Business
Phuket Business: Chapel bells boost dress sales

PHUKET: The business of love continues on an upward trend, with Phuket’s Modern Wedding Studio reporting a spike in monthly sales volume by as much as 75% over the last three years.
“Business shot through the roof after we were featured on a game show called ‘SME Tee Tak‘ a few years ago.”
Mr Narin explained that the nationally televised game show, produced by Workpoint Entertainment Studios, assesses the quality and viability of local businesses.
Having passed the competitive judging criteria and eventually winning the game show, Mr Narin is thankful for the valuable exposure his firm has received.
“Our monthly income used to be about 4 million baht per month, but after the game show aired it went up, and is now at about 7mn baht per month, ” he said.
Mr Narin is a businessman who has vast experience in the service sector, having worked in the industry for decades.
“Wedding studios are in huge demand in the Phuket market. I believe that our studio is now the [market] leader in Phuket,” he said, adding that a majority of his clients are Thai nationals.
“Our main target is locals, who make up about 80 per cent of our clients, while the other 20 per cent are tourists.”
His wedding studio group comprises four branches across Phuket, including the Modern Wedding Studio, Number One Wedding Studio, Time to Love Studio and the Memory Studio.
“In the next five years, we are planning to expand with the goal of having 10 branches,” he said.
This year, Narin has invested about 10mn baht on his company’s expansion, which has been focused on branch refurbishments and upgrades.
“Our investments have been aimed at adding more convenience to customers’ experience and in our quality of service… We want to leave a good impression about our service.”
He added that the annual investment figure did not include overheads such as employee wages and operational costs, which he revealed are about 2mn baht per month.
Mr Narin went on to talk about Phuket’s service sector, which he believes has immense opportunities. From his viewpoint, the quality and standard of customer service on the island is unmatched.
Elaborating more on his company’s offerings, he said, “We have more than 300 international styles of wedding suits and dresses. The wedding dress is a special part of any wedding… [clients] want to look perfect on their wedding day and our designs incorporate the finest elegant gowns made from the highest quality fabric, that can’t be matched anywhere else.”
In addition to the popular styles, the company also provides tailor-made designs, specific to customers needs and requests.
“We have more than 300 traditional Thai wedding gowns with unique designs.
“We are particularly proud of our Thai dress offering; the designs have been carefully researched and are creative pieces of work, chosen for their beauty and elegance, quality of the fabric and decorations.”
As the business of Modern Wedding Studio grows, so does the quantity of its designs.
“We also have beautiful modern designs that fuse Thai tradition and international fashion designs, which will delight and please anyone who sees them.
“Whichever design clients choose, they are guaranteed to be dazzling on their wedding day.”
— Narin Tongsaiklaeng
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Business
Governments & old media versus social media – who will win? | VIDEO

We look at the recent changes made by the Australian and Indian governments to except control over the world’s biggest social media platforms. India has issued strict new rules for Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms just weeks after the Indian government attempted to pressure Twitter to take down social media accounts it deemed, well, anti social. There is now an open battle between the rise of social media platforms and the governments and ‘old’ media that have been able to maintain a certain level of control over the ‘message’ for the last century. Who will win?
The rules require any social media company to create three roles within India… a “compliance officer” who ensures they follow local laws; a “grievance officer” who addresses complaints from Indian social media users; and a “contact person” who can actually be contacted by lawyers and other aggrieved Indian parties… 24/7.
The democratisation of the news model, with social media as its catalyst, will continue to baffle traditional media and governments who used to enjoy a level of control over what stories get told. The battles of Google and Facebook, with the governments of India and Australia will be followed in plenty of other countries as well.
At the root of all discussions will be the difference between what governments THINK social media is all about and the reality about how quickly the media landscape has changed. You’ll get to read about it first, on a social media platform… probably on the screen you’re watching this news story right now.
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Business
The social media giants in battle with ‘old’ media and world governments | VIDEO

“The rules signal greater willingness by countries around the world to rein in big tech firms such as Google, Facebook and Twitter that the governments fear have become too powerful with little accountability.”
India has issued strict new rules for Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms just weeks after the Indian government attempted to pressure Twitter to take down social media accounts it deemed, well, anti social.
The rules require any social media company to create three roles within India… a “compliance officer” who ensures they follow local laws; a “grievance officer” who addresses complaints from Indian social media users; and a “contact person” who can actually be contacted by lawyers and other aggrieved Indian parties… 24/7.
The companies are also being made to publish a compliance report each month with details about how many complaints they’ve received and the action they took.
They’ll also be required to remove ‘some’ types of content including “full or partial nudity,” any “sexual act” or “impersonations including morphed images”
The democratisation of the news model, with social media as its catalyst, will continue to baffle traditional media and governments who used to enjoy a level of control over what stories get told.
The battles of Google and Facebook, with the governments of India and Australia will be followed in plenty of other countries as well.
At the root of all discussions will be the difference between what governments THINK social media is all about and the reality about how quickly the media landscape has changed. You’ll get to read about it first, on a social media platform… probably on the screen you’re watching this news story right now.
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Never miss out on future posts by following The Thaiger.
Business
Turbulence ahead for Thailand’s aviation industry | VIDEO

When the airlines, in particular, were asking the government to put their hands in their pockets for some relief funding in August last year, it was genuinely thought that international tourists would be coming back for the high season in December and January. At the very least local tourists and expats would head back to the skies over the traditional holiday break. And surely the Chinese would be back for Chinese New Year?
As we know now, none of that happened. A resurge in cases started just south of Bangkok on December 20 last year, just before Christmas, kicking off another round of restrictions, pretty much killing off any possibility of a high season ‘bump’ for the tourist industry. Airlines slashed flights from their schedule, and hotels, which had dusted off their reception desks for the surge of tourists, shut their doors again.
Domestically, the hotel business saw 6 million room nights in the government’s latest stimulus campaign fully redeemed. But the air ticket quota of 2 million seats still has over 1.3 million seats unused. Local tourists mostly skipped flights and opted for destinations within driving distance of their homes.
As for international tourism… well that still seems months or years away, even now.
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