Herballife aims for top 5 in direct sales

Sanson, who is also vice president for Southeast Asia of parent company Herbalife, said he would also work for a regional strategy and provide

 new country support for Thailand.

"We [the local unit] are in the top 10 of direct-sales firms in Thailand, but we want to improve our ranking here to the top 5 under my term," said Sanson, who took over the Thai operation this year.

He said he wanted to improve Herbalife (Thailand) in terms of both business volume and its ranking in the parent's global network.

"We want to make sure we can offer the right infrastructure to support our distributors and that our products are being sold through the right distribution channel," said Sanson.

As vice president for Southeast Asia, Sanson oversees Herbalife's business in Australia and New Zealand, as well as in Thailand. Sanson joined Herbalife in April 2002 as general manager of the Australian distribution centre. Since then, his responsibilities have grown to include several key markets in the Asia-Pacific.

Prior to joining Herbalife, Sanson spent time with the Dairy Farmers Group, a major firm in Australia, in sales, marketing, operations and general management. While there, he participated in the development and implementation of a franchise-distribution system for dairy farmers and several technology projects.

Sanson yesterday revealed the company's business strategy for the Kingdom, focusing on expansion of its Nutrition Clubs - centres for individual healthcare in both urban and rural areas. It will allow distributors and customers to share knowledge and experiences about good nutrition together.

Herbalife has 24,000 local distributors in Thailand.

"Launched in Thailand midyear, the number of Nutrition Clubs will increase dramatically to 300 by year-end and 800 by the end of 2010," said Sanson.

He said the first Nutrition Clubs were launched in Mexico in 2004-05. They enjoyed triple-digit growth in that country, which became Herbalife's No-1 market. Thousands of clubs now operate there today.

Sanson said local distributors in Taiwan adapted the Nutrition Club concept from Mexico to their local culture and market environment. Taiwan then become Herbalife's third-largest market.

"For Thailand, we're ahead of our goal set for 2009. We expect to enjoy double-digit growth here despite the tough economic year," he said.

Sanson said the company had also enjoyed growth in the number of distributors in the second half of the year.

Thailand is Herbalife's sixth-largest market in the Asia-Pacific in terms of growth and market size, after Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia, India and Japan.