Type Limited Company Area served Macao Parent Weng Fung Group Founded 1997 | Industry retailing Key people Hin Ching, Chang Motto Macanese's Supermarket | |
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Headquarters MacauAVENIDA DE VENCESLAU DE MORAIS NO.181-183 RC / ANDAR 5 . | ||
Royal Supermarket (Chinese: 來來超級市場, Portuguese: Supermercado Royal Companhia Limitada, Japanese: ロイヤルスーパー) is the largest supermarket chains in Macao. It was founded in 1997 by Royal Group. Now, Royal Supermarket has 29 stores and 600 employees. In 2006, the 7th Royal branch (AV. de Morais), which is the largest supermarket in Macau with a floor space of 4,476m², has opened. For a decade, the store remained at 6 branches until 2006 when it began to expand to 30 branches. It sells both Chinese merchandise and imported goods. Royal Supermarket is a member of the Royal Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Weng Fung Group. Royal Supermarket’s revenue in 2012 had a record of "double-digit" rate growing last year and that its share of the market had risen to about 30 percent.
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Early years (1997-2004)
In 1997, Wing Fung Group, one of the famous pharmacy groups in Macau, opened their first Royal Supermarket in Mercado de S. Lourenço. Royal Supermarket intended to target the customers who had high purchasing power, so they usually sold their products at higher prices by comparing with other local supermarkets.
Innovative years (2005-2007)
When Mr. Jeff Chang finished his study in Australia, he went back Macau and was designated to be the chairman of the Royal Group. He discovered that there were some problems in the company, such as the slow product turnover rate, low effiency of the employees, and the old image of the company. He knew that the company needed a revolution to be "The supermarket for Macau people." In 2005, the new logo of the Royal Supermarket was released. At the same time, employees' new uniforms, new price tags, new plastic bags etc. were released in order to bring a fresh image to Macau people. "People not only come to Royal to shop their products, but also the shopping experience," he said. In 2006, Royal's 7th branch in Venceslau dé Morais, the largest supermarket in Macau, was opened. What came into his mind was he would like to spread the target customers level. He tried to encourage teenagers to shop at Royal. This is quite different from the ancient view that supermarkets always targeted housewives. Moreover, in 2007, Royal Supermarket accepted the famous electronic payment Macau Pass in all of its branches, which Royal was the first retail corporations to accept Macau Pass at that time.
Growth years (2008-2012)
Although the Subprime mortgage crisis attacked the economy in Hong Kong and Macau, Royal's business was still growing at a steady rate. Royal expanded its branches boldly in 2008, nearly located a new branch every month. The most successful stores are the branches near the Praca das Portas do Cerco. For example, the Royal 15th branch was located in front of the thoroughfare to ZhuHai, China. Many customers from mainland China always did rush shopping there, especially in peak hours. Long waiting lines can always be seen there even if Royal has placed more cashiers in that store. The operating hour was from 10:00 to 23:30 in the first month though, later on it had extended immediately.
In 2012, Royal has promoted many functions such as the “Scratch and Snatch Travelling Prize," "Royal Taiwanese food festival," and "Royal Japanese-Korean food festival" to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Royal.
Target the high-end years (2013-2014)
Royal Group has opened two new brands of supermarkets in Macau. They are used to target wealthy customers. One is called "Supreme Food Market," which is mainly selling import goods and ingredients; the other one is called "Grand Mart," which is only selling Japanese goods. Grand Mart even has fresh stalls selling sushis and sashimi in order to be Japanese supermarket alike. Until Feb 2014, Royal Group has 30 branches in Macau and 4 branches in Mainland-China. It has the largest supermarket-chain in Macau, by comparing with the major components Parknshop which has 15 branches and San Miu Supermarket which has 14 branches.
Target
As the supermarket for Macau people, Royal Group has put a target in place of 30 stores.
Mr. Jeff Chang, the chairman of Royal Supermarket, has opened a high-end supermarket, SUPREME Food Market, which mainly sells various import goods to expatriates and naive residents to Macau people in 2013. He decided to open more SUPREME Food Markets in short period.
Rewards program
On September 1, 2010, Royal Supermarket introduced Royal Jetso Card(Chinese: 來來Jetso卡), a program that rewards customers for shopping in their stores. To participate, a customer completes a registration form and receives 4 Royal Jetso Cards (a credit card-sized card and three keytags). When the program was introduced, participating customers received one point for every $1 they spent in a single transaction (transactions with totals under $1 did not receive a point).
Using Royal Jetso Card can provide discounts in most of the products. Customers can get rewards when they had certain amounts of points in their accounts.
Security
For customers' security, Royal Supermarket placed a security in their stores to ensure the safety of the customers.
Contributions
Royal Supermarket was the first supermarket in Macau joining The Day of No Plastic Bags which was held by Macao SAR Government Consumer Council at the 18th and the 28th of every month. On that day, shopkeepers will remind customers not to use plastic bags.
Royal Supermarket was featured in the August issue of Macau Business magazine, ranking as the FIRST 100 leading companies to watch.
Locations
There are 31 Royal Supermarkets in Macau:
Slogans
- The supermarket for Macau people.(Chinese: 來來超級市場，係澳門人嘅超級市場。)
- Endless jetsos, at Royal.(Chinese: 密密嚟來來，精彩Jetso不斷來。)