The Commerce Ministry kicked off its "New Year Grand Sale" campaign yesterday via partnerships with the private sector and online platforms, offering steep discounts of up to 85%.
The campaign is scheduled to run from Dec 22 to Jan 31, with as many as 46,100 branches of stores from 315 organisations including retailers, manufacturers, online platforms, and service providers participating in the scheme.
The scheme is expected to help stimulate domestic spending by at least 12 billion baht.
Speaking at the launch, Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit said the latest campaign aimed to reduce consumers' cost of living by offering big discounts on goods and services.
The scheme is also meant to spur a year-end shopping spree, he said.
"The ministry estimates the campaign will help lower the cost of living by 4 billion baht, while stimulating 12 billion baht worth of spending during the 42 days of the campaign," said Mr Jurin.
Products available at the year-end discount campaign cover 14 categories of consumer goods with a total of 31,741 items, eight categories of services with 657 items, and three categories of online trade.
The goods include food and drink, consumer products for daily use, electrical appliances, agricultural utensils, garments, construction materials, sportswear, bedding, cosmetics, stationery, furniture and decorative items.
Other categories comprise rubber tyres, auto repair services, insurance, medical services, restaurants, hotels and resorts.
In addition, he said the ministry's Internal Trade Department is scheduled to promote "must-see" markets and "Trading Villages" nationwide.
The must-see market scheme was introduced in 2015 by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to promote links between community markets and tourism, increasing the income of locals, community enterprises and small and medium-sized businesses.
The government earmarked 200,000 to 300,000 baht to improve each market's landscape and sanitary standards, promote communities' unique identities and launch tourism campaigns for those markets.
The Trading Village scheme was initiated in 2017 by the Internal Trade Department, with the aim of strengthening local communities, creating added value for products, and raising income for communities.