Germany-based secondary market research firm yStats.com has released a new publication titled “Thailand B2C E-Commerce Market 2018”. As revealed in this market report, Thailand is expected to experience a double-digit growth rate in online retail sales, spurred by the trends of social commerce and mobile shopping. With this robust growth, Thailand is projected to maintain its second position in Southeast Asia in terms of B2C E-Commerce sales through 2021.
The second largest B2C E-Commerce market in Southeast Asia, Thailand is seeing rapid growth of online retail sales. Both Internet and online buyer penetration rates are on the rise, contributing to the expansion of digital commerce. According to a forecast cited in the yStats.com report, more than one-quarter of Thailand’s population is expected to shop online in 2022, rising by several percentage points from 2017.
The top two market trends in Thai B2C E-Commerce are mobile and social shopping. Thailand occupies the leading position in the region by share of Internet users going online via smartphone, and the second rank by mobile share of traffic to E-Commerce websites, according to 2017 data cited by yStats.com. As a result, M-Commerce is expected to contribute nearly two-thirds of online retail sales by 2021, up from less than half in 2017. Furthermore, Thai consumers are among the world’s top social buyers, with more than 50% of online shoppers making purchases through social networks like Facebook and Instagram. The most popular product categories purchased on these platforms are lower-value items such as clothing, footwear and beauty products, while electronics and appliances are purchased more frequently from established E-Commerce sites.
Lazada is the top online shopping destination in Thailand, maintaining a clear lead in terms of online shoppers’ preference, according to surveys referenced in the yStats.com report. In second rank is Shopee.co.th, a division of Singapore-based Sea Ltd. Furthermore, 11street is a fast growing player counting over half a million customers and thousands of sellers on its marketplace. In 2018, competition in Thai B2C E-Commerce could become more intense as the country’s largest retail operator Central Group and China’s top online retailer JD.com join forces for the launch a new online shopping platform backed by a comprehensive E-Commerce ecosystem.
