French retailer Casino has earmarked US$11.6m to rebrand the 42 Thai outlets it purchased from Carrefour last year.
The Bangkok Post reported the former Carrefour outlets would be rebranded under the Big C banner – a retail chain Casino has a 36 per cent stake in.
Changes to the stores will be mostly cosmetic, reported the newspaper, as the merchandise inside the stores is expected to remain the same.
Big C chief financial officer Rumpa Kumhomreun told the newspaper the company had no plans to close any of the recently acquired stores as they were situated in strategic central Bangkok locations that would compliment the existing network of Big C stores.
Mrs Rumpa said the take over would allow Big C to service a wider range of customers and stimulate future growth.
'I don't think Big C will lose some mid-range to high-end Carrefour customers once the stores are converted. Big C will try hard to maintain the premium positioning of Carrefour and some premium products would probably be sourced from Groupe Casino in France to serve Carrefour customers,' she told the Bangkok Times.
The company expected the changing of signage on all 42 outlets would take between six to 12 months.
