E-frastructure, OPT SEA form joint venture

OPT SEA is a subsidiary of OPT Group, a leading Japan-based digital ad agency in Asia.

Pawoot Pongvitayapanu, founder and chief executive officer of e-frastructure, said Lead Commerce would operate vertical information media services that generate productive leads between consumers and vendors by leveraging e-frastructure’s wide knowledge of e-commerce marketing and media operations, as well as OPT Group’s online marketing and technology know-how.

“E-commerce in Asean is growing very fast and is really competitive right now. Each e-commerce service always needs service and support to grow its business. 

“Lead Commerce will deliver direct business support to all e-commerce services and make all things more efficient. With the collaboration with OPT SEA, the leading digital marketing agency from Japan, e-frastructure will fill in what the Asean e-commerce market needs and leverage Asean e-commerce,” he said.

Comparison.Asia, formerly operated by e-frastructure, which had provided a full range of price and product information for gadgets, home appliances and other consumer goods, will be re-launched and operated under Lead Commerce. 

Comparison.Asia aggregates the information of 150,000 products from 5,000 retailers including major players like Weloveshopping, Tarad, Tesco and Big C. Next year, these figures are expected to double. It is also expected to serve more than one million unique site visitors in Thailand as well as other Asean countries.

HappyWedding.Life, the comprehensive wedding-planning tip site with social reviews, will bring out its beta version this month. 

Lead Commerce plans to launch a range of vertically specialised media to assure consumers of safety and confidence in their purchase activity and also to support retailers in communicating efficiently with targeted customers.

Ryukichi Iwakiri, CEO of OPT SEA, said that in the emerging Asean regions, the consumption market including e-commerce had been expanding rapidly. As consumption power grows, various layers of service to support a dynamic consumption ecosystem are highly required. Lead Commerce is set to catch market demand.

“This partnership is definitely a big step for OPT SEA into the e-commerce service ecosystem in Southeast Asia. With e-frastructure’s expertise and OPT group’s assets, we strongly believe we can bring new value into the Asean online market,” he said.