Mobile commerce on rise

Attractive mobile commerce campaigns by e-commerce operators is also attributed to the surge in mobile commerce.

Compared with the US, Japan and South Korea, Thailand’s online retail industry remains tiny, accounting for less than 1% of the total retail market, Lazada Thailand chief executive Alessandro Piscini told a seminar yesterday entitled “E-Commerce: The Secret Success for the Online Generation”.

However, he said imminent fourth-generation commercial wireless broadband service was expected to boost the number of mobile internet users and lower mobile tariff rates.

“Half of Lazada Thailand’s total online sales came from mobile phones, a five-fold increase from last year,” Mr Piscini said, adding that health and beauty products, mobile devices and fashion items were the top-three sellers.

To further boost sales, Lazada Southeast Asia and its partners will hold its biggest sale of the year, Online Festival, from Nov 11 to Dec 12, providing up to 10 million products in 13 categories.

Ratthasart Korrasud, senior director of the Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA), said it encouraged retailers and manufacturers to comply with the UN Standard Products and Services Code, a taxonomy of products and services for use in e-commerce, for more efficient and accurate classification of products and services.

The ETDA is also promoting the use of its online complaint centre among e-commerce users to ensure consumers’ trust and confidence in e-commerce.

Wanna Swuddigul, director of digital and online business at Ek-Chai Distribution System, said local retailers must quickly expand to the online channel to accommodate rapidly changing consumer lifestyles.

Thailand’s e-commerce is among Southeast Asia’s top three for growth potential thanks to its population, greater development of wireless infrastructure and Thais being highly engaged online.

Tesco Thailand’s online sales, expected to account for less than 1% of total sales this year, are forecast to rise to 5% of the total by 2020, said Ms Wanna.

Deepesh Trivedi, Facebook’s head of retail and e-commerce for Southeast Asia, said Thailand’s e-commerce would continue growing, driven mainly by the increasing number of mobile internet users.