Alibaba offers pathway for Thai digital vision, PM’s Office vice minister says

“Alibaba is a global leader in e-commerce, even though online commerce started out in the US and was pioneered by Amazon and eBay. Alibaba got the business model from Amazon, but it now focuses on presenting Chinese goods to the rest of world after a huge domestic success in online commerce,” Kobsak said.
“The Chinese policymakers have adopted a strategy to promote domestic players by restricting access for foreign e-commerce and digital players. Taking advantage of its vast domestic market, China has the bargaining power to nurture domestic tech start-ups which are now global giants.”
“From its e-commerce start-up, Alibaba has become a huge digital business empire complete with e-payment, logistics and other platforms for the digital economy. Now, Alibaba is not seen as just an e-commerce business, but a network of multiple platforms for all data-driven businesses.”
“Most crucial is Big Data and one of its key platforms is Alipay which provides e-payment and e-wallet services. In Thailand, we still use a lot of credit and debit cards but Chinese consumers are now one step ahead as many now use QR codes as used in Line and other apps on your mobile phone to pay for goods and services.”
Kobsak said taxi passengers could pay for their fares using QR codes on the Alipay platform, with the driver receiving the fare instantly.
“When five or six Chinese friends go to a restaurant and they want to share payment of the bill, they can also use Alipay to split the payment individually to each of their personal accounts,” the vice minister said.
“Even streetside food vendors can use the platform to accept the payment from customers. All these transactions in the huge Chinese marketplace have become electronic records and Big Data which can be mined for further applications.”
“Alibaba as an e-commerce platform also has a huge database on countless vendors, manufacturers and suppliers as well as buyers, which is invaluable. Unlike counterparts in the West, the Chinese platform allows buyers to inspect the goods delivered to their doorsteps and if they are happy with them, then, they may make the payment by clicking on the app.” 
“Afterwards, if there are defects and consumer complaints, the system records all these data. Over time, Alibaba has a huge data base on the business side of manufacturers, suppliers and vendors which can be then used by its online lending unit.”
Kobsak said Alibaba’s system can record any customer complaints.
“Alibaba has a huge data base on the business side of manufacturers, suppliers and vendors which can be then used by its online lending unit,” the vice minister said.
“In other words, you have a lot of formidable creditworthiness data on these enterprises, quality of their products, customer satisfaction as well as production process which are crucial to determine their credit scores for business loans to be provided by Alibaba.”
“Overall, Alibaba is capable of providing comprehensive services from the start to end or from trading to payment methods and to business lending.”Kobsak said Alibaba can provide a comprehensive service from start to finish, covering everything from trading and payment methods to business lending.
“This makes Alibaba one of the world’s best performers in digital and online businesses, with artificial intelligence or AI being its core strength. This allows a network of multiple platforms to take advantage of the Big Data, Machine learning as part of the AI makes computers smarter as they can learn from huge data on consumer behaviour as well as business people’s behaviour,” Kobsak said.
“When our delegation met with Jack Ma, the Alibaba founder at the headquarters in China, we asked him about the online lending business. Jack Ma said if there are defaults on loan repayment, the system is intelligent enough to find out the probable causes.”
“If we found that our customers are hit by natural disasters, for example, we would be happy to continue helping them with the credit line. However, if the customers are no good, due to gambling and other vices, then, we will take a different action.”