The economic downturn has hurt the luxury-watch market, where annual sales growth has dropped to 10 per cent from a previous average of 30 per cent, says the marketing manager for Alfex 2002 (Thailand) Co Ltd.

Ongkarn Charnchoengpichit said the ongoing economic and political uncertainties were causing consumers to cut back on luxury spending. As such, most luxury-watch brands recorded very slight first-half growth in sales.

His company's first-half sales grew only 5 per cent, lower than the predicted rate of 30 per cent. As a result, it plans to launch an aggressive marketing campaign to boost its second-half sales.

Alfex 2002 (Thailand) has been the local executive distributor of the Alfex Swiss-watch brand since 2002. It sold 1,000 watches last year, with prices ranging from Bt5,500 to Bt100,000 apiece.

Ongkarn said his company would rely on aggressive marketing events to boost second-half sales, such as magazine advertising, on-the-spot events at its outlets and opening five new branches. The company now has 12 outlets in local department-store chains like The Mall and Central.

The company will spend Bt5 million to Bt7 million to open the five new outlets this year. The first three will be in The Mall Ngarmwongwan, CentralWorld and Future Park Rangsit.

The company also plans to launch three new collections later this year: an automatic watch, a fashion watch and a sport watch.

"We believe our new collections will prove popular with our targeted customers, so we expect our second-half sales will improve enough to meet our new target of 20-per-cent growth in sales for the entire year," he said.

Somluck Srimalee

The Nation