Page 35 - FoodFocusThailand No.145_April 2018

SPECIAL FOCUS
SPECIAL FOCUS

Creating Customized

Experience

Key Strategy

for Small Retailers ONLINE

“Online Shopping” in Thailand shows
promising prospects as people can
freely access web-based markets via
social commerce platforms (online
transactions via social media channels).
As the level of internet accessibility of
Thais has risen, Thais can now conduct
internet transactions faster than before.
These are fundamental factors to
bolster marketing activities and online
shopping.

The trend should present an opportunity for new
retailers to make inroads into online shopping,
because the battlefield is now open for them to
compete with big-time operators. At present, the
competition is not yet well-defined, with no clear
market leader, as evidenced by the incessant rise
of small-scale retailers in the online shopping
market, exceeding 500,000 so far.
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Looking ahead, it remains to be seen
whether the web-based marketplace will enable
small retailers to tip the scales in their favor.
It may in fact present an even greater test for
them to ponder and adjust to. This is because while
the online shopping market in Thailand has
expanded remarkably in the past five years,
registering average growth of 15-20% per year, and
is now valued at more than THB 214 billion , the
2
revenue growth of retail business via traditional
mode or offline transactions has at the same time
slowed due to various factors. For example, online
shopping has seized larger market share in total
trading activities of many groups of merchandise
including fashion accessories, cosmetics and
electrical appliances. Customers have gained ever
more confidence in web-based transactions.
Thanks to the aforementioned market trend,
both Thai and foreign operators, including producers/
brands, are all geared towards the online market.
The newcomers include those from overseas
(namely China and South Korea) which have
entered Thailand as e-marketplaces with strength
in funding, business partnerships and extensive
networks, which stretch across the entire supply
chain (from online platform, to payment system and
delivery). Meanwhile, incumbent retailers (namely
modern trade retailers), with an existing customer
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