Retail sector in Thailand goes digital

E-commerce sites have caught the attention of the market

The pandemic caused multiple shifts within the economic sectors of Thailand, one of it within retail. The local e-commerce, as reported by textile marketplace Fibre2Fashion, grew by 13 percent in the beginning of the year and is predicted to grow even more. Analyst predict the market to reach THB916.3 billion (USD26.5 billion) by the end of 2023.

This could be accredited to the increased levels of mobile phone penetration, mobile banking, and social media use within the kingdom, as well as the shift of multiple businesses and customers into e-commerce. The country has become a good starting point for e-commerce to grow, especially due to its better than average performance.

In the region, Webretailer, an online marketplace resource, revealed that major e-commerce companies, such as Shopee, Lazada, and Tokopedia, all selling a wide variety of products for anyone to purchase from anywhere within the region, have propelled this growth. These online retail sites make up around 4.6 percent of total retail in the region with a lot of potential to grow. 

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In particular, Shopee and Lazada aided the country’s retail sector in growth. Shopee, as the largest online marketplace in Southeast Asia, enabled the widespread selling of Thai products and purchase of foreign products. Lazada does the same with its 128 million monthly visits, even going as far as getting celebrities to help boost its use by promoting the site.

The booming tourism industry also contributed to the growth of Thailand’s retail sector. Vietnam Plus discussed the possible six to eight percent increase of retail’s growth in 2023, doubling the country’s GDP rate. Retail can be seen improving in Phuket, Samui, and Pattaya especially as popular tourist destinations.

To further push this growth, the government has been urging to promote Phuket as a tax-free area to bring in more tourists to visit and spend more, hoping to help boost both retail and tourism.

The Property Report editors wrote this article. For more information, email: [email protected].