The company said it is set for continued growth by combining its product solution strategy with investments in digital platforms to enrich consumer experiences across all touchpoints, ready to make new market progression with health and beauty products that flatter the active lifestyles of young consumers.

Kittawat Ritteerawee, managing director of Amway (Thailand) Ltd, said: “Amway Thailand posted total sales of Bt19 billion in 2018, an increase of 4 per cent year on year for four years running, with more than 70 per cent of the figures contributed by health and beauty products. A key growth driver was the strategy to provide product solutions, including BodyKey by Nutrilite as our flagship weight management programme that continues to bring growth to Amway.”

He said last year also witnessed the launch of new products targeted at younger consumers who lead active lifestyles, such as energy drink “XS Zero” and colour cosmetics “Artistry Studio NYC Edition”.

“Combined with integration of digital experiences into our business operations and communications on platforms like Facebook, Instagram and YouTube across all our product groups, Amway Thailand is closely connected with modern-day consumers and their social media lifestyles,” Kittawat said.

“Globally, Amway sales grew to US$8.8 billion (Bt275 billion) last year, thanks to significant investments in digital tools and broad-based growth across Amway’s top markets, most evidently the e-commerce success in China, Amway’s largest market and a leader in digital innovations for Amway business,” he said, adding, “Thailand continued to be Amway’s key growth market, having delivered the fifth best sales performance last year, after only China, Korea, the US and Japan.”

“To drive continued growth well into the future, Amway’s capabilities will be accelerated,” Kittawat pointed out. “As we look to 2019 and beyond, Amway’s investments will increase in digital and product innovations to connect products with digital experiences and add more personalised offerings, as well as data and analytics support to provide Amway business owners with more insight into growing their businesses sustainably,” said Kittawat.

Amway recently announced Milind Pant as its new chief executive officer, effective from the start of this year. Both Steve Van Andel and Doug DeVos have transitioned to Amway’s board of directors as co-chairs and remain engaged and highly visible in Amway that continues to be family-owned and family-led.

Pant brings a wealth of experiences and business visions from a variety of executive roles he has taken in the past, including leaderships in global business models, branding, and business advancements through digital and e-commerce strategies in various countries and regions in which Amway is the market leader, the company said.

The company added it was confident that Pant’s strong track record and enthusiasm will help drive Amway’s forward with solid growth.

Currently, the company is averaging 43 per cent of its total revenues yearly from overseas.

Meanwhile, the company also expects that up to 10 per cent of its total revenues will come from innovative business solutions in the next five years, compared to today’s average of 2 per cent a year. This is a part of driving sustainable business growth for the long term, as the company expects to grow its total revenues in its Asean operations at a rate above that of Thailand’s yearly growth in gross domestic product, he said.

“We set aside an investment budget of Bt60 billion in this year, with up to 70 per cent of the total invested in Asean countries including Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines. They are a part of our drive for growth in our total revenue from Asean and others countries to exceed that of our revenue in Thailand in the next five years. We believe that the demand in Asean countries in that time will continue our strong growth,” he said.

Last year, the company reported total revenue of Bt478.438 billion, up 6 per cent from 2017. But net profit was Bt44.748 billion, down 19 per cent from the prior year.

Up to 43 per cent of its total revenue came from overseas business – from both exports and its overseas businesses. About 25 per cent of revenue from overseas came from Asean countries, with the next 18 per cent coming from countries such as China and India.

In this year, the company also expects growth above 5 per cent from both businesses in Thailand and overseas, he said.

Roongrote said that the group will focus on three strategies, including investment in innovation and technology, developing products and business solutions that meet its customers’ demands, and investment in Asean countries to balance its portfolio by focusing on three of its business sectors – petrochemical, packaging, and cement and construction raw materials.

“We will not only sell our products, we will also develop our services and solutions to support our customers’ demands,” said Roongrote. “This is the way to drive our business toward sustainable growth for the long term, which is our main objective to do business. By driving our business growth above the Asean GDP growth every year, when we now have more business in Asean. For the next five years we will have income from outside Thailand above our income from the country,” he said.

He said that business now face additional risks due to technology disruption, the market competition from legacy competitors and newcomers to the industries, and the US-China trade war.

New factors will also quickly emerge to impact all industries in the market, he predicted. The way to drive sustainable business growth in a high-risk environment is to ensure a strong but balanced business portfolio, along with also developing technology for products and services that meet the needs of customers who are at the centre of the business.

“When we talk about innovation, we focus on all of the technology that relates to our business by both researching and developing value-added products, innovative products, and also using digital to improve our production, and developing our working process.

“We are also interested in developing deep technology to provide new products to serve our sustainable business growth. This is the way the group does business,” Roongrote concluded.

“At this point, our main markets are Europe and the United States. We are also very strong in Asia and Australia while Scandinavia and South American markets are also on our radar,” she said in an interview during the five-day trade fair Ambiente19 in Frankfurt, Germany’s commercial hub, last week.

She said the firm’s presence at international trade fairs would help it expand into overseas markets.

The United Kingdom and Germany are the company’s major export destinations. Others include Spain, Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

At Ambiente19, the firm attracted a lot of interest from South American buyers, mainly from Brazil.

“While we are looking to the West for new markets, we will also continue to serve our Asian buyers who have trusted us for decades,” she said.

“We are seeing surging demand from South Korea and some Southeast Asian countries, including Thailand and Vietnam. For one thing, our exports to Thailand have been rising for a few years.”

Bella Interiors currently enjoys an average growth of 10 per cent annually. It hopes to make more than US$2 million (Bt62 million) yearly in handicraft sales over the next three years, she said.

“We mainly focus on sales of well-crafted Burmese rattan ware and bamboo accessories to both domestic and international clients. Our product line ranges from household ware, office supplements, hotel products and kitchenware to other embellishments,” she said.

Bella Interiors is a subsidiary of Beautiful Island Co, established by her father Myint Oo in 1994 to produce and export a spectrum of crafted rattan furniture and accessories to the international community, The firm’s first international trading partner was a client from the Netherlands, and thereafter its portfolio has expanded to more than 20 countries around the world.

The head office and the two main factories are located in the south of Yangon. It also has four other production sites in other parts of the country. The firm has more than 150 employees in Yangon in addition to a strong workforce of more than 1,000 nationwide.

“The majority of our sourcing comes from the Tanintharyi and Sagaing regions as well as from Chin and Kachin states. We are now focusing on new lines of products, including the Stella Collections. We will strive to double our export volume, investing more in manufacturing and capacity building of our staff,” she said.

The executive considers production, marketing and customer-care services the three core areas for sustainable growth. She also stressed the importance of innovation and design concepts in its overseas business expansion.

“We have been investing in international trade fairs to showcase our innovative products to the global players. It is costly but our return of investment is truly satisfactory,” she said.

The airline and PTT Oil and Retail Public Company Limited (PTTOR) sign a memorandum of cooperation to bring a typically strong coffee of Cafe Amazon, which is an Arabica strain that PTTOR purchased from the Royal Project Foundation, to serve for all passengers in every flight for the first time.

The cooperation will start from quarter 4 of this year and is collaboration in conducting business with social and environmental responsibility and reinforcing PTTOR’s business operations by assisting coffee growers in Thailand to have knowledge in improving plantation, raw coffee beans, as well as bean processing into coffee with quality and environmentally-friendly production processes.

PTTOR also promotes the creation of community enterprises to be able to operate sustainably by community itself, helps them improve the quality of life of the people in the community to be stronger.

At the same time, THAI Smile Airways and PTTOR also invite the media team to witness the real experience, inspecting the production process and processing of Arabica coffee beans and visit the first coffee tree of Doi Inthanon at Ban Lung Phayo Taro, Pakakayor hill tribe, whom HM King Rama 9 has granted a royal audience once since 1974 at Ban Nong Lom, Chom Thong district, Chiang Mai province.

THAI Smile’s Charita Leelayuth, acting chief executive officer revealed the cooperation with Cafe Amazon that the airline has the intention to deliver services with a smile, create and present the best service beyond expectation and always carry maximum satisfaction.

The airline sees the importance of cooperation with Cafe Amazon in order to bring a specially fine selection of quality coffee with mellow fragrance and a signature of Café Amazon, being served to its passengers, with the aims to have all of them feel a uniquely exclusive experience and take pride in being part of the true support for coffee consumption in the country.

The coffee beans served here are Arabica from the Royal Project Foundation which is of international standard quality grown by hill tribe farmers, coffee growers who have developed the potential to make a stable income without cultivating illegal crops, without destroying the forest. It is regarded as a sustainable conservation of natural resources. (Eco-Efficiency).

“The plan for this year, we are committed to delivering the best service with service development plan, focusing on every detail and perfect changes in order to impress our VIP passengers.

Instantaneously, THAI Smile Airways is moving forward with a full-fledged social enterprise policy that will drive the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) related to the creation of sustainability for the community, society and environment to support the THAI Smile Loves Earth Policy. It is intended for everyone to see concrete outcomes, aiming to be one of the eco-friendly airlines and being a full world-friendly airline. The cooperation with Café Amazon aims to extend common ideology as to make Cafe Amazon’s intention to bring Arabica coffee of the Royal Project Foundation of Thailand to be widely accepted, both domestic and overseas. The goal can be achieved with THAI Smile as a co-sponsor and key driver to success. We focus on creating satisfaction and delight in the taste of coffee, the exclusive drink served to passengers as well as communicating the role of entities that create a path of sustainability of both organisations.”

Jiraporn Khaosawat, chief executive officer and president of PTTOR, the brand manager of Cafe Amazon, mentioned that the collaboration with “Cafe Amazon is opted to bring Arabica coffee bean products that PTTOR purchases from the Royal Project Foundation in Chiang Mai, to roast and produce with a unique roasting identity of the Café Amazon combined coffee with a mellow, aromatic flavor, typical of Arabica coffee, to serve all passengers on all routes with coffee beans purchased from the Royal Project foundation. It is a coffee bean that has been produced under the research and development program of coffee plantation and production for natural resource conservation for sustainable development. And raw coffee bean’s trading project with the Royal Project Foundation in Chiang Mai province.

This cooperation is, therefore, an opportunity for passengers to experience the strong taste of coffee that is unique to Cafe Amazon and also helps support Thai farmers who grow coffee in the country to have better living conditions and improve the community to be stronger together with conservation of soil, water and forests together.

In addition, there is a plan to conduct the feasibility study on promoting products and services of both organisations reciprocally in order to continue building up business opportunities in the future in order to create new experiences and satisfactions for passengers to the utmost. It is expected to see this cooperation more clearly within the year 2019.

The signing ceremony announces clear intention and push various projects and policies for sustainable growth together between two firms. THAI Smile Airways is ready to serve premium coffee, The Cafe Amazon, for all seats of THAI Smile Airways in every flight, starting from Q4 of 2019 onwards.