DeskTop survives onslaught from the mobile app
- Smartphones are driving Thailand’s e-commerce boon, but desktop purchasing maintains its relevance
E-commerce is the name of the game in Asia and Thailand is leading the way with mobile-driven offerings, but desktop usage remains surprisingly relevant for certain types of purchases.
The predominance of mobile usage for e-commerce was highlighted in a 2018 survey by shopping and rewards platform ShopBack, including 1,500 merchants across Southeast Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand). Among this group, Thai people showed the strongest preference for making purchases via the mobile app, according to ShopBack data. It is a clear sign that mobile internet accessibility has improved drastically over the past five years.
“With the launch of 3G in 2013 and, subsequently, 4G in 2016, Thailand’s internet coverage extends even to its rural areas. About half of the population maintains a social media presence through instant messaging applications and Facebook. Furthermore, a significant amount of time is spent on social media, with Thai urbanites interacting on social media for longer periods of time (2.9 hours per day) than the global average (1.7 hours per day)” said a Deloitte Thailand Consumer Survey from November 2016.
Around Asia, the number of mobile users is increasing exponentially. A Google and Temasek report from 2016 estimated that about 3.8 million new users would come online each month in Southeast Asia, the fastest growing region globally for internet, from 2015 to 2020. A follow-up report estimated there were 330 million monthly active internet users in the region at the end of 2017.
“In Southeast Asia, mobile is the internet, as more than 90 per cent of Southeast Asia’s internet users are on smartphones. It is hard to overestimate the absolute prominence of mobile as the access point and driver of Southeast Asia’s internet economy. Users in Southeast Asia are incredibly engaged, spending an average of 3.6 hours per day on mobile internet, more than in any other region in the world,” Google and Temasek’s “e-conomy SEA: Unlocking the $200B Digital Opportunity” release read.
With the launch of 3G in 2013 and, subsequently, 4G in 2016, Thailand’s internet coverage extends even to its rural areas. About half of the population maintains a social media presence through instant messaging applications and Facebook
Factors for this growth include a young population with 70 per cent younger than 40, a lack of big-box retail and rapidly growing middle-class, according to Google and Temasek, who estimate a regional economy worth more than US$200 billion and an e-commerce market of US$88 billion by 2025.
