Sri Lanka’s Lanka Sathosa to set up 8,000 franchise outlets
ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s state-run Lanka Sathosa retail chain aims to set up 8,000 franchise outlets across the country after completing the expansion of its stores to 500 by the end of this year, a statement said.
At present, Lanka Sathosa has 325 outlets across Sri Lanka with an annual network turnover of 30 billion rupees, Bathiudeen told the Cooperatives Provincial Ministers’ Summit.
“When I took over, Lanka Sathosa was faced with issues of lack of computerization and non- availability of latest stock updates for top managers. Accounts too were lagging,” he said.
“We started our restructuring work within the system, with consultancy by the international firm KPMG. Now we come to final phase of island-wide Lanka Sathosa network computerization, and by July 2017, it will be complete. An ERP system will run on this.”
The ministry has decided to speed up network expansion, after which it will expand in a new way by establishing Lanka Sathosa retail franchises with existing private grocery shops and usual retailers, he said.
(COLOMBO, March 20, 2017)