Global end-to-end travel platform Airbnb, is creating new revenue streams for Phuket through connecting global travellers with a broad range of accommodation offerings and unique experiences on the island.

Airbnb travellers seek out local and authentic experiences, and choose to spend their money in the local neighbourhoods they visit.

Airbnb guests are voting with their feet with guest arrivals to Phuket reaching 320,000 in the past 12 months – a growth of 61 per cent year over year – with guests staying in boutique hotels, vacation rentals and local homes. With guest experience a top priority, 80 per cent of hosts in Phuket have received the highest 5-star rating on Airbnb. Airbnb’s top guest origin markets to Phuket include China, the United States, Russia, Hong Kong, Singapore and the United Kingdom.

With Phuket’s future intertwined with the health of the island’s tourism, Airbnb is attracting a different kind of traveller who seeks local, authentic and sustainable travel accommodation and experiences. This new generation of traveller is actively finding ways to make impactful and meaningful travel a key part of its lifestyle.

Mike Orgill, General Manager for Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan, Airbnb shared, “Airbnb’s proposition is diverse and complements Phuket’s current offerings. Airbnb travellers are not your average tourist, they are looking for something different and unique, whether it’s a modern villa, a creative boutique hotel or a traditional homestay.

“Seventy-nine per cent of our guests book with us because they want to live like a local, and when they travel they spend in the local neighbourhoods and communities they visit.

“It’s this type of guest that is adding a new and positive dimension to Phuket, and is being welcomed by a large part of the island’s tourism economy,” he said.

Currently, the company has some 2 million customers in Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippine, Hong Kong, Australia, the US, and Europe.

The business expansion will focus on Asian countries like Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, and Hong Kong, he said.

“We will invest on average about Bt20 million at each of our new branches, which will combine flagship shop and Pomelo’s pick-up shop,” Jou said yesterday, before the opening ceremony of its flagship store in Singapore today.

To pursue its aggressive investment plan, the company intends to raise capital, he said.

Its branch in Singapore is the first one outside Thailand; Bangkok has seven branches. The company has invested Bt60 million in its Singapore flagship store, located in Somerset.

The company also plans to open a flagship store in Phuket in the third quarter of this year with an investment of about Bt60 million, Jou said.

The company will open five new branches in Thailand this year, spending on average Bt20 million to Bt30 million per branch, depending on the size of branch, he said.

Jou, 33, and his friends decided to establish Pomelo in Bangkok in 2014 when he saw the potential for omni-channel fashion style for women in the country.

“Thailand has the most number of people on Facebook, the highest in the region and among the highest in the world. E-commerce through business-to-business and business-to-customers is also higher than other countries in the region. That is the reason why we set up the business in Thailand,” Jou said.

According to the latest reports by the Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA), Thai eCommerce grew the most in the Asean region last year, due to changes in consumer behaviour, and its value is expected to hit Bt3.2 trillion.

ETDA has been collecting these statistics since 2014. When comparing the number of internet users over the past 10 years, there were only 16.1 million internet users in 2008; latest information revealed that in 2017, there were 45.2 million users.

Jou estimates the value of the fashion market in Thailand – both online and offline – to be worth up to Bt150 billion in 2018, with up to 15 per cent from the online market. With double digit growth annually, he expects the fashion online market to achieve up to 40 per cent growth in 2023.

“Although the fashion market has high competition, most of them are in the traditional system.

We are combining digital technology and platform to do this business with our business growing on average 200 per cent a year since we started this business in Thailand,” Jou said.

The company has employed 500 staff in Thailand, Indonesia, and China, with up to 70 per cent of them in Thailand. The company is also collaborating with more than 1,000 firms in the supply chain, including manufacturers of its products, warehouse and logistics system.

“We have more than 3,000 women’s fashion products. We will expand our production to include men. This is the way to increase our customers and drive our business growth for the long term,” Jou said.

Technological disruption will be a challenge for everybody, said Candelino, not just for one industry or sector.

“All of us need to recognise the inevitability of a digital future, and as such we all have to figure out how to evolve from our legacy models to future-proofed models.

“At Unilever, we are approaching this evolution similar to how we have done for all major changes throughout our long history – by focusing on being the best partner to all our |customers, by having great products that are purposeful and add value to people’s lives, and by remaining the most preferred employer in Thailand by attracting leaders who want to help shape the future in a positive way,” he said.

“We remain very excited about the dynamism and opportunity of the Thai market,” said Candelino.

“Unilever has been in operation here for 87 years and today our |products are enjoyed by every Thai three times a day.”

The company is proud of its local history, particularly its relationship with retailers of all types – who it calls “partners”.

“We must and we will continue to prepare ourselves for the inevitable changes that we foresee,” said Candelino. “Principal among them is the opportunity that the digital |revolution offers in terms of how we can better serve our |customers and consumers. Clearly, digitisation will affect every aspect of human life, including how we all will shop in the future. This will likely mean that all retailers will have a digital or e-commerce capability, because it is our expectation that consumers will continue to seek the convenience and efficiency of shopping wherever, whenever they want. As always, we are ready for this change and working with all our retail partners to harness the opportunity.”

Candelino said that Unilever has a very clear purpose as a company – “to make sustainable living commonplace”. This purpose is underpinned by its three core beliefs – that brands with purpose grow, companies with purpose last and people with purpose thrive.

That central focus on purpose is key. “Purposeful organisations, led by the most purposeful people, often |generate the best performance over the long term,” he said.

“Our operational strategy, therefore, is rather simple. We will continue to lead our industry by delivering superior products that are preferred by people and contribute to make our societies better for the long term. We will increase our commitment to sustainability, including and especially in reducing plastic waste. We have already made clear our commitment to be 100 per cent recyclable, recycled or compostable by 2025 on all our plastics worldwide.

“Lastly, we will continue to recruit, train and develop the very best talent available.”

Delivering consistent growth ahead of the markets remains the company’s goal, he said, adding, it was reflected in its commitment to remain a leader in the current segments while creating new products, services and partnerships to accelerate growth. “As leader, we are constantly pioneering new models for our business. In retail we are supporting small-hold mum and pop shops through our Ran Tid Dao programme, which provides mentoring and coaching for small retailers on how to help their business grow.

“We have a direct-selling business for ice cream through our ‘I’m Wall’s’ programme, which was invented in Thailand 30 years ago and provides employment opportunities for salesmen across the country to deliver ice cream direct to consumers. Equally we are working with all of our retail partners, new and existing, on how we can better serve them as they evolve on their own journey

In short, says Candelino, Unilever has enjoyed success “because we have always been on the leading edge of all major changes in our industry and this will indeed remain our goal into the future”.

 The company’s top management and invited guests welcomed Her Royal Highness on her arrival at SM Tower in Bangkok.

The Princess received a donation for her charity from Thai Union chairman Kraisorn Chansiri and chairman of the executive board Cheng Niruttinanon, while president and CEO Thiraphong Chansiri gave an introduction about Thai Union and the GIC.

The Princess then officially opened the Global Innovation Centre, followed by Dr Tunyawat Kasemsuwan, Thai Union’s Global innovation director, presenting an exhibition about the work of the GIC.

The Princess also visited the global food operation room of the centre and demonstrated her own recipe of Som Tam Tuna.

The platform features various management tools, such as drug retail management, stock management, patient information records and accounting. It will also offer back office management to allow pharmacies to directly order drugs from around 25 pharmaceutical manufactures in real time. With the aim of providing an easy and accessible platform, it will also allow customers or patients to pay the cost of drugs via e-payment, including QR code and Rabbit Line Pay. It also runs on cloud computing. The platform also supports “Good Pharmacy Practice” (GPP), a standard that responds to the needs of the people who use the pharmacist’s services to provide optimal, evidence-based care.

“We started in the healthcare business three years ago, with the aim to help pharmacy shops utilise information technology and solutions to support their business,” explained Teera. Each day about 2 million Thais walk in to one of 24,000 pharmacies nationwide to purchase pills and other drugs, but most of the shops do not currently use IT to support their business, he said.

“We therefore spent around six months developing the e-pharmacy platform to support pharmacies nationwide. The platform also serves as an e-marketplace between drug stores and drug manufacturers,” said Teera.

ArinCare is also partnering Samitivej Hospital to refer patients to the hospital, with the service designed for those customers who are ill and want to meet the doctor at the hospital.

The pharmacy, for its part, can exchange the patient’s drug information with the hospital, as well as refer a patient to the hospital. As a result, a patient does not need to repeatedly inform the doctor whenever they go to hospital or the history of the medication they have used. However, the doctor will be able to access patient information through a one-time password. The platform will also connect with an insurance company in the next two years.

Teera said that around 2,700 pharmacies nationwide currently use the e-pharmacy platform, and expect around 40 per cent growth to 4,000 shops in 2020. The firm is also planning to offer the platform to the international market, including India and Indonesia, within the next two years.

“We want to improve healthcare services in the country and create community-based healthcare ecosystem to improve the quality of life for Thai people as a whole,” said Teera.

Soopachai Nillawan, chief executive of NEN360 Co Ltd, together with Kritthi Manolayakun, managing director of Music Application JOOX and Warawut Jenthanakul, chief executive of Zense Entertainment Co Ltd, announced the launch of eight new singles of the last eight contestants at the Country Idol Season 1 program to be listened at the first place on the JOOX application music from today onwards. The new single launch will be conducted along with activities set to invite votes “Country Idol”, the first of Thailand through music application JOOX. By this project, NEN 360 is responsible for music production, including the development and in charge for the promotion of the group of eight finalists from the Country Idol Season 1 program to become full professional singers.

CP Foods and BKP encourage suppliers to achieve sustainable labour practices

Charoen Pokphand Foods Plc (CP Foods) and its subsidiary Bangkok Produce Merchandising PCL (BKP) have teamed up with Thailand’s Department of Labour Protection and Welfare to improve labour practice of local suppliers, ensuring traceability and sustainability of both companies’ supply chain.

BKP, which provided the raw materials for CP Foods, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare to jointly develop stakeholders in its supply chain to apply sustainable practices for workers under “The Joint Development Project for Suppliers to Achieve Thai Labour Standard”.

The public-private project aims at improving well-being of workers as well as ensuring a fair treatment toward all labours in Thailand.

Wiwat Tanhong, Director General of the Department, said the department will arrange training and workshop to CP Foods’ suppliers. The project will focus on providing concerned knowledge on labour management including recruitment and selection, working hours, welfare and benefits, fair practices as well as child labour, forced labour and human-trafficking protection. In addition, it will also encourage those companies to realize more on safety environment in line with Thai Labour Standard (TLS).

“The government has a clear goal to develop efficiency and effectiveness of Thai labour to meet with Thai laws and international labour standards. We aim to upgrade their living standards and strengthen suppliers’ businesses through sustainable operation focusing on labour management system under TLS. This will create sustainable benefits to Thailand in term of economy, society and export competitiveness in global arena,” he noted.

In an exclusive interview with The Nation, Michel said Metro was looking into expanding to Mandalay, Nay Pyi Taw, Taunggyi and other prominent cities in Myanmar in the next few months, a plan that is buoyed by the company’s strong performance since its entry in March.

“We are constantly expanding our customer base and have set a very ambitious target. You will see good news in the very near future,” he predicted.

“The market response to our launch has been absolutely phenomenal. We have experienced huge customer interest in what we are doing, and have seen an enormous amount of new customers coming [to the Metro booth at the Food and Hotel Myanmar 2019].”

According to Michel, the Myanmar operation now has more than 300 HoReCa (hotels, restaurants and caterers) as customers, with Metro delivering fresh and high-quality food to them on a daily basis.

“We are now on the right track, and will continue to keep up the good work and will try to accelerate our growth,” he said.

“By some miracle, the way we engage with the market and customers, the feedback we are receiving shows pure market leadership for us, particularly in the HoReCa segment.”

Michel said the majority of Metro’s customers are local companies, including mega-hotel groups and big names as well as small and medium-sized enterprises. Currently, more than 2,500 |products are available in the market, and Michel foresees a substantial increase in the firm’s product line.

“We would like to double it in the next few months, but that depends on market demand. We don’t believe that will be an issue, because demand for our products is on the rise in Myanmar,” he said.

“We are very focused on Myanmar – on HoReCa as well as the trade segment and small companies. We are here in a highly emerging market, and do not underestimate its potential. We are always looking at how to achieve our target by working closely with local partners and our customer base.”

Michel said Metro will focus on building a successful business in Myanmar, though it needs to be aware of the nation’s political environment.

“We really drive for innovation, progress and market leadership. Myanmar as a country has significant opportunities in itself. But it will require someone to take leadership to innovate for the market to grow further … this is what we are doing,” he said.

Wide range of products

“We are conducting general and modern trade. This will enable our customer base to benefit from a wide range of products. We help customers to spend more time on their own businesses, focus on their own vision and strategies, while we take care of all food and non-food items they require as well as delivery to their businesses.”

The firm has a 5,800-square-metre warehouse in the Thilawa special economic zone where incoming goods are stored and packed in compliance with food safety standards for delivery to customers. For logistics, it has partnered with Kospa, a joint venture between Yoma Strategic Holdings and Japan’s Kokubu & Co.

“In terms of logistics, we aim to apply our framework and quality standards. Kospa is a very strong partner, so we do not foresee any changes,” he said.

The firm now has 150 employees in Myanmar, and 92 per cent of them are locals. Michel is confident the company could easily double or triple the number of employees in the next few years.

To date, the firm has invested around 10 million euros (Bt354 million), and will keep boosting its investment in Myanmar, he added.

“At the moment, a lot of investment is going into technology, as we are driving for market leadership in e-commerce as well as in our physical expansion,” he said.

Michel said the company tries to source at least 70 to 75 per cent of its products locally, while the remainder is imported from different countries, with a focus on neighbouring nations, including Thailand.

Earlier this year, Metro Wholesale Myanmar secured a US$20 million (Bt634 million) loan from International Finance Corporation, which Michel said is a great partner.

“There are a lot more opportunities for collaboration with IFC beyond their financing facilities. Working with IFC on these facilities has been very positive for us and it enables us to drive our market expansion in terms of geographical coverage,” he said.

Michel said Metro was constantly looking at strategic partnerships, adding that openness to innovation, transparency and consistency |were critical to the selection of |partners.

“We are in active discussions with several local partners to accelerate the expansion of our footprint. We are very excited about their interest, and are confident that we will be successful,” he said.