The Department of Business Development (DBD) has plans to nurture e-retailing in Thailand over the next few years and make it the highest-valued online market in Southeast Asia.
The hope is to dramatically increase online sales with the aim of doubling the aggregate trading value to 5.5 trillion baht by 2021, DBD permanent secretary Kulanee Isadisai said on Wednesday.
This was "expected" to take Thailand to Asean leader status in e-commerce.
Big players in the e-marketplace and e-commerce sector, together with the DBD, were already planning to promote and improve the standards of online shopping with this aim in mind.
The DBD will set three targets to prepare Thailand’s retailers for technological integration, Ms Kulanee said.
The first step is to prepare both new and old generation entrepreneurs to utilise technology in order to maximise their products or services’ unique selling points. This will open new channels of marketing for many Thais who are not familiar with digital marketing. The DBD has set a target of integrating around 10,000 new entrepreneurs in 2018 with estimated sales of 500 million baht.
The second target is to create a user-friendly and safe environment for both retailers and consumers in the e-commerce industry. This will be done through new verification processes which will require both sellers and buyers to have legitimate IDs on e-commerce platforms, and the use of ‘DBD verified’ stamps that shows a retailer has passed inspection by the DBD itself.
The third target aims to promote e-commerce and e-marketplace platforms through organising various events. The department is considering a “Thailand online mega sale” to boost sales for online retailers while creating a good marketing campaign for transitioning to online shopping. This event would hopefully generate at least 100 million baht in revenue.
“We hope that this cooperation between DBD and the e-commerce and e-marketplace sector will solve problems and incentivize consumers to purchase goods and services online with no hesitation,” Ms Kulanee said.
“We also hope that this will motivate retailers to realise the value of creating trust in the marketplace, as e-commerce is a great channel for expansion, competition and sustainable growth,” she added.