Beauty business continuously grows during the economic recession. Slim Concept Corporation Company Limited (SCC) revealed that like most industries, it had been affected by the virus outbreak. However, it could not be underestimated so the company turned the crisis into an opportunity by preparing a long-term plan to cope with the disruption age, adapting from the Beauty Institute to the "Health Wellness & Spa" business, preparing itself to enter into an online marketplace for selling health and beauty products and services to reach consumers in the digital age, and studying approaches to expand investment with business partners to the Middle East and Europe.

SCC has raised the funds in the London Stock Exchange under the Alternative Investment Market (AIM), a market for small businesses to raise funds. It is expected that a clear plan will be announced after officially raising funds from the equity market in the last quarter of 2020.

Ms. Punnapa Techarojkul, the Chief Executive Officer of SCC and the executive of the leading health and beauty business under the name of Slim Concept and Mariza Clinic, revealed that according to the figures of economic growth estimates of the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB), it was estimated that the growth trend of GDP in 2020 would expand at 1.5 to 2.5% or average 2 % per year, which was considered to be the recession from GDP in the previous year. Some negative factors derived from the COVID-19 virus outbreak, also known as the Coronavirus. 

Although the overall market and the economy are in a downturn, it is expected that the existing health and beauty-related businesses are still growing according to their targets. They are slightly affected because the main target group is not tourists, but it is the domestic customer group that is interested in the beauty and wellness concepts and has enough purchasing power. Regarding the health and beauty investment, it is the important trend for the new generation and the main target group that want to be more successful in career and business by focusing on the image of health and beauty. 

As for customer services, during the outbreak monitoring, SCC fully provides cooperation to government agencies and shopping centers that SCC's branches are available for services, applying the same measures as suggested by physicians. For instance, employees have their body temperatures checked before attending work and shall wear protective masks.  If possible, the overseas trip will be postponed to eliminate the risk. 

However, with regards to the business operations, SCC have planned to expand the market in the long-term amid the disruption era in order to turn the crisis into opportunities by opening an online marketplace selling health and beauty products and services and selecting branded quality products with standards guaranteed by health and beauty experts to build confidence for consumers. It should be launched at the end of the year 2021. The company realises that the marketing with the creation of its own marketplace platform will enable markets to be expanded anywhere nationwide and worldwide. In addition, it also sees the potential of foreign market growth in the Middle East, such as Bahrain, where the market has already been penetrated, and in the UAE. With this plan, we must therefore seek cooperation with foreign partners.

Recently, the company entered into a memorandum of agreement with WH Ireland Ltd., a Nominated Advisor and U.K. Regulator, which is the financial expert and advisor for the British listed companies, to guide SCC to be listed and promote financial strength, so that they can study, comply with suggestions, and lead the company to raise funds in the London Stock Exchange. Regarding the Alternative Investment Market (AIM), an equity market for small businesses in the UK, it is expected that a clear plan will be announced after officially raising funds from the market in October, 2020.

“Conditions for entering the AIM market do require that they must incorporate a company or have a branch in England. Such companies must grow according to the conditions of the AIM market. Our business growth has consistently been profitable and those related parties in England believe that it is within SCC’s strength with good growth potential. Importantly, the company has the vision to move forward from the beauty institute to the health and beauty expert in the larger Health & Wellness industry that will help attract investors to join the investment. It is also to create a reputation internationally by establishing a stable and sustainable capital foundation as being accepted in the international market will help support us to grow by leaps and bounds according to our specified action plans.”

Ms. Punnapa said that the company and its business partners were expecting that fund raising in the European market would be able to gather a good size of capital for investment to expand the business which helps the company upgrade its business size to grow more steadily and sustainably. It is the transition from a beauty institute to a company that has expertise in sustainable Healthy & Wellness. If it is in accordance with the plan, not only more funds are invested in expanding branches as planned, but the company will also be able to import more products from business partnering countries, such as Italy, which specialises in diet plan and weight loss and skin care products with 100% natural organic ingredients and processes under the brand of “Vagheggi” available in the market for more than 40 years. More product lines will be offered to customers and the company will have investment funds to expand the market to other countries all across Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

“We have started to expand the market to Cambodia, Bahrain, and are looking to expand to India through our business partner which received good feedbacks. As a result, we seek for the paths to expand our business further. It is estimated that after the funds are raised from the stock market, the company will be able to aggressively expand its domestic and international presence. Overall, the annual sales growth rate was approximately 40 to 50%, so the company is confident in the direction of consistent growth. In addition to revenues from end users and partners, the company also looks for channels to increase its revenue in the long run from setting up an academy and providing professional training in order to send out these talents overseas. The company has established a training center academy for selecting, training, and dispatching professional employees to the international markets that has been expanded together with its business partners. It is considered an outstanding feature of Thai personnels being recognised worldwide that Thai people naturally have a service oriented mind. As a result, the company plans to improve the training systematically and dispatch employees to work correctly as a professional. We believe that we can make a difference and become more recognised in foreign countries as we aim to dispatch about 100 professional employees in the first year”, said Ms. Punnapa.

Slim Concept Business Group consists of slimming and facial spa treatment. Its products include body and face products. It was appointed as a sole distributor of “Vagheggi” brand products in Thailand, Asian and Middle East markets. Currently, Slim Concept and Mariza Clinic, which were opened together, have 7 branches in Bangkok and other provinces. Most of them are available for services in shopping centers, such as Central World, Future Park Rangsit, Central Plaza Ladprao, Central Plaza Pinklao, Central Plaza Rama 2, Central Plaza Korat, and Laemthong Rayong. They are also opened in international markets, such as Cambodia, and Bahrain, mainly focusing on spa and weight loss products and services, which receive positive feedback from businessmen in these countries. In the past 3-5 years, the company was able to close its sales of approximately 280-300 million Baht with an average growth rate of around 40%.