Food retail/Central Food Retail

Editorial Staff

Central Food Retail Co, a subsidiary of Central Retail and operator of the Tops, Tops Food Hall, Tops daily, Tops Online and Matsukiyo brands, has increased its investment budget to 1.6 billion baht to expand its business this year, up from 1.4 billion baht last year.

Stephane Coum, chief executive officer of Food Group , Central Retail said that the company will move forward with an investment plan of 1.6 billion baht to open new Tops stores in all formats and modernize its existing stores this year.

At present, the company operates 702 Tops in all formats across 46 provinces. Of the total, 104 branches in the south, 79 in the east, 43 branches in northeast, 34 in central, 25 in the west, 15 in the north and the remaining 402 is from others.Tops has total sales area of 465,000 square metres.

At the end of this year , it aims to operate 20 Tops Food Halls, over 150 Tops Supermarkets, more than 520 Tops daily stores, over 10 Tops Wine Cellar outlets, and more than 25 Matsukiyo stores, totaling more than 730 stores across all formats.

Additionally, the company plans to expand and upgrade an average of over 100 branches annually.

“We have set ambitious goals for continuous business growth. Over the next four years (2024-2027), we aim to achieve an average annual growth rate of 8% (CAGR), with the goal of becoming Thailand's largest supermarket chain with 1,000 stores by 2027,” Mr. Coum said, adding that Tops commits to place customers at the center of everything.

“We do have driven continuous innovation in products and services, ensuring that we meet the evolving needs of our consumers. Our goal has always been to deliver the best possible experience to our customers, resulting in the strong growth of our business, gaining the trust of consumers, and maintaining our leadership in Thailand’s food retail business for many years,” Mr. Coum said.

Though the retail situation is tough but Thailand is better than several countries. This reflects from its strong half-year 2024 performance with a 11% increase in ticket counts and a 10% rise in new customers compared to the previous year.

To have stable growth, Tops has announced its strategic business and organizational direction under the vision of becoming a 'Truly World-Class Omni-Channel Lifestyle Food Retail. It focused on four key business strategies, or T-O-P-S. It will continue to elevate the customer experience by offering superior and unique products of the highest quality, carefully selected from over 80 countries worldwide, including Thailand.
It brings together more than 210 world-renowned brands in one location while supporting Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and local farmers to enhance the global profile of Thai products.

It creates a seamless, convenient shopping experience and delivers the best shopping experience across various product categories from fruits, vegetables, snacks, till wines and spirits along with its own-brand products and over 300 exclusive items.

In addition, Tops continues to advance the ‘Small Acts Together’ initiative. This core component of Tops’ sustainability strategy aims to achieve Net Zero carbon emissions. By encouraging both key partners and customers to actively participate, the initiative contributes to a better, more sustainable world.