C Thong has no eye on the highend market

"I have been part of the Mahadumrongkul family for 10 years and have tried to change the family business to run in a more professional way," said Vipavan, 46, who is married to Krisda, the second generation of the family.

Krisda is the company's director in charge of after-sales service.

"C Thong Panich is a family-owned business and run by members of the Mahadumrongkul family. What I try to do is to recruit more professionals into our business organisation so that they can bring with them new fresh ideas," said Vipavan, who is general manager responsible for business negotiations with brand owners in setting budgets and sales targets for their watches in Thailand.

"We have recruited five young professionals, who joined the company as brand managers and department heads. We also have a new financial consultant, who joined C Thong Panich just three months ago," said Vipavan.

She said the company had also started to apply computer-based information technology in its accounting work and stock management and control.

"These new initiatives will be added to the strength of family-management style, which is flexible. We are trusted by vendors, who give us a lot of freedom to market and distribute their brands in Thailand," said Vipavan.

Founded by Dilok Mahadumrongkul, C Thong Panich is an importer and retailer for a number of market-leading wristwatches from Switzerland and Japan. The company was founded in 1957 as a shop situated on Yaowarat Road in Bangkok, which is now the location of the main branch.

C Thong Panich retails through five shops in Bangkok and in the provinces under the name The Swiss Watch Gallery. It employs more than 204 staff. The company has a registered capital of Bt100 million and imports brands such as Mido, Rado, Hamilton, Ball, Hanhart, Citizen, Vagary and Chronotech.

Vipavan said that C Thong was quite strong in distributing wristwatches to medium- and lower-segment customers.

"What we have to do is to keep our competency. We will not be expanding ourselves into the premium end, which is an area where we have no expertise," she said.

Vipavan added that the company would introduce new brands to strengthen its position in its core market segments. Some of these will be launched next year.

She said the big challenges faced by the company this year were the increase in oil price and strong inflation, which have affected the purchasing power of consumers - particularly those who live upcountry.

"We have seen some impact from the difficulties in the first six months, which witnessed a sharp 20-per-cent fall in upcountry sales," she said.

C Thong Panich has 550 dealers, of which 250 are outside greater Bangkok.

The company's sales proportion contributed by provincial dealers has declined from 40 per cent last year to only 25 per cent in the first half of this year.

"Many upcountry dealers, particularly in northern provinces, have been affected by the lower purchasing power of consumers," said Vipavan, adding that - unlike in other parts of the country - northern consumers have preferred during these difficult times to buy motorcycles, pickups and household appliances such as refrigerators through hire purchase.

"When they have less money, wristwatches are not the first product they want to buy," said Vipavan.

She said the company had however seen sales growth in Bangkok.

C Thong Panich achieved a 5-per-cent increase in overall sales in the first six months of the year.

"We have set a growth target of 10 per cent this year, which is lower than the 12 per cent achieved last year," said Vipavan.