The company's retail line consists of eight flavours of roasted and ground coffee, including three that were launched yesterday, Boncafe marketing executive Sulita Thanawat said.

Boncafe was established in 1991 to sell coffee, coffee pods and powdered mixes - flavoured iced tea and chocolate - mainly to five-star hotels and restaurants both here and abroad.

To penetrate deeper into the retail market, launching products, expanding distribution channels and building consumer awareness are the three key focuses.

The three new flavours are CafeRama featuring highland Arabica from the North, CafeCrema featuring organic Arabica from the North and CafeClassica featuring a blend of highland Arabica and Robusta from the South.

Supermarkets, shopping complexes and superstores including Tops Supermarket, Foodland, Carrefour, Siam Paragon, Isetan and The Mall carry the Boncafe products.

Rather than introduce its products to other shopping malls, Boncafe plans to expand its distribution channels by making its products available in all branches of those chains.

It is working on building consumer awareness through advertising in various media channels, arranging in-store promotions and organising co-promotions with shopping malls.

The retail channel accounts for 10 per cent of Boncafe's total sales and the company expects the proportion to increase to 15 per cent next year.

The ultimate goal is to see retail sales contribute 50 per cent, but that would take awhile because the products are not ready to drink. Consumers need to have coffeemakers and not everyone can afford them.

Prices of coffeemakers for household use can go up to Bt10,000 and for machines used in the service sector more than Bt100,000.

So far this year, sales have reached Bt350 million from the domestic market and Bt110 million from the export market, mainly the Middle East. The year should end with Bt500 million in total sales.

Next year's marketing budget will remain at Bt10 million, but it will be used to promote the Boncafe brand both among corporate customers in hotels and restaurants and end-users both here and abroad.

The firm will start offering a coffee system for offices.

It is considering opening offices in China, Moscow and more countries in the Middle East, as well as entering Japan and the US.

Nitida Asawanipont

The Nation