JD Central, an e-commerce joint venture between Central Group and Chinese internet giant JD.com, is sharpening its focus to customer experience, new merchants, use of technology and marketing assistance for brands as part of its strategy in the highly competitive segment.
"The pandemic is speeding up Thailand's e-commerce growth as merchants and brands are expanding to go online," Rvisra Chirathivat, chief marketing officer of JD Central, told the Bangkok Post.
Online retail accounts for 2-3% of the total retail market, but it is expected to jump to 10% by 2025. The online retail segment includes e-marketplaces, social commerce, brands' own websites as well as consumer-to-consumer (C2C) communication.
She said JD Central saw its gross merchandise value grow 500% over the past year with 8 million users, 90% of whom engage via the mobile app and the rest by PC.
Ms Rvisra is aware of the price war in the segment and that its four strategies must be focused to sustain business growth.
The first concerns efforts to boost "customer experience", in which users can be guaranteed 100% genuine products as well as one-day delivery in Bangkok and 2-3 days in the provinces.
"We need to ensure the end-to-end process to maintain a good customer experience, which will make the platform the most trusted in Thailand," she said.
The second strategy attempts to bring brands and small and medium-sized enterprises on board the platform under the online-to-offline (O2O) model.
The third involves the platform's move to serve as the technology service provider that can help businesses transform for digital trade. The best practices of JD.com will be drawn on for support.
Lastly, JD Central wants to assist brands in marketing by using affiliated marketing channel Joy Pay app.
"We can gain revenue from sales commission fees, delivery services, technology service and affiliated marketing fees," said Ms Rvisra.
The company also wants to tap into the fresh products and locally made goods segments, she said.
JD Central expects to announce soon a collaboration with Central Group on O2O strategies.
JD.com in China has 7FRESH high-tech omni-channel supermarket and this business model is scheduled to be rolled out in Thailand, said Ms Rvisra.
To celebrate its second anniversary, the 9.28 Birthday Fest campaign from JD Central provides 100 million baht in discounts on the platform throughout this month.
