Beauty Community prepares for revival
Mr Peerapong, centre, expressed optimism in terms of business growth this year.
Beauty Community Plc, the cosmetics and skincare product retailer, is restructuring its business and brand to jump-start revenue growth after feeling the pinch for two years amid the pandemic.
Peerapong Kitiveshpokawat, the company’s chief executive, said the firm is applying three business strategies — “Re-model, refresh branding and restructuring” — to strengthen its local and overseas businesses, aiming to grow revenue by 65% this year to 680 million baht.
Of the total revenue, 37% will come from overseas operations, 27% from retail, 24% from trading and 12% from e-commerce.
According to Mr Peerapong, the firm will also sell its products via more distribution channels in addition to Beauty Buffet, the retail shops it relied on prior to the pandemic. It will fully introduce new products to the mass market through 13 representatives across the country.
The company is selling products at traditional retail shops either via stores or via a store-in-store model, covering 8,600 points of sale across the country, as well as 6,000 modern trade stores this year.
Beauty Buffet shops will be redesigned to become more modern for all customer groups, he said. The company has gradually remodeled three shops and expects to redo 50 shops across the country by the second half of this year.
The number of Beauty Buffet retail shops was reduced to 100 and then 50 in 2020 and 2021, respectively, from 274 prior to the pandemic. Shops were re-designed to become more modern and the brand logo was changed slightly to reach younger generations of consumers.
The number of product items was also reduced by half to 700 from 1,400 products previously while shop sizes were scaled down to 30 square metres from 50-70 sq m.
It also reduced the number of employees to 400 and then 200 during the period 2020-2021 from 1,200 in 2019. Such efforts have helped to reduce the firm’s costs in terms of production, sales and management while the sales volume has gradually risen, said Mr Peerapong.
Regarding the overseas market, the company will set up its representatives abroad to handle marketing, logistics and product copyright.
The firm sells its products in 13 locations comprising China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos, Malaysia, Brunei, the Phillippines, India and Japan.
According to Mr Peerapong, licensed products will start production and distribution by representatives in China, Beauty Buffet’s main market, starting with 12 items of skincare and cosmetic products.
This will be instrumental in helping raise the proportion of the firm’s sales in overseas markets to 37% this year.
Mr Peerapong said Thailand’s overall cosmetic market contracted by 8% and 10% in 2020 and 2021, respectively, against average growth of 10% before the pandemic.
The cosmetics industry is worth 218 billion baht and is expected to grow 2-3% this year, he said.
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