Amway confident of 4-5 per cent sales growth in Thailand as economy recovers
DRIVEN BY what it sees as a rebound of Thailand’s overall economy and consumer sentiment, Amway Thailand expects to lead the country’s direct-selling industry with stable annual growth of 4-5 per cent on average over the next five years.
The US-based direct-selling giant still believes in the tremendous opportunity for this type of business in the Kingdom.
Kittawat Ritteerawee, managing director of Amway (Thailand), said the nature of direct-selling business was network marketing.
The direct-selling market in Thailand was worth Bt70 billion last year, up 3 per cent over 2014. There are currently between 200 and 300 local and international direct-selling firms in the market with regular activities, of which about 50 are real active players. Amway Thailand claims to have 24 per cent share of the market.
Amway will celebrate the 30th anniversary of its Thailand subsidiary next year. Thailand is Amway’s second-oldest operation in Asean after Malaysia, where the company opened a subsidiary 39 years ago.
In Asean, Amway is currently available in Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. It does not exist in Myanmar, Cambodia or Laos, as those markets are still not quite ready to enact direct-selling regulations.
“In Thailand, we have seen a significant rebound of the overall economy and consumer sentiment. Our Amway products, especially health and beauty products, have started to be effectively released from the stocks. We have clearly seen positive signs for the country and our direct-selling business,” he said.
“We got beyond the sales targets for the first half of this year, driven by our Body Key weight-management products, which grew by 30 per cent year on year in the first six months, driven by the fit-and-firm trend, in which individual consumers are more concerned about weight management. “Our nutrition brand Nutrilite saw strong growth of 17-18 per cent over the period,” Kittawat said.
He said the problems caused by UK citizens’ vote to leave the European Union would be very short-term. Both the EU and Britain have strong economic fundamentals. Thailand also allocates only 2 per cent of its total exports to the United Kingdom.
