Early in the year 2019, the international pandemic Covid-19 took the world by storm and completely changed the world’s trajectory. The global economy was hit hard by the pandemic. As long as other countries, Thailand business has suffered from a great loss of revenue and customers in various aspects such as tourism, retail e-commerce. The e-commerce trends in Thailand have consequently been changed in order to adapt to the current situation.
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Back when we were in quarantine, e-commerce had become mainstream for Thai. Social shopping platforms such as Shopee, Lazada, JD Central, and Alibaba have taken the center stage. Many traditional retailers had to adopt the idea to continue their business.
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In this article, Boxme will give you detailed, top e-commerce trends in Thailand to notice in 2021.
Shifting in customer buying behavior
At the beginning of the year 2020, Thailand marked their first case of Covid and continues to increase more. Consequently, the lockdown policies had been placed all over Thailand. During this time, people were encouraged to stay at home. Users have been spending more time on social media platforms. The numbers impacting the eCommerce and social commerce landscape significantly increased on a global scale.
According to insights by Hootsuite in April 2020, 74% of users aged 16 to 64 report having purchased a product on the web. Thailand ranked #9 worldwide in eCommerce’s share of total sales transactions at 10%. During the COVID-19 outbreak, an average of 47% of the global sample spends more time shopping online in recent weeks.
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As reported from the Bangkok Post, from mid-March till mid-April, Lazada struck 100% sales in Thailand. The amount of on-time screen increases around 11% compared to before lockdown Lazada Thailand expects eCommerce to become a norm in the new normal.
At the end of the day, during the pandemic, online shopping has become a new trend and gradually become a habit for Thailand thanks to its convenience. Even after the pandemic, e-commerce and online shopping still retain the popularity among Thailand shoppers.
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Changing sectors
Thailand is one of the most visited countries in the world, without a doubt, the most popular categories in Thailand are travel and accommodation, amounting to $6.12 billion in 2019.
Covid kicks in and the category has been gradually replaced, travel and accommodation fall down to the least used category and have been taken over by food and personal care at the rate of 21%, being the fastest growing sector by far.
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With travel restrictions enacted worldwide, tourism suffered a 92% shrinkage in eCommerce transactions. On the contract, other DIY, home furnishes thrive at the rate over 120%.
Thailand is conscious of health problems, Health related products, medicine, hygiene products flourish at +8,000% as people stocked up on these products.
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According to Hootsuite, Thailand also witnessed a significant increase in global eCommerce interests for food & groceries, household essentials, and personal care products.
The buying top e-commerce trends in Thailand among consumers still fluctuate during this chaotic time. It would be fascinating to witness the swift in purchasing selection in the new normal.
Top e-commerce trends in Thailand: Going Cashless
Since the distance policy has been executed, deliveries or any contacts are required to keep the distance within 2 meter. These measures also encourage customers to use credit cards instead of cash to avoid the transfer and spread of viruses.
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Furthermore, alongside smartphone penetration, is the fast growth of e-wallet. Digital wallets are currently used to pay for 23 percent of e-commerce transactions, tying with bank transfers. E-wallet payments also grow at a certain rate with many promotions, discount vouchers on e-commerce marketplaces.
The use of e-wallet and cashless payment is predicted to further grow in 2021 with the rate of 18% and take up around 28% of Thailand’s payment market.
Popular electronic payments in Thailand are PayPal, TrueMoney and Airpay.
As predicted, top e-commerce trends in Thailand are more and more significant in Southeast Asia, especially in Thailand. Consumers tend to buy things online not just because of certain things that need to be ordered on the Internet, but for the convenience, wide choice and great money value e-commerce can offer.
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It is crucial for marketers to keep up with the constant change in customer shopping behavior and top e-commerce trends in Thailand.