SPAR International expands into Thailand
SPAR International and Bangchak Retail Company have teamed up in a new partnership which will see up to 300 new SPAR stores opening in Thailand by the end of 2020 as part of a €102 million investment.
Bangchak Retail Company plans to open seven new stores during 2016 including key flagship convenience and neighbourhood developments. From 2017, the company expects to open 50 to 80 stores each year for the next five years with up to 2,500 jobs created in the process.
The partnership with Bangchak Retail Company will see SPAR share industry expertise with its new partner including the sharing of best practice across its supply chain, retail operations, staff training, retail design and brand development strategy.
SPAR Thailand is expanding forecourt retailing stores around food purchasing and worked with Bangchak Retail Company to generate detailed store designs and layouts. Ahead of the opening of the first store, SPAR International also helped to set up the requisite supply chain capability, introduced the SPAR culture to the teams in the stores and central office, gave advice about equipment suppliers and assisted with secondments to other SPAR partners by key team members.
SPAR International also has a multi-format presence in China, India and Indonesia.
Tobias Wasmuht, managing director of SPAR International, said: “In the last decade, SPAR International has grown from strength to strength in key strategic markets of Asia. The launch of SPAR in Thailand in partnership with BCR represents a significant and important step forward in SPAR’s ongoing expansion into Asian markets.”
The new venture is being led on the Bangchak Retail Company side by the firm’s managing director Viboon Wongsakul who said: “We plan to bring local retailing to the next level and will dedicate the resources necessary to have a significant presence in the market in the shorted possible timeframe.”
SPAR International has over 12,100 stores worldwide and had global retail sales of €33 billion in 2015.
