BABY PRODUCTS MARKET BUCKS ECONOMIC DOWNTURN

       The baby-products market has continued to grow rapidly this year despite the economic chaos, as parents, particularly new mothers, have demonstrated a willingness to maintain spending on their children by cutting their own expenditures.
       Darunee Areedumrikul, marketing manager at Play for Kids, a vendor of bedding and furniture for children up to three-year-olds, said the company has not been affected significantly by the economic turmoil.
       "Our sales of baby products grew by almost 30 per cent in the first nine months of this year compared to the same period last year," she said.
       Darunee said that sales of toys, however, had been affected as parents had reduced the number of pieces purchased per store visit.
       Sales of toys had fallen 20 per cent year on year in the first nine months of 2009, she said.
       "New mothers normally budget between Bt30,000 and Bt40,000 on average for the first purchase of baby furniture and accessories, such as milk bottles and apparel," she said.
       Arweewan Saliwattana, 29, saw the potential of the baby-apparel business after having her first daughter. She set up her own shop, Katie Croll, at the beginning of this year, selling apparel for children up to four years old.
       "We've just have our first kid, and feel there is great potential for baby apparel, as they are considered essential products by parents," she said.
       Arweewan herself has spent almost Bt50,000 purchasing baby products, accessories and toys for her daughter this year.
       "I myself don't want to cut spending even on toys, as they help my child develop both physically and mentally," said Arweewan.
       Tawadchai Thanyachalerm, director for consumer products at US Summit Corp, which distributes baby-care products and accessories under the Pureen brand, said the company achieved 3-per-cent growth year on year growth in the first nine months of 2009. This exceeded the firm's target of flat growth due to the Kingdom's economic and political problems.
       "We have adjusted our marketing strategy by allocating money to focus on below-the-line activities, such as sales promotions and trade shows, rather than mainstream advertising. By doing so, the company is able to communicate directly with our target customers," said Tawadchai.
       "We have observed, however, that parents are taking more time evaluating products for their children. They have given priority concern to the ingredients and safety of the products they want to buy, rather than prices," he said.
       Krit Sakulpanich, managing director of Dream Express (DEX), which has local broadcasting and distribution rights for many well-known animated and super-hero TV series from Japan, said the company's sales of VCD products dropped by a significant 30 per cent so far this year compared to the same period of last year. The nine-month sales figure remained stagnant for DVDs.
       "During the economic difficulties, we have seen a larger number of illegal downloads of our cartoon and TV series. The number of pirated VCD and DVD products has increased in the market, particularly in such locations such as Klong Thom, Sapanlek, Ban Mo and Seacon Square," said Krit.
       Some pirated DVDs contain the content of five VCDs downloaded into one disc. They are sold on the black market at Bt50 to Bt100 each, Krit said.
       "What we have to do to fight against piracy is to add new products, such as apparel and accessories, to our portfolio," he said.
       Krit said the company would launch 10 new licensed animated and super-hero TV series from Japan next year, including "Gundam Double O", "Ultraman Mebius", "Phone Braver 7", "Bakugan New Vestroia", "Mask Rider Kiva", "The Salads World" and "Pretty Cure 3".
       Sakeson Thammawon, general manager of Dream Apparel, a wholly owned unit of Dream Express set up at the middle of last year to sell licensed apparels for animated and super-hero TV series, said the company would next year open its own sales counters at department stores. The company's apparel and accessory products are now sold via wholesale and hypermarket channels.
       "We plan to double the number of stock keeping units [SKUs] for our apparel and accessory products next year. There are currently more than 100 SKUs in our apparel and accessories portfolio," said Sakeson.
       He said Dream Apparel expected to achieve Bt40 million in sales this year, which will amount to 20 percent of Dream Express' overall sales. The company expected apparel sales to grow by almost 50 percent next year.
       Dream Express expected its sales to reach Bt200 million by the end of this year, the same level as last year.