Tanachira Retail Corporation Co, the importer and distributor of lifestyle fashion brands including Harnn, Marimekko and Pandora, is eyeing the acquisition of health lifestyle food & beverage operators to help reduce business risks and sustain the company's long-term sales growth.
Tanapong Chirapanidchakul, Tanachira's chief executive, said the company is exploring opportunities to acquire food and beverage firms and is seeking know-how to support its expansion into the sector.
"Our overall business suffered a lot from the Covid-19 crisis, with sales in 2021 plunging by 50% from a year before," said Mr Tanapong. "Whenever the economy is in a bad condition, people generally opt to spend their money on food rather than luxury products, which will be the first items to be cut."
According to Mr Tanapong, the company moved into the food and beverage business several weeks ago when it invested 5 million baht to open the world's first Marimekko pop-up café in Bangkok's Central Embassy mall.
The company plans to open two more permanent cafes in the city next year.
It expects Marimekko to account for 25% of total sales, up from 16% now, once two more pop-up cafés open next year.
There are currently 10 Marimekko lifestyle stores in Thailand.
According to Mr Tanapong, the company is now looking to expand the Marimekko shop at the Lotte Department Store in Vietnam's capital city Hanoi this year.
Tanachira is also scheduled to open a Cath Kidston cafe in CentralWorld in December this year.
The company aims to have a total of five cafes under the Marimekko and Cath Kidston brands in Thailand next year.
In addition, Mr Tanapong said the company intends to ramp up its online business this year.
Before the pandemic, Cath Kidston was the only brand that sold its products online, but all brands are now available on the internet, contributing 12% of the company's sales in the first half of this year.
The company's target is for online business to account for 15% of its sales in 2022, and double to 30% over the next three years.
Moreover, Mr Tanapong said the company plans to open three new Pandora branches this year.
The company expects its sales to reach 1.15 billion baht this year and 1.4 billion baht in 2023.
Of the total, 50% of sales will come from Pandora, 20% from Marimekko, and the remaining 30% from other brands.
