Several generations of Thais are familiar with the "arrow-stuck snake" logo of the cooling talcum powder brand, but The British Dispensary Co wants to transform its product lines after more than a century in business.
Anurut Vongvanij, president of the company, is the third generation of the Vongvanij family to run The British Dispensary. He vows to usher the brand beyond merely talcum powder in a push to appeal to younger customers, eager to develop a global brand in 3-5 years.
The British Dispensary Co was established in 1892 by Dr Thomas Hayward Hays, offering a modern drugstore with full-time pharmacists under the "arrow-stuck snake" trademark. Dr Luan, the first generation of the Vongvanij family, took over the drugstore in 1928 and expanded the business to be the authorised distributor of many international brands such as Boots, Elizabeth Arden and Christian Dior.
In his free time, Dr Luan developed and researched various kinds of consumer products, settling on the cooling talcum powder as one to market.
The company started production of "Quina" products in 1932 as the new phenomenon of cosmetics with both scents and cooling ability became a trend. In 1951, the company introduced "St. Luke's Baby Powder" to satisfy demand for a children's product.
Then a year later the company started production of its legendary prickly heat powder to relieve rashes and skin irritation from hot weather. This product was the first Thai brand produced by Thais that proved popular both domestically and abroad.
DIVERSIFICATION
"The British Dispensary has been in the Thai market for 131 years. While cooling talcum powder remains our company's focal point for sales, keeping too narrow a focus limits us because it becomes difficult to reach a new generation of customers as we wish," said Mr Anurut.
"We want to shift our portfolio from cooling talcum powder to new product lines. In a volatile sales environment, we can no longer rely on only one product category or one country."
He said younger people use cooling talcum powder less than previous generations and the competition in this segment is fierce, which is driving the push for diversification.
The company plans to roll out herbaceutical products to the market under the Arrow-Stuck Snake brand next month, said Mr Anurut.
The British Dispensary teamed up with Canadian firm Salus Bioceutical to provide cannabidiol (CBD), an active ingredient in cannabis that is derived from the hemp plant, to create Snake's new product lines.
These products are available in two product lines: CBD calming lotion, and CBD moisturising & protection UV brightening body serum.
The company expects Snake's herbaceutical products to generate 200 million baht in sales this year.
He said the company also plans to extend CBD-based products to pharmaceutical and food supplement products in the future. Selling CBD is also in its business pipeline.
"To grow consumer product sales at a leapfrogging pace in the current economic environment is very difficult. We have to produce and sell more valuable products, with herbaceuticals one of our new business directions," said Mr Anurut.
"We are aiming for customers aged 25-45 who we believe have tension from dealing with life's pressures. The shift away from cooling talcum powder should also take the seasonality out of our sales, spreading out from the summer season."
According to the "Cigna Well-Being Survey 2019", Thais ranked fifth out of 23 countries in terms of most stressed. The average stress rate of Thais is also higher than the global average.
"The fourth and fifth generation of our family has joined the management, so we want to do something new," he said.
FOCUS ON CORE PRODUCTS
The new product lines come with a novel packaging design, using black for the first time.
According to Mr Anurut, although the company is diversifying, it will continue to develop existing products for customers.
The British Dispensary launched modern cooling spray products with convenient packaging in the market 3-4 years ago, catering to the demand of younger generations.
Cooling spray is targeted at people who play sports, such as bikers and golfers.
During the pandemic, the company also extended its products to include hygienic items such as face masks, alcohol products and herbal mouth sprays, which posted positive sales, he said.
"Though Covid infections have fallen, we see overall economic conditions as fragile, as people still have relatively low spending power," said Mr Anurut.
"It is tough to expand our business domestically, so we plan to explore more opportunities in the global market, focusing on China, India and Indonesia."
EMPHASIS ON CHINA
He said the Snake brand has had wide recognition among Chinese people for a long time. People with Chinese ancestry living in Thailand often bring Snake cooling powder as gifts for their cousins when they return to visit their families in China, said Mr Anurut.
The popularity of Snake brand sharply increased after the number of Chinese tourists in Thailand surged, he said.
"Snake products are in the top 10 of items Chinese tourists have to take home for relatives. We have expanded our cooling powder in parts of southern China for five years," said Mr Anurut.
"The opportunity is huge despite China's Covid policies."
He said opportunities should brighten after China allows cross-border travel without quarantine from Jan 8 this year.
Mr Anurut said the company is in the process of setting up a representative office in China to support local agents there. Sales to China make up the largest percentage of its exports, with shipments abroad accounting for 15% of total sales.
British Dispensary devised an ambitious plan to double its proportion of exports to 30% of overall sales in 3-5 years. Apart from China, Indonesia is another country the company plans to target, he said.
The company exports its products to 20 countries and has a plan to expand e-commerce activities in the Philippines this year, as well as explore business opportunities on Amazon.com, said Mr Anurut.
"To become a global brand, we are restructuring our organisation, changing our working processes and sales channel to optimise opportunities, and making our company more digitalised," he said.
