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Tag: Big C Supercenter

  • Big year-end discounts on way

    Big year-end discounts on way

    The government seeks cooperation from retailers and wholesalers to cut product prices to help reduce consumers’ expenses and stimulate the economy in the final month of the year.

    The government is set to team up with wholesalers and retailers, which together have 13,500 branches nationwide, to cut product prices by 20%-80% to help reduce consumers’ expenses and stimulate the economy in the final month of the year.

    Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn said the Internal Trade Department has been assigned to discuss with retailers and wholesalers, including hypermarket and supermarket operators, the possibility of holding special promotions to spur spending among Thais and tourists during December.

    “The ministry has cooperated with retailers and wholesalers to organise various activities to cut living costs since late 2015,” she said. “The campaign for this year-end promises special events with discounts as high as 80% for certain items.”

    Mrs Apiradi insisted the discounts will be given to brand-new products, not those currently on sale. Products that will feature in the campaign include food and beverages, consumer goods, electrical appliances, garments and accessories.

    The Business Development Department has also been instructed to talk with retail outlets under its supervision to participate in the year-end special discount programme, particularly for items like milled rice, instant noodles, vegetable oil, seasonings, detergent, dishwashing liquid, fabric softener, toothpaste and shampoo.

    She said the ministry has also asked for cooperation from department stores and retail outlets to hold special events or sales promotions to stimulate rice purchases to help local rice farmers.

    Retailers and wholesalers who are expected to participate in the scheme include the Thai Retailers Association, Siam Makro, the operator of Makro cash-and-carry store chain, Ek-chai Distribution System, the operator of Tesco Lotus hypermarkets, Big C Supercenter, Central Department Store, Robinson Department Store, Central Food Retail, the Mall Group, Tang Hua Seng, CP All, Foodland supermarket, Aeon (Thailand), Saha Lawson, Central FamilyMart, CPF Trading and TCC Logistics & Warehouse.

    In a separate development, the savings and credit cooperatives of employees of Thai Airways International Plc (THAI) will support direct sales of rice from farmers, said Mrs Apiradi.

    Flt Lt Kanok Thongpurk, vice-president of THAI, said farmers will be allowed to sell their products through all channels of THAI employees’ savings and credit cooperatives as well as THAI offices both in the provinces and Bangkok, including Don Mueang and Suvarnabhumi airports.

    Meanwhile, the Public Warehouse Organization and agricultural cooperatives have been instructed to open their spaces for farmers to sell their grain.

  • Big C profit grows despite challenging economy

    Big C profit grows despite challenging economy

    Thai hypermarket operator Big C Supercenter boosted margins in the latest quarter despite the challenging economic climate.

    The company has reported continued resilient rental and service income growth, margin improvement across the board thanks to a focus on the quality of sales – delivering a “robust” Big C profit boost.

    The third quarter to September 30 was the first full reporting period of its new strategic focus on quality of sales rather than the absolute sales amount.

    “On our operations we continued our push to localise our offer in order to become the ‘Thai retailer with customers in our heart’ as we will be better positioned to serve local communities and their varying tastes,”explained Rumpa Kumhomreun, CFO & VP of accounting and finance, in a filing with the Thai SET. “Our work to capture synergies between BJC and Big C is continuing, and during the quarter we for example moved some of our private label tissue manufacturing to BJC. We also started serving Big C Soft Serve ice cream in pilot hypermarkets and Mini Big C stores. Our access to TCC “land bank” also made it possible for us to open an additional Big C Market store at Pantip Chiang Mai during the quarter.”

    The company also improved its online offer, rebranding its Cdiscount.co.th to Cmart.co.th, with over 70,000 SKUs available.

    Big C’s Total Revenues from retail sales, rental and service income, and other income, for the quarter reached Baht 25.892 billion – a decline of Baht 5.799 billion or 18.3 per cent over the same period last year. This decrease was driven by a retail sales decline of 20 per cent from the same period last year, and a same-store-sales decline of 22.6 per cent.

    “The significantly declining same-store-sales trend was driven by our strategic focus on the quality of sales rather than absolute sales volume,” said Kumhomreun.

    With a similar fall in expenses, however, Big C’s net income attributable to shareholders grew by 14.6 per cent to Baht 1.538 billion for the quarter, up Baht 196 million year-on-year.

    Gross profit margin reached 17.8 per cent for the quarter, representing an increase of 487 basis points from last year.

    Store expansion continued during the quarter in all store formats, with two hypermarkets opening in Phonphisai and Na Thawi, two Big C Market stores in Loei and Chiangmai, 23 Mini Big C stores including 15 franchise stores, and one Pure Drugstore. Those took the store count at the end of September to 128 large format stores (Big C Supercenter, Extra, and Jumbo), 59 Big C Market, 431 Mini Big C (including 21 franchise stores), and 142 Pure Drugstores.

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  • Sales ease for Big C Thailand

    Sales ease for Big C Thailand

    A strong profit margin has helped Big C Supercenter weather a slight decline in sales for its second quarter.

    The Big C Thailand operator says “lukewarm economic conditions” continued, with the tourism sector and government spending continuing to act as the main drivers for the economy.

    “Some signs of improving agricultural prices and less severe drought conditions were seen during the quarter, but this has not yet translated into improved consumer confidence,” the company said in a stock exchange filing.

    During the quarter the company introduced a fundamental change in the way it trades. “We shifted our focus to the quality of sales rather than just the absolute sales amount,” says its report.

    “This does not mean we are neglecting our price position among retail customers; rather, we are limiting the number of ‘big-basket coupons’ we have previously used when targeting professional customers.

    “In order to be able to better answer to our customers’ local tastes and preferences, we started to reorganise and decentralise our store operations teams.

    “The work to capture synergies between the company and the BJC group, our new major shareholder, has also started.” For example, the company has been using combined volumes when re-negotiating with suppliers.

    More stores

    During the quarter, the group’s store network continued to grow across formats. A hypermarket opened in Ranong, Big C Markets opened in Pakthongchai and Somdet, 11 Mini Big C stores opened, including three at gasoline stations plus three franchise stores, and two Pure Drugstores. This brought the store total at the end of June to 126 large-format stores (Big C Supercenter, Extra and Jumbo), 57 Big C Markets, 408 Mini Big Cs (including 167 in gas stations and six franchise stores) and 149 Pure Drugstores.

    Big C’s total revenues from retail sales, rental and service income, and other income, reached baht 33,796 million (US$975.36 million) for the quarter, representing a 1.1 per cent decline of Baht 362 million compared with the same period last year.

    This decrease was driven by a 1.5 per cent retail sales decline.

    The group’s dual retail-property model continued its steady performance with rental income for the year increasing by 3 per cent.

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