BANGKOK, Oct. 12, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- China, with its rapid growth, is leading the world in the growth of e-commerce, with goods from all countries in the world flooding into the huge market worth trillions of dollars, through the cross-border e-commerce model. Thailand, just to the south, is in an excellent position to be a major beneficiary of this growth.
Since the Chinese government rolled out the Belt and Road, China and Thailand have collaborated in many areas including construction, finance and trade. China has been Thailand's largest trading partner for the last five consecutive years.
The question that arises is how to assist Thai merchants in expanding into China's trillion-dollar consumer market by utilizing the cross-border e-commerce trade model: The Sino-Thai e-Commerce Forum, hosted by the business club of China's Ministry of Commerce, the China-Thailand Strategic Research Center, the Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) and several Chinese business research institutes, under the aegis of the Ministry of Commerce of Thailand, on October 11, may have given us an answer.
The forum invited several Chinese and Thai government agencies, China's most influential e-commerce platforms including Tmall, Jingdong, Suning and Global Scanner, as well as more than 100 leading Thai companies, to discuss "how to sell products to China through e-commerce" through case sharing and discussions with the attendees.
The day following the event, Global Scanner signed a strategic cooperation agreement with renowned Thai cosmetics brand Annabella, and met with mistine and beauty buffet brands. As a representative brand in Thailand's cosmetics market, mistine and beauty buffet has far-reaching influence across Southeast Asia. Its products are sold in more than ten countries, the chief among them, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. Global Scanner is planning to engage in talks with Karmart leading to an in-depth collaboration. Thailand is a country with its own views on beauty, said Miao Fa, senior commodity director at Global Scanner. The makeup and cosmetics industry in the country is very unique, and, by that token, is an important part of Global Scanner's supply chain. At present, Global Scanner has cooperated with more than 1,000 brands in more than 60 countries. In order to help quality products made in Thailand expand into the Chinese market via the Internet and promote trade between the two countries, Global Scanner has reached a friendly and cooperative relationship with TGM, a company jointly authorized by Thailand's Office of Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion and the Ministry of Commerce to take the lead in such a project. Global Scanner also plans to collaborate with other quality Thai companies to jointly explore the Chinese market.
Global Scanner has 40 million users worldwide, provides 3 million members with affordable goods and quality services, and has achieved sales growth of 500 percent for two consecutive years.
Online retail sales in China reached 34 trillion baht (approx. US$1 trillion) in 2017, up 32.2 percent year-on-year, said Ronnakon Saelee, head of marketing at Annabella. China's online shopping market is huge and boasts great potential, yet the various international brands that have entered the market face fierce peer competition. Dependent on traditional sales models, companies cannot afford high advertising costs, while the barrier to entry is steep, making it difficult to establish brand awareness and establish a reputation among the target consumer demographic or segment in a short amount of time.
Mr. Saelee said that Annabella selected Global Scanner as the platform to partner with for their entry into the Chinese market mainly as a result of its influence among 40 million highly loyal users in its role and positioning as an emerging social e-commerce business. Through the sales model based on "trust + share", Annabella is confident that it will be able to touch the hearts of Chinese consumers in the shortest time.
