Marketing

Editorial Team

Punthai Coffee in big expansion to challenge the market

The coffee market in Thailand is very attractive at present. Clearly, the data shows that the per capital consumption of coffee in Thailand is just only 300 cups a year, over three times less than European market. Compared to other nations, Japanese drank 400 cups a year and countries in Europe with 1,000 cups.

As its bright outlook, recently Punthai announced to launch its big expansion plan from now till 2027, although the market is dominated by big players, both local and foreign chains. Its bold move also raises the big question about why Punthai Coffee can stay alive for a decade amid fierce competition in the market. And Pitak Ratchakitprakarn, the founder and the company’s managing director, is ready to answer.

“Our coffee taste is second to none. We believe that if anybody has a chance to try it, they will fall in love with Punthai,” Pitak said, smiling.

Pitak Ratchakitprakarn, managing director of Punthai Coffee Co Ltd, a n affiliate of PTG Energy Plc

To keep business stronger, he realizes it needs to differentiate his coffee shop over competitors. The focus is not only to create a unique taste of coffee and its shop ambience, but also non-coffee products available must be unique and special.

The use of Thai raw materials is one of the examples. Some are rare, but the company is committed to using them to create impressive drinks such as coconut blossom sugar from Amphawa, Samut Songkhram; Palmyra palm sugar from Sathing Phra, Songkhla; Calamondins from Chanthaburi; and recently introduced ‘Thai Dessert’, a drinkable Thai dessert made from cendol from Chiang Mai and angel hair from Ayutthaya.

Using local materials will also benefit to the local community as well. This helps encourage communities and farmers to add value their products. It is able to promote job creation and boosts the quality of life and sustainable business.

In term of marketing, the firm uses Max Card Plus membership as a tool to lure customers to Punthai Coffee shop.

“Leveraging customer data from Max Card and Max Card Plus membership, amounting to a total of 17 million members all over the country, we can analyze customer behavior and understand them,” Mr Pitak said.

“We are in the market for a decade this year despite of any marketing activities but our awareness ranks top five. We will go ahead with confidence that more coffee drinkers will see Punthai Coffee looking sexy,” he said.

Punthai, is an affiliate of PTG Energy Plc, the SET-listed firm which operates PT station, aims to double its coffee shop number to 600 this year. The company plans to operate 5,000 Punthai Coffee shops in 2027. Of the total, 80% will be under franchisee agreement.

“Earlier, we opened our coffee shops mainly at our petrol stations. We made some adjustments to our strategy,” he said

Currently, the firm expands its branches outside the premises of petrol stations to cover more service areas, accommodate a larger variety of customer groups, and reach out more readily to more Punthai Coffee customers.

Expanding outside of PT petrol stations, its emphasis is given to metropolitan business areas, where buying power is high, in Bangkok, its adjacent provinces, tourist cities, and other major provinces all around the country. Customer response has been stellar so far, especially among working professionals.

The market value of out-of-home coffee is worth of 27 billion baht in 2021 and is expected to reach 28 billion baht in 2022. The overall out-of-home coffee market is expected to grow by 10% a year for the next five consecutive years.

Punthai revenue doubled to 480 million baht in the first half of this year and its figure is expected to reach 1.2 billion baht this year.

Pitak Ratchakitprakarn, managing director of Punthai Coffee Co Ltd, a n affiliate of PTG Energy Plc