Saha taps Lazada to ramp up sales

The group has set an ambitious three-year plan to boost annual e-commerce sales to at least Bt10 billion.
Saha Group yesterday signed an agreement with Singapore-based online shopping platform Lazada to develop its e-commerce business in Thailand.
Boonsithi Chokwatana, chairman of Saha Group, said Lazada is an expert in e-commerce. Backed by Alibaba, the online shopping site had made great strides in China.
“Lazada has great experience in e-commerce, which is not just opening a website for selling goods, but also all the supply-chain loop, which includes back-office work, especially product inventory and delivery, as well as big data management,” he said. 
“That process requires speed, convenience and customer satisfaction as the key success factors.”
Saha Group concedes it had been mishandling its online shopping business for almost 10 years.
“If we do this online shopping further on our own, it will be quite difficult for me to provide good service to our online customers,” Boonsithi said.
By working with Lazada, Saha could export its products beyond Thailand to other markets in Southeast Asia as well as China, he said.
Thai shoppers still prefer to buy goods offline, especially elderly consumers who are not familiar with e-commerce. They need to look at|and try out products physically before buying. 
Thailand also has many shopping malls so consumers can enjoy their own shopping experience, he added.
Alessandro Piscini, chief executive officer of Lazada Thailand, said Lazada is the leader in the Southeast Asian e-commerce market, and has been |offering services in Thailand for five years.
There are now about 10 million products on its online shopping site in Thailand, while the Lazada group has almost 100 million products on its operated sites across six markets – Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
“We are looking for a long-term partnership with Saha Group to ensure that our products and services will be the most relevant to Thai customers, not only for today, but also tomorrow in the digital world,” he said.
“It is the trend that more and more online customers are shopping through mobile devices. They have switched their online activities from desktop to mobile,” he said. 
“This will allow individual consumers to come more frequently to our online application.”