The Mall Group is adopting a defensive strategy for the second half of this year to cope with political uncertainties that might arise after Sunday's election.Senior chief marketing officer Chamnarn Maytaprechakul said the country's second largest retail group would focus on brand building, customer relationship management and CSR.
"We'll have to do like this because we can't predict what will happen after the election," he said yesterday.
The strategy contrasts with a more aggressive approach in the first half, which featured big promotions and advertising to stimulate shopping.
The company's sales in the first half were expected to grow by 17% from then same period last year to 22 billion baht, well above an earlier 5% projection, thanks to heavy marketing. Major sales drivers have been men's and women's fashion, beauty products and lingerie.
"It is the first time in five or six years that our sales would record double-digit growth," Mr Chamnarn said.
Though, the company cannot predict what will happen after the election, it has prepared business strategies for different scenarios.
For the worst-case scenario involving political unrest, full-year sales are forecast to grow by 7-8% from 40 billion baht last year. In the best-case scenario with a smooth transition to a new government, 10% sales growth is foreseen.
"No matter which party wins the polls and forms the coalition government, we would like it to pay attention to the development of the country's basic infrastructure as well as transport and education," Mr Chamnarn said.
The Mall today is opening a four-day Midnight Sale campaign to capture expected heavy spending around the election, with 950 million baht in sales expected. It will also hold a fair from July 6-10 at Impact, Muang Thong Thani.
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