7-Eleven Malaysia names new CEO with 26 years of retail industry experience

7-Eleven Malaysia Holdings has appointed Colin Harvey to the role of CEO, replacing acting CEO Ho Meng. According to the Bursa filing, Harvey has 26 years of experience in the retail industry. Ho was brought in to replace Gary Thomas Brown, and was supported by Hishammudin Hasan, deputy CEO of SEM.Prior to his new appointment, Harvey served as an independent director of the board of Pharmacity Pharmacy JSC, a retail company in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Before that, he was the CEO of Guardian Pharmacy in Indonesia for approximately six years.Harvey also helmed the role of group commercial director (food division) at Dairy Farm International Holdings for about three years, and senior merchandising manager of Giant Hypermarket (fresh foods division) for approximately four years. He also worked at Shoprite Checkers Group.This comes five months after True Ascend, an investment holding company controlled by Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Vincent Tan, bought an extra 1.41% stake in 7-Eleven Malaysia from Sublime Cartel, a fully-owned subsidiary of Berjaya Assets. The total cash consideration for the deal is RM25 million.The retail company posted a total year-on-year sales growth of 4.3% for the fourth quarter ended 31 December 2017 (Q417), from RM523,609 million in 2016 to RM546,240 million in 2017. The average spend per customer in Q417 also grew by 1.5%. The growth in revenue continued to be driven by the growth in new stores, higher average spend per customer and better consumer promotion activity, the financial statement read.The company has been trying to keep up with the evolving consumer behaviour. In July 2016, 7-Eleven Malaysia launched its 2000 store in Malaysia, with a revamped and modern convenience store format. The new generation 7-Eleven convenience stores encourage customers to see 7-Eleven as a lifestyle concept where customers are able to enjoy the range of products on offer by spending time at the store, similar to a neighborhood cafe.Meanwhile in January, it added on a mobile payment option with the launch of mobile wallet app, called One2pay, by MOL AccessPortal (MOL).Read also:7-Eleven MY subsidiary looks to acquire 60% of food supplier Cafe DecoralWant to own a 7-Eleven store in Malaysia?7-Eleven Malaysia rolls out One2pay mobile payment wallet