WDC tightens costs as virus restricts imports

As the virus outbreak may affect imports, Western Decor Corporation Co (WDC), an importer and manufacturer of wall and floor decorative materials, is set to tighten costs and expenses, assigning a new team to manage stock.

Chief executive Bundit Hirunyanitiwatna said there were some signs of new property development projects, particularly hotels, delaying construction plans as the Covid-19 outbreak batters the tourism industry.

“Booking cancellations affect the construction materials market as hotel expansion plans were delayed,” he said. “About 5% of our customers in all sectors have asked for an extension of tile delivery three or six months from the same schedule.”

Some residential developers made a bargain in materials prices to lower investment budgets.

However, the virus outbreak will have a minimal impact on the company’s sales as January and February are usually low season for the materials industry, unlike the second half of the year.

“We will try to control costs and expenses to survive the sluggish sentiment,” said Mr Bundit. “Whoever can survive this situation can have leapfrog growth.”

WDC also set up a special team to monitor and manage stock more efficiently as the majority of its products are imported from Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, India, Italy, China and Spain which face difficulty in delivery.

The company has a warehouse on a 20-rai plot in Khlong 7 in Pathum Thani’s Lam Luk Ka district where earlier this month it completed an expansion for an additional stock of 7,000 square metres.

In total, it has 20,000 sq m to keep wall and floor decorative materials worth a total of 200-300 million baht, serving sales for six months to one year.

WDC has seven branches comprising three in Greater Bangkok and one each in Hat Yai, Chiang Mai, Phuket and Pattaya.

It plans to open an overseas branch in Indonesia next year, which has been postponed from this year, Vietnam in 2021, and the Philippines in 2022.

At present, it has a total of more than 3,000 stock keeping units (SKU) priced from 100-10,000 baht per sq m.

WDC aims to have 700 million baht in sales by the end of 2020, up from 670 million last year and 614 million in 2018.