With sales of medicated cosmetics by general retailers having fallen by an annual 2-3 per cent over the past few years, Vita Parco Co Ltd, importer of the Swiss Cimabue brand, has turned its focus to speciality and drug stores.

Siriporn Kittiwongsophon, general manager of the Swiss-Thai company, said consumer behaviour had changed in recent times. Buyers prefer to visit speciality outlets and pharmacies as those channels have employees able to answer their questions about products that interest them. Also, many of the outlets have skin-examination machines.

Vita Parco is therefore seeking to ensure that retail staff can handle product inquiries from customers, as it believes this is the way to widen its customer base.

The company has also recently launched a website featuring its profile, product portfolio, product properties, selling points, and marketing activities.

Vita Parco is also urging general retailers to pay attention to training their staff to be cosmetics consultants and to provide correct information on products, rather than concentrate solely on generating high sales volume. This will create competitiveness as purchasing power continues to decline amid the negative economic environment.

Siriporn said producers of medicated cosmetics should put more emphasis on below-the-line marketing strategy, including activities and events that bring them closer to consumers and create brand awareness.

Consistent research and development is also vital, she said.

Cimabue products are available in 800 pharmacies around the country. Vita Parco plans to increase this number to 1,400 by year-end.

With all this effort, the company hopes to achieve the same growth as last year - more than 20 per cent, said Siriporn, who predicted the medicated-cosmetics market would grow 15-20 per cent this year.

Meanwhile, Health Impact Co Ltd - a manufacturer and importer of health products - is focusing on customer relationship management, marketing activities, and educating customers about its products through drug-store channels.

Ing-orn Santisuk, product manager for Kal-G food supplements at Health Impact, said pharmacies and speciality stores were good outlets for the products, with sales through these channels having consistently grown by 10-15 per cent in recent years.

This year, it has allocated as much as 40 per cent of its expected sales for marketing.

Health Impact plans to promote its new "collagen hydrolysate" technology, targeting people with arthritis. The company uses actress Sinitra "Nun" Boonyasak as its presenter because she had the disease when she was a runner.

Its main activity is to educate consumers on the new technology by arranging road shows at shopping malls and hospitals.