Sahapat eyeing Bt33 bn in sales this year

Boonchai Chokwatana, chairman of subsidiary Saha Pathanapibul Plc, described Sahapat’s Bt32.84 billion in sales was a 13.2 per cent rise on the previous year, after a 10 per cent increase had been targeted.
He said that was achieved by directing its marketing activities at market segments instead of marketing for the whole country. 
He said the group had also introduced a new sales management and marketing structure covering target, timing, tracking and teamwork. 
Boonchai said Mitr Phol sugar gave Sahapat a 2016 sales boost of Bt3.7 billion.
Boonchai said based on the forecast that Thailand’s economy would continue to grow steadily in 2017, Sahapat had set the sales target of Bt33 billion.
To achieve that, he said the group had initiated the SIM strategy, which stands for strategic marketing planner, initiator and motivator.
He said the strategic marketing planner was provided in every department of the group to enable employees to find the most appropriate marketing strategies and product development, while initiator was a tool specially designed to motivate every employee to initiate and create ideas.
Motivator is available in every department to transfer the group’s policies into innovation creations, he added.
Boonchai said the marketing strategy this year aimed to expand the group’s distribution channels in popular tourist destinations such as Pak Chong, Khao Yai, Pattaya and Phuket.
He said the group had also invested over Bt30 million to develop a “world class” data security centre to facilitate its IT expansion.
Boonchai said Sahapat was among the 81 per cent of Stock Exchange of Thailand-listed companies that recorded a profit in 2016 and contributed to total revenue of Bt908. 85 billion – a 30.4 per cent increase on the year.
SET-listed retail and wholesale businesses posted about 8 per cent growth on the year, he added.