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Going for IPO in near future:
Laugfs SunUp to open hyper shopping malls
Harshini PERERA
There is no entry barrier for a competitor to the retail trade. Sri
Lankan retail trade is at a primitive stage as there are only four
retail chains existing in the country.
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Ravindra
Dahanayake |
There is a huge potential in the trade and the Sri Lankan retail
market can see lifestyle improvement as customers’ income level is
improving, Laugfs SunUp Supermarkets (Pvt) Ltd., Director and CEO,
Ravindra Dahanayake told Daily News Business.
Laugfs SunUp supermarket chain having understood this, has decided to
invest Rs 300 million initially on three hyper shopping malls similar to
a one-stop shop which will create greater customer satisfaction. The
shopping malls will be located in Battaramulla, Wattala and Central
Colombo. The shopping malls will include garments, electric appliances,
salons and restaurants apart from the supermarkets.
“We will be locating new hyper shopping malls in convenient places
for both our walk-in customers as well as vehicle owners. The first
hyper shopping mall will be opened before end of this year.
“The hyper supermarkets will be 30,000 sq ft in extent and we are
currently negotiating with a few stakeholders for the purpose. We will
be renting the space for them at the hyper supermarkets,” he said.
“We have a plan to go to Jaffna and Batticaloa but there are
logistics difficulties in those areas. We are already catering certain
products to the North and the East areas currently. We are also looking
at the possibilities of getting down different products from Jaffna to
Colombo such as onion,” Dahanayake said.
There are 27 Laugfs SunUp supermarket outlets in the western province
and more will be located in ideal locations. The modern supermarket
trade in Sri Lanka has captured only 15 percent of the retail trade
whereas the 85 percent is still held by the general trade.
Laugfs SunUp supermarkets have four percent market share in modern
trade at present.
“Laugfs SunUp supermarkets will also go for an Initial Public
Offering (IPO) once the first hyper shopping mall is established. We are
in the process of issuing privilege cards to our customers which will
give them discounts from all subsidiaries,” he said.
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