It appears as if some of the larger retailers in Thailand are actually taking positive steps in the battle to rid the country of the excessive number of plastic bags. In Phuket at least, Central Festival, Tesco, Big C, Robinson and a bunch of hotels will on July 9 sign an MOU to offer discounts to shoppers who use their own bags. At the moment, I think the discount is something like 20%. (Gazette)
This is the sort of initiative that casts these larger retailers in a positive light. Goodness knows they need it with all the negativitiy surrounding the expansion in Thailand of large busineses, such as Tesco and Big C. Such a move has the potential to make a big difference.
Last week, the Thai Chamber of Commerce made the strange statement that “small retailers will completely disappear in the near future if the government does not accelerate the implementation of the country’s first-ever retail business law to create a level playing field for small and large players”. (Nation)
Apparently, large retailers are now outnumbering their smaller counterparts by a ratio of 70:30. This all sounds like scaremongering, but the number of large retailers has been increasing recently.
A fact sheet released by the Chamber of Commerce said that Thai consumers will suffer in the long run, which is nonsense — and certainly not a fact. Wholesalers will suffer because their prices are being undercut. Consumers will actually benefit.
This is perhaps demonstrative of xenophobic attitudes in Thailand, but there is no way that a retail business law that adversely affects retail giants such as Tesco and Big C will ever be implemented. On that note, the Chamber of Commerce would have us believe we are all doomed.
If only 7-11 followed suit. IMHO they are the biggest culprit for excessive plastic bag distribution.
In Australia starting in a few weeks a plastic bag will cost you between 15-25 cents per bag at the shopping centre checkout.
That would stop Thais from wasting them as they do.
Populism is hard to die in Thailand…
Small retailer will be replaced by small Tesco and the kind. Change of ownership, nothing more. Have you noticed how there is more an more small Tesco "metro" everywhere?
I doubt Tesco would give a 20% discount. Here they give ONE Tesco point per bag you bring with you! M&S charges for normal size bag (not for the small one). Liddle never gives bag. If Supermarkets do that it is not becuase they care about environment but because they save money in bags!
The idea that bags kills bird and fish is based on bad science. Look for "Series of blunders turned the plastic bag into global villain, The Times, March 8, 2008 (Matt, can't seems to have link in post)
"Lord Taverne, the chairman of Sense about Science, said: “The Government is irresponsible to jump on a bandwagon that has no base in scientific evidence. This is one of many examples where you get bad science leading to bad decisions which are counter-productive. Attacking plastic bags makes people feel good but it doesn’t achieve anything.”
Who mentioned bags killing birds and fish? In Phuket we produce twice as much rubbish as the incienrator can burn.
It seems to me that the relationship between big retailers like Tesco Lotus and the countless neighborhood shops is a microcosm of how Thais perceive the relationship between foreign and Thai businesses.
This is fueled by the fact that none of the big supermarkets and retailers (with the exception of Big C/Central) are native companies. Tesco is British, Tops is Dutch, Carrefour is French, the nearly-defunct Jusco is Japanese, 7-Eleven is American-turned-Japanese. Thai chains like Banglamphu or Tang Hua Seng have either failed to expand or closed branches.
So now it's the little guys, the mom-and-pop shops, who are seen as being endangered by Tesco Lotus and their ilk. I don't get it–Lotus (as the Thais all call it) is the place where all these small shops buy their goods in bulk, and then sell them at a moderate markup. Most people don't want to go to Lotus every time they need a bar of soap, even if it's cheaper, and just as many don't want to shell out the money for bulk products, even if it's cheaper per item. These mom-and-pop shops fill that niche in a way that Lotus doesn't, and Lotus is in part successful because of this constant flow of large-purchase customers stocking their shops from week to week.
7-Eleven is the real enemy in this regard, and a wildly successful one at that. It has the most chains of any chain store in the world (with McDonald's in second). I think people appreciate the freshness of the goods at Seven (again, as the Thais all call it), where product turnover is high and restocking is done daily. Stuff might sit on the shelf for weeks at the lower traffic shop in your neighbor's driveway. Not to mention the welcome respite of their frigid air conditioning. Plus, with upwards of 5000 branches in Thailand, some 1500 of which are in Bangkok alone, you could have a taxi dump you virtually anywhere in the capital and find a 7-Eleven within a five minute walk. That's certainly not the case with Tesco Lotus or any of the other big retailers.
And yet still, I don't think that means other small retailers are doomed. It's all just huffing and puffing by xenophobes and panderers. Because as close as 7-Eleven gets to everyone's home, there is still always a mom-and-pop shop closer. It's only a few hundred yards from my house to the mouth of my soi in Bangkok, where there is a 7-Eleven. And I pass no less than five shops which specialize in cold drinks/snacks/basic household goods on the way. So if all you want is a Pepsi, the convenient choice is obvious.
Of course, that Pepsi will come in a plastic bag. :)