Five years ago, Tanit Chearavanont found himself in a deeply challenging situation. As the newly appointed Managing Director of CP Wholesale India during the first wave of COVID-19, facing lockdowns, workforce safety concerns and supply chain disruptions, Tanit was forced to navigate extremely uncertain and turbulent waters.
“I remember every morning when I used to drive from my home to the office, I would say to myself, ‘Crisis is an opportunity’,” Tanit tells The CEO Magazine. “I kept asking myself, ‘OK, what are the opportunities within this crisis that I can leverage?’”
It’s a question that has proved useful in many instances for Tanit since then, having relocated back to Thailand and taken on the role of CEO of Makro Thailand since July 2022 and Group Chief Commercial Officer of CP AXTRA in 2024.
“A good leader needs to be able to balance between the macro – the big picture strategy and the clear vision of how to achieve this, and the micro – meaning that you also need to get your hands dirty and get on the ground to fix those problems.”
The ability to transform obstacles into opportunities is something Tanit believes is essential for a strong leader, as is active involvement in all aspects of the business.
He says it’s hugely beneficial to ‘lead from the front’, whether it’s test-driving the delivery trucks or spending a day in the factory, in order to formulate a comprehensive picture of every facet of the company.
“It’s about being very hands-on,” he explains. “A good leader needs to be able to balance between the macro – the big picture strategy and the clear vision of how to achieve this, and the micro – meaning that you also need to get your hands dirty and get on the ground to fix those problems.”
Changing times
As a leading regional, multi-format omnichannel retail platform, with a focus on fresh food and a wide variety of products at affordable prices, there’s no denying CP AXTRA’s influence and indispensability.
“Makro, the leading wholesale player in Thailand, has been here for 35 years, and Lotus’s, the leading retail player in Thailand, for 30 years. Both brands are synonymous with consumers in Thailand,” Tanit says.
“So now that we’ve undergone amalgamation, a lot of shareholders are wondering what the new changes we’ll bring about will be. If you look at the Asia–Pacific region, you see a lot of disruption happening due to the emergence of online players. So the question is, how do we then use our brick-and-mortar resources to disrupt the online ecosystem?”
“We are asking, how do we improve the way we work? How do we become more data-driven?”
With 25 million registered members across Thailand and Malaysia for their Makro and Lotus’s brands, and over 2,600 branches across the region, the reach is immense. And yet, Tanit explains, an area of focus for the Company is exploring how their business will continue to be valued by the next generation of customers.
“We’re really looking at how to bolster and attract consumers that are aged 18–35,” he says. “I think that’s very important because eventually this group will move into the middle-age segment. So it’s about making sure that the business, whether it’s wholesale or retail, is relevant to our consumers.
“We are asking, how do we improve the way we work? How do we become more data-driven?”
Enhanced efficiencies
Part of that strategy involves a conscious move toward ecommerce and overhauling the IT structure of the business.
“When you’re making a big transition into doing something that’s removed from someone’s comfort zone, it can be very hard to convince people,” Tanit explains.
“As a leader, the biggest challenge is not the business itself, it’s the people. How do we convince employees and share the vision of where we want to go and what we want to achieve?”
“As a leader, the biggest challenge is not the business itself, it’s the people. How do we convince employees and share the vision of where we want to go and what we want to achieve?”
As CP AXTRA embarks on its journey toward this new era for the business, there will inevitably be some teething issues, but Tanit says a number of benefits are already presenting themselves.
“We’ve implemented an in-store version of a warehouse management system, basically a picking system, as well as machine learning or AI for our transport management solutions,” he says.
“We’ve been able to increase our delivery orders by close to 1,000 per day for our larger stores. On top of that, because we’ve streamlined the back-end system to increase efficiencies, we’ve adjusted our delivery model to introduce same-day delivery.
“The next evolution will be to move toward three-hour on-demand delivery.”
Continuous improvements
Collaboration with both suppliers and business partners is always key at CP AXTRA.
“Because Makro and Lotus’s have been in the business for so many years, we’ve been working with a lot of our suppliers for decades,” Tanit says.
In the quest to become more environmentally friendly, CP AXTRA has ambitious goals and aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.
“Right now, we’re looking at how we can work closer with them and develop things like sustainable practices, products and packaging, driving it from the supplier side all the way through to the consumers,” he says.
“Our delivery fleet has close to 2,500 trucks, so we’re looking at starting to use EVs, or EV batteries, as a way to reduce emissions. We’re working with business partners like Toyota on how we can convert our fleet to be more sustainable.”
“Because Makro and Lotus’s have been in the business for so many years, we’ve been working with a lot of our suppliers for decades.”
The company is also introducing other smaller-scale, immediate solutions.
“In almost all of the Makro and Lotus’s hypermarkets, we’re completely fitted out with solar panels. And the next step is to have some form of battery so that we can actually store that energy as well,” Tanit says.
Asked what it is in particular that sets CP AXTRA apart from its competitors, Tanit once again recalls a pertinent adage that underscores not only what he does but what all the company’s employees do in order to stay focused and relevant in an increasingly complex and oversaturated market.
“The CP Group’s Senior Chairman has a very strong philosophy on innovation and continuous improvement,” Tanit explains. “He uses the phrase, ‘I’m only happy for one day’. In short, every day you need to improve.”
