In accordance with its new business plan, the chain, which has operated in Bangkok for 20 years, plans five to 10 new branches a year, said Aichi Shibata, managing director of Siam-Jusco, the operator of Jusco supermarkets in the Kingdom.

Starting from next year, Shibata said, Siam-Jusco would finish reorganising its business structure by renovating the six existing branches, adding more in-house brands and lowering prices, in order to expand its customer base.

There are currently six Jusco Superstore branches in Bangkok: at Ratchadaphisek, Srinakarin, Sukhaphibal I, Sukhumvit Soi 71, Bang Bon and Pracha-uthit.

Shibata said Jusco would begin expanding next year with five new branches of 1,000-2,000 square metres each.

"The superstore will consider which product items should carry reduced prices, which will have to be not very different from our rivals," he said.

He pointed out that Siam-Jusco was the first Japanese superstore to enter the Kingdom. But the company has not enjoyed a great success here, due to the stiff competition in the Thai market.

The company began reorganising its business late last year and believes any new investment will take effect within the next six months, said Shibata.

He said the superstore would add anywhere from 90 to 300 in-house brand items, some imported from China. Most will be beauty and food products.

"With the addition of the new in-house product brands, Jusco expects its total sales to grow 3-5 per cent annually," said Shibata.

He said the superstore had a 30,000-strong customer base, which was expected to expand to 50,000 next year. Currently, Jusco enjoys customer traffic of 500,000 visits a month.

Moreover, Jusco recently joined hands with Aeon Thana Sinsap to launch the Jusco Visa Card and Jusco MasterCard, to boost spending at its stores.