Maru-T is an established brand in Japan with a 100 year-old history that has been trusted by painters nationwide. Maru-T is a trusted brand among Japanese professional painters for its outstanding quality and standard, durability, versatility and innovation. Maru-T has been continuously developing their technology to enable painters to achieve a flawless painting finish.
This is the first time that Maru-T has entered a market outside its home country, entrusting Siam Hardware Industry to launch their brand in the Thai market, to source sales and distribution channels and to engage in marketing activities.
"There are a lot of choices for paints in the home paint market. Paint manufacturers are constantly using technology and innovation to improve the quality and finish of paint, but not the painting tools," pointed out Pimpida Achariyasilp, Business Development Executive of Siam Hardware Industry.
"In the past years, we have not seen any new, innovative painting tools to be used with all these new paints. We see that there is a market for a more customized and high-grade brushes and rollers to produce a much better paint finish."
"Both Siam Hardware and Maru-T Ohtsuka are family-owned businesses which have passed though successive generation from strength to strength. Maru-T has been in Japan for 100 years, while Siam Hardware Industry has been the trusted brand among consumers for decades. We follow a very strict quality control process. We believe that Maru-T is fully confident in our high working standard and the potential there is in the Thai market," said Pornthep Achariyasilp, President of Siam Hardware, about the partnership.
"This is the first time that we are distributing products which are not our own brand, but we are confident of Maru-T's exceptionally high quality products. This is also a very good opportunity for us to expand our markets and reach out to new customers, so we are very happy that Siam Hardware has been entrusted to be Maru-T Ohtsuka's official partner in distributing their products in Thailand", added Pornthep.
Siam Hardware Industry has been in business for over 50 years and is Thailand's leading manufacturer in metal tools and parts used in construction, handyman's tools, gardening tools for both in-house brands and as an OEM manufacturer for the domestic market as well as for international markets. Siam
Hardware Industry adopts a rigid quality control process and innovation to meet the needs of customer and this one reason for the partnership with Maru-T Ohtsuka.
"Thailand is a very interesting market for premium grade painting tools and there is great potential as no one has yet introduced this range of product to the Thai market. We are very confident that the Thai professional painters will be satisfied with Maru-T products, as we have spent hundreds of years developing these top-notch painting tools. It is also a great opportunity for us to have a partner that is experienced in a local market like Siam Hardware Industry," said Shinichiro Waki, Director of Maru-T Ohtsuka Corporation.
Pimpida said in the early stages, the focus will be on building brand awareness and educating customers on how can these tools make a difference to the finish of the painting.
Siam Hardware Industry has invested approximately THB 10 million in this partnership.
The product that will be available at this stage include Microfiber paint roller (size 7" and 9"), Lint Free painting rollers size (size 7" and 9"), Long Hair painting roller (size 7"), Toji brush (hand-made, traditional Japanese painting brush, available in sizes 30mm-60mm), heavy duty scraper, and extension pole.
All products, with starting price of THB 90, will be available from mid-August onwards in leading painting stores and in SCG Home Mart stores in Bangkok.