Industry leader HomePro builds on solid foundations

Home Product Center Plc (HMPRO), established in 1995 and listed on the SET since October 2001, is the largest home improvement retailer in Thailand, with 69 branches nationwide. Khunawut Thumpomkul, director, executive director and managing director, discusses the company’s strategy and outlook.

HomePro is continually improving staff skills, says Mr Khunawut.

What is Home Product Center’s business model?

Home Product Center is the leading home improvement retailer in Thailand, providing a one-stop shopping destination for customers with a wide range of products comprising 60,000 items. Today we operate 69 HomePro stores nationwide, comprising 21 in Greater Bangkok and 48 upcountry. We also recently extended our brand by introducing Mega Home stores, with one in Greater Bangkok and three upcountry. Our main objective is to provide the best customer service to achieve the highest customer satisfaction, and we plan to keep improving our customer service.

Could you provide more information about the new Mega Home brand?

The HomePro brand targets the end user directly, but we’ve also seen the opportunity to target customers such as resellers, contractors, project owners and mass-market low-end users. Mega Home has the same concept as HomePro, meaning it is a one-stop shopping centre, but differs in that it offers a full range of wholesale and retail housing and construction products, from structural and building materials, home systems and interior design products to appliances and home goods. Today we have four Mega Home stores and plan to keep expanding this brand nationwide.

Home Product Center recently expanded to Malaysia. Why?

Malaysia’s economy, industry and demographics are very attractive, and it made business sense for us to expand there. The purchasing power of Malaysians is 40-60% higher than in Thailand, yet the home improvement retailing industry is similar to Thailand’s 20 years ago, as it is still predominantly controlled by traditional trade, with no one destination for customers to visit for all their needs. These factors combined with Malaysia’s infrastructure and proximity to Thailand make it a natural extension for us. Thus we opened the first HomePro store in Malaysia in last year’s fourth quarter, inside IOI shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur, and we plan to open a standalone store next year.

What differentiates Home Product Center from its competitors?

There are several factors. First, each store provides a one-stop shopping environment that includes all categories with the widest product range available in the country today. Our competition is more speciality-based, focused on a few product categories.
We also provide very good customer service including custom service, design and installation teams. There are 700 installation teams nationwide to ensure our customers have the peace of mind to purchase items from our stores and, if required, have a professional team install them on their behalf. Today we have more than 2 million members, 87% of whom are active annually and 22% active on a monthly basis.

What are the biggest risks facing your business?

Human resources are the biggest challenge. We currently have 10,000 people and are looking to grow while at the same time ensure a high level of customer services. Thus we are constantly training and improving our customer service our staff skills.

How will the Asean Economic Community affect your business?

Naturally, with 603 million people, the market will expand for all companies as well as ours. Our direct neighbours — Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam — are economies that will grow naturally with the resources and the potential that they have. We believe this regional expansion will provide Home Product Center with multiple opportunities such as new store openings but also regional sourcing. For example, we may source certain items from Thailand or Malaysia or from other countries, and this should be advantageous for our operations.

Where do you see the company in five years?

This is a long-term business, and there’s still a long way to go. We’ve noticed the shift in our customer base from being predominantly new homeowners 15-20 years ago to a combination today of both old and new homeowners. Thus, from this perspective, it is as if a new market has opened for us.

On the big-picture level, the home improvement industry’s size relative to GDP is still only 1.5%, while in developed countries it is 3%. Our goal is to ensure we’re able to service our customers’ needs, adapt to the changing lifestyles of our customers and continue expanding our stores throughout Thailand and our neighbouring countries.

Source: Bangkok Post