According to SEA Internet Economy Report 2019 by Google, Bain and Temasek, Southeast Asia has been experiencing various changes in consumer behaviour. When looking at e-Commerce especially, exponential growth both in traffic and spending has been observed. On average, 5 million transactions happen daily in SEA on e-commerce platforms. This trend is expected to continue for at least 5 years before slowing down.
What about Thailand?
Priceza Insights forecasted that the total value for e-Commerce in 2020 could shoot up to THB 220 billions, a 35% increase from 2019. However, with the COVID-19 lockdown which forced people to stay home, that number could be even higher.
According to DataReportal, people spent around 45% more time shopping online in the first half of 2020. Statistics showed that men spent more time shopping online than women. The opposite occurred for social media usage, in which women spent more time there than men in comparison with time spent browsing e-Commerce platforms. In combination however, the population as a whole spent much more time ‘online’ thus driving up sales of both e-marketplaces (e.g. Lazada, Shopee) and Social commerce (e.g. Facebook – hey! read our previous post about Facebook Shops – Instagram, LINE), contributing to e-commerce volume as a whole. The top 2 marketplaces in Thailand are Lazada and Shopee, whereas chat commerce on all social platforms are becoming a part of our daily lives.
During the 3 months-long lockdown since March, some consumer behaviours have changed and could prove to become a long-term effect, AKA the ‘New Normal’.
One of the most glaring effects is how the speed of acceptance in digital services have now become widespread, and they will now expect such services from all providers in the future. In particular, the adoption of e-money and e-wallets have been sped up spectacularly. According to the Bank of Thailand, during January to April 2020, e-money spending of non-bank transactions grew while e-money under bank transactions dropped. This may imply that e-commerce was growing substantially because non-bank e-money providers include Airpay (Shopee), Lazada Wallet (Lazada) and other payment gateway services such as 2C2P, which are directly linked to e-commerce. Bank-based e-money services would be primarily PromptPay and prepaid debit cards, which are linked to physical stores that accept such payments.
Lazada Thailand for example, received around 90,000 seller applicants for their special SME Package. On the buyers’ side, the average user duration on the platform also increased by approximately 30%. This can prove to be an important chance for digital agencies and e-commerce enablers to grow as our customers’ base has become larger.
The increase in online activity during the lockdown period has also promoted the growth of logistics players as well. Ride Hailing and food delivery services saw more opportunities to grow than before. Grab Thailand, the leading player, aided around 70,000 unemployed people (and drivers) and 20,000 restaurants to earn income during COVID-19 through food delivery. Other players like FoodPanda, LINE Man and Get also saw increased activity.
In conclusion, the COVID-19 situation has greatly accelerated the shift from offline to online for all players in the global economy. We can therefore expect fiercer competition from both between online and offline sellers, and can expect frequent changes in e-commerce platforms in order to bring in new users and to retain current users.
A post written by Rattanasorn Aunchit, Digital Marketing Executive intern at MOST 2414. Find her on LinkedIn!
MOST 2414
1015/29 Sukhumvit 71 Road,
Watthana, Bangkok 10110
©2025, MOST 2414 Co., Ltd. • VAT No. 0105558155913 • Terms & Conditions • Privacy Policy • PDPA • Sitemap
