Oriflame Cosmetics expects growth next year of more than 30 per cent in the Asian direct-sales market, particularly in China and Thailand.

The company plans to spend Bt60 million on promoting its cosmetics products and boosting its sales force in Thailand. It will also set up a Bt20-million catalogue development centre here next year.

"We're moving the catalogue development centre from Sweden to Thailand because we want to localise our content in catalogues and emphasise marketing in Asia," Thomas Ekberg, Asia regional director, said yesterday.

The company sees great promise in Thailand based on its large direct-sales market, which was worth ¤670 million (Bt32 billion) last year, according to research from the Euro Monitor.

Ekberg said the company's sales in Asia this year were expected to grow by 30 per cent. Sales in the third quarter were ¤11.7 million, up 62 per cent from a year ago.

However, its profit margin this year will drop by 3 percentage points because of expenses incurred to beef up its presence in Asia, he said. Although he declined to give a total investment figure, he said the company had spent at least ¤10 million to get a direct-sales licence in China this year.

The company sees an opportunity to expand its business in China because it has a huge population but not many direct-sales companies.

"We are the first European direct-sales company that was granted a licence in China. We'll start our business in Jiangsu province next month," Ekberg said.

The company has already opened offices in six countries in Asia - Indonesia, India, China, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

Chief operating officer Jesper Martinsson said the company wanted to boost its worldwide revenue to ¤1 billion next year from ¤900 million this year to celebrate its 40th anniversary.

The company operates in 57 countries with 1.8 million sales consultants all over the world,

he said, adding that its production facilities were located in Sweden, Poland, Russia, China and India.

Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul

The Nation