Tops, the grocery chain under Central Retail, is accelerating its private-label push with ambitious plans to add 500 items across 10 categories and to broaden its export footprint. The aim is to strengthen revenue from its own-brand products while expanding reach into new markets, as the company navigates a challenging economic backdrop. Leadership emphasizes the opportunity presented by Thailand’s home-brand segment, where sizeable growth remains despite a modest current market share. At the heart of the strategy is a stronger, more diverse private-label lineup designed to boost both consumer value and margins, while leveraging Southeast Asia’s regional dynamics to unlock export potential.
Market landscape for home-brand products in Thailand
Thailand’s private-label market sits at an inflection point, with a defined value and a robust growth trajectory that invite intensified investment from major retailers like Tops. Market researchers estimate the overall home-brand market in Thailand at more than 38 billion baht, supported by steady demand and a noteworthy year-over-year growth rate of 11.3% recorded in 2024. This momentum is a strong signal that consumers are increasingly receptive to store-brand options, especially as price sensitivity remains pronounced in a sluggish economy and households seek reliable quality at lower price points. Yet, despite the positive growth, the private-label segment in Thailand still trails far behind the global benchmark, which sits around an average 22% market share. In Thailand, private-label products account for about 4% of the total market, underscoring a substantial gap between current performance and international norms. This gap highlights a large runway for expansion, particularly for retailers willing to invest in product development, branding, and shelf positioning that communicates value without compromising perceived quality.
Against this landscape, Tops reports private-label sales representing around 12% of the company’s total revenue. This figure already outstrips the typical Thai private-label share, indicating a more mature private-label strategy relative to peers in the local market. The domestic focus for private-label sales is acute, with approximately 80–90% of private-label revenue generated within Thailand’s borders. This domestic concentration underscores Tops’ emphasis on serving Thai consumers with a compelling mix of core essentials, value-added private-label innovations, and culturally resonant products that resonate with local tastes and preferences. In parallel, the market context reflects ongoing consumer shifts: younger shoppers in particular show a propensity to explore new brands if they meet quality standards, suggesting that the consumer landscape is becoming more brand-flexible and innovation-friendly. This environment is especially conducive to Tops’ strategy of expanding its own-brand portfolio and introducing new SKUs that can capture incremental demand without eroding price competitiveness.
Tops’ leadership has signaled an explicit target of a 20% expansion in its own-brand portfolio within the year. This indicates not only a commitment to increasing SKU breadth but also a strategic intent to deepen assortment for more categories, enabling better price-promotion alignment, improved shelf presence, and more robust import- and supplier-managed promotions. The breadth of Tops’ current private-label ecosystem is substantial: the chain already offers more than 5,000 items across 110 categories and operates with over 80 brands under its own label. This scale provides a solid platform from which to diversify into additional SKUs, diversify packaging formats, and tailor assortments to regional tastes and seasonal demand cycles. The plan to add 500 more items across 10 categories signals a structured, measured approach to expansion, balancing throughput with quality control and supplier collaboration to ensure that each new item meets Tops’ standards for performance and customer satisfaction.
In aggregate, the Thai market’s current dynamics—robust growth potential, a low current private-label share relative to international benchmarks, and Tops’ strong private-label performance—create a favorable backdrop for the company’s expansion strategy. The long-term implication is that Tops can capture a larger share of both the domestic and cross-border private-label gains by expanding its private-label assortment, enhancing product quality, and aligning more closely with consumer expectations for value, convenience, and reliability. As Tops scales its private-label program, it will also need to manage the delicate balance between price competitiveness and perceived quality, while maintaining stringent supplier qualifications and quality assurance processes. The market signals suggest that if Tops continues to invest in product development, category expansion, and differentiated private-label offerings, it is well-positioned to translate growth momentum into sustained revenue and margin improvements over the coming years.
The private-label growth thesis and consumer dynamics
Within this market context, Tops’ strategy hinges on several interrelated dynamics. First, private label growth in Thailand remains constrained by market maturity and consumer perceptions, but there is ample headroom for a more prominent home-brand presence. Second, private-label performance in Tops’ portfolio outperforms the broader Thai market norms, indicating that dedicated category management, supplier partnerships, and branding investments are resonating with shoppers. Third, consumer behavior among younger cohorts suggests a willingness to trial new brands that deliver quality, which can be leveraged through targeted product development and differentiated packaging to improve trial and repeat purchase rates. Collectively, these factors imply that Tops’ plan to broaden its private-label footprint could yield meaningful gains in both revenue and market share, provided it maintains a disciplined approach to SKU rationalization, pricing, and quality standards.
To maximize the upside, Tops will need to leverage data-driven merchandising, consumer insights, and category-specific strategies. For example, expanding into high-frequency or high-need categories with differentiated private-label variants—such as coffee and baby diapers, which Tops already highlights as key private-label focus areas—could deliver stronger basket size growth and loyalty effects. The domestic market’s reliance on private-label products for everyday essentials means that a well-curated, quality-focused portfolio can help increase the share of private-label sales in the overall mix, while supporting margin expansion through better control of sourcing and branding. In this evolving landscape, Tops’ ongoing investment in product innovation, shelf differentiation, and consumer education around private-label benefits will be crucial to converting trial into long-term commitment.
Tops’ product portfolio and private-label strategy
Tops currently operates with a broad private-label ecosystem that features more than 5,000 items across 110 categories, supported by more than 80 brands under its own label. This scale is not merely about breadth; it reflects a deliberate strategy to cover a wide range of consumer needs, from everyday essentials to category-specific innovations that can differentiate Tops from other retailers. The company’s emphasis on private-label products is anchored by a portfolio that has already delivered a meaningful portion of total sales—approximately 12%—indicating that Tops has achieved a level of category maturity and consumer trust that supports ongoing investments in product development and brand-building behind its own-label lines. The private-label strategy is supported by a domestic orientation, with 80–90% of private-label sales occurring within Thailand, underscoring Tops’ primary market focus and its ability to tailor products to local preferences and price expectations.
A key growth lever for Tops lies in expanding the private-label assortment into new product lines and categories that align with consumer demand and seasonality, while maintaining a consistent standard of quality and value. The plan to add 500 new items in 10 categories is not only a quantitative expansion but also a qualitative opportunity to deepen the private-label narrative. This expansion should emphasize not only SKU count but also SKU optimization—ensuring that each new item complements existing offerings, fills observable gaps in the assortment, and supports compelling price-perceived-value stories for shoppers. In addition to the numerical growth, Tops intends to enhance its private-label offerings in specific areas such as coffee and baby diapers. These categories are particularly strategic: coffee is a high-frequency purchase with strong brand-influence potential, while baby diapers address essential, recurring needs with relatively robust consumer loyalty. By strengthening private-label competitiveness in these categories, Tops can improve margins, foster repeat purchases, and elevate overall perceived value for customers who prioritize consistent quality and affordability.
Expanding the portfolio also entails strengthening supplier relationships and ensuring robust quality assurance across new SKUs. The process of introducing more items requires careful alignment with sourcing teams, manufacturing capabilities, and supplier development programs to ensure that price points, packaging, and product performance meet Tops’ standards. A larger private-label assortment also enables more effective promotional planning, allowing the retailer to create targeted campaigns that emphasize value, variety, and reliability. This approach can help differentiate Tops from other retailers by offering a more cohesive private-label ecosystem—one that covers a wider array of consumer needs while maintaining consistency in quality and price positioning.
The broader strategy also contemplates export-market potential, with Tops eyeing growth beyond domestic borders. By leveraging its existing private-label framework and expanding product breadth, Tops can offer internationally attractive private-label product lines that resonate with regional tastes and preferences in neighboring markets. The combination of a robust home-brand portfolio, a well-defined product development pipeline, and an emphasis on quality control positions Tops to scale its private-label operations while safeguarding brand equity. In the near term, the company’s focus on coffee and baby-care segments can act as proof points for private-label capability, guiding further investments into other categories that demonstrate strong consumer appeal.
The role of consumer insight and execution discipline
A disciplined approach to product development will be essential to ensure private-label growth translates into measurable gains. Tops can benefit from leveraging shopper data to identify high-potential product areas, optimize price tiers, and tailor promotions to specific consumer segments. Additionally, ongoing investment in packaging, labeling, and product storytelling will help strengthen the perceived value of Tops’ private-label lines, reducing price sensitivity and contributing to better-margin scenarios. The execution plan should also consider the lifecycle of each SKU—phases of introduction, growth, maturity, and potential withdrawal—to maintain a lean but expansive portfolio that adapts to evolving consumer needs and competitive dynamics. As Tops pushes new items into the market, it will be important to monitor performance metrics such as trial rates, repeat purchases, cross-sell opportunities, and basket-size impact to assess the effectiveness of private-label growth initiatives.
Mass-market private-label success often hinges on a combination of price competitiveness, consistent quality, and strategic promotions. Tops’ position in Thailand provides a strong platform for achieving these objectives, given the retailer’s scale, supplier network, and consumer familiarity with Tops as a trusted retailer. By sustaining product quality across a broader private-label lineup and communicating clear value propositions to shoppers, Tops can maintain consumer confidence while expanding the size and diversity of its own-brand portfolio. The private-label expansion is not merely a SKU-count exercise; it is an integrated initiative that combines product development, merchandising, pricing strategy, marketing communications, and supplier collaboration to deliver durable growth in both sales and profitability.
Export strategy and regional expansion
Tops’ export strategy encompasses a measured yet ambitious plan to diversify its private-label and branded product presence beyond domestic markets. The company already exports its own-brand and other brand products to multiple international markets, including China, Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Switzerland. The export portfolio features a mix of Thai-origin staples and value-added products such as rice, local snacks, and canned fruit, illustrating Tops’ capability to translate Thai consumer experiences into internationally appealing offerings. This cross-border activity enables Tops to leverage its robust private-label platform, while also benefiting from exposure to diverse consumer preferences and regulatory environments. The export performance is framed by a growth target: the company aims for approximately 70% growth in exports of its own-brand products this year, signaling a strong push to expand regional footprint while maintaining the integrity and profitability of private-label lines.
Looking ahead, Tops identifies Southeast Asia as a primary growth frontier, with specific attention to Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia as markets with meaningful potential for expanding its export reach. Southeast Asia is characterized by expanding middle-class consumption, rising demand for value-driven products, and an increasing appetite for international and Thai-origin goods. The region’s dynamics—marked by robust GDP growth in many member economies and an absence of tariffs on intra-ASEAN trade in several sectors—present an attractive backdrop for Tops’ export strategy. These regional advantages are complemented by the cultural and culinary affinities among Southeast Asian populations, which can help Thai private-label products resonate with neighboring markets’ taste profiles and consumption patterns. In addition to Southeast Asia, Tops also contemplates exporting to other markets in Asia and Europe, aiming to diversify risk and exploit various global demand cycles. The company’s leadership views this geographic diversification as a strategic hedge against local market volatility while enabling the transfer of private-label competencies to new consumer bases.
Regional market considerations will shape the execution plan for export growth. For example, intra-ASEAN trade dynamics, tariff regimes, and regulatory approvals will influence the speed and cost of market entry. Tops will need to adapt its product formulations, packaging, labeling, and quality standards to comply with the regulatory frameworks of each target market. Moreover, the company will benefit from establishing an integrated logistics and distribution framework that can serve both domestic and export channels with cost efficiencies and reliability. The emphasis on Southeast Asia as a core growth engine aligns with the broader regional trend of retailers expanding cross-border private-label activities to capture rising demand for value-conscious, quality-assured goods in nearby markets. By cultivating robust supplier ecosystems, refining product assortments for regional preferences, and implementing scalable export processes, Tops can execute a multi-market expansion that leverages its private-label capabilities and retail platform strength.
Market-entry strategies and risk management
To realize its export ambitions, Tops will likely pursue a blend of market-entry strategies, including selective partnerships with local distributors, direct-to-retail arrangements where feasible, and brand-building collaborations that can accelerate consumer acceptance. A critical element of risk management will involve continuous monitoring of currency fluctuations, trade policy changes, and supply-chain disruptions that could affect cost structures and lead times. The firm will also need to balance product localization with the consistency of its private-label identity, ensuring that core product attributes—such as taste, texture, and packaging integrity—are preserved while adapting to local preferences. By maintaining a rigorous standard operating framework for product development, quality assurance, and regulatory compliance, Tops can minimize market-entry friction and accelerate time-to-revenue for new export SKUs.
In parallel, Tops plans to sustain and grow its share of exports through targeted marketing investments that highlight the Thai origin of its private-label line and other branded offerings. Marketing initiatives could emphasize value storytelling, quality benchmarks, and reliability, appealing to both retailers and consumers who associate excellence with the Tops name. The export strategy’s success will also depend on the effective coordination between sourcing teams, product development units, and international sales channels to maintain consistency across markets while enabling adaptation to local consumer expectations. With a well-orchestrated cross-border plan, Tops has the potential to transform its private-label program into a globally recognized portfolio that leverages Thailand’s culinary and cultural appeal to drive demand abroad.
Consumer behavior and macroeconomic context
A challenging macroeconomic environment underscores the rationale for Tops’ intensified private-label push. The economy’s stagnation and weakening purchasing power create a compelling case for value-oriented product innovations that improve consumers’ quality of life at accessible prices. In this context, private-label products can serve as a practical alternative to more expensive national brands, provided they deliver consistent quality and dependable performance. Tops’ leadership notes that this is precisely the moment when private-label growth can yield meaningful benefits by expanding access to essential goods without compromising on quality. The company’s stance that “in this economy, it is the best time to grow our home brands” reflects a strategic emphasis on resilience and market share expansion in the face of fiscal headwinds.
In addition to macroeconomic pressures, demographic and behavioral shifts are shaping demand for private-label products in Thailand. Younger consumers, in particular, are characterized by a relatively lower attachment to specific brands and a greater willingness to try new brands that meet their quality standards. This tendency creates opportunities for Tops to drive first-time trials and convert new customers into repeat buyers through strong value propositions and reliable performance. Tops’ private-label performance, with roughly 12% of total sales coming from its own-label lines, demonstrates a degree of consumer trust and familiarity that supports continued investment in product development, packaging, and in-store merchandising. The domestic concentration of private-label revenue further reinforces the importance of local market tactics, including pricing strategies, promotions, and seasonal demand management, to optimize performance within Thailand’s retail landscape.
From a channel and category perspective, the domestic market remains the primary engine for private-label sales, with an emphasis on building a cohesive, easy-to-navigate private-label ecosystem that reinforces Tops’ identity as a retailer offering quality at competitive prices. The export side of the business, while still developing, serves as a strategic lever for revenue diversification and margin expansion, enabling Tops to leverage economies of scale and cross-border supply chains to support private-label growth in regional markets. As Tops expands into new categories and markets, it will be important to align product development with consumer feedback and market data to ensure that new SKUs deliver the expected value proposition and meet evolving standards for quality and safety. The combination of domestic private-label strength, a growth-oriented export strategy, and sensitivity to macroeconomic conditions positions Tops to capitalize on demand patterns that favor value-driven, quality-focused products.
Implications for future growth and investor confidence
The integrated approach of expanding private-label SKUs, strengthening core categories (including coffee and baby diapers), and pursuing targeted export growth creates a multi-faceted growth engine for Tops. From an investor perspective, the strategy signals a disciplined, data-informed path toward top-line expansion and enhanced profitability through higher private-label penetration. The company’s ability to scale private-label offerings while maintaining consistent quality can help sustain customer loyalty and allow for margin resilience in a period of cost pressures. Moreover, the geographical diversification achieved through Southeast Asian expansion reduces exposure to domestic market fluctuations and positions Tops to benefit from regional growth dynamics and shared consumer preferences. The emphasis on private-label innovations in staple categories can further strengthen Tops’ competitive differentiation, enabling the retailer to offer compelling value propositions that resonate with both price-sensitive and quality-conscious shoppers. If executed effectively, this strategy could yield a more balanced revenue mix, with a growing share of private-label sales contributing to healthier gross margins and stronger cash flow generation over time.
Execution plan and outlook
Tops’ strategic plan to add 500 new items across 10 categories, while expanding into more export markets, is anchored by a broad set of execution priorities designed to translate strategic intent into measurable outcomes. The company’s private-label push is designed to deliver a more diversified and price-competitive assortment that strengthens Tops’ competitive position in the Thai market and creates a scalable foundation for cross-border growth. Achieving the 500-item expansion will require close collaboration across the supply chain, including supplier onboarding, quality assurance, product testing, packaging, and regulatory compliance. It will also demand robust inventory management, demand forecasting, and promotion planning to ensure that the added SKUs contribute positively to basket size and margin performance without introducing undue complexity into store operations.
In parallel, Tops’ export strategy will require the establishment of a coherent cross-border operations framework. This includes refining logistics, ensuring import-compliant labeling and packaging, and building alignment with local regulatory requirements in target markets. The company’s ambition of 70% growth in exports of its own-brand products signals a dynamic push into new geographies, which will demand scalable export processes, strategic partnerships, and a sustained focus on product-market fit in each locale. The cross-border expansion will likely involve a phased approach, beginning with markets that exhibit favorable demand signals, stable regulatory environments, and established distribution networks, before progressively broadening into more challenging or less penetrated markets. Throughout this process, Tops will need to maintain rigorous governance around product quality, supply chain resilience, and risk management to safeguard brand integrity and ensure consistent performance across domestic and international channels.
Operationally, Tops must balance speed with discipline. The plan to accelerate SKU growth should be paired with ongoing evaluation of performance metrics for each SKU and category. This includes monitoring trial rates, repeat purchases, margin contribution, and promotional lift to determine which SKUs warrant scale and which should be retired or reformulated. The company’s leadership may also consider leveraging data analytics to optimize assortment optimization, price segmentation, and promotional calendars. Such analytics-driven decision-making can help maximize the impact of the expanded private-label lineup and ensure that new products align with consumer demand cycles, seasonal trends, and evolving tastes. If Tops can execute with precision, the expansion into new categories and export markets could yield significant top-line gains, complemented by margin improvements driven by private-label profitability and supply-chain efficiencies.
Conclusion
Tops’ aggressive plan to extend its private-label footprint—adding hundreds of items across multiple categories, while pushing into new export markets—reflects a strategic response to both domestic market dynamics and regional growth opportunities. By leveraging a strong private-label platform, deepening product development in key categories such as coffee and baby diapers, and pursuing a diversified export strategy to Southeast Asia and beyond, Tops positions itself to capitalize on a favorable mix of consumer demand, cost advantages, and cross-border demand for Thai-origin products. The company’s success will hinge on its ability to sustain product quality, manage supply chains effectively, and execute a disciplined go-to-market plan that aligns assortment growth with consumer expectations and market realities. If the expansion proceeds as outlined, Tops could see stronger private-label performance, higher profitability, and a broader international footprint that strengthens Central Retail’s overall retail portfolio.