Online selling sees shops through upheaval | Bangkok Post: tech

E-commerce has proved itself as a way to interact with customers and cut the risk of operational disruption from natural disasters and political turmoil.

Japan's devastating tsunami provided evidence. Ishinomaki, a town of 160,000 some 350 kilometres from Tokyo, was hit hard.

Hideaki Masuno, the owner of homemade cake shop Monsieur Masuno, said his shop was seriously damaged in the great wave. But he could resume service in the next several months.

The company has an online shop under Rakuten's Ichiba marketplace, enabling it to continue receiving orders during the difficult time by using unaffected branches to deliver products.

In the past four years, the online shop has expanded its customer base throughout the country and increased sales by at least 20%.

Monsieur Masuno has yearly revenue of 800 million including 100 million from online shops.

Kazynari and Akemi Kimura, the owners of Minato Marine, a seller of salt cod, said their shop's business could be back to normal in just three months thanks to the online marketplace.

"Going online has helped us expand nationwide. The online shop makes up 10% of our 40 million in revenue," Mrs Akemi said.

In Bangkok, Ponlayook Meemeskul, the founder of www.gaming-oasis.tarad.com, a seller of game consoles and smartphones, said the recent political crisis caused his game shop in MBK Center to lose 500,000 baht, as the shop was forced to close.

"The crisis was a turning point for us. I decided to refocus on the online shop again," he said, adding that the company's revenue surged from 25,000 baht to 1 million baht in the first month of operations.

Mr Ponlayook said his online business provided higher margins than previous physical shops thanks to lower operating costs. The company has closed all its physical shops.

Today is the era of e-commerce, he said, buoyed by the proliferation of mobile devices and social networks.