Myanmar retailer City Mart Holding (CMHL) has opened its fourth Marketplace by City Mart Supermarket in Yangon.

To mark the store’s opening at 6.5 Mile as well as the retailer’s 20th anniversary, the company hosted a customer appreciation night.

City Mart started with a supermarket at Aung San Stadium in Yangon, and now has multiple retail formats including supermarkets, hypermarkets, convenience stores, bookstores, health and beauty stores, and baby and maternity specialty stores as well as a cafe and bakery.

There are more than 180 branches under the CMHL banner across Myanmar, and CEO Daw Win Win Tint says the company plans to sustain growth and expand market share by “focussing efforts on offering quality products and services to Myanmar consumers at the best value for money”.

With foreign currency flows eased and import and export rules relaxed, there has been a boom in Myanmar’s retail sector in Myanmar, and CMHL says more transparent government policies are needed to attract foreign investors while protecting the interests of local retail business.

A big challenge faced by the industry, says CMHL, is lack of infrastructure and skilled labour.
Meanwhile, the group says it is looking at new payment options to help customers, as well as ways to finance regional expansion.