Thailand's love affair with Chanel, and other luxury brands

THAILAND'S TOP 100 BRANDS

The top five brands in Thailand remain unchanged and unmoved in 2019 from 2018. Samsung, the electronics giant, comes top, followed by Apple, Panasonic, Chanel and Sony. Thai consumers rate Samsung products the most highly in the mobile phone category (beating Apple, Huawei and Oppo); the TV category (beating Sony and Panasonic); the smart home technology category (beating Google Home and Panasonic). Apple trounces it in the wearable devices and computers categories, however, and Thailand prefers Panasonic to Samsung for its kitchen appliances.

Here's Thailand's top 10 (see the full top 100 ranking here): 

2019 rank	2018 rank	Brand
1	1	Samsung
2	2	Apple
3	3	Panasonic
4	4	Chanel
5	5	Sony
6	7	Nike
7	6	Nestle
8	9	Adidas
9	11	AIS
10	10	Google

The fashion brand is the clear odd brand out, but its position so high up in Thailand’s Top 100 Brands list is testament to the passion Thai consumers feel for the French luxury house. This, it seems is reciprocated: Chanel chose Bangkok as the second location in which to hold its Cruise 2018-2019 fashion show in October last year, the initial run taking place in Paris’s Grand Palais. 

This was the first time the brand has shown in the Thai capital and only Chanel’s second ever show in Southeast Asia, following one in Singapore in 2013. A Chanel representative speaking around the time of the show described the Thai market as “dynamic”, and luxury fashion revenue overall is expected to keep growing in the country, fuelled by popular social-media stars and increasing urbanization.

Other luxury brands may be experiencing the same Thai boom. Gucci rose an impressive 24 places in the 2019 list to 20th position, while Louis Vuitton, which hosted Norweigan-Thai superstar actress Urassaya Sperbung, known as ‘Yaya’ (who was also the first Thai celebrity to feature in US Vogue) in the front row at its Paris Fashion Week show this year, jumped 27 spots to 51.

Bucking the trend (although only slightly) was the fourth highest placed luxury brand on the list, Christian Dior, which slid a sedate one place into 91st position. Dior cosmetics were the best-selling brand in Thailand in 2017 and the company opened two extra boutiques this year at the flashy new Iconsiam mall in Bangkok, suggesting we shouldn’t read too much into this small slide.

Coming down to the more affordable brands, both Nike and Adidas have climbed one place in this year’s list of Thailand’s top brands, to sixth and eighth positions, respectively. This reflects the generally position outlook for online global sports brands, predicted to experience “huge growth by 2025”, according to a recent study by Stats and Reports.

Less of a good news story around the top 10 brands concerns LG, which finds itself dropping three places in 2019 from eighth position to 11th.

Other brand movements worth mentioning in Thailand’s top 100 for 2019 include Colgate, which jumped seven places to 19; Coca-Cola, which climbed 10 spots to 29; and Kentucky Fried Chicken, which rose 25 spots to 50. While Thai people are loyal to local brands such as Mama and Big C, this shows, the international giants also have a firm and growing hold on their affections.