British Dispensary turns 120 next year

Next year marks the 120th anniversary of The British Dispensary, with the family-run business turning itself into a professionally run operation in order to ensure expansion during the era of seamless trade.
Under the shift to professional management, a five-year business plan will be kicked off in 2012 with the aim of doubling sales of the maker of the famous Snake Brand Prickly Heat cooling powder, St Luke’s baby powder and Quina skin tonic to between Bt4 billion and Bt5 billion a year.
Other aggressive business strategies will also be launched to give the Thai company not only greater management efficiency, but also more new brands to ensure expansion in the long run.
The British Dispensary Group (BD Group) comprises six companies: the 119-year-old The British Dispensary Co Ltd, which handles international trading and original-equipment manufacturing (OEM) for 15 countries; The British Dispensary (LP), which manages healthcare, personnel care, mass-marketing operations and food-supplement manufacturing; Pharmacosmet, which focuses on skincare under the Scacare and Tea Tree brands; TOP Cosmetics and Manufacturing Co Ltd, which produces skincare items; VMV (Thailand) Co Ltd, an importer of high-end skincare products sold via stand-alone shops and counters; and BD Trading Co Ltd, which is the group’s trader, distributor and distribution centre.
The group targets combined sales of Bt2.2 billion to Bt2.4 billion this year, which would represent average growth of 15 per cent.
The strategy for turning the group into a professionally run business has been designed by the third generation of the Vongvanij family, but the main focus remains on business ethics.
The company has employed more business professionals in its marketing and management sections in order to drive sustainable growth instead of relying on the family-run style.
Anya, Anuruj, Luanchai and Permying – the four members of the third generation of the Vongvanij family – are the key persons at the helm of BD Group’s business.
Anya focuses on the international area, Anuruj handles the group’s overall management, Luanchai manages the property and medical spa businesses, and Permying, a pharmacist, concentrates on the group’s research and development.
The four have not only taken the original focus on chemical, healthcare and personal-care items forward, but also striven to ensure the group can operate successfully and with confidence in the international arena with quality products and its customer-satisfaction philosophy.
Brought in from outside to join the group’s management, Sutee Ratnanakin, managing director of The British Dispensary (LP), said the company had stepped forward with its development of upstream through downstream manufacturing since 2010.
Upstream development entailed the setting up of a research and development centre in a bid to forge cooperation with international research centres or leading laboratories to create innovative products.
The plan also focused on strengthening the manufacturing capacity of its four plants, mainly located on Theparak Road in Samut Prakan, and in Nakhon Pathom.
Downstream management, meanwhile, is aimed at getting the company to increase contact with end-consumers, with the marketing team playing a greater role not only in marketing strategies with traders, but also with retail clients.
“2012 is an important check point for the group as we plan to launch many strategies, including rebranding, new products, business concept, innovation, corporate campaign and customer-relationship development,” said Sutee.
It will also be another key year for the group’s architecture of its six core brands, including an image change. To achieve the goal, the group has hired a foreign company to study changes in its products’ image by redesigning, modernising and repositioning them to meet the international look, he said.
As well, it is expected that at least 10 new products will be introduced each year.
“Those strategies are drawn up to strengthen the group’s operations for both the domestic market and creating a window for us to produce more OEM items for personnel, health and skincare goods,” he added.
To boost sales, the group will focus on launching new products to ensure growth in existing markets and also expand 14 “new” export markets, such as China, Hong Kong, Africa and India. Overseas sales are currently largely focused on Indochina and Asean.
“We foresee that the [implementation of the] Asean Economic Community in 2015 will create business opportunities through the deregulation and free-flow-of-trade principle. This will also encourage the group to focus on product and manufacturing development to achieve high international standards,” said Sutee
The group wants to become a regional-based rather than a domestic-based business, he added.
He said seamless regional trade would pave the way for the group to import more technology, which would serve its plan to move from labour-intensive manufacturing to automated production.
“We learn that we will face seriously rising labour costs, so we have to ensure cost-competitiveness and high-efficiency manufacturing,” said the MD, pointing to the fact that the group’s newly employed professionals are set to lead the company in achieving efficient cost management, lean inventory (by controlling loss and waste) and the use of more information technology in its operations.
The group also plans to turn Pharmacosmet into a listed company on the Stock Exchange of Thailand by 2013 or 2014. However, such a strategy is not designed to mobilise additional funds, rather to enable it to focus on private placement or mergers and acquisitions in the future.
“Being a listed company will be the vehicle for us to achieve sustainable growth,” said Sutee.