Better Way has big plans for Mistine in Asean markets

The slogan has already been translated into Burmese (“Ning Nong, La Ba Bi Chin”), becoming a well-known sentence among women there, who are satisfied with the Mistine brand, according to the firm. In the near future, the tag line will be translated into Bahasa Indonesia and Tagalog, a native language of the Philippines.
If the regional plan is successful, it will triple the company’s total sales within the next three years from Bt11.3 billion last year.
The company is focusing more on marketing, instead of concentrating solely on manufacturing, ahead of the 2015 launch of the Asean Economic Community (AEC).
Thai companies have no choice but to gear up to explore business opportunities in the AEC, which will usher in borderless trade through tariff elimination.
Staying put will mean a loss of competitiveness for Thai manufacturers, who face rising production costs, especially with the new minimum wage of Bt300 due to be implemented in April.
Danai Derojanawong, managing director of the company, said its three important strategies to penetrate Asean markets include manufacturing, marketing and trading to achieve a truly regional brand.
The Thai-owned company operates three key direct-sales businesses: Mistine cosmetics, aimed at the mass market and B-class customers; the imported Japanese brand Faris, aimed at premium clients, and Friday Catalog designs to sell a variety of products including goods for babies and children. Only the Mistine brand ships more than 3,000 stock-keeping units.
The firm believes Indonesia and the Philippines have great potential. Indonesia has a huge population but only two local cosmetics brands, neither of which are managed for direct selling.
In Burma, the company’s direct sales of Mistine grew by more than 100 per cent last year, focusing on Rangoon, Mandalay and Tuanggyi. Better Way entered Burma more than 20 years ago by forming a joint venture with Saha Group to produce cosmetics on the Thai border.
After that, it formed a joint venture with a Burmese businessman to produce cosmetics there. The brand is now the number one seller among Burmese customers. “Asean is a matrix market. Our business will focus on marketing, not manufacturing, as well as forming a springboard to sell our products. We have to lean on each other to survive,” said Danai.
The company’s ultimate goal is not just to become a regional brand, but also to become an international management company.
So far, Asean accounts for 20 per cent of the firm’s exports, and the Middle East 50 per cent. Better Way’s exports to nine countries jumped 40 per cent in terms of value last year compared with 2010.
In addition, the company is talking with the Japanese owner of the Faris brand about setting up a production base in Thailand.
A second-phase project with trading partners will be established in the next three years. The plan aims to double sales of Faris in Thailand to Bt1 billion.
Indonesia and Vietnam are major candidates as sites for a Faris manufacturing hub in the region.
Danai said Thai entrepreneurs will have to seek locations outside the Kingdom to maintain competitiveness after the minimum wage is adjusted to Bt300 in April.
Wages account for 20 per cent of total production costs. The increased wage will prompt the company to adjust its retail prices by 6-10 per cent after April.
The company’s total sales are targeted for growth of 6 per cent this year.