TCC Land Asset World, the retail development arm of billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, expects Bangkok's retail market to become saturated over the next decade.
Managing director Napat Charoenkul said retail operators in various formats have heavily expanded new projects in each area of Bangkok, resulting in the catchment area between each retail store to decline by almost three times from 5-7 kilometres to only 2km.
More importantly, online shopping is sure to play a pivotal role in the retail market, he said.
"The company needs to cope with these market trends by changing its retail concept stores to cater to customer demand in each area," said Mr Napat.
Starting from Box Space, an outdoor retail store on Ratchayothin Road, it will change to a boutique shopping complex under the O.P. brand on the 2-3 rai plot. There are two O.P. shopping complexes, O.P. Place and O.P. Garden. Both are located near Mandarin Oriental hotel.
The company will transform Tawanna Market in Bang Kapi area into a community market.
The change is meant to lure more consumers to shop every day at Tawanna.
"We remain confident of our survival in the market because the transformation to the new concept retains 30,000 customers who already shop at our Tawanna project," Mr Napat said.
He said despite poor consumption, retail concept stores like Tawanna Market still remain popular, prompting many players to jump into this retail format because there are no barriers to entry.
The company will adjust the store concept for another two Tawanna Markets in Bang Phli and Rama II areas next year, which will require an investment of 3.5 billion baht.
Apart from changing its existing retail store concept, the company will continue to develop new retail store concepts and new brands with an investment of 8.2 billion baht to develop retail projects across the country during 2018-2019.
TCC Land Asset World operates 10 retail projects in Bangkok and upcountry under various brands, including Asiatique The Riverfront, Gateway Ekamai, CenterPoint of Siam, Pantip, Tawanna Market and O.P. Garden.
These retail branches have a combined retail space of about 300,000 square metres. With the 10-year investment plan for 2018-27, it will double its retail projects to 20 projects. The total retail space will rise by three times from now to 1 million sq m next decade. Apart from retail development under TCC Land, Mr Charoen's empire has other retail businesses, including Big C Supercenter, Samyan Midtown, One Bangkok in Lumpini and The Street Community Mall.
With these plans, the company expects its sale to grow by 17% from this year to 3.5 billion baht next year.
