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Thailand: New discount scheme to ease hardships
The Commerce Ministry has teamed up with 11 digital platforms to roll out new discount campaigns, running until Feb 28, to relieve economic hardship amid the pandemic.
According to Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit, more than 100,000 shops are participating in the new campaign, with 1 million products and service items available.
The 11 digital platforms participating in the scheme comprise Foodpanda, Grab, Lineman, Robinhood, Gojek, Lazada, Shopee, Ohlala, Lalamove, JatujakMall and Thailand Post via Thailandpostmart.com.
According to Mr Jurin, the campaign offers discounts in four main categories: foods and beverages; delivery fees; utility payment fees such as power and water bills; and purchases from fresh markets.
He said the campaign offers steep discounts of up to 60% for the purchase of food and beverages, and a reduction in delivery fees of 20-100%, depending on the provider.
Buyers purchasing goods from fresh markets via Foodpanda, Grab, Lineman, Robinhood and Lalamove are entitled to receive special services.
The platforms are lowering the commission fee, also known as a gross profit fee, by 50-100% for merchants who sell in fresh markets and make use of the platforms’ delivery services.
Gojek, Southeast Asia’s leading on-demand multi-service platform, on Thursday announced it would offer discounts of up to 30% and free delivery on GoFood, Gojek’s food delivery service, during Feb 4-28.
The initiative is part of a collaboration with the Department of Internal Trade under the Commerce Ministry’s nationwide discount campaign.
Discounts offered as part of this campaign will be applicable to food orders on GoFood every day and at all partner merchants.
Gojek is also offering free delivery for the first three kilometres from 9-11.59pm daily.
Lalitphatr Chaimongkol, head of merchants for Gojek Thailand, said Gojek has been working closely with several government agencies to identify ways to assist its merchant and driver partners and users given the challenges posed by Covid-19.
The company’s services continue to play a crucial role in fulfilling people’s everyday needs and enabling social distancing for many members of the public.
Gojek is also stepping up its educational outreach to partners and consumers regarding the precautions they can take in line with the government’s health guidelines to ensure a safe environment.
According to Mr Jurin, the latest campaign is expected to help save over 500 million baht in consumer spending during the pandemic.
Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/2062775/new-discount-scheme-to-ease-hardships