and Sukhumvit Soi 41.

Ian Pye, president of Central Food Retail, said the company's sales would be on target this year despite the economic downturn.

According to Nielsen Research, Thailand's food retail industry recorded sales of about Bt480 billion last year. The industry also posted growth of between 6 per cent and 7 per cent in the first five months of this year compared to the same period last year, while Central Food Retail achieved growth of 7 per cent in sales in the first five months.

Central Food Retail expects to achieve Bt20 billion in sales this year, up from Bt18 billion last year. The company operates 96 Tops Supermarket outlets, which have been designed in four operational store concepts. They are Central Food Hall, Tops Market, Tops Super and Tops Daily. The launch of new supermarket concepts is based on a company survey.

"During economic difficulties, shoppers have adjusted themselves with less frequent store visits, but with higher spending each time," said Pye, adding that individual shoppers had reduced their store visits from 2.8 times per month to between 2.3 times and 2.5 times a month, while their average spending per basket increased by 20 per cent to about Bt450.

Pye said the company would spend almost Bt1 billion this year and next year on the renovation of existing supermarkets to fit the concepts. He said about 50 stores had already been renovated and another 20 will complete their renovations by the end of this year.

He said the company would spend another Bt200 million on new stores this year.

"We plan to open another four to five Tops Daily outlets this year, up from about six stores now. We also plan to open another four Tops Super this year as well as one or two new Tops Market outlets," said Pye. He said that of the total 96 supermarkets, about 60 were under the Tops Super brand and another 10 were under the Tops Market brand.

"We will spend the next two years focusing on fixing our existing supermarkets before expanding into new outlets and destinations," said Pye.

Central Food Retail yesterday announced an investment of Bt100 million in its "Fresh Food, Fresh Ideas, Fresh Thinking" rebranding campaign.

"With 11 years of operation in Thailand, the Tops brand has been growing steadily with the trust of our consumers," said Pye.

"As an innovative food retailer showing concern for quality of life with the mission of food safety and reliable trust in freshness, we set a new standard for food retailing in Thailand. We will take a leading role to provide a new food shopping experience to serve a better lifestyle," he said.

Kwanchai

Rungfapaisarn

The Nation