The supermarket chain, Tesco is set to open 750 convenience stores in Thailand over the next three years in its first major overseas expansion under chief executive Dave Lewis.
However, even though Tesco is well known and reasonably popular in the UK, Tesco is likely to face stiff competition in Thailand, mainly from Japanese-US business 7-Eleven, which has thousands of its convenience stores in Thailand, where the brand is run by locally listed company CP All.
The move, headed by the Tesco boss; Dave Lewis will create up to 10,000 new jobs in the country. He said he sees large scope for growth, as around half of the Thai food shopping market consists of traditional markets, street stalls and small family-owned shops.
Profits in Asia, which also includes its Malaysian operation, were down 4.3 per cent last year, though Lewis attributes this to a restructuring in Thailand, including a withdrawal from the wholesale operations.
Tesco has also been restructuring back home in the UK, it would appear. The supermarket chain recently created ‘Jack’s’ which is a subsidiary of Tesco, with the overall aim and objective to try and compete with the likes of Aldi and Lidl, who are currently dominating the supermarket scene in the UK.
