Pasitt Munkongkuntivong, general manager of Watsons Thailand, said the company is moving towards bridging the online and offline shopping experience this year by connecting and meeting the needs of digital era customers.

“In 2018, we saw a continuous expansion of both Watsons physical stores and e-commerce, as well as solid progress in the O+O (online and offline) experience enhancement. In 2019, Watsons aims to continue pushing the integration of the offline and online shopping experiences and fulfil the lifestyle needs of Watsons customers through the O+O strategy,” said Pasitt.

“Since last year, e-commerce sales have grown 248 per cent because we provide a wide range of trustworthy products and always provide the best deal with the convenience of 24-hour access, convenient payment options and strong social connectivity,” Pasitt said

This year, Watsons will take a bold step in improving the digital experience, customer centricity, in-store technology and engagement by developing a Watsons application, increasing the wide range of products, providing promotions as well as multi-payment channels, he said.

Pasitt said that Watsons has also launched its new concept store, G8, which uses technology to enhance customer experience. G8 stores are now open at three major shopping centres in Bangkok: Iconsiam, Siam Square and the Mall Bangkapi.

The highlight of the G8 store is StyleMe, an augmented reality-enabled (AR) technology that offers virtual makeup service and product recommendations.

In 2019, Watsons will increase its investment budget to over Bt630 million to improve customers’ shopping experience, including the expansion of its physical stores, he said.

“We [Watsons] are continuing to expand our new stores to cover all of Thailand. After celebrating 500 stores in 2018, we will open another 50 stores by the end of the year. Along with the new store expansion, Watsons will refit approximately 75 existing stores,” he said, adding that all the new expansions this year will be G8 concept stores.

Amazon is not setting up a company, but creating a dedicated team in Thailand aimed at helping Thai sellers, brand owners and manufacturers to explore online export opportunities and to expand their international business by reaching more than 300 million Amazon global customers.

Bernard Tay, director of Amazon Global Selling Southeast Asia, said that Thailand is the second office in Asean after Singapore that will focus on helping Thai businesses benefit from cross-border commerce via Amazon e-marketplace platforms, with 18 websites, but starting with amazon.com.

“Amazon Global Selling has a regional office in Singapore. Thailand is the first office in Southeast Asia outside Singapore. This shows how much importance we attach to the Thai market,” said Tay.

He said the setting up of a dedicated team in Thailand was because of the Kingdom’s emerging manufacturing base, constant export growth of 7 per cent and the government’s digital transformation policy.

“We have just started a dedicated team. We hope to build more confidence and educate sellers in the beginning,” said Tay.

The team will provide educational support to potential Thai sellers with respect to selling on Amazon on-boarding process including account registration, listing creation, account operation, and Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA). Sellers will benefit from FBA’s bulk shipment, meaning more economies of scale and warehousing, especially for quick shipment. It has partnered with many logistics and transport companies

Revenue models are service fee (monthly fee), commission and FBA service charge.

The company will focus on the first five priority product categories which are high-potential Thai products like toys, apparel, home products, sport and pet products. These five product categories are in high demand from customers in the US while Thailand is strong in these products.

“We are cooperating with some government organisations and other partners to educate Thai sellers. However, there is no policy level cooperation with the government like what Alibaba did with the Thai government,” said Tay.

The global e-commerce trend shows that e-commerce grew 4 times faster than the retail market. In 2018, the e-commerce market grew by 23 per cent while retail market growth was 6 per cent. The cross-border B2C e-commerce market is growing rapidly and is expected to reach 27 and 29 per cent of total global B2C e-commerce in 2019 and 2020 respectively. It increased from 20 per cent in 2018.

On the Amazon platform, sales by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) were only 3 per cent in 1999 but jumped to 58 per cent in 2018. Amazon said it has helped SMEs worldwide do business and around 200,000 SMEs generate more than US$100,000 in sales on Amazon. Over 50 per cent of products available on Amazon are contributed by SMEs.

Amazon Global Selling has 18 websites with businesses from 130 countries selling on AGS. It also has 175 fulfilment centres that can deliver products to customers in 185 countries and regions. Customers now have more choices, with easier access to products from other markets.

The Bt150 reusable cup is now available at all its stores, as Starbucks aims to reduce its environmental footprint and positively impact the communities it serves. Customers will also receive a Bt10 discount for each purchase with a reusable cup, so the cup pays for itself after 15 uses.

The reusable cup is nearly identical to the Starbucks iconic white cup. It is made from polypropylene, which is specially designed to make the cup sturdier than paper.

Globally, an estimated 600 billion paper and plastic cups are distributed annually. Starbucks cups account for around 1 per cent of that total, and the restaurant says it is committed to bring more sustainable solutions to reduce waste. Since 2014, Starbucks has offered the reusable cup in the US, Canada and the UK, and has so far sold more than 25 million globally.

“We’ve seen an increase in public awareness and concern for the plastics waste issue in recent years. We’re proud to provide a reusable option in all Starbucks stores in Thailand without making sacrifices to our customers’ daily coffee ritual,” said Nednapa Srisamai, managing director of Starbucks Coffee (Thailand). “We’ll continue to work with all related parties to find solutions and encourage our customers to choose reusability whenever possible.”

Since beginning its business operations in Thailand in 1998, Starbucks has been encouraging customers to reuse their cups, and since 2013 has offered a Bt10 discount to those who purchase a beverage with their personal cups. Together, Starbucks and customers in Thailand have helped save more than 10 million single-use plastic and paper cups, according to a company press release.

In addition, Starbucks joined the US Green Building Council (USGBC) in 2001 and collaborated with them to develop the LEED for Retail programme, an effort to adapt LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) to new construction and commercial interiors and achieve “greener stores.” As of 2019, Starbucks is operating more than 1,500 LEED-certified stores in 20 countries. In line with the company’s global direction, Starbucks Thailand has committed to the initiative and achieved over 50 LEED -certified stores.

“We now look to the future of Greener Retail and aim to design, build, and operate 10,000 stores globally by 2025,” said Nednapa.

Earth Day is also a time to celebrate the company’s long-term global commitment to focus on sustainability. Last year, Starbucks committed US$10 million (Bt318 million) to develop a fully recyclable and compostable hot cup, in partnership with Closed Loop Partners, through the NextGen Cup Challenge, and recently announced plans to trial cup technologies in several markets worldwide over the next year.

The company is also working to phase out plastic straws from its more than 30,000 stores worldwide by 2020, eliminating more than 1 billion straws a year – a goal that was announced last July. Plastic straws will be replaced by a newly redesigned, lightweight recyclable strawless lid that will begin rolling out this summer to select cities. (Plastic straws will continue to be available upon request for Starbucks customers who need or request them.)