Billionaire Chirathivat Family’s Central Retail Aims To More Than Double Revenue Over Next Five Years

Thailand’s largest retailer, controlled by the Chirathivat family, among the country’s richest, will invest 100 billion baht ($3.03 billion) to expand its businesses and increase revenue by 2.5 times over the next five years, the company said in an announcement. Central Retail will boost all of its business segments, including food, fashion, hardline, property, and new businesses.

“There are five emerging trends that are fundamentally changing and shaping our future, and we must be prepared to adapt to these changing customer behaviors and rapid digital transformation,” Central Retail Chief Executive Officer Yol Phokasub said in the statement.

According to Phokasub, the five trends include shifting consumer behavior and expectations in physical and digital consumption, scaling in the era of digital acceleration, the growing importance of wellness products, partnerships for inclusive growth and increasing commitment for sustainability.

The company will employ several key strategies to accommodate the trends, including reinventing its omnichannel platforms that serve its business across Thailand, Vietnam, and Italy. The three countries are the major revenue drivers of the company.

In the first nine months of last year, the company posted revenue of 136.8 billion baht ($4.1 billion) down 4% from the same period the previous year, as the pandemic caused operational disruptions in its key markets.

Benjaphol Suthwanish, an analyst at Asia Wealth Securities, in a note released after the announcement projected that Central Retail’s revenue will grow by 6% this year and 9% the following year, due to the recovery of its domestic and international businesses.

Central Retail is the retail arm of the Central Group, which went public in February 2020 and was Thailand’s biggest IPO, raising $2.5 billion. Central Group began as a small family shop run by Tiang Chirathivat in Bangkok in 1947. The group is now led by Tiang’s grandson, Tos Chirathivat, and has more than 3,000 retail stores and food outlets in Thailand.

In December last year, Central Group and its Austrian partner Signa Holding announced they would acquire British retailer Selfridges & Co. from the Weston family of Canada for $5.4 billion.