Subpar tech for sale at Banana Mega Store

SET-listed Com7 Plc, an operator of IT retail stores, is spending 20 million baht to open Banana Mega Store, an outlet for obsolete, demonstration and clearance IT items.

The company aims to diversify into leasing and fintech for sustainable growth.

According to Com7 chief executive Sura Khanittaweekul, the Mega Store offers affordable end-of-line (EOL) products that last longer than six months at up to an 80% discount.

The mega concept store offers IT, smartphones and gadgets at clearance prices, together with six months of after-sale service.

The store is Com7’s largest, located on 1,000 square metres in Seacon Square. New products are also available at the shop.

The company is offering online ordering at Bananashopping.com, which will be fully relaunched by October.

Consumers can order via the website and pick up products within three hours or request home delivery. The Mega Store will also provide an omnichannel experience (click and collect) to customers.

By the end of this year, all 300 branches of Com7 will become click-and-collect points, Mr Sura said, adding that with the new website, the company’s online revenue is expected to increase from 30 million to 100 million baht a month.

“Many are looking for more affordable prices such as second-hand products, products with minor defects, demonstration or EOL products,” he said, adding that the new shop also takes trade-in computers for the purchase of new items at a discount.

From a total of 3 billion baht in inventory, there are 70-100 million EOL products each year, Mr Sura said, and the Mega Store will lessen EOL costs and turn them into profit.

In the future, Com7 aims to open five Mega Stores countrywide.

Com7 has revised its revenue growth projection from 15% to 20% for this year after first-half revenue grew by 33% yearon-year to nearly 13 billion baht.

Mr Sura said Com7 still has room to grow because revenue last year was about 20 billion baht, compared with 400 billion baht for the entire IT and smartphone market.

Although the smartphone and computer market is mature, the replacement market is still large.

Computer users’ behaviours have changed. People used to replace PCs every 3-4 years but now seek replacements every 2-3 years, while smartphones are replaced every 18 months on average.

The average selling price for gaming computers this year is 18,000 baht, compared with 13,000 baht last year, and the average smartphone price in the mid-range is 7,000-11,000 baht.

“This raises every single purchase per receipt at Com7 from 7,100 in 2017 to 7,500 baht this year,” Mr Sura said.

Com7 is also exploring new businesses and looking for firms to acquire.

COM7 shares closed yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 18.70 baht, up 40 satang, in trade worth 135.1 million baht.