Retailers go on offensive

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

The move is aimed at fighting political instability and economic problems, particularly high inflation, as consumers face higher living costs and reduced purchasing power.

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 Bt300-million campaign was designed to encourage 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.

"We hope the campaign will increase our sales by between 8 and 10 per cent over the next 12 months," said Phattaraporn.

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 purchasing those 4,261 products under 60 brands participating in the campaign.

"We understand the current economic slowdown and want to help our customers with this new promotion. 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 programme.

Tesco Lotus director and chief marketing officer Gwyn Sundhagul said political instability and economic difficulties, including the high inflation rate from the high oil price, had affected the purchasing power of consumers.

"At Tesco Lotus, shoppers have reduced their visits to the hypermarket 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.

CenCar, the operator of Carrefour hypermarket, also announced its plan to spend Bt150 million in the fourth quarter on marketing campaigns to stimulate shoppers' spending.

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

Marketing director Prapaphan Ploysangngam said a company survey showed that more than 70 per cent of shoppers would like a promotional campaign that offers a combination of special discounts and other bonuses.

"Shoppers want to get the most value for money in the current economic difficulty. Because of that, our new Carrefour Month campaign 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.

Prapaphan said the company had teamed up with AEON Thana Sinsap (Thailand) on a cashback programme giving returns of up to 15 per cent on selected purchases of electrical appliances.

CenCar expects the campaign to help Carrefour's sales grow by 15 per cent by the end of this year.