RETAIL / SHOPPING TRENDS
SASIWIMON BOONRUANG
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| Prasert... focuses on online photo printing service |
Vira... Thais like to touch and see the products |
Suzuki... online buying demand will increase |
E-commerce has been around in Thailand for a long time, but online buying is still not popular among Thai consumers yet - they prefer to touch and test the products themselves. However one form of e-commerce that is growing is online services, particularly online printing and music downloads.
The Value Systems chairman Narong Intanate claimed that the lifestyles of Westerners and Thais were different. Westerners spend more time outdoors and buying stuff online is part of their culture, while for Thais one of the common activities is to go with the family to the shopping centre on weekends.
Most Thai people are unfamiliar with buying on the web because they like to see the products and to bargain. "E-commerce among the majority of consumers will take time," Narong said, adding that he expected the next generation to have greater uptake, but not much in the next five years.
IT City president Ekachai Sirijirapatana agreed that online shopping was not popular in Thailand today. He said there were many factors why online buying was not fashionable in Thailand, particularly security concerns and unfamiliarity.
Customers do not have trust in online purchasing, he said, adding that in emerging countries like Thailand, many people have not experienced e-shopping. Thai consumers still like to see and talk to the seller.
He said that online purchasing would gain acceptance once consumers have confidence in online transactions. While it is the direction of the future, and already popular in developed countries, it will still take time to be popular in Thailand.
"Even over the next few years, IT superstores will still be the place where consumers prefer to buy because it is a one-stop service and has a variety of products," Mr Ekachai said.
He noted that the overall IT market this year was forecast to increase 10 percent, with the consumer market growing strongest. IT City's sales revenue during the third quarter last year grew at 17 percent.
IT City will add five branches in this year. Currently, there are 30 branches - 17 in Bangkok and 13 upcountry. He said there was a lot of scope to increase sales in provincial areas.
According to Koichi Suzuki, general manager, Consumer Marketing Group, Sony Thai, the demand for online buying will increase. He said that e-buyers were different from traditional shoppers, and their numbers were increasing.
E-buyers are more selective and pro-active in their purchasing, he said. They get information from the Internet, magazines and friends if they want particular products.
However, when they are not interested no amount of marketing will persuade them. Their first resource for information is the web.
Nokia (Thailand) head of multimedia business, Nontawan Sindhvananda, noted that there are a lot of mobile handset shops where consumers can walk in and experience the devices themselves. As a result, online purchasing of phones is limited to some second-hand devices or niche models.
While there are nine million Internet users in Thailand, consumers still like to see and touch the real products rather than view them on the web. According to a customer survey by Nokia, six major features are in demand from consumers - photos, music, GPS, gaming, video and Internet browsing. "With these features, consumers prefer to touch and try the functions," she said.
Vira Intanate, SVOA CEO of IT Distribution Business, pointed out that it is not only Thailand, but Asia generally has no culture of online buying. This is different from the US, where online buying has been done for a long time.
Even TV Direct does not work well here, and the group finally set up a retail shop because Thai customers were not sure about the products. "Thais like to touch, see and compare the products," Mr Vira said, adding that most of the IT shops were not far from their homes.
Therdsak Sakulyong, country manager of Apple Thailand, said retail stores were still a major channel for vendors and customers alike. For Apple Thailand, it has large stores called "iStudio" and a smaller one called "iBeat" that are Apple Premium Resellers (APR), where customers can experience all kinds of Apple products including Apple TV, iMac, Mac Book, iPod, iPod Hi-Fi, and accessories as well as the new coming iPhone.
This year Apple will expand its APRs, which are currently at nine locations, to 20 locations nationwide.
Due to a growing popularity of photo printing, the two largest printer vendors, Canon and HP, plan to start photo printing services this year.
Canon is now testing a service with Apple, with the entire process from shot, to transfer to processing able to be done in under 20 minutes. The company will set up a new business domain to offer the service, which it expects to introduce here soon.
HP, meanwhile, will launch Snapfish, its online photo printing service. General manager of Imaging and Printing, Prasert Charoonpaisal, said HP was now negotiating with partners and photo print shops to provide the service.
"Consumers can drop their memory cards at the service spot or send it via the Net and Snapfish will print the photos and deliver to their home, or customers are able choose a place to pick up," he explained, noting that customers can create a wide range of prints and personalised photo merchandise such as photo greeting cards, photo calendars, key rings and so on.
The web site is now available through HP in the US, but it still needs to find a third party here to do the service. "The partner doesn't need to be concerned with the technology because HP will be responsible for the back office," he said.
Another trend that is rapidly rising today is digital music distribution.
RS senior digital director Vorapoj Nimvijit said that music downloads this year were expected to be double that of last year due to the expansion of high-speed Internet service. By the end of last year, there were around 600,000 high-speed Internet users and this is expected to grow to 1.2 million this year.
Pricewaterhouse-Coopers said that in 2005, 10 percent of mobile phone subscribers downloaded music worldwide, but by 2010 the proportion will increase to 17 percent.
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