7-Eleven Malaysia reportedly mulls sale of pharmacy chain CARiNG

7-Eleven Malaysia is reportedly considering the sale of its pharmacy chain, CARiNG Pharmacy. CARiNG has potential Japanese buyers, and 7-Eleven is currently working with an adviser, Bloomberg reported.

CARiNG Pharmacy was founded in 1994 by five pharmacists, from the School of Pharmacy, Universiti Sains Malaysia and is a 75% owned unit of 7-Eleven. It operates more than 120 outlets in West Malaysia, and one in East Malaysia. In 2002, it launched its loyalty programme and in 2006, it partnered with consumer rewards programme BonusLink to enhance its benefits programme. CARiNG's loyalty programme was relaunched via a mobile app, featuring an "elaborate" customer experience management programme in 2018 and streamlines all channels - in-store, eCommerce and mobile. 

According to The Star, it had also carried out a slew of acquisitions, acquiring The Pill House Pharmacy and Wellings Pharmacy two years ago, and had also bought business assets in three outlets held by Farmasi Sri Nibong.

Meanwhile, 7-Eleven is Malaysia's largest convenience store chain, with over 2,400 stores, and serves over 900,000 customers daily, according to its website. It has been operating for over 28 years. In 2019, its revenue jumped by 9% in the first quarter of 2019 due to better consumer promotion activity, as well as growth in new stores and higher average spend per customer. Higher marketing income, favourable sales mix, and improved logistics expenses recovery also attributed to a 9.1% increase in gross profit as compared to the previous quarter. In 2022, its first quarter net profits doubled, compared to its first quarter net profits in 2021. 7-Eleven attributed the increase to longer trading hours due to the lifting of COVID-restrictions and consumer related behaviour.

Next year, it will be rolling out more of its 7-Cafés, the Star reported. The café format is expected to grow its fresh foods category and provide better in-store experience and products to customers.  In November 2019, it teamed up with a listed company on the Jakarta Stock Exchange to set up a retail pharmacy chain in Indonesia through a joint venture, the Star reported.

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