Campaigns retailers go on offensive

A shopper selects a rice pack at a superstore as retailers come up with ways to help customers.

Major retailers yesterday launched proactive campaigns to stimulate buyers and boost sales in the final quarter.

Central Food Retail, operator of Tops Supermarket, yesterday launched a promotion entitled "SPOT Money Back" in cooperation with 3,000 suppliers.

Phattaraporn Phenpraphat, vice president for marketing and public relations, said the Bt300million campaign was designed to encour¬age shoppers to spend more at Tops.

Average shopping transactions for the company's three brands are Bt350 to Bt400 for Tops Supermarket, Bt500 to Bt550 for Tops Market and more than Bt600 for Central Food Hall.

In the SPOT Money Back programme, every purchase of Bt400 will give customers 40 points, with every Bt10 equal to one point. When they achieve 200 points, customers will be entitled to a Gift Card worth Bt20. Customers will also have a chance to earn extra points by pur¬chasing those 4,261 products under 60 brands participating in the cam¬paign.

"We understand the current eco¬nomic slowdown and want to help our customers with this new pro¬motion. Amid today's political and economic difficulties, we as a private company need to help each other to make the overall market grow," said Phattaraporn.

More than 3.5 million customers have subscribed to the company's SPOT Rewards Card loyalty pro¬gramme.

"At Tesco Lotus, shoppers have reduced their visits to the hyper¬market from two times a month to one time on average. However, the transaction per basket has increased to about Bt600," he said.

"Under this situation, we need to help our customers by offering discounts and other attractive promotional campaigns. This will reinforce our image as the price leader as well as boost loyalty among our shoppers."

Tesco Lotus yesterday launched its second "Roll Back" campaign of the year on more than 1,000 products that families really need. Prices of leading branded products and Tesco's own brands are reduced in price by an average of 6.8 per cent to help customers save money on their weekly shop.

"Carrefour Month", to be held from today until October 30, is costing more than Bt30 million.

"Shoppers want to get the most value for money in the current eco¬nomic difficulty. Because of that, our new Carrefour Month cam¬paign offers shoppers discount coupons from 3 per cent to 100 per cent for every Bt600 of purchases at all Carrefour stores. Customers will also get additional bonuses each day of the week," she said.