Online sales tipped to account
THE THAI RETAILERS Association expects online sales will make steady inroads to account for around 10 per cent of the country’s total retail market over the next five years.
Retailers will need to make greater use of technology, along with other services and activities, to further business growth, the association said.
Worawoot Ounjai, president of the Thai Retailers Association, said that online channels in terms of business-to-customers (B2C) have a high potential growth of around 30 per cent this year.
This is due to customers’ increasing of online channels for purchases, backed by sales promotion that encourage spending.
The total retail market in Thailand in the first half of this year saw growth of 2.8 per cent.
Worawoot said that the retail market would reach more than Bt3 trillion by the end of the year, with around 3 per cent of sales by online channels, or B2C. This segment was likely to see sales of around Bt150 billion this year.
He said the association expects that with the projection for 10 per cent market share within five years, online B2C sales would reach more than Bt300 billion.
Multi-channel approaches
Worawoot said that retailers needed to adopt multi-channel approaches and use technologies such as point-of-sale (PoS), artificial intelligence, Big Data and online-to-offline platforms.
They should also strengthen their services to better satisfy customers. In the cosmetics sector, for example, retailers could provide courses on using make-up, Worawoot said.
The association aims to provide knowledge support traditional business that want to move into online and omni-channel marketing.
The association has also joined with partners to stage RetailEX Asean 2018 in order to provide know-how to retailers under the theme “Transforming the Asean Retail Landscape with Brand-New Features”.
The event is the largest annual international trade exhibition and conference in Southeast Asia, catering to retailers and brands focused on succeeding in Asean markets. It will be held next month, with new zones and conferences over the three-day event.
It will be held from September 19-21 in Halls 3 and 4, at the IMPACT Exhibition and Convention Centre in Bangkok.
More than 4,000 people from diverse industries such as e-commerce and entertainment, healthcare, design and hospitality are expected to visit.
