11st launches in Thailand

Online open market 11st has launched in Thailand, its operator SK Planet said Thursday.

Thailand is 11st’s fourth overseas expansion following launches in Turkey in 2013, Indonesia in 2014, and Malaysia in 2015. 

The launch in Thailand will begin with over 3 million products across eight categories including fashion, electronics, and leisure. There will also be deals offered for a limited time with products curated by 11st. 

“We saw that Thailand’s e-commerce sector has huge growth potential considering the country’s population,” a spokesperson for SK Planet said. 

The e-commerce industry in Thailand is expected to grow by over 20 percent annually for the next few years, from $1.5 billion in 2016 to over $4 billion in 2020, according to SK Planet. In addition, the proportion of mobile transactions in e-commerce is expected to grow from 28 percent in 2016 to 45 percent in 2020.

Seller support services will be provided by 11st in Thailand as well, with three “seller campuses” scheduled to be opened in Bangkok this year. The 9,000 sellers who will be operating on 11st Thailand will be able to take classes on how to maximize their business and use a studio to photograph their products. They will also be able to utilize the campuses’ meeting rooms. 

Since 2013, SK Planet has unseated eBay in Turkey, taking the top e-commerce spot there. It is among the top three players in Indonesia and Malaysia. 

In Thailand, the company will face competition from local markets iTrueMart and WeLoveShopping, both owned by the Thai-based Ascend Group, as well as Lazada, which is run by China’s Alibaba. Alibaba paid $1 billion in April last year to run Lazada, which operates in six Southeast Asian markets including Indonesia and Thailand.

By Won Ho-jung (hjwon@heraldcorp.com)