Shwapno expanding footprint abroad
Shwapno has started expanding its footprint abroad as fresh vegetables and fruits have now been sent to two new destinations.
As a part of a strategic move to expand business, the largest retail supermarket chain in Bangladesh had first sent the produce to Hong Kong on March 31 this year.
Shipments were later sent to Dubai on June 15 and then to Sweden on July 2.
"This export initiative is a new channel of our business. And our team building process is going on," said Saiful Alam, team leader and export initiative adviser of Shwapno.
He said export of agricultural products from Bangladesh was gradually becoming a very big business. There is an opportunity to do something good here and farmers are also benefiting from this, he said.
Shwapno, run by ACI Logistics, sources agricultural products from local farmers around the country, especially Jashore.
That is why the export initiative has been taken apart from the sale of vegetables at domestic outlets, said Alam, adding that they were in discussions to export vegetables to the UK.
The list of produce includes pointed gourds, lady fingers, green mangoes, potatoes, bitter gourd, bottle gourds and 26 other vegetables and fruits, all packaged as per the importers' requirements.
The retail chain has so far exported 10 tonnes of vegetables and fruits.
The biggest consignment, about 1.9 tonnes of vegetables, mangoes and jackfruit, was shipped to Hong Kong in July.
Shwapno became a member of Global Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) in South East Asia in the retail category in May. The Global GAP is an internationally recognised criterion for checking the quality of farm food products, said the retail chain earlier.
Shwapno says its sales amounted to Tk 996 crore in the July-March period of the financial year 2021-22.
The supermarket retail posted the biggest growth in turnover since its inception in 2008 in fiscal year 2020-21, driven by higher sales through its e-commerce platform and teleservice amidst the coronavirus pandemic.
Its turnover rose 19 per cent year-on-year to Tk 1,375 crore in fiscal year 2020-21 that ended in June. It was Tk 1,156 crore in fiscal year 2019-20, according to the recently published annual report of ACI, the owning company.
Shwapno express outlets have aided this growth, serving about 50,000 customers daily.
At present, it operates more than 240 outlets in 42 districts of the country. Employing 5,000 people, Shwapno has continued extending its footprint outside Dhaka and now has a 49 per cent market share in the segment.
It also netted record-breaking sales of Tk 151.8 crore in June last year.
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