Central Marketing Group (CMG) is talking to Casio of Japan to distribute Casio watches in Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia as part of plans to double sales volume over the next three years.
Thailand’s Casio watch sales could soon rank first in Southeast Asia, says Mr Sato.
Yaowalak Kittaweesinpoon, the assistant vice-president for marketing and prestige products, said CMG expects to secure the distribution rights in Myanmar in the second half of this year. Then Casio will consider the rights in Laos and Cambodia.
Casio watches' normal line _ G Shock and Baby G, priced less than 5,000 baht each _ will be available in Myanmar.
Casio will be the first brand CMG sells after branching out to international markets. After that, the company will take other watches to these countries.
At home, Casio sales remain strong. Less than 200,000 Casio watches were sold in 2010 before jumping to more than 300,000 in 2011 and 500,000 last year.
This year, Casio watch sales are expected to rise by 60% to 800,000.
"With the sharp sales momentum of recent years, we're confident that sales volume will double to 1.6 million watches annually by 2016," Ms Yaowalak said.
To achieve this goal, CMG will adopt a strategy to drive market share for each watch category, open more of its own retail channels and introduce various marketing strategies to maintain its top position.
The company said Casio is ranked the highest sales brand at many leading department stores and the No.1 sport fashion watch in modern trade outlets.
Next, CMG will put more effort into expanding its watch distribution business through more than 500 business partners and dealers nationwide to provide greater customer access to its products.
Keiichi Sato, the assistant sales manager at Japan's Casio Computer Co, said the Asian market for timepieces, both locally made and imported, enjoys huge growth potential thanks to the increasing numbers of young people in Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore.
Currently, the sales volume of Casio watches in Thailand is among the top three in Southeast Asia.
"The business size of Casio watches here could rank first within another few years. Thailand has already become one of Asia's leading and most reliable markets for Casio Computer," Mr Sato said.
Thailand is also an important production base for Casio products, making watches for export to China before being re-exported to 150 countries and territories.
Casio has a factory in Nakhon Ratchasima's Nava Nakorn Industrial Estate, where it relocated from Pathum Thani after the 2011 flood crisis.
With demand rising, Casio plans to buy more land to expand its local production capacity.