ภาษาไทยThai e-commerce to grow 13 percent in 2023
Live commerce and cross-border sales will power Thailand’s e-commerce sector to 13 percent growth in 2023, according to a forecast by the Thai E-Commerce Association, which said that growth would be higher if not for inflation constraining consumer spending.
Thanawat Malabuppha, Honorary President of the Thai E-Commerce Association, said that the e-commerce market in Thailand was valued at $23.4 billion in 2022, up 8 percent year-on-year. He added that analysts expect the market to reach $26.5 billion this year and $34 billion by 2025.
Thailand’s businesses and consumers have all gone in on e-commerce in recent years. With high levels of mobile phone penetration, mobile banking and social media use, the Kingdom is fertile ground for e-commerce to develop as an important component of the economy.
While the level of expansion forecast by the Association is healthy, it is lower than the growth in previous two years, which was powered by the restrictions on movements and other constraints associated with pandemic control measures. People and businesses conducted more commerce online during the pandemic. The COVID-19 disruption of global supply chains also sparked worldwide inflation, which has also dampened consumer spending.
“Unlike the exponential growth during the pandemic, the growth has come down to a regular pace like in other countries in the region,” Thanawat said.
Thailand’s performance has been better than average, according to Thanawat, who mentioned that, globally, the e-commerce market in 2022 shrank 2.5 percent year-on-year, the first-ever decline.
One trend that Thanawat predicted would benefit Thailand is live shopping, considering the high level of social media use in the Kingdom. Live commerce contributed 38 percent of the social media market value.
“This will be a golden year for live shopping as TikTok ignited the segment last year,” Thanawat added.