11street Thailand eyes top spot

Korean-owned 11street may be exiting Indonesia, but the e-commerce platform remains bullish about its opportunities in Thailand.

Yun Chang-sung, 11street Thailand VP of sales, says the company is working towards being the largest e-commerce player in the nation by 2022.

A week ago, 11street parent SK Planet, a subsidiary of SK Telecom, announced it was selling its half stake in Indonesian website Elevenia to fellow Korean corporation Lotte, with whom it is in discussions over an e-commerce joint venture at home.

“SK Planet decided it was best to close down money-losing operations overseas to focus on propping up the domestic business,” wrote Pulse News. “After Indonesia, the next to go could be Malaysia among the three overseas markets including Thailand and Turkey.”

First, 11street Malaysia dismissed such speculation, saying it was committed to the long term., 11Street Malaysia is operated by Celcom Planet, a joint venture between Celcom Axiata Berhad and SK Planet.

11street Thailand says it has more than 580,000 shoppers buying from 18,000 sellers on its platform, just seven months after its launch.

“We have become number two in the market in just a few months, and we are sure we can become number one in less than five years,” Yun said.

He said Thailand’s e-commerce size is comparatively small at present, relative to mature markets like South Korea and the US.

“Competition in Thailand is not that aggressive compared with other countries such as South Korea,” he said. “There are great opportunities to grow. The more dynamic logistics and payment industries in Thailand also contribute to the growth of e-commerce.”

Thai and international brands including as Nestle, Samsung, Mahajak, Cotton USA, Watsons, FBT and Grand Sport list goods on 11street Thailand.