Charles Brewer, chief executive officer of DHL eCommerce, said that Thailand has huge potential for growth in the logistic and e-commerce sector.
Brewer, who said the company also aimed to have up to 2,500 service points by the end of next year, said that e-commerce accounted for 2.4 per cent of the total retail market in Thailand, and this segment was expected to grow 22 per cent a year until 2020.
“The country therefore has the potential for e-commerce to grow by more than three to four times. Thailand’s e-commerce market will reach 4 billion euros in 2020,” Brewer said.
The company’s same-day service, DHL Parcel Metro, will ship parcels of up to 20 kilograms from retailers to their customers.
The service allows customers to enjoy a late cut-off of up to 12 pm for same-day delivery within Bangkok, Pathumthani, Nonthaburi and Samut Prakan provinces. The service fee charge starts at Bt100.
“Thailand is a fantastic country to do business in and not only e-commerce,” Brewer said. “Thailand is now the second country in which we provide same-say deliveries to the market. The firm announced same-day deliveries in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi in Vietnam last month and expects to provide this service in Kuala Lumpur in the next step.”
He said that the same-day delivery service in global market in 2016 accounts for less than 1 per cent of the total and that this is expected to jump to 22 per cent by 2025. McKinsey reports that demand for same-day delivery is expected to increase by over 43 per cent a year worldwide and that retailers that offer this service see significant advantages in e-commerce.
Brewer said that the firm would later provide new services that use drones, artificial intelligence, robotics and PostBot.
Kiattichai Pitpreecha, managing director for Southeast Asia at DHL |e-Commerce, said the firm will have around 1,000 e-commerce shops by the end of the year.