Luxasia (Siam) eyes another year of double-digit growth

 
Despite the sluggish economy, the market for premium beauty products in Thailand expanded 6.7 per cent to an estimated Bt10.17 billion last year, and is expected to maintain growth of around 6-8 per cent this year, country manager Pittaya Jearkittimasak said yesterday.
“The growth of skincare and cosmetic products might have slipped slightly in the final quarter of last year. However, the government’s shopping tax-rebate measure to promote spending in the last 15 days of the year improved the spending atmosphere very much,” she said.
Luxasia (Siam) is part of the Singapore-based Luxasia Group, which represents fragrance, cosmetics, skincare and hair product brands such as Burberry, La Prairie, Montblanc, Gucci, Prada, Valentino, Bvlgari, Elizabeth Arden, Anna Sui, Philosophy, Benefit, and Make Up For Ever in 11 Asian markets.
Luxasia (Siam)’s business grew by more than 10 per cent last year, reaching a sales turnover of about Bt1.2 billion, and the company expects to achieve another year of double-digit growth in 2017, Pittaya said.
The evolution of new retail channels and a new consumer generation both contribute to the optimistic outlook of the Thai unit, which will join with partners such as Central Online to tap the digital marketplace for the first time this year, she said, adding that the group is studying the appropriate timing to enter the B2C (business-to-consumer) market.
The strategy is part of Luxasia’s aim to become “Asia’s beauty omni-channels leader”, she said. 
“Department stores are still the main channel, but we have also started to see a direction of Thailand which is growing in the non-department store channel,” the country manager pointed out.
Non-department store channels include online, chain stores (such as Sephora), and perfumeries (such as Eveandboy), which are growing rapidly.
“We’re still seeing room to grow. Now, between 90 and 95 per cent of the market comes from department stores,” she said.
Among the 11 Asian markets covered by Luxasia, Thailand ranks third after Singapore and Malaysia, partly due to the Kingdom’s hefty import duty on perfume products which has caused the penetration rate for perfume in the country to be the lowest among the markets covered, at 6 per cent, compared to about 20 per cent for Malaysia. 
Nonetheless, Pittaya said new-generation consumers in Thailand had started to use perfume from as young an age as 12.
The “indulgeness” trend of modern consumers to pamper themselves has also helped make the Thai beauty market resilient in the prevailing economic conditions, she added.
According to market-research data, out of a total premium beauty-brand market valued at Bt10.17 billion last year, around Bt9.62 billion was accounted for by the department-store channel, which expanded 5.9 per cent from the 2015 level. 
By product group, skincare accounted for 55.37 per cent, some 2.6 per cent higher, year on year; cosmetics took a 33.92-per-cent share, growing 12.6 per cent; and fragrance accounted for 8.25 per cent, expanding 6.7 per cent.
Prior to joining Luxasia in February 2016, Pittaya was commercial director of Boots Retail (Thailand) from November 2013 to January 2015. 
Before that, she had been with Proctor & Gamble for more than 20 years, including her last position at the company as customer manager responsible for the SKII brand all over the world.