Retail sales have flattened in Papua New Guinea in the past year. As a result, major retailers are shifting their focus to meet changing customer expectations, as CEOs reveal to Business Advantage PNG.

Customers inside a Theodist store. Credit: Theodist

Amid a soft overall market, PNG’s retailers are focusing on segments where demand has proved resilient.

Brian Bell Group’s 22 locations – which include Homecentre stores – experienced six consecutive years of record performance leading into 2024, but sales flattened last year after the events of 10 January, CEO Cameron Mackellar tells Business Advantage PNG.

“While some PNG businesses will grow in 2025, the headline growth rate is flat to negative,” Mackellar says, naming the depreciation of the kina and subsequent inflation as examples of the challenges facing PNG retailers.

‘You can really see the public sentiment shift into value products, [into] the cheaper end of the market.’

“We’re fighting a battle to keep inflationary pressures in check in our own business and also keeping an eye on inflationary pressures outside of our business. Every Papua New Guinean is impacted by this.”

Likewise, Theodist, a leading supplier of office products, saw its sales flatten in 2024 after experiencing double-digit growth in previous years, CEO Kumar Baliah tells Business Advantage PNG.

“We saw the economy go soft very quickly, especially in the last six months [of the year],” Baliah says.

Meanwhile, City Pharmacy Limited (CPL) Group’s retail growth outlook is “positive as we recover from the 10th Jan 2024 events and we start to rebuild our business,” Sir Mahesh Patel, Founder and Non-Executive Director, tells Business Advantage PNG.

“The board has taken on the task to review each of our business divisions, for maximum efficiencies and best shareholder value creation,” Patel says.

Positioning to meet demand

For Brian Bell and its Homecentre stores, a ‘good-better-best’ assessment led it to conclude that it should focus on products that provide value for money.

“‘Good’ is the value end of the market, ‘better’ is that mid-tier level, and ‘best’ is the premium brands that you have on your shelves. Our sales softened in that ‘better’ and ‘best’ market in 2024. The vast majority of the volume we sell is in the value end of the market,” Mackellar explains.

“You can really see the public sentiment shift into value products, [into] the cheaper end of the market. We have introduced a quality ‘Haus’ brand range in the category of good [value end of the market] in order to save a few kina for all consumers.”

Similarly, Remington Technology responded to the quiet conditions by price restructuring and reducing the margin expectations, according to Navin Raju, CEO of parent company Remington Group. As a result, its sales have shown significant improvement.

“We adjusted our prices to meet customer expectations,” Raju told Business Advantage PNG.

Meanwhile, Theodist sees its next growth opportunity in enterprise-level technology.

“We already have the customer. We’re already selling a whole bunch of stuff to them,” Baliah says.

“Now it’s about scaling up with technical skills and the sales skills to be able to deliver enterprise technology.

“We started that about six months ago, and within the next six to 12 months, we expect to see fairly significant demand in that market.”