Thailand’s e-commerce value forecast to hit 120 billion USD

Illustrative image (Photo: DataReportal)

Bangkok (VNA) - Thailand's e-commerce value is expected to grow 6.1 percent to 4 trillion THB (120 billion USD) this year, crucially driven by businesses that are sharpening their focus on the business-to-customer (B2C) model in the wake of the pandemic, according to the Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA).

The ETDA indicated that the direct-to-customer (DTC) approach is now a prevailing trend as the pandemic has pushed enterprises of all sizes to sell products and services directly to customers.

According to the ETDA, the value of local e-commerce was 3.7 trillion THB in 2020, a decline from 4 trillion THB a year earlier, as the pandemic led to travel restrictions, which hampered accommodation, manufacturing and transport industries.

In 2020, the wholesale and retail industry was the biggest contributor to the country's e-commerce value with 1.43 trillion THB, up 8.7 percent from 2019.

Weighed down by the pandemic, the accommodation segment saw a vast drop of 54.1 percent in e-commerce value to 463 billion THB. Manufacturing experienced a 5.02 percent fall to 460 billion THB and transport saw a drop of 4.03 percent to 130 billion THB.

ETDA executive director Chaichana Mitrphan said the pandemic has led to a change in people's behavior towards online shopping while both large enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are gravitating towards the online mode for business in the new normal era.

Of the country's total e-commerce value of 3.7 trillion THB in 2020, the largest proportion came from the B2C realm with 2.17 trillion THB, followed by business-to-business (B2B) at 0.84 trillion THB and business-to-government (B2G) at 0.77 trillion THB./.

VNA