Aeon (Thailand) Co, the operator of MaxValu supermarkets, has announced plans to speed up expansion in Thailand by increasing its number of stores to 500 by 2020.
The company, which now operates 76 outlets in supermarket and mini-supermarket formats, is expected to open 15 more outlets this year.
General manager Keiji Ono said Aeon would spend THB300-400 million (USD9.2m-USD12.3m) to add new stores and modernise some outlets.
Japan’s Aeon is completing construction of its first shopping mall in Indonesia.
Its Indonesia debut follows success in Malaysia and Thailand where it is building strong networks of hypermarkets, supermarkets and mini-markets, and a more recent foray into Vietnam where it has two shopping centres already trading in the south and a third under construction in Hanoi.
Aeon Mall Sinarmas Land Indonesia, its local arm, is building Aeon Mall Bumi Serpong Damai (BSD) City which will have more than 100,000 sqm of leased area and be one of the largest shopping malls in the city when complete.
The suburban mall will have have an Aeon general merchandising store as its anchor, and lease space to a broad range of international and local brands, in similar format to its Vietnamese centres.
It will also feature a food court, cinemas, and an amusement arcade.
The mall will comprise four stories along with multi-level parking for more than 5000 vehicles.
This week Aeon contracted NEC Indonesia to provide cashless payment systems for the food court in what will be the first electronic card payment project for NEC in Indonesia.
The cashless payment system consisting of NEC retail terminals and software will enable cashless transactions for both food court customers and stallholders. Payments for food and beverage will be made via an electronic card, which can be topped up at a central cashier or kiosk.
Japanese retail giant Aeon Co. said on Tuesday that it has reached an agreement on a business tie-up with two of Vietnam’s major retailers Fivimart Co. and Citimart Co. in a bid to develop supermarket business in Vietnam.
Fivimart Co. is the largest supermarket company in Hanoi, operating 20 stores in the capital city. Citimart Co. is the largest supermarket operator in southern Vietnam, operating 27 stores mainly in Ho Chi Minh City, the largest city in the region.
Aeon Co. has been promoting a “Shift to Asian Markets” strategy, working together with the group companies in China and countries of the ASEAN region. It’s one of the group’s strategies under its medium-term management plan.
In Vietnam, the company launched Aeon Financial Service Co. in 2008 which made it the first Japanese company to engage in instalment sales in the country. Two years later, Ministop launched its CVS convenience store business in 2011. In January 2014, Aeon opened its first shopping mall in Vietnam, Aeon Mall Tan Phu Celadon, in Ho Chi Minh City, becoming one of the country’s largest shopping mall. This was followed by the second mall, the Aeon Mall Binh Duong Canary, opened in Binh Duong province in November 2014. With the plan to open its third mall in Hanoi this year and other proactive initiatives ahead, Aeon continue to broaden its business in the country.
“Toward the launch of the ASEAN Economic Community planned at the end of 2015, the ASEAN countries began integrating and further economic growth is expected in the area. Vietnam, in particular is making prominent growth in its market, backed by a population in excess of 90 million and a high economic growth rate that has contributed to an expanding middle class,” the company said in a statement on Tuesday.
“In order to achieve rapid growth in Vietnamese market as such, we believe the partnerships with Fivimart Co. and Citimart Co.; the companies with strong business foundations in two of the largest cities in north and south of the country as well as knowledge about the varying regionally oriented customer needs, are of great significance,” it added.
Aeon sees Vietnam as its second most important market in Southeast Asia after Malaysia and plans to have 200 stores across the country eventually and to grow sales to JPY100 billion (USD848 million), according to The Japan Times Online.
Japanese retailer Aeon is planning to increase its supermarket network in Thailand to 500 outlets by 2020.
But this year it has scaled back its expansion plans due to what it considers to be a subdued retail market.
Aeon currently has 76 supermarkets in Thailand most trading under the MaxValu brand, shops which are larger than convenience stores but smaller than full scale supermarkets. Many trade 24 hours.
The company had planned to open 30 new stores this year but now says it will open just 15 new ones. Next year will see 40 new stores, and then 100 each year through to 2020. About 80 per cent will be MaxValu stores, the rest full sized supermarkets.
GM Keiji Ono told the Bangkok Post that Aeon would invest up to 400 million baht (US$12.3 million) on upgrading existing stores and opening new ones.
“We will penetrate the market in provinces in the Northeast such as Ubon Ratchathani and Udon Thani in order to exploit the expected economic boom from the coming regional pact of the Asean Economic Community,” he said.
New MaxValu stores will soon open in Laem Chabang and Pattaya.