Isetan's sales drop hit by strong baht

Shinya Ueno, the company's president, said the company witnessed a huge drop of foreign travelers to its department store by almost 20 per cent since the baht started to be appreciated against US$ dollar last year

He said that Isetan as a result posted a sales drop by about 10 per cent last year.

"The Japanese clients previously were in flavor to shop in Thailand to enjoy cheap price here as the both is quite depreciate at about Bt38 against the US dollar few years ago. The prices of some product items here such as women lingerie are about 40 per cent cheaper than in Japan. However, with the baht appreciation, the prices of shopping products here are not attractive anymore for the foreign tourists particularly from Japan," said Ueno.

Currently, foreign tourists, mainly from Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore, make up about 20 per cent of total shoppers at Isetan, and 80 per cent are local visitors.

- The Nation

Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn