Call for national e-marketplace

Platform would support local SMEs

- SUCHIT LEESA-NGUANSUK

E-commerce leaders are proposing the government establish a national e-marketplace as an alternative for local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to promote their products and services.

The move would reduce their reliance on large foreign e-marketplaces that continue to raise commission fees and dominate the e-commerce space.

In Southeast Asia, only Vietnam and Indonesia have successful local e-marketplaces.

In 2024, the value of the Thai e-commerce market was 1 trillion baht, with a 50% share claimed by e-marketplaces, 20% by video commerce, 18% by social commerce, 8% by quick commerce and grocery, and 4% by brand-owned websites, according to Priceza, a shopping search engine and comparison platform.

"Over the past 25 years, the government has attempted to support 20-30 local e-marketplaces, but they all failed," said Pawoot Pongvitayapanu, founder of Tarad.com and honorary president of the Thailand E-Commerce Association.

Of the total, around eight local marketplaces fell out of the market due to lack of massive marketing investments and promotional efforts to attract customers from foreign-owned platforms, he said.

The foreign players made large investments, offered free services and heavily discounted prices, even absorbing losses in an effort to control the market, said Mr Pawoot.