Food
“During the last two years, more than 100 new global brands have entered Thailand. That has approximately doubled the number of stores [in this category] compared with 2012,” he said.
The top brands are from Italy, Britain, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Sweden.
The cost of investment for luxury brands setting up in Hong Kong is about double that of Thailand, and Singapore costs 1.5 times as much. Costs here are also much lower than in many Western countries.
Kriengsak said Thailand was also popular with international brands because of the size of the market, with a 70-million local population and tens of millions of tourists. “There are also more than 500 million people in the region. As such, top international brands are looking at expanding throughout the region from their stores in Thailand.”
Another key reason for the fast growth in luxury brands’ presence here is the fact that tourism has recovered after suffering a huge drop last year during the political crisis. Meanwhile developers have new unique venues in place.
Kriengsak said retail business would continue to grow during the rest of the year. However, he urged government to promote the country as a shopping destination as well as to assure foreigners that Thailand is a safe place to visit.
“When The EM District, which is so far consists of The Emporium and EmQuartier, is fully opened, including the Bhiraj Tower, we expect 200,000 customers per day.”
This year, it is forecast that visitors from other Asean countries will contribute Bt10 billion in sales, helping increase The Mall Group’s sales by Bt53 billion or 6 per cent from 2014.
At EmQuartier, about 90 per cent of retailers have opened their doors. More world-class brands will open outlets soon: the first and only branch in Thailand of New York jewellery store Tiffany & Co; French jeweller Van Cleef & Arpels; separate Dior boutiques for women and men, Lady Dior and Dior Homme; Burberry; Emporio Armani; Issey Miyake; Tod’s; Canali; Patek Philippe; Rolex; and Hublot.
The Mall Group plans to open a new shopping mall called Bluport in Hua Hin next year, followed by another Bluport in Phuket in 2018, and Emsphere in The EM District in 2019.
