Big jumps in e-commerce registrations

The Business Development Department reported yesterday that the number of newly registered e-commerce websites totalled 457 in the first half of the year.
Last month, 161 sites were registered to do e-commerce business, up sharply from the 49 registered in May.
Deputy Commerce Minister Siriwat Kachornprasart said more and more online businesses would be seen in the country, as many enterprises have shifted their focus to e-commerce because of the increased number of Internet players and the fact that Web-based business reduces operating costs.
The most popular type of e-commerce webpage concerns fashion and clothing, followed by medical and healthcare, and manufacturing equipment.
From 2003 to end-June, a total of 9,993 websites were registered for operating e-commerce businesses in the Kingdom. In the wider scheme of things, the department’s records show that the overall number of newly registered companies in Thailand dropped by 10 per cent year on year in June, because of uncertainty over the global economy and the impact of last month’s political instability.
During the month, only 4,844 companies were registered, compared with 5,431 in May and 5,432 in June last year. The combined capital of the businesses registered in June stood at about Bt58 billion, with most of the firms being in construction, property development and entertainment services.
However, Siriwat said more companies would be established in the second half due to expected stronger economic growth now that manufacturing has fully recovered from last year’s floods and there is more confidence in domestic political stability.
In the first half, the number of newly set-up firms dropped by 4 per cent year on year to 30,056 firms.
On the other hand, fewer companies shut down operations in the period, with a drop of 14 per cent year on year to 5,577 closures.
In June, some 1,079 firms were closed, representing a drop of 3 per cent year on year, but an increase of 3 per cent from the previous month.
Siriwat said it was not unusual for companies to shut down, and most of the businesses were construction and property development firms that had already completed projects or their contracts had expired. Relatively few firms had ceased operation because of a lack of liquidity or tough competition, he added.