Operators whipping up shopping frenzy

Operators whipping up shopping frenzy

Large global e-marketplace providers are spurring online shopping demand through big promotions and discounts during the festive season, especially with the announcement of new shopping tax incentives.

Facebook launched Marketplace in Thailand, to which sellers can post directly.

Alibaba's Lazada Thailand held a soft launch for Taobao Collection, a new section dedicated to Chinese products from Alibaba's Taobao for local buyers as well as a channel for Thai exports to Alibaba's Tmall. JD Central, a new joint venture, is planning a soft launch of the jd.co.th platform by year-end.

Alibaba and Lazada have been working on cross-border transactions in Southeast Asia, said Baptiste Le Gal, chief of marketing for Lazada Thailand.

Lazada and Alibaba's Cainiao have integrated their logistics networks. Sellers from China ship to Southeast Asia with Cainiao's first-mile logistics from China, while Lazada takes over last-mile delivery in Southeast Asia.

Lazada is implementing a warehouse management system to handle bigger volumes and better integration with partners' logistics systems.

"We work as one team and leverage the experience of delivering hundreds of millions of parcels in China to help us to achieve more seamless growth focused on customers in the region," said Mr Le Gal.

Facebook launched its marketplace in Thailand, one of 24 countries planned in different countries, in a bid to strengthen its social commerce footprint.

Facebook's Marketplace feature will show items relevant to each users' interests. Sellers can tap on the Marketplace icon and post their products directly.

11street Thailand, the local e-commerce operator owned by SK Telecom, invested US$50 million (1.66 billion baht) in Thailand in 2017. The company is the second-most-visited e-marketplace after Lazada, with average traffic of 17 million visits within three months, said Hong Cheol Jeon, the company's chief executive.

To date, it has some 20,000 merchants selling 6.7 million items, of which 38% are from Korea, 36% from Malaysia and 12% from China. It has 690,000 registered users and 1.2 million app downloads.

To strengthen its growth, the company spent 72 million baht to offer 400,000 discount coupons through its "11.11 Mega Sale Campaign".

"We expect 5,000 transactions per day compared with 3,000 transactions per day in October," he said.

Mr Hong said the local e-commerce market is around 1.2% of the total retail market, and he expects it to reach 7% in 2020.

"Thailand has high potential and grows very fast, but we also need to support logistics, payment and digital marketing to grow together," he said.

Shopee Thailand, an e-commerce platform, will kick off the year-end season from Nov 11 to Dec 12 with a series of deals and discounts of up to 90% and daily giveaways.

Terence Pang, chief operating officer of Shopee, said its "11.11-12.12 Shopee Super Sale" will feature further discounts and promotions.

Citing a study by eCommerceIQ, a Southeast Asian market research portal, Shopee said nearly 40% of online sales are generated in the last three months as shoppers flock to purchase gifts and decorations for the year-end celebrations.

Beauty products and consumer electronics see the highest spikes during the peak period.

Thais shopping online will benefit from the government's year-end tax incentives, but they must buy from shops registered under the value-added tax system.

Alessandro Piscini, chief executive of Lazada Thailand, said the tax incentive for shopping will benefit customers during its "11/11 Online Festival".

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT (1)