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Fly Now to open 1st shop in Japan next year

After failing to gain a foothold in Singapore and Malaysia, At Bangkok Co, the distributor of the local fashion brand Fly Now, will open its first shop under its own brand in Japan next year. According to chief executive Somchai Songwattana, three stand-alone Fly Now shops will open in Japan, starting early next year. Operated by authorised Japanese distributors, the stores will mostly sell leather goods. In addition, Fly Now products will be distributed through 40 chain retail outlets in Japan. Fly Now products have been sold for the past five years to a handful of firms in Japan for distribution to selected shops that sell multinational fashion brands. The consumer response was quite good because the product looks different and the company has two decades of experience making products to global standards. Mr Somchai said the company started distributing its products in Malaysia and Singapore nearly three years ago to test the market. But consumer purchasing power was not as high as expected, so the company withdrew from both countries for one year. The overall luxury goods market dropped in Thailand during the first six months of 2007 because the number of wealthy foreign tourists declined. So now is the right time for Fly Now to shift its focus to exports, and particularly Japan, where people have the highest purchasing power in this region, Mr Somchai said. Fly Now fashions were among the highlights of the Bangkok Fashion City exhibition last year. Apart from Japan, Fly Now plans to expand to the Middle East. Additionally, it has been contracted by firms from Italy and France to market Fly Now products in both countries. ''Now, fashion from Thai designers receives a warm welcome from Japanese people,''he said The company sets the prices from 10,000 baht for standard items to as much as 60,000 baht for hand-made handbags. People see Fly Now's prices as competitive compared to Louis Vuitton items that cost more than 100,000 baht. Mr Somchai said leather goods were chosen as the pioneering product for the company in Japan because they did not have problems regarding season and size. Apart from Japan, the company plans to expand to the Middle East. Customers from the region have visited the company's shops at Gaysorn and Siam Paragon shopping centres in Bangkok. Additionally, the company has been contracted by firms from Italy and France to market Fly Now products in both countries. The proportion of Fly Now products for export is expected to increase to 40% by the end of this year, up from 20% in the past two years. With more aggressive export plans, Mr Somchai expects exports to outpace domestic sales next year. ''We are confident of making a debut abroad as the product quality of Thai fashion can compete with, and sometimes surpass, products from other Asian countries,'' he said. Source : Bangkok Post, Thailand

 

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