MegaMart, the shopping emporium run by chairman and CEO Gassan Azan is set to expand both here in Jamaica and into the Caribbean. 

With three big stores located in Kingston, Portmore and Montego Bay, MegaMart generates gross revenues of J$10 billion a year with 300,0000 transactions and roughly 600,000 people going through all three stores combined every month. MegaMart sees a large part of its cashflow going back into the stores and into retooling and maintenance.

Speaking with Caribbean Business Report, Azan said: I still don’t think we have tapped our full potential but once we do, we can increase our revenues by another 30 per cent, taking us to $13 billion a year. But you have to remember the economy is getting tighter. We have plans to expand our stores in Jamaica and we are now looking at the southhcoast, strategically placing a MegaMart in the middle of the island. We have been talking to some people in Manchester but with little success.”

It is interesting to observe the ascendancy of MegaMart while at the same time the diminishing fortunes of the family-run Super Plus.Azan’s thoughts on the matter are instructive. “MegaMart is a corporately run enterprise whereas Super Plus is a family run business. Like Progressive, a number of families came together as a buying group. Both Super Plus and Progressive do not file just one balance sheet, each family enterprise file different balance sheets. MegaMart as a corporate entity and probably files the biggest balance sheet in the retail industry in Jamaica.

” I think SuperPlus was over leververaged and perhaps did not have the right controls in place. I generally think you cannot borrow to expand a business, not in times where interest rates are where they are. Right now MegaMart is a very well run company.We are not in a rush to expand we will grow organically.Once you put it in your mind that you are rushing expansion, putting up five stores all over Kingston within a year you are putting yourself under too much financial pressure. Not to mention that qualified staff at the high level is hard to find. You don’t find store managers at a drop of a hat!”

Listing on the JSE

With three stores and a major presence in the retail sector, MegaMart would seem a good candidate to list on the Jamaica Stock Exchange with its general manager Marlene Street-Forrest likely viewing it with some relish.

“I definitely think that listing is on the cards.I would like to complete national expansion first and use the listing to raise funds to go out into the region. There is still no strong shopping retail brand throughout the region. If we were able to export MegaMart as a Jamaican brand throughout the region, I think we would get support from the market. We could then possibly cross list. We could be looking to earn revenues from stronger currencies than the Jamaican dollar,” said the MegaMart boss.

He is particularly keen to enter the Trinidad market with its population enjoying a favourable income per capita ratio and the country on a mission to attain first world status by 2020. Azan sees the twin republic as ideal for MegaMart’s target market.

“We would fancy Trinidad before the likes of St Lucia and Barbados. The Bahamas is a difficult situation because there you are required to have a local partner. Besides those countries are small consumption markets.We have had enquiries from Guyana and that is a very interesting proposition for MegaMart.Then again if Cuba opens up , it would be a huge market for us.” 

Agro processing

One of the projects on MegaMarts books right now is to enter the Agro-processing arena. Already MegaMart spends around J$1 billion a year buying local produce. Azan sees his company doubling that. Right now there are about fifteen middle men buying produce on behalf of MegaMart forming the core of supply. Farmers turn up with produce in the back of their pickup trucks at the back entrance of the stores but after the lengthy journey the quality of the produce deteriorates. Azan has come up with a solution.

” We are establishing our very own central sorting facility. We will be purchasing directly from the farmers. and processing and grading right there at the plant. This facility should be operational by the first quarter of next year. We are working through JC Hutchinson who have identified some buildings in St Elizabeth. I see this as a proper business venture. Anything that we can’t sell, there is always the tourism and export sector to service. This new venture will take our spend in the Jamaican agricultural sector to $2 billion a year,” said Azan .