Central Group, the country's leading retail group, is stepping up its overseas investment with a plan to open a new department store in Turin, Italy, in the next two years.
Tos Chirathivat, the group's chief executive, said it was in the process of renting 10,000 square metres of space from an undisclosed company to open a new La Rinascente department store in Turin, the first capital of a united Italy.
The group chose Turin because it is an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. The population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat at 1.7 million.
Tos: Overseas retail operations doing well
The city is culturally rich and is one of the world's top 250 tourist destinations, and the 10th most visited city in Italy in 2008.
It is also home to much of the Italian automotive industry.
The foray into Turin is an extra business plan for Central Group to grab more opportunities and the city has no luxury department store so far.
"The Turin store will mean Central will have operations covering the top three economically strong areas, together with Milan and Rome," Mr Tos said.
The Turin store, the 13th La Rinascente branch, will open in 2016 or 2017. The 12th store in Rome is nearly complete.
Central Group currently has 12 department stores in Europe, of which 11 branches are under the La Rinascente label in Italy and one Illum store in Denmark.
In addition, the group is negotiating to acquire a major retail chain in Germany.
Mr Tos said the group would complete its renovation of Illum department store this October.
Illum is targeting the medium and high-end markets, offering about 120 Scandinavian and international brands. It welcomes almost 6.5 million visitors a year.
All of these moves will make Central truly represent its success as a Thai retailer entering a world-class market like Europe.
Mr Tos said the performance of its overseas retail operations was positive, except Indonesia, which only just opened.
Sales at La Rinascente in Italy in the first quarter of this year grew by 13% to €600 million (22 billion baht).
Yuwadee Chirathivat, chief executive of Central Department Store, said 34% of sales at La Rinascente in Milan came from tourists, mostly Chinese followed by Russians.
Asian tourists, primarily from Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Thailand, are also among top 10 biggest spenders at the luxury department store.
The company expects sales at La Rinascente to grow steadily. The euro remains weak and the Milan Expo and the opening of the Fondazione Prada are factors that will attract a million or more visitors to Italy.
On the domestic front, Mr Tos said Central Group would continue its expansion after the economy gradually improved in the first five months of the year.
Apart from on-ground activities, it will expand its online shopping business.
New products from SMEs will be available on its shopping website this month, creating a difference from other online retail operators.
The company will seal business partnership deals with two companies abroad and domestically in the third quarter to strengthen its online business.
Sales of Central Group this year are expected to reach 286 billion baht.