Ascend expands its Asean reach

“The move is to drive Ascend, both iTrueMart and Weloveshopping, to be the e-commerce market leader in the AEC by 2018,” Punnamas Vichikulwongsa, president of Ascend Group, said yesterday.

According to Euromonitor 2015, the report of Euromonitor International, a business-intelligence research house, the business-to-consumer e-commerce market in the AEC will grow by 20 per cent per year to US$7 billion (Bt249 billion) in 2017 from nearly $5 billion this year.

Thailand’s e-commerce market is worth about Bt42 billion with annual growth of 20 per cent.

The company will engage in operating, fulfilment including warehousing and logistics, and marketing actives in seven countries in the AEC – the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Myanmar and Cambodia.

It will start with the Philippines by the end of this year and follow with the other six countries in 2016.

The AEC market should help double its sales to Bt6 billion next year from Bt3 billion this year, which all comes from the Thai market.

E-commerce in Thailand and the AEC has high potential since it now accounts for only 1 per cent of total retail shopping. In five years, it will be about 7-8 per cent of the retail industry in Thailand.

E-commerce makes up 9 per cent in the United States and 13 per cent in the United Kingdom.

“E-commerce is a market for the big boys, since it needs huge capital. In each market, there are only one or two e-commerce players dominating the market. We want to be ‘top of mind’ in the e-commerce business in the region,” he said.

The business model of iTrueMart is different from Weloveshopping. iTrueMart acts as an online shopping department while Weloveshopping serves as a e-commerce marketplace.

Ascend claims itself as the e-commerce leader in Thailand with 14,000 orders per day, split evenly between the two websites.

Seubsakol Sakolsatayadorm, general manager of the iTrueMart division at Ascend Commerce, said iTrueMart’s conversion rate of 4.2 per cent of visits was higher than the market average of only 2 per cent.

At iTrueMart, information-technology gadgets and accessories are still the largest contributor at 70 per cent. Orders have gone up fivefold this year since product categories were diversified from hard lines to soft lines, such as personal care and beauty products, and home lines such as household appliances.

“The latest is a mum-and-kids category, since it is one of the largest in e-commerce in many countries,” he said. ITrueMart has invested heavily in fulfilment, warehouses and logistics. It has more than a million products, or more than 20,000 stock-keeping units, stored in its warehouse. The company delivers products through its own distribution system in Greater Bangkok with a 20-vehicle fleet and outsourcing to logistics partners.