Japanese retailer Aeon has announced a plan to nearly double its operating profit over the next three years by expanding into South East Asia.
In a business plan released on Tuesday, Aeon forecast a rise in operating profit to ¥250bn (US$3.1bn) in the year to February 2014, reported Reuters, up from the retailer’s 2009/10 figure of ¥130bn.
As Japan’s second-largest retailer, Aeon has been feeling the pinch from weak consumer spending in the country.
The new plan is a aimed at increasing sales in Asian markets which are increasing their spending, particularly South East Asia and China.
Aeon currently operates 71 retail stores outside Japan; 24 in China, 10 in Hong Kong, 26 in Malaysia and 11 in Thailand.
Aeon said it will invest ¥830bn in new store openings as part of the plan, a quarter of which will be in South East Asia, the Reuters report said.
During Aeon’s previous three-year business plan, which ended in February, only 8 per cent of its capital investment was spent on overseas business.
“If you leave out North America, Asia will be the world’s biggest market over the next 10 years,” Aeon president Motoya Okada told Japanese media.
The retailer said it planned to conduct feasibility studies for new stores in Indonesia, Cambodia and India, and also expressing interest in the Thai market.
Last month Aeon made a bid on the Singaporean, Malaysian and Thai operations of French retailer Carrefour, which hopes to divest itself of its South East Asian operations to focus on the growing Indian market.
Aeon is now expected to pass on the Thai business, which is being sold separately to the Singapore and Malaysian stores, according to a Reuters report published today (Wednesday).
