Astina (Thailand) CEO Pravit Anatavrasilpa has disclosed the firm’s aggressive marketing plan to open 100 more branches, focusing on white goods and kitchen equipment.

This year, the local importer and distributor of home appliances will introduce kit-chen equipment, add 100 branches and emphasise a broad range of items, CEO Pravit Anatavrasilpa said yesterday.

The company is negotiating with domestic and international plants about selling their kitchen products in the market here under the Astina label and their own brands.

The new line of kitchen equipment features built-in models and is expected to contribute 10 per cent of sales this year.

Kitchen equipment will be its fifth category after washing machines, refrigerators, water-heaters and vacuum cleaners. All products target middle-market to high-end customers.

Launching the new category is part of the company's 10th-anniversary celebrations this year, which also include offering home appliances that can double as furniture, products with useful functions and of good quality and improved pre- and after-sales service.

Astina's existing 300 points nationwide include dealers' stores, HomePro and HomeWorks outlets in shopping malls and Carrefour and Tesco Lotus supercentres.

The company is revamping its internal work processes to be more systematic and "multioperational", in preparation for penetrating Indochinese markets this year or next. Until now, all decisions were made in its head office in Bangkok. Under multioperations, staff in all regions of Thailand will be given greater decision-making powers but still report to the head office.

The company is working on building strong brand awareness for international markets.

Astina has targeted sales to grow 38.2 per cent this year to Bt650 million.