Thailand will be a hub for Tencent in Southeast Asia by 2018 if all goes to plan. Tencent Thailand, the local operating unit of Asia's largest internet company, has expanded its advertising services to make Thai brands more attractive for Chinese tourists.
Thailand is the third market in which Tencent has expanded its Chinese advertising globally, after Hong Kong and Italy where Chinese buyers are strong, Tencent Thailand managing director Krittee Manoleehagul said.
Tencent is a top-10 global brand with a market value of US$340 billion (11.6 trillion baht).
The company initially registered locally as Sanook Online, changing its name to Tencent in December last year.
Thailand is one of the top destination countries for Chinese tourists, Mr Krittee said.
There were 8.7 million Chinese tourists in 2016, and the figure is expected to reach 10 million this year. They spent about 146 billion baht for shopping, from total spending power of 357 billion baht which accounted for 3% of the country's GDP.
Most travellers spent 25,000-100,000 baht, mainly on food, gifts, souvenirs, clothes and cosmetics.
"This is a huge opportunity for Thai brands that target Chinese tourists, but a challenge is the Chinese language," Mr Krittee said.
In China, Tencent is one of the top three Chinese internet giants providing a broad range of digital services: WeChat messaging, Qzone social network, and WeChat Pay mobile payment.
Last year China had 731 million internet users, accounting for 53% of its population. There are 695 million mobile internet users.
Demographically, internet users 10-39 years old are the biggest group. Users spent 3.8 hours per day. Nearly 70% of Chinese internet users spent time with Tencent's related platforms including chat, social media, game and video.
China has 600 million active users of mobile payment and 632 million people, aged at 18-32 years, who use social networks.
Mr Krittee said social media and search engines are the two most influential channels for Chinese travellers.
"This is a huge opportunity that Tencent can help Thai brands to attract those Chinese tourists who plan to go to Thailand," he said. Tencent's social ads service reaches target audience by building brand awareness and engaging with customers in the duty free spots, hospitality, retail shops, beauty and spa services, restaurants and more, he added.
WeChat Pay, a payment service by Tencent, will expand through MOL Access Portal and Paysbuy, the local payment service providers. Some Chinese firms and local merchants using WeChat payment service would offer as low as 1% commission fee, while competitors charge 2.5%, said Mr Krittee.
He said Thailand will be a launching base for Tencent's expansion into Indochina. The company is already in Laos, offering portal website though a joint venture with local partner, and will expand to Myanmar this year.
According to Department of Business Development under the Commerce Ministry, Tencent Thailand posted a net loss of 156 million baht in 2016.
"We continue to invest locally in human resources, marketing and development teams as we promised," said Mr Krittee. "Thailand is the largest potential market for Tencent in Southeast Asia and also the largest operation in this region."