THE THAI franchisee of The Face Shop, a well-known South Korean beauty-store chain, is set to open its first overseas store in a joint venture with a partner in Laos.
Pithan Ongkosit, president of TFS (Thailand), distributor and licensed operator of The Face Shop in the Kingdom, said the company would open the Laos store this year.
It will be the debut of The Face Shop in the CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) market.
Pithan said TFS was negotiating with LG Household & Health Care Co, a South Korean cosmetics and beauty giant and The Face Shop owner, on a plan to penetrate the Asean market together.
“In Thailand, we plan to increase the number of The Face Shop stores from 63 currently to 70 by the end of this year, and up to 100 by the end of 2017,” he said.
Pithan said the company planned to invest Bt100 million in opening new stores this year and another Bt50 million next year.
He said The Face Shop’s growth shot up to 150 per cent during the first half of this year as it became the No 1 Korean cosmetics brand in Thailand.
“We expect to achieve Bt500 million in total sales for the whole of this year, up 200 per cent over last year.
“We expect our annual sales to reach Bt1 billion in total within the next two years.”
Helping drive sales is a new product for women, The Therapy First Serum. The company says the serum is the first of its kind to use water-blending crystal technology and achieved sales of 100,000 in six months.
Pithan said that despite the effects of Thailand’s sluggish economy on the cosmetics market, a large number of consumers still gave importance to personality and beauty.
He said several brands had introduced new lines of cosmetics that met consumer demands and stimulated sales, which had increased the overall cosmetics market’s value by 15 per cent per year.
Marketability
“The Face Shop is already the No 1 Korean cosmetics brand in Thailand, and we intend to keep on growing,” he said.
“One of the factors contributing to The Face Shop’s success is marketability that supports sales and meets consumer demand, especially in terms of consumer promotions. We also have branches both in Bangkok and other provinces with sales prices similar to those in Korea.
“In addition, we consistently launch new products every month.”
Source: The Nation
