NACS recognized three outstanding Asian convenience retailers during its NACS Asian Convenience Retail Awards, which took place Wednesday, March 6, in Seoul, South Korea, during NACS Convenience Summit Asia. The awards, judged by pillars of the convenience industry, provide benchmarks in Asian convenience retailing excellence.
Tops Daily Soi Teedin Bang Bua Thong, a small-format brand by Central Food Retail Co. Ltd., received the 2024 NACS Convenience Retailer of the Year Award Asia-Pacific, sponsored by The Hershey Company.
In 2023, Central Food Retail rebranded FamilyMart locations as Tops Daily, recognizing the store’s strong brand and offer. During the new brand integration, Central Food Retail kept a focus on culture and its people. The company developed a human resource management framework and implemented various corresponding initiatives to help make Tops Daily a great place to work.
Tops Daily continues to grow its Group Loyalty program, The1, to increase personalization offers to its customers. Tops Daily also rolled out lively in-store displays, as well as a DIY Korean noodle station and soft-serve ice cream. Customers know Tops Daily for its assortment of daily conveniences, including an array of snacks, beverages, health and beauty products and other grocery items.
Fook Convenience Store received the NACS Convenience Retail Technology Award Asia-Pacific for its AI membership marketing system that uses artificial intelligence technology to cater to the personalized needs and preferences of its customers. The award is sponsored by Gilbarco Veeder-Root.
Established in 2006, Fook operates more than 1,000 convenience stores in China. Last year, it teamed up with ZKTeco to launch the AI-based membership marketing system. The system pushes personalized ads to customers based on their demographic, dwell time, purchase history and location, which improves conversion rates and ad effectiveness. The system is enhanced by QR codes and other signage inside the stores.
Over the past year, the system has significantly improved store operations and managing product selection, as well as attracting a larger base of users and partners, according to the company.
China Sinopec-Easy Joy received the 2024 NACS Convenience Retail Sustainability Award Asia-Pacific, sponsored by The Coca-Cola Company.
Easy Joy has 28,000 convenience stores in China and is a subsidiary of Sinopec, the largest gas station network in China. Sinopec has accelerated the use of new energy such as natural gas, hydrogen and electricity, and carried out photovoltaic power generation, hydrogen refueling, charging and swapping.
Sinopec had built 6,504 charging and replacement power stations, with more than 50,000 charging terminals, by the end of 2023. Easy Joy stores also sold 1.1 million tons of exhaust gas treatment liquid, which can treat one million tons of nitrogen oxides (calculated as NO). In addition, Easy Joy stores use Sinopec’s Ecorigin brand biodegradable plastic bags.
Annoucned last week, the 2024 recipient of the NACS Convenience Industry Leader of the Year award for Asia-Pacific is 7-Eleven Australia CEO and Managing Director Angus McKay. The award is sponsored by PepsiCo.
A values-led leader, McKay is respected for his commercial skills and steadfast focus on customer service and talent management.
The NACS Convenience Retail Awards recognize and promote convenience retailing excellence and provide retailers with the opportunity to showcase their innovation and creativity to the global retailing community. NACS offers Convenience Retail Awards in Asia-Pacific, Europe and Latin America.