E-commerce still on the up

E-commerce still on the up

The value of Thailand's e-commerce market is expected to reach 2.1 trillion baht this year thanks to greater price competition and faster wireless network speeds, according to a survey for the Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA).

The market is expected to grow by 3.65% from 2014, which saw a surge of 165% from 700 billion baht in 2013, said chief executive Surangkana Wayuparb.

The survey, conducted by the National Statistical Office and commissioned by the ETDA, was based on responses from 502,676 e-commerce providers nationwide through online and face-to-face interviews held between April and October.

"Thailand's retail e-commerce (business-to-consumer or B2C) market was Southeast Asia's largest in 2014 at US$11.7 billion," Mrs Surangkana said.

Malaysia's B2C market was valued at $9.6 billion, followed by Singapore ($3.4 billion), Vietnam ($2.9 billion), Indonesia ($2.6 billion) and the Philippines ($2.3 billion).

Thailand was behind the US ($359 billion), China ($322 billion), Japan ($118 billion) and South Korea ($25.4 billion).

"Thailand's B2C market is expected to grow by 15.2% to 475 billion baht this year," Mrs Surangkana said. 

Hospitality, manufacturing and retail/wholesale are expected to be the top three sectors for e-commerce value in 2015, generating 659 billion baht, 350 billion and 325 billion, respectively.

Last year, hospitality generated the highest value of 630 billion baht, followed by manufacturing (440 billion) and information and communications technology (264 billion).

Mrs Surangkana urged the government to provide tax incentives to the e-commerce sector as well as build the size of the e-commerce workforce to further boost the industry.

The survey also found that e-banking, credit/debit cards and mobile payments are the preferred online payment method.

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT