Lotus’s transforms the future of the hypermarket in Thailand

Healthcare and other initiatives have enhanced the customers’ shopping experience.

The pandemic has accelerated e-commerce growth and changes in consumer behaviour as customers move away from traditional shopping and choose safe and convenient retail options. Therefore, retailers such as hypermarkets have to redefine their functions and consider new ways to enhance the customer shopping experience. In recent years, Lotus’s Thailand has launched several innovations, whose impact on the market and community makes the company worthy of the Hypermarket of the Year - Thailand prize at the Retail Asia Awards 2021.   

One of Lotus’s Thailand’s projects is the Mega Fresh and Food Store, which gathers a global selection of seafood, meat, fruits, and vegetables. An easy cooking zone presents marinated meat and a salad bar that boasts of 100 popular cooking sauces influenced by local and international cuisine. A live seafood tank and the “You Shop, We Cook” initiative have also been launched, where customers can ask for their food to be prepared as a complementary service. 

Lotus’s Thailand also launched a Virtual Health and Wellness project, which enables customers to meet medical consultants in hypermarkets. In this project, the company has partnered with technology firm True Corporation to provide a virtual kiosk where customers can avail of healthcare advice and prescriptions from the in-store pharmacy. Not to mention, their Smart Home Living project also offers a wide range of products through partnerships with True LivingTECH and installs e-catalogues to unlock international stock-keeping units. Smart watches, door locks, fitness trackers, and other Internet of Things products are displayed at the storefront so that customers can experience them before buying.

In addition to their reliable projects is the Ultimate O2O Experience through which the company introduced “MSAY” or “Mobile Scan as You Shop”. It is an application that improves the convenience of shopping where the customers can directly place their purchases in virtual carts and choose how it will be paid and delivered.

Lotus’s Thailand’s key achievements are the following: (1) more than 11.3% sales increase relative to the total hypermarket format, (2) over 19% rise in customer number, and (3) more than 4% growth in the frequency of visits. The company intends to implement a similar strategy to its 200 stores throughout Thailand.

Watch the interview below to know more about their winning project: