Khongkwan Clinic looks to expand into Asean

Give us a brief background of Khongkwan clinics in Thailand. How long have you been in the market and what is the number of stores currently? What was the idea behind setting up a beauty-clinic business in Thailand? What is your vision and aim for business achievement?
Khongkwan Clinic has been providing service for nine years, with 15 branches in Thailand and Vientiane, Laos, currently. Khongkwan Clinic provides semi-elective surgery, as I learned that patients suffer pain when they experience a surgery knife and spend a long time recovering. So I had an intention to open this kind of clinic after I graduated from medical school. I believe that as a woman, if I want to be beautiful in this life, I will do the best for myself. This is why Khongkwan Clinic started, and I’m confident that it will move forward after the ninth anniversary, and we certainly have a new business plan for the future.

Do you plan to expand the business in Thailand, both in the medium and long terms? Do you have any objective to achieve a certain number of outlets in the next three to five years? How much money do you plan to inject into the expansion?
At present, Khongkwan Clinic is investing Bt100 million to renovate its Thonglor branch into a beauty innovation centre with six patient beds and treatment rooms with the hospital standard. We have just invested Bt150 million on new branches at EmQuartier and Paragon shopping malls, which opened recently.
 
Do you see any business opportunities in the neighbouring CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) market for the expansion of your beauty clinics? If so, will it be through your own investment capital, joint ventures or franchising?
I see a lot of opportunities to invest in neighbouring countries. Khongkwan Clinic now has its first branch in Laos, which has been open for five years and received a warm welcome from local customers. Next year, we plan to go into Indonesia, Myanmar and Vietnam with our overseas investment. However, the overseas expansion will depend on our partners as well. Khongkwan Clinic is looking to sell its beauty-clinic franchise and a beauty fitness system to investors within three years.
For the rest of this year, we will focus on existing branches and will impose new marketing campaigns soon. So we will not open any new branches. We have maintained [annual] sales growth of 20 per cent from 2012 to 2014. This year, the growth will be lower but we will not have a loss. We are confident we will return to growth of 20 per cent again next year after the launch of K Prestige Club.

How do you see the potential of the beauty-clinic business in Thailand and neighbouring countries in Asean? What is the trend of consumer behaviour towards health consciousness and wellness, as well as making themselves look good?
Beauty has no holiday and no limit. The beauty business has a lot of potential and customers should select treatment clinics carefully, as some are not run by professional doctors. Some clinic owners are not serious and want to sell their places when they are not good and move to new locations. This shows they are not responsible to the health and beauty business. In my opinion, Thailand gives importance to the health and beauty industry and wants to see it grow consistently, as this will show that the country a health and beauty hub in the eyes of foreigners.

What is your ultimate dream for your Khongkwan beauty-clinic business in the future?
Khongkwan Clinic is the only clinic that has a “beauty fitness” membership system. It has sufficient treatment equipment and personnel and is the No 1 clinic, with a strong customer base of between 25,000 and 50,000 in the next within three years, excluding the K Prestige Club campaign, which will attract 1,000 new members by the end of this year and 3,000 by 2016.