ICC beefs up e-commerce channel

SET-listed ICC International, the marketing arm for fashion and beauty under Saha Group, the consumer goods conglomerate, is strengthening its e-commerce business in response to more people sheltering at home during the pandemic.

Surat Wongratanapassorn, vice-president for information technology, said ICC is developing a central catalogue to sell all kinds of Saha Group products on one platform.

Currently Saha Group’s subsidiaries sell their products independently. The new central catalogue will be linked to a major online marketplace that includes Lazada, JD and Shopee.

The company expects to start selling via the marketplace in a few months.

“With the long lockdown, people have become familiarised with online shopping, buying more consumer products via this channel,” said Mr Surat. “We believe the popularity of online shopping will last long term, even after the pandemic is over. We have to work to draw more customers to shop online.”

ICC started its online business six years ago on the e-Thailandbest platform, which now has 2 million followers.

ICC has 36 Facebook accounts for its fashion brands such as Arrow and Wacoal, with 10 million and 5 million followers, respectively.

As of December 2019, online contributed 5% to ICC total’s sales or 500 million baht. Of the total, over 40% came from both marketplace partners and its e-Thailandbest platform, with the remainder from TV shopping.

He said the company aims to lift online shopping to 20% of total sales in five years.

“The pandemic has meant huge sales losses in many business categories, particularly fashion, which are mainly sold via retail stores. However, the lockdown forced our staff to quickly adopt digital technology,” Mr Surat said.

After malls closed in March, ICC allowed 4,000 staff to link to the company’s social media such as Facebook and Line to sell ICC products to their friends via their Facebook and Line accounts, leading online sales growth of 60-70% the first quarter.