ITrueMart has big online shopping plan for AEC
After the launch of an e-commerce website in the Philippines, iTrueMart has set its sights on expanding its business into other countries in Southeast Asia to cash in on the huge demand for online purchases in view of the Asean Economic Community (AEC).
"We are debuting our operations in the Philippines and that will be followed by Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Malaysia and Singapore later in 2016. We are committed to long-term success in the Philippines and everywhere else we go to," said Punnamas Vichitkulwongsa, CEO of Ascend Group, which operates the e-commerce business.
The company plans an investment of US$150 million in the market next year. The investment will be used to improve marketing, inventory and logistics. "E-commerce will have huge potential when the AEC fully materialises," she said. "According to a study by Ystats SE Asia eCommerce, the volume of Asean’s mobile Internet users rose 56 per cent in 2015. Up to 56 per cent of the Thai and Vietnamese populations are now accessing the Internet via their smartphones, a figure close to the Philippines’ 50 per cent rate. Recognising the growing number of mobile Internet users, we are confident that online shopping in the region will also grow. The AEC is an emerging and interesting market for e-commerce through which entrepreneurs can expand their businesses."
Thailand’s leading e-commerce retailer iTrueMart, has launched iTrueMart.ph e-commerce website in the Philippines, aiming to become a dominant player in the country by 2017.
Currently, iTrueMart operates only in Thailand.
iTrueMart.ph is designed to offer shopping access to a variety of products, various payment channels, and competitive pricing currently only available for metropolitan shoppers, to customers in all provinces in the Philippines.
Seubsakol Sakolsatayadorn, general manager of the iTrueMart division at Ascend Commerce, says iTrueMart.ph is not a newcomer to the market, as the team is backed by the strong success of iTrueMart in Thailand.
During the past year, the number of visits to iTrueMart.com has increased by as much as 424 per cent. Since October 2014, the average number of visits recorded was 4.6 million per month. iTrueMart.com receives 7,000 orders per day on average, with the highest volume of daily orders at 10,000. This marks a record in Thailand’s online retail industry, which puts iTrueMart. com at the forefront of Thailand’s e-commerce sector. Moreover, iTrueMart.com’s delivery averages at two days throughout Thailand and it enjoys the lowest e-commerce return rate in the country.
