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PITSINEE JITPLEECHEEP KRISSANA PARNSOONTHORN
Thai Wacoal Plc, the manufacturer and distributor of Wacoal lingerie, will shed the old-fashioned image of its Young Wacoal teenage line by replacing it with a new brand.
The company has been gradually introducing Girlie by Young Wacoal since March and expects the new label to totally replace the 25-year-old Young Wacoal brand within two years.
Managing director Amnuay Bumroongwongtong said the brand image of its teenage lingerie had to be changed to be more fashionable and colourful. After four decades in Thailand, Wacoal is now perceived as an old-fashioned brand with simple designs that attract mostly adults.
''Changing the brand name from 'Young Wacoal' to 'Girlie by Young Wacoal' will help us gain strong loyalty among the young targeted customers, who will further become customers of the original Wacoal in the long run,'' he said.
To build awareness of the new image, Mr Amnuay said the company would increase its marketing and advertising budget by 50% to 30 million baht. Meanwhile, it is negotiating with shopping malls to redesign its displays, and separate teenage lingerie from adult lingerie. It expects to spend another 10 million baht to revamp 20 selling points out of 390 in total nationwide.
Mr Amnuay added that the teenage lingerie market, which accounted for 30% of the overall 12-billion-baht lingerie market, experienced 10% growth in the first half of the year while the grown-up lingerie market saw flat growth.
Adults spent less at the time of an economic slowdown and steadily rising inflation while teenagers continued to spend out of the need to be fashionable, he said.
However, he said some teenagers had switched from high-end products to cheaper and lower-quality products. The changing behaviour did not affect the company as it targets teenagers in the upper market.
Currently, Thai women buy eight pieces of lingerie on average per year, compared with 10 previously.
As for the adult segment, he said the company had a plan to revive the flat growth, but declined to disclose details. The company plans to allocate a marketing budget of 100 million baht for all product lines this year.
Shares of Thai Wacoal (WACOAL) were last traded on the Stock Exchange of Thailand on Wednesday at 32 baht, down one baht.
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