The value of Thailand's e-commerce market is expected to reach 3.06 trillion baht this year, up 8.5% from last year, driven by the continuous growth of social commerce.
According to the latest report of the Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA), the market value of business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce in Thailand ranked the highest in Southeast Asia at US$23.33 billion (778.3 billion baht) in 2017.
The top three sectors recording the highest value in 2017 were wholesale/retail trade, accommodation and manufacturing, in that order.
To capitalise on the burgeoning e-commerce ecosystem, the ETDA is developing two core projects to help local players enter the global marketplace and strengthen their capabilities.
Chief executive Surangkana Wayuparb said the ETDA approached Alibaba Group several months ago to help Thai e-commerce players trade via the Tmall platform.
During the first phase of collaboration, the ETDA aims to make 15 strong Thai e-commerce brands reach the top 100 in the market. Additionally, the ETDA plans to promote the first batch of five-year SMEs stepping onto the Tmall platform by year-end.
Tmall touts itself as the world's largest e-commerce platform. The most popular Thai categories for Chinese customers are cosmetics, healthcare, agriculture and spa products.
The ETDA yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding with Srinakarinwirot University to establish an e-commerce park to support e-transaction activities. The park will play an important role in promoting the e-commerce ecosystem, supporting entrepreneurs, SMEs, manufacturers and service providers in the local and international markets.
Thailand's e-commerce park will be a training centre for e-commerce knowledge exchange and workshops for students, entrepreneurs and SMEs.
The ETDA previously signed an MoU with Dongguan China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (Dongguan CCPIT).
"The ETDA aims for the Thailand e-commerce park to push 15 Thai brands on the global platform in the first year of operations and help 10,000 people create 1,000 micro SMEs within five years," Ms Surangkana said.
Thailand's e-commerce market value last year was 2.81 trillion baht, up 8.6% year-on-year. B2B e-commerce was valued at 1.6 trillion baht, B2C was at 812.6 billion and B2G was at 324.7 billion.
"Promoting the Thai e-commerce market globally, especially in China, the US and Europe is a challenging task," Ms Surangkana said, adding that B2C accounted for 29% of e-commerce value in the country.
In 2018, e-commerce will trend toward a big data approach related to personalisation for shoppers, social commerce, blockchain and e-commerce powered by artificial intelligence.