Split ends offer future gains

HAIR CARE

Kao Commercial (Thailand) Co, the producer of Feather shampoo, is introducing a new shampoo segment in line with its parent firm's new strategy to drive pan-Asia brands across the region's markets.

President and CEO Minoru Tokita plans to put the bounce back in Kao Commercial’s sales by focusing on damaged-hair products and pan- Asian brands.

Minoru Tokita, the company's president and CEO, said this year Kao Corporation, its parent firm, devised a new strategy focusing on hair-care and skin-care products.

Kao Thailand has two pan-Asian brands in the beauty-care category: Biore facial care and Asience hair care products. "New Essential Damage Care", a new premium hair care line for damaged hair, will be available this month.

Thailand launches the line after Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

New Essential Damage Care is meant to compete with Procter & Gamble's Pantene and Unilever's Dove.

Demand for hair cleansing and treatment products grew by 5% in 2008, while damaged care shampoo grew at 20.7% in 2008 and 26.5% in the first half of 2009.

Kao Thailand controls 4.2% of the estimated 11.8-billion-baht Thailand hair care market. The company expects the new product will drive growth of Kao Thailand's hair care products by 20%. The company will spend 150 million baht for marketing the product this year.

Shigeru Ueyama, president of Global Beauty Care Business, Premium Hair Care, at the Kao Corporation in Japan, added the product demonstrated constant growth and massive potential based on responses from customers in Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

"We are confident that our New Essential Damage Care line will likewise receive a tremendous response from Thai consumers," said Mr Ueyama.