Amway Thailand Ltd, a direct sales company, is more upbeat about its sales prospects this year, boosted by improving consumer spending.
Managing director Kittawat Ritteerawee said the company has witnessed an improvement in consumer spending on direct sales since the fourth quarter of last year.
This led Amway Thailand's sales in 2017 to barely exceed its target with 5-7% growth, said Mr Kittawat.
Earlier in December, Amway expected its sales to grow at a 3-4% clip this year, due to its larger base.
In 2016, Amway reported sales of 18 billion baht.
With several positive factors, including the continuous increase of consumer confidence in economic prospects, Mr Kittawat said the company is also optimistic about the country's overall 70-billion-baht direct sales business this year, particularly for health-related products.
He said with higher consumer purchasing power, an increase in health-consciousness and Thailand's ageing society, the company will put more focus this year into expanding its health product category, including food supplements and air-purifying treatments.
"We are quite confident that durable goods for health will continue to grow this year," said Mr Kittawat.
Spending power in health items did not see a significant impact from the economic slowdown that happened the past several years, he said.
"The company's health business accounts for about 60% of Amway's total sales, a leap from one-third of sales in the past few years," said Mr Kittawat.
"With trends surging in favour of preventive rather than therapeutic healthcare, people are trying to stay free from illnesses and enjoy a long and healthy life.
"We will explore more business opportunities in health products this year."
As Thailand's traffic is getting worse and people spend more time in their cars, Amway foresees this translating into longer exposure to airborne contaminants in cars, which increases the risk of respiratory diseases, including allergies.
The company is scheduled to introduce a car air treatment system for Thai consumers next week.
Ratana Channara, the company's marketing director, said the market for car air treatment systems is on a growth trend, with the number of passenger cars totalling 15.6 million units in Thailand.
Most of these vehicles are not equipped with air purifiers, said Ms Ratana.
