Chicken Club sets out to challenge superstores
Parinya: Conventional fresh markets can survive if they know how to adjust to the competition.
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In its biggest move yet to compete with large superstores, Yingcharoen Fresh Market has established a central market for chicken, which it calls the Chicken Club, so that its vendors can pool their purchase orders to buy directly from farms.
Parinya Thammawattana, managing director of Suwapee Holdings, the Bangkok market's owner, yesterday said the new central market would allow chicken vendors to purchase meat from farms without the need for middlemen. The market also provides chicken vendors with financial support so they can pay farms in cash, which further reduces the purchase price. Currently, 22 of the market's 50 vendors have joined the Chicken Club, which will soon celebrate the purchase of its one-millionth kilogram of chicken. "Our market vendors have bought about 50 tonnes of chicken a day, which they can buy cheaper by pooling their purchases. We have also provided them with financial support by giving credit to vendors so that they can buy chickens from farms with cash," said Parinya, who is also president of Thai Fresh Market Association. "We will expand the central market strategy to other products such as vegetables, pork and fish," he said. Parinya said the market had also formed a new business unit - tentatively called Yingcharoen Deliveries - to help its vendors deliver products to clients such as grocery stores, restaurants and food shops. He said the large-scale expansion of modern superstores had heavily impacted fresh-food markets in Bangkok, particularly those that could not adjust to the competition. Out of 200 fresh markets in Bangkok and surrounding areas, almost 50 have already closed as a result of the new competition. As a result, he said fresh-food markets had lost their monopoly power to big foreign retailers, which have successfully promoted their superstores as a new alternative to Thai consumers. "I myself believe that conventional fresh markets can survive if they know how to adjust to the competition," said Parinya, adding that some consumer groups, such as those on low-incomes, could not afford to spend big at superstores and conventional fresh markets were still their preferred food retailers. The Yingcharoen Fresh Market will also open a centre for Otop (One Tambon One Product) products as well as a cooking school in December this year, he said. "We have set key directions for our Yingcharoen market, including improving hygiene, convenience and safety, as well as improving the variety of produce sold. We are also requesting Board of Investment approval for privileges, such as tax cuts, so we can transfer those privileges to our vendors, through cheaper rent for example," he said. Parinya added that the company would list Yingcharoen Fresh Market on the stock market in the next two to three years, so that it can be owned by vendors and the general public.
Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn The Nation
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