Product type | Warehouse clubs Cash and carry stores |
---|---|
Owner | SHV Holdings (Latin America) InRetail (Peru) Metro AG (Europe) Tesco/Booker Group (UK) Massmart (South Africa) CP All (Asia) |
Introduced | 1968 | (Netherlands)
Related brands | Metro |
Markets | Europe
|
Makro (also known as "Makroe" in South Africa) is a Dutch international brand of warehouse clubs, also called cash and carry stores. Makro was founded by SHV Holdings, a Dutch conglomerate based in Utrecht in partnership with German company Metro AG, with the first warehouse club opened in Amsterdam in 1968. Currently, ownership of the worldwide chain of stores is split between different companies like Metro AG in Europe (except UK), SHV Holdings in Latin America (except Peru) and CP All in Asia. In many countries, access to stores is restricted to business customers, and the stores are not open to the general public.
SHV originated in 1896 from a merger between a number of large coal mining companies, some of which had been active since the 18th century.
In 1968, the first Makro store opened in Amsterdam. In the following years more stores opened in the Netherlands and several other European countries. In April 1971 the first Makro in the UK opened in Eccles, Manchester. Also in 1971, the first Makro store outside Europe opened in South Africa. [1]
In the 1970s and 1980s, Makro extended its business to the Americas and Asia. Makro had also expanded to the United States in the mid-1980s. In 1989, Kmart bought the US locations, [2] and converted most of them to Pace Warehouse in 1990.
In 1988, the first Makro store in Asia opened in Thailand.
The South African stores were subsequently in 1990 exchanged for a shareholding in Massmart and in 2004 SHV sold its Massmart shares.
In 1998, owner SHV Holdings sold the Makro stores in Europe to German partner Metro AG. [3] The sale, announced on 29 October 1997, [4] was approved by the supervisory board of Metro AG on 17 December 1997. [5]
Makro who opened first store in the Philippines in 1996 through a joint-venture with SM Prime Holdings and Ayala Group. In 2004 Ayala sold its 28% stake to its joint-venture partners. [6] In late 2007 SM Investments folded the Makro stores into its operations after it increased its ownership of Pilipinas Makro to 60%. The SM group took 100% in Makro, and later rebranded all Makro stores to SM Hypermarkets and SM Savemore, opening the stores to the general public.
On 31 January 2007, Makro Malaysia was acquired by Tesco and the 8 stores in Malaysia were converted to Tesco Extra. [7]
In 2010, Makro Cash & Carry Indonesia was sold to Lotte Mart and rebranded as Lotte Mart Wholesale. [8]
In 2011 Walmart took ownership of Makro in South Africa after acquiring a majority stake in Massmart.
In 2012, Metro sold the Makro UK business to Booker Group, while Makro-Habib in Pakistan was rebranded as Metro-Habib. [9]
In 2013, SHV sold Siam Makro Pcl. (Thailand) to CP ALL, a subsidiary of CP Group. [10]
In 2014, Metro sold the Makro Greek business to Sklavenitis and rebranded as The Mart in 2016. [11]
In 2020, 30 of 54 Makro stores in Brazil, were acquired by Carrefour. [12]
In December 2022, Makro Cash & Carry Belgium went bankrupt in Belgium. All 6 shops closed permanently. [13] [14]
European stores can be found in the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom. Stores have spread as Colombia, South Africa, Argentina, Peru, Venezuela, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand.
Makro stores formerly existed in China, Greece, Belgium, Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan and the United States.
Makro Netherlands operates 17 stores across the Netherlands, with seven of the stores also containing a fuel station. [15] Makro Netherlands is owned by the Metro Group. Since January 2018, The Chief Executive Officer is Paulo Peerenboom. [16]
Siam Makro Public Company Limited was established in 1988. At the end of April 2020 there were 100 Makro stores and Makro FoodService stores in operation, serving a registered customer base of 2.6 million. [17] Revenues for 2020 were 210 billion baht with a net profit of 6.2 billion baht. [18] Siam Makro shares are traded on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET). [19]
In 2013, Siam Makro was purchased by Charoen Pokphand Group for US$6.6 billion. [20] CP Axtra (formerly known as Siam Makro) is owned by CP ALL, a subsidiary of CP Group.
Makro UK operates 30 branches across the United Kingdom. [21] Since 2012 Makro UK has been owned by Booker Group, [22] and 11 of the Makro branches now operate as a combined Booker/Makro. [23]
SVH operates 35 Makro warehouse clubs [24] across the country and also have a supermarket chain named Mikro with 19 stores. [25]
Makro sells food and non-food products, usually located in different sections of the store. Each store also contains a hot-food cafeteria, and a cash machine.
The food section always includes a fresh fish section, a wine section, fresh meat and butchery department, and refrigerated aisles. The non-food area includes clothing, DIY, office supplies, electricals, computing, and seasonals such as garden furniture.
Special offers are featured via a printed and online fortnight brochure known as Makro Mail.
The stores are not open to the general public, but serve the following trades:
Customers can shop at Makro with a membership card.
Makro UK used to have the tag-line "The UK's No.1 Discounter". This tag-line was replaced with "For Professionals". Makro has subsequently changed this to "Your business partner everyday" [sic].
Recent changes to the Makro UK structure include the closure of three stores: Wolverhampton, Coventry and Swansea. Metro announced that the company has to be financially independent by 2011, and in 2012 Makro UK was sold to the rival wholesaler Booker Group in an agreement valued at around £140 million. [22]
Tesco plc is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011, it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in the world measured by revenues. It has shops in Ireland, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia. It is the market leader of groceries in the UK.
Metro AG is a German multinational company based in Düsseldorf which operates business membership-only cash and carry stores primarily under the Metro brand. Until 2020, it was also active in the general retail business through the Real division, which was sold to an investor consortium.
A warehouse club is a retail store, usually selling a wide variety of merchandise, in which customers may buy large, wholesale quantities of the store's products, which makes these clubs attractive to both bargain hunters and small business owners. The clubs are able to keep prices low due to the no-frills format of the stores. They are distinguished from traditional cash-and-carry wholesale businesses in that their warehouses are substantially larger in size, and they do not cater purely to businesses but also allow some or all types of consumers to obtain memberships. They are also distinguished from warehouse stores in that they usually charge annual membership fees, and require presentation of proof of membership at the warehouse entrance and again at the point of sale.
Lotus's is a retail chain in Thailand founded and operated by Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group, with operations in Malaysia following the acquisition of Tesco Malaysia in 2020.
A big-box store is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain of stores. The term sometimes also refers, by extension, to the company that operates the store. The term "big-box" references the typical appearance of buildings occupied by such stores.
The Charoen Pokphand Group Company, Ltd. (CP) is a Thai conglomerate based in Bangkok. It is Thailand's largest private company and the largest privately held Royal Warrant holder of the Thai Royal Family. The company describes itself as having eight business lines covering 13 business groups. As of 2020, the group has investments in 21 countries.
Booker Group Limited is a British wholesale distributor, and subsidiary of Tesco.
Big C, is a grocery and general merchandising retailer headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand. Big C is as of 2016 Thailand's second-largest hypermarket operator after Lotus's. It has operations in five countries, namely Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Hong Kong.
The history of Walmart, an American discount department store chain, began in 1950 when businessman Sam Walton purchased a store from Luther E. Harrison in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and opened Walton's 5 & 10. The Walmart chain proper was founded in 1962 with a single store in Rogers, expanding inside Oklahoma by 1968 and throughout the rest of the Southern United States by the 1980s, ultimately operating a store in every state of the United States, plus its first stores in Canada, by 1995. The expansion was largely fueled by new store construction, although the chains Mohr-Value and Kuhn's Big K were also acquired. The company introduced its warehouse club chain Sam's Club in 1983 and its first Supercenter stores in 1998.
Lotte Mart is a South Korean hypermarket that sells a variety of groceries, clothing, toys, electronics, and other goods, with headquarters in South Korea. Lotte Mart is a division of the Lotte Co., Ltd. which sells food and shopping services in South Korea and Japan. Lotte Mart, part of the Korean conglomerate "Lotte", opened its first branch at Guui-dong, GangByeon, Seoul, Korea on April 1, 1998. In 2006, Lotte Mart opened its first overseas branch. As of August 8, 2011, Lotte Mart had 199 branches. The brands that Lotte created and sell include Herbon, Wiselect, Withone, Basicicon, Tasse Tasse, and Gerard Darel.
The Chearavanont family is a Sino-Thai business family based in Bangkok, Thailand with ancestral roots in Shantou, China. The family is noted for its success in business, making them one of the richest ethnic Chinese families in the world. The family owns the Charoen Pokphand conglomerate, and was ranked by Forbes Asia in 2017 as Asia's fourth-wealthiest family with a net worth of US$36.6 billion.
Massmart Holdings Limited is a South African firm that owns local brands such as Game, Makro, Builder's Warehouse and CBW. It is the second-largest distributor of consumer goods in Africa, the largest retailer of general merchandise, liquor and home improvement equipment and wholesaler of basic foods. As of 31 October 2022, Massmart operated 411 stores in South Africa and 12 other Sub-Saharan countries. Its head offices are in the Massmart House in Sandton, Johannesburg.
CP All Public Company Limited, was established in 1988 by the Charoen Pokphand Group to operate convenience store businesses in Thailand under the 7-Eleven trademark. The company was granted a license to use the trademark by 7-Eleven, Inc., USA. In 1989, the first 7-Eleven outlet in Thailand was opened on Patpong Road.
Tesco has expanded its operations from the United Kingdom to 11 other countries. Tesco pulled out of the United States in 2013, but continues to see growth elsewhere. Tesco's international expansion strategy has responded to the need to be sensitive to local expectations in other countries by entering into joint ventures with local partners, such as Samsung Group in South Korea, and Charoen Pokphand in Thailand, appointing a very high proportion of local personnel to management positions. It also makes small acquisitions as part of its strategy: for example, in its 2005/2006 financial year it made acquisitions in South Korea, one in Poland and one in Japan.
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