New campaign to smarten local grocery stores

 Among today’s economic stories, let’s take a look at a model for modern, smart grocery stores which implements technologies for the benefit of management. This model has been developed according to the Ministry of Commerce’s policy to upgrade local stores into smart grocery stores serving as key local economic drivers. The ministry anticipates an upgrade of some 30,000 stores across the country within the next year.
This is the first model of a Smart grocery store designed for the convenience of shoppers, from the store’s layout and item placement, to promotional offers to attract customers, and the implementation of technology for systematic management such as accounting and bookkeeping; they would also offer an electronic payment option using QR Code.
The model store was designed by the Department of Business Development, with the cooperation of government agencies, private firms, educational institutions, financial institutes, the Thai Wholesale and Retail Trade Association, local retailers, product manufacturers, and application developers, in a bid to help upgrade conventional grocery stores.
The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce, Jurin Laksanawisit said today that the Smart retailers campaign will help enhance the competitiveness of general grocery stores with modern businesses, and help increase sales points for products from community enterprises and OTOP products. The Ministry of Commerce aims to upgrade some 30,000 stores across the country before the end of 2020.
According to a market survey by the Nielsen Company (Thailand), there are 443,123 local grocery stores in Thailand as of 2019, which is 4,303 more than the figure in 2018 which was 438,820 stores. The growth in the number shows the capacity for local stores to serve as important economic tools in stimulateing grassroots economies.

Information and Source

Reporter : Tanakorn Sangiam

Rewriter : Tarin Angskul

National News Bureau & Public Relations : http://thainews.prd.go.th