Thailand’s Mistine launches in Korea

Better Way Thailand, trading as cosmetics brand Mistine, is aiming to establish itself as an Asian brand by 2020.

From this coming August, Mistine products will be exported for retail in Korea’s Incheon airport and in downtown Seoul, in the hope of attracting the destination’s annual 10 million Chinese visitors.

Mistine already has a strong online presence in the Chinese mainland, where it is also available over the counter at Watsons health and beauty stores. It will launch its own flagship store in Beijing next year.

These moves will constitute part of an effort to increase export volumes from 10 per cent to 20 per cent of its stock in the face of lagging demand at home.

The company’s president Danai Derojanawong said Better Way needs to rely more on technology to make its logistics more efficient for customer satisfaction. “Direct sales may be disrupted by the rise of online shopping,” he said, “but we still believe they will not disappear from Thai society, because direct sales is a social business.”

Currently 60 per cent of Mistine products are sold via direct sales, which Danai expects will drop to 30 per cent over the next five years.

Danai said there is huge potential in the Chinese market. “We’ve only penetrated four cities, including Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. We plan to expand our business into two new cities next year, Chengdu and Beijing. With those plans, we aim to enter the top five for regional colour beauty brands in Asia by 2020.”

Mistine’s sales in China totalled THB3 billion (US$90.47 million) last year, and are expected to reach THB5 billion (US$150.78 million) this year.