Central Retail Corporation, the retail arm of Central Group and the country's biggest mall operator, is flexing its muscles to spur shopping during the upcoming Chinese New Year.
Natira Boonsri, president of Central Department Store, said it has teamed up with eight business units under Central Group comprising Tops, Family Mart, Matsumoto Kiyoshi, Robinson, Power Buy, Super Sports, Central Marketing Group and B2S to offer privileges and sales promotion under its "Happy Chinese New Year 2020" campaign from Jan 15 until Feb 2.
It is spending about 50 million baht on this marketing campaign, offering shoppers both online and offline channels.
"We believe consumer spending continues to recover, boosted by the government's stimulus measures, a recovering tourism industry and consistent efforts by the private sector to promote sales," Mrs Natira said.
She expects consumer spending will continue to grow in the first quarter of 2020 with Chinese New Year the main driver.
Mrs Natira estimates shopping during Chinese New Year to exceed 13 billion baht, with the bulk going to sacrificial food, appliances, travelling and red items.
"We are confident the synergy of all of our business units, powered by the solutions offered via our omni-channel platform that meets every shopping demand, will lead to a record-high sales growth during Chinese New Year," she said.
Phattaraporn Phenprapaht, head of marketing at Central Food Retail Co, said though there is a spate of negative factors affecting the market, the company is confident it can grow its business because Central Group has a big database allowing the group to personalise its marketing to shoppers.
The company expects sales of Tops Supermarket during the Chinese New Year festive season to grow by 10-15%, she said.
Central Retail reported revenue amounting to 206.6 billion baht in 2018.
Of the total, 36% was from the fashion category, 21% from the hardline category, and 43% from the food category
As of Sept 30, 2019, it had 1,922 stores in 51 provinces in Thailand. The company also has nine stores in eight cities in Italy under the Rinascente brand, and 133 stores in 40 provinces in Vietnam under the Big C/GO!, Lanchi Mart and Nguyenkim brands.