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Published on January 21, 2008

Astina (Thailand) will employ more aggressive marketing activities this year to boost sales of its latest washing machine under the new Titan brand to 1,000 units.

Astina also imports and distributes home-appliance brands Astina and Empire.

The company introduced the innovative front-loading laundry machine last year and sold 100 units. Astina expects to enjoy Bt50 million-Bt100 million in Titan sales this year.

CEO Pravit Anantavrasilpa said last week that the company had spent time last year on introducing the new brand, developing a sales system, training staff and improving service.

This year, Astina is fully ready to promote and market Titan, with the goal to increase sales tenfold from 100 machines last year.

"Titan is an innovative front-load washing machine and it could be difficult to use. Last year our staff focused on introducing the product to customers to educate them on how to use the machine. Now we know every problem and can handle it, so we're ready to go ahead with this brand," he said.

Prices of front-load washing machines in general are cut to reach a wider group of consumers. The average price has dropped to Bt25,000 from Bt30,000 and up. Titan, however, is priced at Bt49,000 due to the premium quality.

The company will distribute Titan through 30 HomePro, PowerBuy and The Mall stores. Astina will promote the product through True Visions and other cable-TV stations. It may start advertising on free TV in the second half.

Last year, the Bt11-billion washing-machine market was divided into Bt1 billion from front-load washing machines, Bt55 billion from single-tub automatic washing machines and Bt35 billion from double-tub machines.

Double tub is the most popular model with 500,000 units sold per year, followed by single-tub models with 400,000 units and front-loaders with 50,000.

Sales of front-load washing machines look to grow at least 10 per cent this year from 5 per cent in past years as more consumers shift from single-tub to front-load models. But the entire washing machine market would grow 20 per cent this year, he said.

Nalin Viboonchart

The Nation