Jewellery maker Roos eyes Thai hub for AEC

 “We see a bright future for jewellery in Asia. People love to wear jewellery, which can reveal your own taste and individuality. We see that people are mostly looking for special designs, not mass-made commercial designs. There is a market for jewellery that has this special European feeling, which comes from history and tradition,” he said.
Rozendaal, whose family started designing and making jewellery in 1835, said Roos would definitely capture the market in the region once the Asean Economic Community comes into effect late in the year. Roos is targeting 10 per cent of the total 600-million population of the AEC.
Rozendaal launched Roos 1835 brand in 2002.
“Thailand is the one of largest exporters of jewellery products. With the benefit of a free-trade market [under the AEC], Roos will be in a strong position to cash in on the high demand,” he said.
“Roos’s unique design and craftsmanship are hardly found in Asia. Our designer team in Belgium is working actively to introduce a series of special collections for Thailand and Southeast Asian women. These collections will be available around May,” he said.
He said Roos planned to make Thailand its hub for the region for its administration and management.
“We have already set up an office in Bangkok to serve the needs of the AEC; we are also in the process of seeking BOI [Board of Investment] privileges to enable us to compete with other international brands.
“Besides Thailand, we would also like to penetrate Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Burma, Brunei, Indonesia and Vietnam. These are countries where we see high potential to work with local dealers, and these countries also have a sizeable group of people who are affluent buyers with high income and with a taste for European jewellery designs,” Rozendaal said.
He said 30 per cent of Roos’s business would come from Asia in the coming two years.
In Thailand, the company started with a showroom and an online store, www.roos1835bangkok.com.
The online store can now be accessed by customers to make inquiries, which will be attended to by its staff in Bangkok. The company has a set of collections ready for viewing and purchase.
“We expect to appoint one or two dealers in Bangkok in May this year and we plan to expand the distribution to at least 10 shops throughout Thailand. After that we would like to open flagship stores not only in Bangkok or Thailand but also in other Southeast Asian countries,” Rozendaal said.
“There is concrete interest from potential partners to work with us. We are in the process of selecting the right partners to become our dealers to open shops in Bangkok and key Thai cities such as Chiang Mai, Phuket, Pattaya, Hua Hin, Udon Thani , Khon Kaen, Hat Yai and others,” he said.
Last November, the company appointed Market Access Co, which specialises in marketing and distribution of luxury brands, to represent Roos in Thailand and Southeast Asia. The company will also take care of the expansion of dealership, marketing, advertising and importing Roos from Belgium to Thailand. Roos’s dealers will be given knowledge on how to present their collection, with specially designed promotion and presentation material.
The first collection of about 60 items will be for the Thai market only. The designs are specially made for Thai women.
The prices of Roos jewellery products range from Bt50,000 to Bt100,000 per item for the Moondrops collection, while the prices of Taille, Typical, and Timeless collections will range from Bt150,000 to Bt300,000 per item.