Thai perfume maker sniffs Lao market opportunity
Thai perfume maker sniffs Lao market opportunity
The Mary Perfume Manufacturing Company, a Thai based business, hopes to break into the Lao market and discuss the possibility of opening business franchises during the annual Lao-Thai Trade Fair.
“The Lao market has a much higher purchasing power now and we think Laos will be our main market after the formation of the Asean Economic Community in 2015,” the Counsellor to the company, Mr Kabin Kanjamapornkul told Vientiane Times on Wednesday.
The five-day trade fair which runs from July 3-7 at Lao-ITECC was officially opened to promote trade relations between Lao and Thai businesses.
Mr Kabin went on to say that his company recently set up a booth at a fair in Cambodia but the result was not impressive due to low purchasing power.
“All of our perfume products are brought to sell at the fair and are worth about 100,000 baht (25 million kip) in total. We have already earned about 10,000 baht (2.5 million kip) by midday on the first day of the fair,” he said.
The company has a variety of unique brand name products which are made with top grade ingredients.
The perfumes are luxury fashion products but many Lao people still can afford to buy them because of rapid economic growth here in Laos, according to Mr Kabin.
“We hope the fair is an opportunity for us to meet with business partners who may become part of franchise development in Laos,” he added.
General Manager of the Khanthong Herbal Pharmacy Company, a Lao plant-based pharmaceutical manufacturer, Ms Khanthong Khamvilaithong, also said that her products can be sold to Thai business partners as the raw materials they use are of the best quality.
“Today, we have brought herbal products worth more than 35 million kip to sell at the fair. We don't only expect sales to the regional market but also the domestic market which is a major arena for us,” she said.
The Minister Counsellor of the Office of Commercial Affairs of the Royal Thai Embassy to Laos, Ms Pimol Pongkongkaew told Lao and Thai media representatives that the most important part of the annual trade fair is business matching.
Business matching will be focused on trade, raw materials and investment.
“This means that those in attendance will have the oppo rtunity to discuss and negotiate business cooperation and franchise deals. Both Lao and Thai traders will have the chance to exchange one another's best products,” she added.
More than 300 booths are displaying a wide range of Thai products, including automobile parts, construction materials, household items, clothes, educational equipment, food and health products and other industrial items.
The Lao products available at the fair such as furniture, silk textiles, herbal products, rice and other brand name products have been given the stamp of “One District, One Product” by the Lao Ministry of Industry and Commerce.
vientiane times
