Prajuab Sajjafeungkijkarn, Managing Director of P.J. Design, said the company’s marketing plan this year is to expand to a wider customer base. Apart from industrial customers and advertising agencies, the company will also be interested in election advertisements.

The company sees the possibility of introducing outdoor media during elections, which, they believe, there will be many of this year. Outdoor advertising media that can be used in election campaigns include taxi ads, both inside and outside of buses, as well as other media depending upon customers’ preferences.

This year P.J. will continue to expand in other types of outdoor media, and plans to bring in 2-3 new media from abroad, in order to keep up with changes in the market and remain the leader in outdoor advertising.

Takeshi Kow, Managing Director of Saha Asia Pacific, the joint venture company between the Shiseido Group and the Saha Group to market ZA New York products in Thailand, said the company plans to use Thailand as a production base for its personal care, make-up and skin care products under the brand name ZA New York.

The new import tax structure resulting from the AFTA agreement has opened the market to more competition, and Saha Asia Pacific plans to become the leader of all “hanging” cosmetics, which have a total market value of 1,000 million baht. The company’s expected market share is 15%. Last year, Maybelene was the market leader.

The companies currently in talks to create a 50%-50% co-investment to produce ZA products in Thailand. Production is expected to begin in September this year.

Somkiat Tungkijvanich from TDRI said a recent research report concerning e-commerce and internet tax shows that Thailand is still far from feeling the effects of internet taxes, because so far there have been no clear ideas about how to handle taxes on an international level. Moreover, there is no standard form of internet tax right now.

Even if internet taxes became fully activated, it still would not have any effect on Thailand, for the reason that it is still unclear as to which type of products marketed on the internet should be put on the internet tax list.

The research report also suggested many interesting points, such as 1. intangible products, e.g. software, should be exempt from taxes; 2. consumers should be allowed to deliver taxes directly to the government, 3. an international standard for internet taxes needs to be set up.

Sources from Thai Airways International said that as a result of gaining route approval from the Indian government, THAI is scheduling a new Airbus334 flight to Bombay, which will run 4 trips per week. The new route will officially begin on May 15th this year.

THAI also plans to increase the number of Bangkok to Delhi flights from 5 trips per week to a number which is still under discussion. This new flight arrangement will also be effective on May 15th this year.

Thai government and Thai Airways International had been trying for the past 10 years to get the Indian government to approve the new route to Bombay and increase flights to Delhi, for the reason that India is a big market with high potential for getting a large number of passengers. Thai Airways International expects that after the new route operates for 6 months, the flight will have a usage rate of 60%, which will increase to 90% soon after.

 CP Seven Eleven Plc announced its plan to develop and set up a Point of Sales network in all CP branches countrywide. Right now, the company is trying the program in more than 50 branches. The trial period will take about 5-6 months. If the results prove to be satisfactory, the company will expand the network to 300 branches, and cover 100% of their branches within the next 2-3 years.

Other projects to be launched by Seven Eleven include Electronic Purse, which will convert convenient stores to be able serve the growth in e-commerce. The project is in the process of negotiation with banks and selection of proper software.

In order to raise its capital to cover expenses on each project, Seven Eleven plans to enter the SET sometime in late 2000. However, due to the many factors that cause fluctuations in the SET index, it is possible the plan will be postponed until early next year.

Sources from the Direct Sales Association Thailand said that due to many good trends in the economic recovery in Thailand, many business groups are making a return to the market, causing increased competition. This has also been happening in the direct sales market. Besides competition within the same business group, direct sales businesses have to compete with retailing businesses and discount stores.

Direct sales in Thailand have a total value of 10,000 million baht. Out of the total figure, 7% is obtained from sales upcountry.

Direct sales business owners tend to work in cooperation with each other to build up sound images of their products, as well as the business itself, to push customer buying decisions and keep customers away from competitors.

Direct sales strategy this year is focussing on using advertising, mainly TV commercials, to expand market channels. Advertising is considered an effective tool in creating sound images for the businesses.