Narai Intertrade Co, the marketer and distributor of Naraya, one of Thailand's most iconic brands, is delaying its expansion plan, citing uncertainty about how long the coronavirus pandemic will last.
Pasin Lathouras, chief business development officer, said Narai Intertrade has temporarily postponed its plan to open flagship stores in Asian countries including South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia and open a new Naraya shop in Thailand because the company is unsure how long the coronavirus crisis will last.
"We will revise our expansion plan again early next year if the virus situation improves," Mr Pasin said. "But we will shift our focus to beefing up exports, particularly for fabric masks in these countries, instead."
The company exports Naraya fabric masks to over 30 countries, including the US, Canada, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and China.
Before the decision to put off its expansion plan, the company had opened its pop-up store at Aeon Mall in Tokyo in May.
"We want to resume our active expansion in Japan to explore business opportunities from the Tokyo Olympics and appeal to Japanese people who use the mask as a fashion accessory," Mr Pasin said.
Narai Intertrade previously closed its handful of Naraya shops in Japan a decade ago to focus on the Thai market.
Mr Pasin said the company adjusted well to the outbreak and decided to rev up sales of fashion masks just two weeks after the country declared lockdown measures.
"We've studied the opportunity of fabric masks since the Covid-19 outbreak in China in December," he said. "In fact, we started developing the Naraya mask once the problem of PM2.5 dust became more serious at the end of February this year."
Mr Pasin said the consumer response to Naraya fabric masks was better than expected. Some 50,000 pieces were sold since the Covid-19 outbreak hit Thailand.
The company has sold more than 4 million pieces domestically and abroad.
"Demand for our masks continues to rise because our products are certified by SGS Thailand and Oeko-Tex," Mr Pasin said. "More than 50% of customers are corporate users."
Narai Intertrade is committed to expanding its business online to increase sales opportunities, he said.
The company started an online business 18 months ago. The sales contribution of the online channel remains less than 10%, but the aim is for online to account for 20-30% in the future. The company has also increased Naraya products to 500 items, up from 300 last year.
Despite such efforts, Mr Pasin said overall sales are likely to contract by 50% this year. He declined to reveal precise sales figures.
Narai Intertrade operates 24 branches in Thailand and two overseas branches, one in Turkey and one in Japan.