The sales growth posted by those supercenter and convenience-store operators in the first half of this year was generated by the opening of new stores over the period. Without the expansion, those operators witnessed a drop of between 1 per cent and 3 per cent on their same-store sales," Chat chai” said. Supercenter and convenience-store operators have been launching more proactive campaigns to encourage shoppers to increase their number of visits, he added.
These activities include one-day and knock-out sales campaigns, collecting redeemable stamps, cash redemption, and buy-one-get-one-free campaigns.
Merely offering price discounts might not be enough to stimulate spending, as consumers do not know the real price of a product, or it is often merely a psychological benefit, with a retailer marking up a price and then discounting from an artificially high margin, he explained.
"We have not seen signs of anything positive occurring in the second half of the year. The government has been launching plans to stimulate the economy, including infrastructure development projects, but there has been no execution so far," said the association's director.
Warunee Kitjaroenpoonsin, director of corporate affairs at Big C Supercenter, said that since the establishment of Big C in Thailand 22 years ago, the company had positioned itself as a price leader to maximise consumers' savings nationwide.
"Helping to support Thai farmers has always been Big C's top priority. We have implemented year-round savings campaigns on daily necessities and commodities to lessen the living costs of customers," she said.
"The 10-per-cent discount off fresh-food prices every Wednesday is what we do weekly, aside from exciting price-down promotions that we launch regularly. And to celebrate Big C's 22nd anniversary, Big C will slash 20-50 per cent off the prices of over 900 items in every category from August 4 to 27.
"Big C also supports local products by being a strong distribution channel for such products across the country," she explained.
Meanwhile, Tesco Lotus has launched a Bt3 billion campaign to lower prices for mother-and-baby products, as well as fresh foods.
Under the campaign, which will run for the rest of the year, the prices of 870 mother-and-baby products will be slashed by up to 20 per cent, while prices will be cut by up to 15 per cent for 150 fresh-food items.