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Published on November 2, 2007

The company changed its marketing strategy early this year following growth of 7 per cent last year. This year's growth rate would enable the firm to achieve Bt560 million sales, of which 30 per cent would be exports.

CEO Aroon Ruengcharungpong said yesterday that the current economic slowdown and the rise in costs of raw materials made the company change its strategy.

Formerly, it looked at the stainless steel kitchen market as a whole but today it separates the market into three segments - low, medium and high - and manufactures products with specific quality and prices depending upon the purchasing power and demand of each segment, which enables it to precisely serve the demands of specific consumers.

So far, kitchenware in the middle-to-low-end segments has experienced fiercer competition and better growth than products in the high-end segment.

Players in the middle-to-low-end segments compete mainly by price. Nevertheless, those with better brand awareness still have an advantage in winning consumers' choice if they sell at the same prices as brands with low awareness, Aroon said.

Meanwhile, players in high-end brands compete by quality and design, not price.

Thai Stainless Steel's business development division manager Yanathon Thanasorn said its raw material costs for stainless steel had increased by more than 10 per cent this year, mainly because of surging demand of manufacturers in China.

Therefore it had to increase the prices of some basic kitchen products by 10 per cent and some high-end products by a few per cent since the middle of this year. In addition to adjusting marketing strategy and managing its costs and prices, the company also launched a new brand - Khrome by Seagull - featuring a knockdown kitchen set. The company took a year to develop the brand with local furniture manufacturer SB Furniture. Khrome expects to tap the change in the lifestyle of consumers who buy condominiums in Bangkok and major cities nationwide.

The company has allocated Bt10 million as a marketing budget for the brand in the next year and expects Bt50 million in sales, representing 8 per cent of its expected sales. Aroon said the company currently had no competitor in knockdown kitchen sets.

Thai Stainless Steel showcases its products exclusively in three branches of SB Furniture Design Square as well as the company's own showroom.

It will gradually adjust displays in other showrooms and selling points in major cities nationwide next year, said Yanathon. Prices range from Bt57,000 to Bt65,000.

Nitida Asawanipont, The Nation