The company expects Bt30 million in sales from its new products this year and another Bt10 million from the service business and other products, said Rattanaporn Phalavadhana, managing director of Venus. That would constitute growth of 60 per cent from last year.

Venus plans to invest Bt20 million to open two new outlets in Bangkok this year. It also plans to spend Bt6 million to promote its products through event marketing and joint promotions with credit cards.

Rattanaporn said that demand for premium skincare products has been growing at about 20 per cent a year. Cellcosmet and Cellmen are well known premium skin care products, but until now Thais have been forced to buy them in Japan, which is the only other country in Asia where the products are sold.

The premium skincare product market is worth Bt300 million. The company expects to snare 10 per cent of the market after its first year of peddling the two products, Rattanaporn said.

Thai consumers and foreign tourists will buy the brands here rather than in Japan, she said.