Free postage for e-commerce

Competition on the mobile shopping market continues to heat up, with sellers looking for new ways to attract customers. To capitalise on the trend, Thailand Post is teaming up with Shopee to lure potential buyers with the promise of free delivery.

Smorn Terdthampiboon, chief executive of Thailand Post, said Thailand’s e-commerce market had grown an average of 20% annually, largely thanks to the proliferation of mobile devices across the country.

“As a mobile-first country, where 40 million people now access the internet on their smartphones, Thailand has one of the highest potential mobile shopping markets in Asia-Pacific,” she said.

Thailand Post yesterday signed a partnership agreement with Shopee, a Singapore-based mobile shopping app firm, to provide free delivery service for customers purchasing products and services at its Shopee site.

Shopee will deliver products purchased from the site weighing no more than 250 grammes free of charge.

Under the agreement, Shopee’s merchants will have to pay the cost of delivery in advance for their customers. Shopee will then reimburse the merchants at a later date.

“We believe our free delivery marketing approach can boost our online sales this year, leading to more orders,” said Terence Pang, regional managing director of Shopee.

Customers can download the Shopee app at Apple’s App Store and Android’s Google Play Store. Shopee currently has more than 200,000 merchants on its site.

Mr Pang said Shopee was confident in partnering with Thailand Post, given the nationwide reach of the state enterprise and the reliability of its delivery service.

“We expect to see strong growth in the Thai online shopping market this year,” he said.

Shopee has made its mobile shopping presence felt in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand.

Ms Smorn also said Thailand Post is in talks with Line Corporation and SK Planet to provide a similar free delivery service.