The days of having large grocery stores and retail shops are over, according to a seasoned hand of the retail industry.
CEO of Tesco Stores (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd Paul Ritchie said that due to intensifying competition in the industry, including from online retail sales, large hypermarkets were no longer feasible and grocery stores were becoming smaller.
“Grocery stores that are larger than 60,000sq m are challenging to sustain. Instead, the optimal solution, which we are implementing in some of our stores, is to use space better by putting a wider and improved range of products in a smaller floor space,” he said.
He added that Tesco Malaysia’s objective is to make shopping more convenient for its customers. However, despite the online retail trend, Ritchie noted that online grocery shopping is growing much slower as Malaysians still preferred to visit traditional markets or grocery stores.
“Consumers still want the physical aspect of grocery shopping. They want to touch, see, smell and pick groceries by hand,” he said at the Star Media Group’s Power Talks Business Series yesterday.
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