The country`s market leader Kimberly-Clark, celebrating its 150th anniversary, reflects on local shifts in shopping habits and pandemic-accelerated opportunities to pivot and drive stronger penetration for in-home consumption. Ratree Skuntantimeta, Managing Director, Kimberly-Clark Thailand, talks to TWM about growth in the Asia-Pacific region.
[This year marks the 150th anniversary of Kimberly-Clark," Ratree Skuntantimeta, Managing Director, Kimberly-Clark Thailand, says from her office in Bangkok. [And throughout our history, we have always taken a consumer-centric approach in all that we do. This ties back to Better Care for a Better World, which reflects our ambition to be a purpose-led and performance-driven company."
The Irving, Texas-headquartered multinational business has been producing personal care products for consumers globally since 1872. It established its two Thai-based tissue plants – one based in Pathum Thani, located in the northern Bangkok metropolitan area established in 1966, as well as the second in Samut Prakan, a central province on the Gulf of Thailand through the 1995 Scott Paper Company merger, and to this day it is still one of just a few Western-headquartered tissue manufacturers in the Asia-Pacific region.
In Thailand, it is the country`s leading provider of hygiene and cleaning solutions, manufacturing and distributing a variety of products in three core areas: consumer tissue, personal care and Kimberly-Clark Professional. It manufactures Kimberly-Clark facial tissue, bath tissue and paper towels under its Scott and Kleenex brands for both its consumer and professional businesses (Kimberly-Clark Professional).