Blue River to polish brand, reduce product price range

Business News - Friday December 14, 2007

JEWELLERY / CORPORATE STRATEGY

Blue River to polish brand, reduce product price range

PITSINEE JITPLEECHEEP

After taking the helm of the 30-year-old Blue River Corporation, Nichaya Thammavaranukup is ready to make major changes next year, aiming to make Blue River a regional jewellery brand within five years. ''It's time to rebrand Blue River Diamond, whose core customers are older people. We'll change everything _ from the logo to product design _ to attract a new target group 25 to 40 years old,'' Ms Nichaya said.

Ms Nichaya, 25, became the company's vice-president a couple of years ago after the death of her father, Mr Narong, who founded the company.

She said Blue River had a strong brand image in the jewellery market because of product quality. It is also among the top three jewellery brands that have their own factories.But the company also found that some customers found the product prices too high, from 10,000 to several hundreds of thousands of baht apiece.

Therefore, as a result of the rebranding scheme, the company will offer more designs at a more affordable price range to ensure a consistent revenue stream in the future.

''I don't worry about the Blue River brand image but am concerned about how Thais treat jewellery more like a commodity. I want to change their view ... to persuade them to appreciate jewellery as a work of art, designed with passion,'' she said.

The company would remain focused on jewellery over the next five years before diversifying into new product lines related to jewellery.

Blue River Corp earns 60% of its sales from exports and plans to ship jewellery under the Blue River brand throughout its network in Japan, Italy, the United States or Australia in the near future.

Bangkok Post