Encouraged by its high sales growth, he said the company plans to raise its spending budget next year to 850 million baht, up by more than 30% from this year.

The budget will be used largely for marketing, renting a new warehouse for its imported products, and modernising its dealer shops. A new high-end brand called Casarte under the Haier Group will be introduced to Thailand by the middle of next year, said Mr Thanes.

The company also plans to launch 50 new Haier smart home and high-end product lines next year to cater to all generations of consumers. He said Haier Thailand wants to expand its business via online marketing to cover all channels to meet its growth targets, hiring about 300 new staff.

In addition, Haier plans to extend Yudee, a free monthly instalment scheme via its own app, to include refrigerators, washing machines, wine refrigerators and TVs.

Mr Zhenghui said he envisaged opportunities for greater penetration of top-tier and luxury markets to drive sustainable growth, after Thai consumers become accustomed to Haier products connected via the Internet of Things.

“However, the pandemic is not over yet. We have to steer our business carefully with greater resilience and agility, being ready to adjust to changes so our products are distributed and sold as they were in the pre-pandemic days,” he said.

Mr Thanes said the home appliance market is expected to grow by 3-4% to 86 billion baht next year, compared with 0.3% growth this year and a current value estimated at 84 billion baht.

“Consumer spending has gradually improved since the country’s reopening in November,” he said.

“The outbreak of the Omicron variant has not affected consumer purchases of electrical goods so far. However, we have to monitor the situation in the first quarter next year.”

Piyasak Sribua, the company’s sales director, said apart from Haier, the company plans to roll out more products under the Candy Italian electrical appliances brand, managed by a company within the Haier group.

The target market is the younger generation, including university students and Gen Y and Gen Z professionals. Product highlights include Candy water heaters, Candy kitchenware and Candy freezers.