PETALING JAYA, April 8 — GCH Retail (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, which operates the Giant supermarket chain, is ready to grow again amid challenges, with a fresh look unveiled today, as well as expanding into mini outlets.
Its parent company, Hong Kong-based Dairy Farm International Holdings Ltd, is allocating about RM25 million to revamp all 57 Giant stores and open 10 Giant Minis.
Dairy Farm chief executive officer (Southeast Asia Food Business) Chris Bush said small brand under the group, namely Giant Express and ShopSmart! will also be converted into Giant Minis.
On the closure of some Giant stores, he said Giant has consolidated its stores amid the current changing market and viable prospect of the areas.
“Now we’ve a very successful group of stores across Malaysia and we’re ready to step forward to grow the business again,” he told a media briefing, adding that the focus of the Malaysian operation will be around smaller stores.
The retailer’s Malaysian store count stood at 122 in 2018.
Bush said it has been over 40 years since the Giant logo was last refreshed.
“The importance of rebranding is not just about a new logo, it’s about a number of big changes that we’ve made in our stores over the last four or five months in preparation for the relaunch of Giant,” he told a media briefing.
Bush said Giant has been in Malaysia since 1944, and being among leading retailers in the country, it has continued to listen to customer needs for fresh product quality and value.
“And over the last 12 months, Giant has seen strong sales on fresh foods and strong comments from customers on Giant quality,” he said, adding that to ensure competitive pricing, the group has sourced its products directly from farms to move away from the middlemen.
He said as the global supply chain has been really challenging and stretching due to Covid-19, Giant continued to put priorities in serving customers with the products that they need on an everyday basis over the last one year.
To this end, it has introduced new offerings to meet customers’ demand such as a RM3 zone at selected stores to reinforce Giant’s position as the price leader.
It has also launched the World of Food line, which offers a selection of import products and local delicacies from about 10,000 local small and medium enterprises (SMEs), as well as bringing over 2,000 new products across fresh food, groceries and household essentials, among others.
Dairy Farm also introduced the Meadow brand in Malaysia, with 40 products that have so far been launched exclusively for Giant and an additional 200 to 300 items over the next few months.
It will also be launching more than 1,000 promotional programmes, by far the biggest the group has in store for Malaysia, he added.
— Bernama
