Tapaco Plc, a Thai manufacturer of engineering plastics, is dipping its toes into the 200-billion-baht cosmetics and beauty business.
The company recently established a new subsidiary, C4 Global Co, to operate HEJ Street Beauty, a multi-brand beauty shop on Silom Road in Bangkok.
"We diversified into the beauty business because it is considered one of the most vibrant in the country and has lots of room to grow," said Nuttapong Panjaworayan, the company's chairman.
Thailand's cosmetics and beauty industry was worth about 200 billion baht in 2017 with an annual growth rate of 7%, significantly higher than many food and drink categories.
Although the competition for multi-brand beauty stores is high, the number of competitors remains relatively small.
There are about 10 multi-store beauty brands available in the market, such as Eveandboy, Stardust, Lash and the Beautrium.
The company plans to spend 200 million to 300 million baht to open at least 10 HEJ Street Beauty branches in space of 100-1,000 square metres in Bangkok and upcountry this year.
The stores offer 10,000 items from 200 brands with prices ranging from 59 baht to 8,000 baht.
The company aims to have 100 beauty shops in Thailand within the next three years.
Future plans call for launching mobile beauty shops like Beauty Box, Beauty Truck and Beauty vending machines nationwide.
About 10 mobile stores will open in the second half of this year. That number is expected to jump tenfold by 2021 based on the company's continued investment and franchise system.
The company is studying an opportunity to open HEJ Street Beauty shops in Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, based on an investment budget in excess of 2 billion baht.
After that, C4 Global has set its sights on expanding its business into more countries in Asia, America and Europe by 2020.
The company wants to gain an early advantage by establishing itself as a global beauty brand.
"Beauty is not the only trend [we are interested in]," said Jaruwan Wongjesadasakul, chief executive of C4 Global. "We also want to cater to daily lifestyle needs. Despite the immensely tough competition in the domestic cosmetic industry, I believe in our business prospects."
She has 25 years of experience in the fashion and beauty business, both in the local and international market.
"We inspect all of our packaged goods and check on their quality prior to delivery or shipment to build trust with our customers," Ms Jaruwan said.
The company is eyeing sales of 3 billion baht over the next three years.
Tapaco also plans to expand into the property market by developing its first residential buildings in Thailand this year.