Haier Electrical Appliances Thailand, an arm of Chinese giant Haier Group, has raised its sales target under the Vision 2020 strategy to 6.5 billion baht, boosted by sustainable sales growth of electric appliances in Thailand over the past several years.
Thanes Bin-a-sun, the company's senior vice-president, said the new sales target for 2020 is 35% higher than the 4.8-billion-baht figure estimated in an earlier plan.
"Our sales beat the industry average the past three years," Mr Thanes said. "We believe there is still huge room to expand Haier's business in Thailand because the penetration rate of our products in households is still low when compared with our competitors."
The Haier brand controls an 8% market share in the air-conditioner market, 5.8% for refrigerators and 4.4% for washing machines.
In 2019, the company expects to increase sales by almost 70% to 5.8 billion baht.
The high growth expectation is because Haier believes the economy will improve next year with the planned general election and continued government investment in infrastructure projects.
Of the total 5.8 billion baht, some 2.7 billion baht in sales will come from air conditioners and the rest from washing machines, refrigerators, freezers and other electric appliances.
"In terms of products, we are ready to launch a full line of products from low to high end for all consumer segments next year," Mr Thanes said.
Moreover, the company will expand its distribution coverage across the country. Haier's distribution includes about 540 stores nationwide and will extend to cover 900 stores next year to increase sales opportunities.
The marketing budget will increase by 20% to 330 million baht to promote various products next year. The company also plans to sell its products through various e-commerce platforms to reach as many potential customers as possible.
Zhang Zhenghui, the company's president, said the local unit expects revenue this year to reach 3.4 billion baht, or 26% higher than last year.
The strong performance will stem from the introduction of more high-end product ranges in the market, expanded distribution networks and the separation of the sales team for air conditioners from the general electric appliance team.
According to Haier, Thailand's electric appliance market is estimated at 35-40 billion baht, a rise of 3-4% from the year before.
"Our sales this year are expected to be higher than industry growth, but it's still lower than our earlier expectation of 4 billion baht because Thailand's overall economy is not quite good," Mr Zhang said.
The weather hasn't been as hot as earlier expected, he said, leading overall sales of air conditioners to drop by 30% in the first half of this year.