Page 51 - myanmar

The places people choose to shop are usually a function of stores’ proximity to their homes; private vehicle ownership is low, so people need to shop frequently for small numbers of items – just what they can carry.
The country’s biggest supermarket chain, City Mart, has 19 stores, and operates only in Yangon and Mandalay; outside these two cities, the modern retail trade is largely unheard of.
Kantar Retail, a WPP company specializing in shopper and retail consultancy, has tracked the evolution of the retail environment in developing markets around the world over many years, and has used its proprietary analysis to make predictions about the changes in retailing that Myanmar can expect to see.
AGE OF EXPLORATION
The Market Evolution Model – which uses primary and secondary research – enables clients to understand the pace at which markets will develop, plan for those changes and enable growth.
The model predicts the rate of
progress of markets through five key stages of retail development, from the ‘Exploration’ phase, when the modern trade accounts for less than 20 per cent of retailing, through Concentration, Penetration, Maturation and the Post- Modern phase, at which point the modern trade accounts for more than half of retailing, and the top five retailers account for more than 60 per cent of the modern trade.
Myanmar is a nation of small, local shops in which shopkeepers often know their customers personally, and as such have become trusted guides on new brands and products.
Myanmar is currently in the Exploration phase; India is at the upper bound of Exploration. Vietnam is in the Concentration phase,
Turkey, China and Brazil are at the Penetration stage, Poland and Mexico are at Maturation, and South Africa, Australia and the US are in the Post- Modern phase.
Himanshu Pal, Director – Retail Insights – at Kantar Retail, says the rate of change in retailing in Myanmar is expected to be quicker than has been seen in many other fast-growth markets, and the prevalence of smartphones at this early stage could mean entire phases of development are skipped here.
The modern trade in Myanmar is forecast by the Market Evolution Model to grow from just 2 per cent of sales in 2007 to 15 per cent by 2022; this rate of change is faster than that seen for India (growing from 3 per cent to 20 per cent) and Indonesia (45 per cent to 58 per cent) in that time.
“Myanmar has a lot in common with markets like India and Vietnam that mean we can expect to see retail develop in similar ways. There is a young, working-age population, and the pace of urbanization is strong,” he says.
“What we see in other markets is that a young, urban population leads to clear movement towards the modern trade. Shopping habits change, people come from other countries with ideas and expectations, and the market changes.”
Mom and Pop stores face a challenge from chains and online
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