“SMEs in Thailand have  potential to succeed  in doing business on Alibaba.com if they can add innovation to their products,” said Jerry Wu, country manager of Alibaba Thailand.
Most Alibaba members from Thailand are buyers, and Alibaba hopes to see more sellers from this country using the site.
The company is cooperating with the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC) to train SMEs that want to apply for Alibaba membership. After the training, the SMEs can decide for themselves whether they are ready to sell their products on Alibaba.
The Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank of Thailand wants to motivate SMEs, especially the 60,000-70,000 that are exporters, to give importance to e-commerce. In cooperation with two state enterprises and the UTCC, SME Bank has selected 20 enterprises from upcountry to join a three-day training programme with the university, said bank president Mongkol Leelatham.
The training will take place from November 11-13. After the session, the UTCC will host a trip for SMEs interested in examining the working culture of Alibaba.
The 20 enterprises will be innovators that are models for general enterprises that should consider e-commerce as a new distribution channel, Mongkol said. SME Bank, the Export-Import Bank of Thailand, the Department of Industrial Promotion and the UTCC will act as bridges to lead SMEs into e-commerce.
Pasu Loharnchun, director-general of the Industrial Promotion Department, said that according to the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, the value of e-commerce this year is projected to grow by 12.42 per cent to Bt2.52 trillion.
Business-to-business commands more than half of total e-commerce value in the country. Having a strong partner like Alibaba.com will help increase the number of Thai SMEs participating in e-commerce, which will be a boost to the economy, he said.
Hatyai Canning Co, one of the 20 SMEs that were selected by SME Bank and Exim Bank, has revamped its packaging of toddy-palm products in preparation for selling them on Alibaba.
Meanwhile, SME Bank reported that in the third quarter, it extended new lending of Bt26.25 billion to 8,823 SMEs, bringing its outstanding loans to Bt91.89 billion. Non-performing loans were worth Bt18.98 billion, representing 20.66 per cent of the total.
Mongkol said the bank still believed it could achieve the 2016 targets of new loans of Bt35 billion and NPLs of Bt18 billion.