SCG subsidiary focuses on digital

SCG Cement-Building Materials, the construction products subsidiary of SCG Group, is confident that revenue from e-commerce channels will reach 100 million baht this year, given the trend in online purchasing transactions.

Last year, the unit had sales of just 10 million baht on its online platform.

Nithi Patarachoke, vice-president for building products and distribution business, said the company is focusing on the e-commerce channel, which is becoming more popular among Thai buyers.

Thailand’s younger generation is a key indicator of fast-growing e-commerce, he said.

“This channel is favourable for global operations, including the Thai market, and SCG is capable of distributing and supplying construction products directly to customers,” Mr Nithi said. “The company has many products on our online platform, the SCG Online Store, and we expect to increase inventory to 1,000 stock-keeping units (SKUs) in 2018.”

Mr Nithi expects to add products and reach 10,000 SKUs in the next few years.

SCG Cement-Building Materials posted 2017 revenue of 175 billion baht, up 3%, but profit fell by 15% to 7.2 billion baht because the local market has become aggressively competitive and the company has yet to recover.

The company has 400 dealers and 7,000 sub-dealers nationwide.

Mr Nithi said the company also has a policy to upgrade its dealers to access and utilise a digital platform to support their business and adapt to changing consumer behaviour.

“They will stay behind other competitors if they don’t shift to digital technology,” he said. “The company wants to transform 400 dealers into digital partners, and we will provide a training programme and transfer marketing know-how to them.”

Recently, SCG has had 10 digital partners from 400 dealers, and it expects to seek more than 10 partners by 2018.

Mr Nithi said the company has also developed artificial intelligence (AI) and introduced chatbots for frequently asked questions from customers, aiming to create a database and provide automated answers about product names, home-related questions and GPS-enabled store locations.

The company’s digital platform was previously launched as SCG’s online store and digital payment solutions, a collaboration with several business partners to make shopping and paying for products more convenient.