With sales missing their target, The Mall Group, the country's second-largest department store chain, is set to spend 400-500 million baht on campaigns to push spending in the final quarter.
Weak purchasing power is cramping sales, says Mr Phaibul. The Mall Group is planning special events to bring shoppers back.
Chief executive Phaibul Kanokvatanawan said sales from the group's shopping complexes, excluding stand-alone Home Fresh Mart supermarkets, grew by 3% in the first nine months, lower than the 5% target.
The lower-than-expected sales were mainly due to the economic downturn and increasing household debt.
"When our sales growth is on a par with the consumer price index, it reflects that the economy is not good and people have limited purchasing power," Mr Phaibul said.
This year, net profit will be on a par with last year's level because expenses rose sharply with the increase in the minimum wage. The company has also adjusted the salary base for staff.
To stimulate consumer spending in the festive season, The Mall Group has allocated a marketing budget of 400-500 million baht to launch both regular and extra programmes in the final quarter.
Normally, the company gains sales of 17 billion baht in the period. If it can do so again, overall group sales this year will reach its earlier projection of 50 billion baht.
But weak purchasing power may make the company miss its target by about 1 billion baht, Mr Phaibul said.
It is talking with business partners to launch an extra campaign to drive shopping sentiment in the last quarter. Previously popular events such as midnight sales may be arranged again.
It will cut some events and open more stand-alone supermarkets outside the group to gain more sales. It also plans to launch more Gourmet Markets in new shopping centres.