At the same time, it is changing its marketing focus to activities planned on a segmentation basis rather than spending its entire marketing budget on building brand awareness. It has allocated Bt60 million for marketing expenditures this year, up from last year's Bt50 million.

Managing director Nath Vongpanich yesterday said CRC Sports planned to open five new SuperSports outlets and renovate some current branches to move away from "performance" and give them a "lifestyle" concept. This will cost Bt80 million to Bt90 million.

The latest SuperSports branch, in the Jungceylon shopping complex in Phuket, will have its grand opening on April 6. It has a floor space of 2,300 square metres and cost Bt30 million.

Foreign travellers will make up 90 per cent of the new store's target customers, while the rest will be locals and expats. As a result, the store will focus on soft lines like sportswear, shoes and small pieces of equipment rather than large sporting equipment.

Meanwhile, 10 of the existing 55 SuperSports branches around the Kingdom have already been given the new "lifestyle" appearance, which is considered more modern than the old "performance" concept. Nath said it would take five years to transform the rest of the company's branches.

CRC Sports is also planning to spend Bt10 million to Bt15 million to open five more Fit by SuperSports outlets in Bangkok and other major cities, adding to the existing five in Bangkok.

Vice president for merchandising Adisorn Rochanavibhata said the Fit outlets offered a large selection of performance and fashion sports shoes.

The company expects consumer spending to improve in this year's second half, because of a stabilised economic situation and more foreign travellers.

Nath said the sports market was worth Bt16.5 billion last year, up from Bt15 billion in 2005.

He predicted the value of the market would climb to Bt18 billion this year, of with sports shoes accounting for about Bt5 billion. Sportswear and shoes are the main contributors to market growth, while large sporting equipment is tending to slow down, because of the sluggish property market.

He said the company would conduct marketing activities and events this year to reach specific target groups, such university students and consumers aged over 50.

One coming event is the company's Golf Fair Plus, to be held in 12 outlets nationwide. It will cost Bt20 million to put on and is expected to generate Bt100 million in sales.

SuperSports' top five products are shoes, sportswear, golf equipment, exercise equipment and rackets, in that order.

Shoes represent 30 per cent of total sales.

Last year, SuperSports outlets achieved Bt3.3 billion in sales, which is expected to grow 15 per cent this year.

Nitida Asawanipont

The Nation