Smart devices will drive e-commerce

Smart devices will drive e-commerce

Thailand's e-commerce industry is expected to continue thriving this year, with robust growth of 20-30% driven by a proliferation of smart devices.

"The market is growing well this year from 740 billion baht last year thanks to continued growth of third-generation mobile broadband services and the proliferation of smart devices," said Pawoot Pongvitayapanu, president of the Thai E-Commerce Association, at E-Commerce Day 2014 hosted by the Commerce Ministry. 

Thailand has more than 30 million internet users. 

According to the National Statistical Office, Thailand's e-commerce is worth 744 billion baht, with the business-to-business sector accounting for 79.8%, business-to-customer 19.3% and business-to-government 1%.

Small businesses (one to five persons) account for 66.8% of e-commerce, medium-sized firms (six to 50 persons) for 26.6% and large enterprises (more than 50 persons) for 6.6%. 

Mr Pawoot said transactions through mobiles are expected to account for half of e-commerce sales this year, up from 16% last year.

Intense competition from global players will also give impetus to Thailand's online market, he said.

"Since 2013, a number of foreign shopping websites have migrated to start doing business in Thailand including Alibaba.com, the world's largest wholesale e-commerce company, which has recently teamed up with Kasikornbank, Thailand's fourth-largest bank by assets, to help support Thai SMEs entering China's e-commerce market," said Mr Pawoot.

Thailand's e-commerce market is expected to see more intensified competition in the foreseeable future, as Taobao, an online shopping portal under Alibaba that is similar to eBay, is aggressively expanding into Southeast Asia to sell cheap Chinese products to ethnic Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia.

"Chinese products are increasingly popular among online shoppers, particularly ethnic Chinese in Asean," Mr Pawoot said. 

He said Thai operators must find ways to cope with cheap products from China, and without English translation their Thai-language websites will find it tougher to sell in the virtual market.

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