The 2018 brought new retail experiences to Sri Lankan consumer. Not only did a number of new players entered the organised retail space in Sri Lanka last year, two established players upped the ante by re-branding and revamping their stores. Most of these endeavors are going to be making the full impact this year.
Here are some of the new entrants and the new-look old boys;
MINISO - The Japan themed retailer
DECATHLON - The French sporting goods super-store
SPAR - Dutch multinational retail chain now in Sri Lanka
CARGILLS - Rebranded, Revamped and Rebooted
KEELLS - Keells Super got its Mojo back
MINISO - The Japan themed retailer from....China!
Among the new entrants, Minso established itself firmly as a very popular variety store chain and has already spawned a number of copycats as well. Miniso is a Chinese low-cost retailer and variety store chain that specializes in household and consumer goods including cosmetics, stationery, toys, and kitchenware. Miniso was co-founded in 2013 by Japanese designer Jun'ya Miyake and Chinese entrepreneur Ye Guofu, the company is headquartered in Guangzhou, China, under the Chinese company Aiyaya. Last year (2018) the company's sales revenue reached $2.5 billion.
As per the company website, Miniso is operating in 86 countries around the world including USA and Australia. In Sri Lanka, Miniso is operating only FOUR stores. The flagship store at Town Hall, Colombo 07, opposite of Osu Sala on the same block as the United Motors/ Mitsubishi dealership. They also have stores in Colombo City Centre mall, Colombo City Hotel at Canal Row, Fort and at Galle Road near Bambalapitiya (land side on Galle Road). There are many copycat stores spread around Colombo. So be careful if you plan to shop at Minso.
Miniso’s product design team is lead by co-founder Miyake and has two Swedish designers, one Dane and four Norwegians.
Miniso's branding strategy is heavily influenced by Japanese retailers such as Muji, Daiso, and Uniqlo. It is very much similar to Japanese variety retailers in store aesthetics, brand design, and inventory. However, it is not a Japanese retail brand even though they actively pretend to be one. In reality Miniso is a low cost Chinese brand mimicking trendier Japanese rivals. However, Sri Lankan consumers, including the writer who has shopped there enjoys the attractively priced, tastefully designed products presented in a unique way. It is a much better experience than limited choice offered by places like No Limits, Fashion Bug or House of Fashion, not to mention the rather expensive Oldel.
DECATHLON - The French sporting goods super-store in Battaramulla
Decathlon, the French sporting goods retail giant has set its roots firmly in an expansive location near Buddhadasa sports ground in Battaramulla. It brings another novel retail experience to Sri Lankan consumer. As far as the writer can recall, it is the only one-stop-shop for all your sporting and outdoor goods. Based on the footfall seen, it seems highly popular among the fitness and sports enthusiast suburbanites in Colombo.
The staff are young and cheerful and seems well trained and courteous. They operate under the watchful eyes of expatriate managers. Most customer service staff at Decathlon, Battaramulla outlet are young university age may be on internships. However, they are doing a great job!
The prices are reasonable considering that they are Decathlon’s own brands developed from their own R & D and offers good quality (most are manufactured in China, but who cares - the iPhone is made in China too). Decathlon boasts a huge collection of sports shoes, equipment and gear and has an expanding range of bicycles starting from as little as Rs.15,000.
The biggest attraction of Decathlon for Sri Lankan consumer is that it is the only place you need to go to to by anything related to sports be it shoes, raquets, basketballs, sports garments including swimwear, bike helmets (or the bike itself), weightlifting equipment, water bottles among other stuff. Decathlon has recently started offering camping gear and already has a good collection of camping tents, foldable chairs and tables etc.
Decathlon S.A. is a French global brand with over 1500 stores in 49 countries (as of December, 2018), it is the largest sporting goods retailer in the world. The company employs more than 87,000 staff from 80 different nationalities. Decathlon Group owns over 20 brands with research and development facilities all over France to develop the latest innovative designs, registering up to 40 patents per year. The retailer develops and sells its own brands, which the company characterizes as "passion brands". Each sport or group of sports has a separate brand name. The last published results show a revenue of USD 12.8 billion (2017).
SPAR - Dutch multinational retail chain drops anchor at Thalawathugoda
SPAR is a Dutch multinational group that manages independently owned and operated food retail stores. It was founded in the Netherlands in 1932, by Adriaan van Well, and now consists of more than 12,770 stores in 48 countries. In 2017, SPAR achieved €34.5 billion ($40.1 billion) in global sales, which represented a 5.3 percent increase over 2016.
In 2017, SPAR International granted a licence to Ceylon Biscuits Limited (CBL Group) to operate the SPAR Brand as SPAR Sri Lanka in a joint venture with the SPAR Group Ltd South Africa. SPAR South Africa operated 839 stores as of 2018. The first flagship Spar opened in April 2018 at Thalawathugoda/Battaramulla. SPAR Sri Lanka has announced plans to open 20 SPAR Supermarkets within a five-year period; combining both convenience and neighbourhood stores to meet market needs.
Located in an area dense with huge Arpico outlets (Battaramulla & Thalawathugoda), a top-notch rebranded Cargills at Thalawathugoda and an excellent Keells also at Thalawathugoda, Spar flagship has attracted a loyal crowd mainly due to two factors. First is the excellent food court and by far the best food court in any supermarket in Sri Lanka. Spar food court offers a large array of delicious food from fried rice and pasta to a large collection of freshly made sandwiches, bakery items and pastries. Prices are in par with places like The Fab and food quality is good. You can either fill your tummy and then grab a basket to buy some stuff or you do your weekly shopping and then plop down to have a good meal before heading home.
Second attraction is the large array of branded FMCG goods you normally do not find at your typical Cargills or Keells who only stock high turnover items. Spar offers a wide variety of FMGC goods from all well known brands as well as own-brand Spar_Europe items. They are sometimes more expensive than the MNC brands, but for the well heeled customer looking for variety and choice, Spar offers choice that many others do not.
Staff are friendly, seems well trained and always ready to help you. It is a nice change from the stone faced and grumpy store-girls working at many local supermarkets. I don't blame the local stores though- as the brand manager of a supermarket chain told me recently, their biggest headache is getting enough staff - staff turnover is through the roof and many stores are understaffed and manned by simple village girls with minimal training.
Cargills (FoodCity) - Rebranded, Revamped and Rebooted
The venerable FoodCity, the oldest supermarket chain (was a department store at the time) in Sri Lanka, now rebranded as Cargills is a serious breath of fresh air to the tired grocery shopper. The old, stale and somewhat foul smelling (no pun intended) Food Cities are going away and taking their place are modern, trendy European standard supermarkets with a huge choice and a bakery with tables for eat-in added as a good measure.
The rebranding of Cargills Food City with an emphasis on Cargills makes sense as people have been calling it Cargills anyway. The company has invested millions in revamping the stores and it is beginning to show results as far as foot fall is concerned. The new stores are larger, brighter, has more parking, more choice and offers fresher vegetables thanks to new tech fresh produce displays which sprays cool water mist to keep the greens looking evergreen.
Not only that, Cargills is taking Sri Lankan supermarket experience to a new level with the recent opening of their flagship Specialty Supermarket at Colombo City Centre. Created as a new organised retail brand - “Cargills Food Hall”, this store can be compared with any excellent Tesco in the UK or Carrefour in France or similar supermarkets in Singapore or Kuala Lumpur that many Sri Lankans have visited.
The rebooting of Cargills is good for Sri Lankan consumer as well as for the Sri Lankan retail industry. Should the stale, limited choice outlets of the yesteryear continued, new international players such as Dutch owned SPAR and “new kid on the supermarket block” - Softlogic Glomark with a rumored international partner could have won over the customers with better choice, modern stores and better service.
Keells 2.0 - Rebranded & Green, New Keells Super gets back its Mojo
Launched as Keells Super in the nineties with the flagship store at lower-ground, Liberty Plaza, Keells is the first modern supermarket chain to hit Sri Lanka. Food City has been around a lot longer, but languished at the time with a limited number of outlets at Fort, Staples Street (Near JAIC Hilton) and Nuwara Eliya among others.
Freshly launched by the corporate superstar of the 1990s - John Keells Holdings, Keells Super offered the first modern supermarket experience to the Colombo based Gen Xers like this writer and it was by far the only reliable choice for a long time. Keells Super did a great job then, guided by the visionary taskmaster, Ken Balendra who was at the helm of JKH at the time.
However, like many local corporates during the period, Keells Super started losing its way during early 2000s (don't forget that there was a bloody civil war which seemed never ending...) with paltry investments and low top management involvement resulting in small, cramped outlets offering a limited choice and manned by poorly trained and disengaged staff. The writer had some of his worst supermarket experiences ever at Keells outlets - specially former Wattala outlet (there is a new one now, on the other side of the Negombo road) where staff, including the manager behaved as if they were put on earth by god for mercy of humankind. That bitter experience made the writer avoid Keells Super like the plague for more than a decade and went there only if there was no alternative whatsoever (which was rare with Cargills sprouting everywhere).
It seems like that the corporate parent JKH decided that it was time to reboot the brand and like their archrival Cargills dimming the Food City part of the Cargills Food City, Keells Super dropped the Super and decided to be just Keells and more importantly decided to abandon hotly contested red and embrace green, the new uber color of the eco-friendly generation.
Most stores have completed the transition and now has a modern, gleaming look, modern equipment and more importantly, staff seem more engaged and eager to please. Stores offer better choice and many, including out-of-Colombo Keells have a bakery section with freshly baked pastries and bread baked in-house. Customers are responding to the new way of doing things at Keells including the writer who is a now regular at Thalawathugoda Keells. Looks like Keells Super has got its mojo back and that's good for everyone.
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