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发表于 21-3-2008 08:48 PM
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Carrefour to make RM1.2b splash[email=By%20Vasantha%20Ganesan]By Vasantha Ganesan[/email] | Published: 2008/02/20 |
Within the next three years, the French retailer expects to double the number of its Malaysian stores from 13 today
CARREFOUR Malaysia will invest an estimated RM1.2 billion over the nextthree years to double the number of its hypermarkets to 26.
The expansion will also see Carrefour undergo a reorganisation to set up new departments and the creation of 4,200 jobs.
"Prior to 2006, we only had eight stores. Between 2006 and January2008, we have already added five stores. And within the next threeyears, we expect to double the number of stores from 13 today,"customer operations and marketing director Sivakumar Haridas said.
"We expect to spend not less than RM1.2 billion over the next three years for openings," he added.
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"Thisyear, we will open three more outlets in Tropicana City (mid-2008),East Coast Mall, Kuantan (by July), and Bandar Tun Hussein Onn, Cheras."
Carrefour opened a store last month in Ampang.
It has set aside RM300 million to open the additional three stores this year.
Carrefour in Malaysia is operated by Magnificient Diagraph Sdn Bhd,which is 30 per cent owned by Syarikat Pesaka Antah. Pesaka Antah iscontrolled by the Negri Sembilan royalty.
Carrefour will also have outlets in Kota Damansara in Selangor and Johor in future.
"We are looking at more outlets in the Klang Valley, the south and east(apart from Kuantan) for expansion in 2008, 2009 and 2010," Sivakumartold Business Times in an interview.
Although the Frenchretailer was the first foreign hypermarket to enter the country in1994, it has the smallest number of stores. It trails behind HongKong's Dairy Farm Giant and Britain's Tesco, which have 29 and 19hypermarkets respectively.
Sivakumar said that apart from improving operational efficiencies, it may also remodel the older stores.
Over the past few months, some 13 people have left Carrefour's headoffice, of which about half were management-level employees.
This started market speculation that Carrefour was undertaking a major restructuring exercise.
Sivakumar pointed out that while the departure of 13 employees may lookbig, it only represents one per cent of its total staff count at thehead office.
Moreover, its staff strength has actuallyincreased to 681 as at end-2007 from 633 at the beginning of last yearas it prepares for new openings.
Additional manpower wasrequired with the creation of departments like public relations andcorporate social responsibility and pricing and marking intelligence.
Beyond 2010, Carrefour will look at the northern and central regions of Peninsular Malaysia.
Sivakumar said that while Sabah and Sarawak was not within its radar inthe medium term, it would not discount the possibility in the future. |
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