SET-listed retailer Robinson Department Store Plc (ROBINS), a Central Group department store chain, expects its fashion business to resume growth next year after anticipated flat growth for the first time this year.
According to Kaneungha Saetan, the company's vice-president of merchandising, Robinson will kick off its marketing campaigns to stimulate consumer spending in fashion products from early this month until the first half of next year.
The promotional events will be also launched throughout the period to help speed up consumers' buying decisions, he said.
According to Ms Kaneungha, the company also plans to enlarge the sales space for denim products at some Robinson branches by 20% in efforts to boost sales and relocate space at other branches to offer various lifestyle products in the same zone.
A co-working space will also be added to lure more customers.
The measures are expected to help draw shoppers to spend more time at the department stores and lifestyle centres.
According to Ms Kaneungha, the company expected sales of fashion business at Robinson to resume growth by 10% next year to 10 billion baht. Denim products will be a major fashion driver over the next few years.
However, Ms Kaneungha said overall sales of fashion products at Robinson in the first 10 months of this year were flat. Only denim saw healthy sales.
"Jeans never die. The demand continues to grow whether the economy is good or bad,'' Ms Kaneungha said.
Denim product sales at Robinson in the first half of this year grew by 10% to 1 billion baht.
Nonetheless, Robinson predicted the overall sales of its denim products will grow by only 8% this year from about 2 billion baht last year because the company has reduced marketing events in the second half of this year by 20-30%.
Thailand's denim market is worth about 20 billion baht. On average, customers buy jeans twice a year. Each customer has an average of eight pairs of jeans, which could double to 16 pairs per person in the future due to lifestyle changes, according to Robinson.
With the continued growing demand for denim products, the company plans to increase the sales space for denim products by 20% to 18,000 square metres across all 44 Robinson branches nationwide.
Robinson sales were 26 billion baht in 2016. It reported sales of 14 billion baht in the first half of this year.
ROBINS shares closed yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 73.75 baht, down 50 satang, in trade worth 196 million baht.