King Power’s five-year expansion plans By Rebecca Byrne on April, 4 2017 | Retailers Thailand’s largest duty free operator, King Power Group, plans to spend 10 billion baht (US$290.4 million) on expanding its business over the next five years. CEO Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha says the budget will be used to open five branches in Thailand and overseas, bringing the company’s total to 14 by 2021. The stores are planned for downtown in major tourist destinations with Chiang Mai being a possibility. Overseas the group is looking at duty-free options at airports such as Myanmar and the Philippines. At home, King Power bid for a duty free ship concession at U-Tapao International Airport, which serves Pattaya and Rayong, and for a new license to run a duty-free shop at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport when its current license expires in 2020. Srivaddhanaprabha was quoted in local media as saying that “King Power is set to become a top-five duty-free chain within five years.” He added that expansion both overseas and domestically will help grow sales by 20 per cent to reach 130 to 140 billion baht in five years, on a par with leading duty- free brands in the US. The company is the world’s seventh-largest duty-free chain, and is aiming for sales of THB92 billion this year. It will allocate THB400-500 million to promote its business, and has already set aside THB100 million to place its logo on three Thai AirAsia (TAA) jets and put advertising inside more than 40 TAA aircraft. The group hopes the initiative will raise the number of shoppers at its branches by 20% this year. 1 Copyright DutyFree Magazine. All rights reserved..