Blackmores Ltd, a leading Australian natural health company, expects to increase Asian sales to 70% of the total over the next five years, with China and Thailand the two key drivers.
Yesterday Peter Osborne, managing director of Blackmores Asia, said the company will continue to expand its health food supplement business in Asia because of the continuing increase in the number of health-conscious people here.
Sales of Blackmores in 2017 is expected to exceed A$200 million (4.94 billion baht), some 30% higher than last year. Of the total, about 50% is from Asia.
The company plans to grow its business in Asia by an average of 5-8% per year, with China and Thailand being among the most important markets.
"We are very pleased with the performance of Blackmores in Thailand, which is now one of Blackmores' top three largest markets in the world, after Australia and China," Mr Osborne said
Pussadee Suchitchon, country manager of Blackmores Thailand, said sales of Blackmores in the first nine months of this year grew by 8%, better than the industry growth of 5.9%. With the launch of new food supplements for beauty and new products for kids, the company expects its sales to grow by 10% this year.
The executive did not disclose a sales figure, but Blackmores retail sales in Thailand for 2014 totalled 1.2 billion baht.
Growth of food supplements this year has been slower than in the past as customers restrict spending to necessities alone as their purchasing power has reduced, she said.
"Since people are more concerned about their health, we believe that Thailand's food supplement segment will return to huge growth rates as seen in the past decade," Ms Pussadee said.
With the better improvement consumer sentiment in Thailand, she expects that sales of food supplement industry to grow by 6-7% this year.
Mr Osborne said that Blackmores will continue to invest more in education, training, branding building and new food supplements in Thailand, where consumers are familiar with natural solutions.
"We plan to take further steps in Thailand by branching out our product line to skincare next year," he said.
Blackmores has already launched its skincare products in China, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong, which have seen successful sales, and it expects to repeat the success of the skincare line in Thailand as well.
"Beauty products continue to grow in the Thai market. This is an opportunity for Blackmores skincare line," Mr Osborne said.
