Tourism resurgence supports Thai Watsadu

The hardline segment of multinational conglomerate Central Retail Group (CRC) managed to brush away economic cobwebs to end 2023 on a positive note, thanks to the resurgence of Thailand's tourism industry. The company told the Stock Exchange of Thailand that its hardline segment, which does business under the Thai Watsadu brand, saw sales revenues of THB 74.192 bn (EUR 1.9 bn) for the full year, up 1.8 per cent, at a time when some competitors reeled from a reenacted budget and the lack of public construction activity at the close of 2023.

For the fourth quarter alone, sales were up 4.1 per cent from the comparative period to THB 18.68 bn. "The sales of business in Thailand have increased, especially branches in tourist provinces," the company explained. They added that renovated branches, as well as new stores, additionally supported the top line.

This came despite the country's less-than-stellar economic performance for 2023, when Thailand grew at a slower-than-expected pace of 1.9 per cent. It contracted 0.6 per cent quarter-on-quarter in October-December 2023 owing partly to delays in the approval of the state budget, stagnant private consumption, and weak exports, analysts noted.

But tourism numbers were up at the end of the year. Media reports quoting the country's Tourism and Sports ministry place tourist arrivals in the country at 28 million for the year, the highest since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. State officials were quoted as saying that this resulted in THB 1.2 tn in tourist spending.

In Vietnam, where CRC operates Nguyen Kim stores, sales "decreased as customers were more cautious with their spending, conforming with the country's economic slowdown," CRC stated. The communist country's economy grew 5.05 per cent last year, slower than the 8.02 per cent recorded in 2022. On the upside, the omnichannel business grew 26 per cent, they added.

According to CRC, they opened 14 new branches of Thai Watsadu and the Thai Watsadu x BnB hybribd format in Thailand last year. Four of these were launched in the last quarter. CRC also operates stores in Italy as well as from Thailand and Vietnam. The hardline segment made up 33.43 per cent of the multinational company's overall take. The conglomerate's biggest contributor is its food business (at 38.37 per cent), while fashion contributes the least (28.19 per cent).

Jennee Grace U Rubrico