Thailand
Thailand: Local firms urged to push B2B e-commerce
Local businesses should embark on business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce to ride the wave of the flourishing segment, expected to surge to US$20.9 trillion in sales globally by 2027, says DHL Express, a major international express service provider.
“Local businesses urgently need to gear up for B2B e-commerce adoption within 1-2 years to keep up with the rapid change in global trade during the pandemic,” said Herbert Vongpusanachai, managing director of DHL Express Thailand and head of Indochina.
“The transformation of the B2B e-commerce sector is picking up pace, and businesses that want to make the most of cross-border opportunities will need to adapt to this fast-evolving purchase behaviour nimbly.”
Parichart Pramukkul, vice-president for commercial of DHL Express Thailand, said the company’s whitepaper ‘The Ultimate B2B E-commerce Guide: Tradition is out. Digital is in’ shows that a strong growth of B2B e-commerce would be seen by 2025, when 80% of all B2B sales between suppliers and professional buyers happen in digital channels.
A report by research and advisory firm Gartner shows 64% of B2B companies worldwide plan to invest in e-commerce websites.
The impact of the pandemic on the pace of digitalisation and the purchasing behaviour of technology-savvy millennials, who are the professional B2B decision-makers, are the main drivers of this global e-commerce growth and impact rapid change of the B2B supply chain, said Ms Parichart.
Millennials account for 73% of all professional B2B purchasing decisions, she said.
As digital natives, their experiences in the business-to-customer (B2C) sector, translate to high expectations when making B2B transactions, pushing companies to invest in digital solutions, such as selling platforms, while offering great growth potential and optimising cross border e-commerce channels.
In 2019, before the pandemic, global sales on B2B e-commerce sites and marketplaces had already increased by 18.2% year-on-year to reach $12.2 trillion, according to statistics portal Statista. This growth outpaced the market size of the B2C sector.
The global B2B e-commerce volume is expected to reach $20.9 trillion by 2027, the whitepaper indicates.
Ms Parichart said international firms in Thailand are quite ready for B2B e-commerce adoption, particularly those producing electronic parts and technology products.
“Local firms need to rush to adjust their corporate information websites to fully support B2B e-commerce from ordering to payment approaches and they should also consider participating in global e-marketplace platforms too,” she said.
Cross-border global B2C sales are expected to reach $4.8 trillion by 2026, quadrupling from 2020, when it reached $1.2 trillion driven by the pandemic.
“For Thailand, cross-border B2C operators mainly supply dried food, seasoning, auto parts and handmade products” said Ms Parichart.
Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/2105987/local-firms-urged-to-push-b2b-e-commerce