Quality, not price, must drive market: Sansiri

Long-standing property developer Sansiri says it is entering a new era of concern for the quality of raw materials and the functionality of its residences by adopting an "Attention to Detail" concept in a bid to stand out in an increasingly competitive market.

Sansiri president Srettha Thavisin told The Nation last week that the current highly competitive state of the property market forced the question of how a developer could create products that differed from those of its rivals.

"If we use price to compete in the market, our net profits will drop and there will be no challenge in doing business. But in previous times, we have seen market leaders that have been concerned about function and design. If we want to be the brand in the minds of home-buyers, we have to do something different from the rest of the market.

"Designing residences based more on function and detail, to suit our customers' lifestyles - something we started in 2009 - now marks a new era for Sansiri," he said.

He explained that the focus on design had been a part of his company's operations for more than 10 years, involving both architects and interior designers. However, Sansiri set up a Design Solution Department in 2009 with a strong focus on design and functional detail because customers were making new and informed demands and were gathering more knowledge before making a decision to buy a residence.

The department not only focused on residential design and functionality, but also got together with home accessories and furniture producers to design products to meet home-buyers' demands.

Srettha said Sansiri had joined in the development of exclusive products from Cotto, VRH, Star Mark and others, to serve its residential projects.

"Our business moves are intended to stress that ours is a premium brand - more so than those of competitors in the market," he said.

Although Sansiri is striving to be the market's premium brand, Srettha said its prices were similar to those of its competitors in the same location.

"We add value to our products to serve customers' demands, but are prices are no higher than others. This is our business strategy; the new era of our business," he said.

From long experience in the property business, Srettha said the market had to develop by quality, rather than by price war. This is the aim of Sansiri's Attention to Detail campaign, to drive the company's business growth in the long term, he said.

Currently, the company has 48 Residential projects with a combined market value of Bt62 billion. Of these, residences with a total value of Bt16 billion remain to be sold. Sansiri recorded presales of Bt16 billion in the first eight months of this year. Its presales target for the year is Bt26 billion.