Nanyang Marketing, the distributor of Nanyang canvas shoes, expects the overall student shoe market to resume growth this year after a flat 2016.
Marketing and sales director Chakrapol Chandavimol said consumer sentiment is expected to improve this year with the approval of the new constitution, infrastructure investment, higher farm prices and rising wages in some provinces.
The tourism business will continue to boom with an increase of foreign tourist arrivals to Thailand.
"All these positive factors make us confident that consumer spending on student shoes will return to normal this year," Mr Chakrapol said.
Last year, student shoe sales were worth about 5 billion baht, showing flat growth from 2015.
About 60% of total sales came from canvas shoes.
Nanyang expects demand for student shoes to grow about 3-5% this year because of improved spending power and major student shoe brands aggressively launching their back-to-school marketing activities.
The company will allocate about 70 million baht to promote its student shoes this year with sales expected to grow 5%. Its sales last year grew by 6% from 2015.
Nanyang has a 41% market share in student canvas shoes and expects to reach 42% within this year.
"The student shoe market has intense competition in terms of brand building, pricing strategy and promotion," Mr Chakrapol said.
"This year, 5-10 new student shoe brands will enter the marketplace."
Chaiyapat Sosothikul, deputy managing director of Nanyang Industry, the producer of Nanyang shoes, said the company will spend about 30 million baht to develop its internal management system.
It is implementing a five-year production plan to increase production efficiency during 2016-20.
Apart from its regular distribution channel, the company will pay more attention to the online market.
About 12% of Nanyang's sales come from exports. The company exports student shoes to 15-20 countries.
The company's sales contribution from export will increase to 20% within 2020.
The company is seeking partnerships to distribute its products in the Asian market, particularly Malaysia and Indonesia.
"Due to the volatility of foreign exchange rate, we will slow our expansion overseas and put more focus on the domestic market because the Thai economy is improving," Mr Chaiyapat said.