“The majority of our online customers are in Bangkok and key cities. From our data collected by Dunnhumby, 77 per cent of our online customers are female.

“The largest age groups are 25-44 years old. Most online customers are mid- to up-market customers.

“As demand tends to come from customers living in urban areas, Tesco Lotus has recently introduced a new delivery service at lockers located at 48 condominiums along the BTS and MRT lines, in prime residential neighbourhoods such as Sukhumvit, Sathorn, Ratchada, Phayathai and Phaholyotin,” she said.

Every year, the number of digitally savvy customers has grown exponentially, thanks to the spread of the Internet and mobile technology.

“Tesco Lotus pioneered the digital platform in 2012, the first retailer in Thailand to have done so,” she said.

The digital platform comprises two key components.

One is e-commerce. Products are offered to customers through two main online platforms. One is Tesco Lotus Shop Online with more than 20,000 product items, including fresh food.

Customers have the choice of ordering on their computer, tablet or smartphone or via a mobile application.

The other e-commerce outlet is the Tesco Lotus shop on Lazada, where more than 9,000 product items are available.

The other key component is Digital Connection, which Tesco Lotus uses to communicate with its customers every day, through social media and other online channels.

According to data from “We Are Social” last year, there are 38 million Internet users in Thailand, which equates to a 56-per-cent penetration rate. About 45 per cent use the Internet on mobile devices, for year-on-year growth of 30 per cent.

“That’s why Tesco Lotus is focusing more on expanding our digital platform through mobile devices to capture the trend,” Wanna said.

The key success factor behind the rapid growth Tesco Lotus has experienced since 2012 has been customer insight, she said. Armed with this most valuable information, the company has been able to continue innovating services that address the needs of its online customers.

“By constantly listening to what our customers want and need, we innovate services and solutions that address their pain points,” she said.

The new delivery services, including bike delivery, click and collect and locker delivery, are examples of how the company listens to its customers’ needs, she said.

What enables Tesco Lotus to be the No 1 retailer in online grocery shopping is its ability to leverage on its expertise and potential offline, she said, and use that expertise and knowledge of customer behaviour, supply chain and logistics to manage and grow its online platform effectively.

Online sales’ contribution to Tesco Lotus’ overall sales is in the single digits, because of the size of the company’s business.

“However, we aim at least to double the growth of our online sales and order numbers every year, as we have done since the launch of our online business in 2012,” Wanna said.

The online shopping business at Tesco in the UK and other European markets is very mature, compared with Thailand and other Asean markets that, although growing at a rapid rate, are still developing.

The average online basket size for shoppers at Tesco Lotus is 3.5 times as large as at the store.

Online customers’ No 1 thing is convenience. That’s why they are willing to pay a premium to save time otherwise spent going to the store, Wanna said.

The best-selling product categories are cold beverages, household chemicals and cooking needs, such as seasonings. This clearly reflects the hypermarket’s core customers, who are women as well as mothers and homemakers, she said.

As a supplier of steel and module fabrication and erection work to the world’s leading contractors, BTW wants public-company status to gain more trust and confidence from its customers, which include General Electric, Siemens, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Hitachi and Marubeni.

“Given the size of our company, we could be listed on the SET, but we consider the MAI to be more suitable to us,” he said, referring to the Stock Exchange of Thailand’s rule for the company to increase paid-up capital of its subsidiaries to be equal to the parent’s, which it considers unnecessary.

BTW’s debt-to-equity ratio was only 0.48:1 as of the end of March.

The company booked a net profit margin of nearly 35 per cent last year when it reported Bt674.8-million net profit on revenue of Bt1.95 billion. During the first three months of this year, however, it reported net profit of Bt19.43 million, down significantly from Bt421.58 million in the same period of last year.

BTW has not conducted a roadshow to present its businesses to institutional or retail investors. “Our share offering is small,” Chotic explained during an interview with The Nation.

According to its IPO prospectus, BTW operates in the same industry as four listed companies, namely STP&I, BJC Heavy Industries, Sriracha Construction, and Unimit Engineering. Nevertheless, the BTW chief said his company stood more on the “two legs” of business-parts fabrication and module fabrication, while its competitors generally depended on one of the two.

The module fabrication and erection business, which hinges on the oil and gas sector, is in a downturn because of the slump in oil prices. Steel fabrication, which depends on power-plant construction, however, continues to be the “bread and butter” business for BTW, he said.

“Our strength lies in the fact that we’re in the power-plant sector, where quality comes before price. Our customers are the global EPC [engineering, procurement and construction] and engineering companies that have 70-80 per cent of power-plant contracts worldwide.”

Chotic said Thailand’s steel-fabrication industry was competitive and generated Bt50 billion in export income annually.

“And unlike assembly industries that import raw materials that account for more than 70 per cent of their costs, this industry has more value-added created locally. In our case, raw materials such as steel account for no more than 35 per cent of our costs. Labour costs represent a similar share, since we use very high-skilled labour,” he said.

According to its official filing, BTW will use its IPO proceeds for investing in additional machinery and equipment, totalling Bt290 million, another Bt160 million for improving its fabrication facilities in Sattahip district, Chon Buri, and the rest for working capital.

Chotic said BTW was also studying the possibility of entering the renewable-energy business, especially plants that run on biomass, wastewater and garbage.

“We have built many power plants. We would have an advantage over our competitors, which are only investors. The business would generate a stable income” as a buffer for the fluctuating construction business, he said.

Among the firm’s backlog are contracts for boilers and other power-plant parts for General Electric’s projects in Myanmar, Pakistan, Canada and Thailand, and for CMI in the United States.

“It is the assets of my family, not only mine,” the 64-year-old executive said during an interview with The Nation.

EPG is a holding company that earns its income from four main “engines”.

Aeroflex Co provides rubber insulation and accessories for air-conditioning systems, Aeroklas Co handles automotive parts and accessories, Eastern Polypack Co engages in disposable food packaging and plastic sheets, and the fourth engine is joint-venture companies.

Behind the rally of EPG’s share price is the growth of the group’s businesses, which have bucked the trend of the economy.

Last month, the group announced its results for its 2015-16 fiscal year, which ended this March, showing sales revenue of Bt8.77 billion, up 27 per cent from the previous year, and net profit of Bt1.41 billion, a 123-per-cent increase.

After taking nine years to grow its annual revenue from Bt10 million to Bt1 billion in 1987, EPG targets its revenue to top the Bt10-billion mark in its current fiscal year, which ends next March.

Pawat said EPG expected to double its revenue to Bt20 billion within five to seven years, and to maintain its net profit margin in the range of 14-16 per cent, which is quite high for an industrial company.

“If the economy improves and we can produce more, we should be able to maintain or increase [the net profit margin], because we still have technologies and many new products in our pipeline,” he said.

EPG currently owns nearly 100 patents and is in the process of registering or pending approvals of a similar number. The group plans to invest about Bt110 million to Bt120 million in its current fiscal year, equivalent to 1.2 per cent of its total revenue, in direct and indirect research and development.

Pawat said the group’s automotive business was expected to show a big jump of 30 per cent in the current fiscal year, thanks to the introduction of many new products and the growth of its Australian business after its takeover of TJM Products, a manufacturer and distributor of accessories for four-wheel-drive vehicles.

Because of restructuring expenses, TJM booked a loss of US$2 million last year but is expected to break even or turn a profit this year.

Deputy CEO Chalieo Vitoorapakorn said that without the acquisition, EPG would have booked a net profit margin of 20 per cent last year, although its sales revenue would have been Bt900 million lower.

Takorn Tantasith, secretary-general of the National Broadcasting and Telecommu-nications Commission, said yesterday that today AWN would pay the Bt8.04-billion first instalment of the upfront fee and place the required bank guarantee for the remaining instalments. Then the telecom committee will meet today to award the 15-year licence to AWN. The licence will be in effect from this Friday, July 1.

This means the 900MHz band used previously by AIS under the TOT concession will be awarded to AWN, and therefore all 370,000 of the 2G users on that band will be disconnected after midnight June 30.

After the service’s disconnection, AIS will have to return |26 million mobile-phone |numbers to the NBTC for reallocation.

The service shutdown on Thursday night is according to a deadline set for AIS by the military’s ruling National Council for Peace and Order.

AIS originally was supposed |to shut down the 2G service under the concession on March 15 according to an NBTC order, but the company sought an injunction from the Central Administrative Court to defer the shutdown.

The court in March allowed AIS to extend the deadline to April 14.

Later the NCPO allowed AIS to extend the deadline further to June 30.

However, there are still a few million AWN users who roam with the AIS 2G-900MHz network under TOT concession.

TOT president Monchai Noosong said the state agency would talk with AIS before Thursday on how they should proceed next regarding this network.

“We are now in talks with a few local packers in Chiang Mai to acquire them and make them our partners backed by a well-managed administrative system,” managing director Viraj Nobnomtham said.

He added that each packer would funnel many more clients to using its shipment services. This would be the company’s business model for Asean, if successful.

Belgium-based Ecu Wordwide recently achieved its target of becoming a billion-dollar global company after 27 years in operation.

Under its business plan, the company rebranded itself, announcing the move last month. The name of the company and the name of all of its branch offices, including its agents and franchisees, was changed from Ecu-Line to Ecu Worldwide.

Under the new brand, Ecu Worldwide – one of the fast-growing forwarders in the sea-freight industry with great success in LCL (less-than-container-load) consolidation services – wants to be perceived as a provider with a wider rage of services on both land and sea.

Its other services include full-container load and multi-modal transport.

Ecu Worldwide has more than of 300 branch offices in more than 100 countries.

Viraj said that the company’s back-office system would be changed in the third quarter to use a mobile application and a modernised IT program.

He said Thailand was a key player in supporting the group growth, with it contributing at least 10 per cent annually to overall shipment volume.

He said the Thai office recorded 5-per-cent growth in shipment volume for the first quarter.

“We were told to apply inorganic growth. So, we plan to take over some packers … to drive our growth,” Viraj said.

He said the company was looking for a win-win business model that benefited to both sides.

The main clients of packers that the company was eyeing were merchandisers of antiques, furniture and wood products, he said.

Last year, Ecu Worldwide (Thailand) recorded 180,000 cubic metres of shipments, the third highest in Asia behind Singapore and Hong Kong. The group’s total was two million cubic metres.

TOT owns a huge 60MHz bandwidth of the 2.3GHz spectrum. Its board recently approved an agency plan to invite international telecom network suppliers and local telecom operators to jointly introduce the 2.3GHz service.

True’s chief executive officer Suphachai Chearavanont said the company is interested in providing the 2.3GHz service with TOT on a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) basis. The company is waiting to see TOT’s business model before making any proposal.

A TOT source said that the state enterprise would ask Advanced Info Service, Total Access Communication, and True about their 2.3GHz spectrum bandwidth requirement. TOT will then inform their bandwidth demand to potential network equipment suppliers to enable them to draw up rollout proposals and submit them to TOT.

The state agency will select the supplier with the best proposal to roll out the network for TOT, the source added.

The source said that TOT had already informally approached Huawei Technologies, Nokia Networks, and Ericsson.

By this model, TOT will not have to invest in the project on its own in the initial stage. It will wholesale the 2.3GHz bandwidth to interested local telecom operators. Revenue TOT will gain from the bandwidth wholesale will be used to finance the 2.3GHz network rollout by the supplier it will select.

State agencies TOT and CAT Telecom are now seeking private partners to help them survive the intense market competition.

The TOT board last Tuesday reversed its previous resolution by asking the state agency to request the Council of State to re-examine legal aspects of TOT’s plan to sign a deal with Advanced Wireless Network (AWN), a unit of AIS, for the launch of a joint trial commercial service on TOT’s 2.1-gigahertz spectrum.

The TOT board on June 9 had approved TOT going ahead and signing the contract with AWN on the condition that some issues were clarified first.

The planned joint trial service will last six months, after which they will sign other long-term contracts as part of their partnership to provide third-generation cellular service on TOT’s 2.1GHz band. TOT expected to earn Bt9.5 billion per year from this overall partnership.

Montchai said TOT is expected to report a loss of Bt4 billion this year, due to two main reasons – expiry of the AIS concession last September and its failure to sign a deal with AWN to launch a joint trial commercial service on TOT’s 2.1GHz spectrum. TOT had expected to gain Bt300 million in revenue per month from the trial service.

The agency will also spend Bt3 billion on its early retirement |plan this year to shed about 1,200 workers.

A flagship store is scheduled to open in Tokyo’s Ginza district next year, after one shop opened in Kobe this year. Domestically, the number of sales counters will be expanded from about 40 at present.

That is attributable to relentless efforts over the past 13 years to establish the Panpuri brand.

Vorravit Siripark, founder and chief executive officer of Puri, started the business when he was just 28 years old. From the start, he aimed to turn Panpuri into a global Thai brand, cashing in on the unique sense of Oriental botanical ingredients that are blended into a range of products for use from head to toe.

“I was lucky to start this business when I was young. Being young and having no knowledge of the industry, I had no fear. Everything was possible,” he said.

Luck was on his side, as four months after incorporating the business, the products it exhibited at an export fair won orders from Singaporean and Philippine buyers. The company’s products also caught the eye of hotels and vendors in Europe when they were exhibited at a fair in Bologna, Italy. It was then that the company decided to set up a distribution arm in Paris, to distribute its products on the European continent.

Having spent some time in Italy working towards his master’s degree, he had some friends there, and one decided to leave Cartier to man the distribution centre.

After years, annual revenue is hundreds of million today.

Vorravit attributed the company’s success first to the uniqueness of its products.

Clear brand character

“Our products, both their formulation and packaging, respond to customers’ needs. If customers are not impressed, even excellent marketing strategies cannot help,” he said.

The key factors are the clear brand character and team spirit.

“From Day 1, the team shared the vision that we would go to the Olympics, to make a Thai brand global. We went through the training together and shared the spirit to fight against ourselves. A team that shares your vision will ensure the success of your business concepts,” said the man who has been in charge of building the brand from the start.

He recalled obstacles at the beginning. The first was to find the right distribution channel, in this case a luxury shopping mall. He was on the waiting list at The Emporium for some time, only to win the first nod from Gaysorn, which houses the first outlet.

In the first year, the company had three personnel. In the second year, a designer was brought in – before the hiring of the first salesperson.

“Packaging is the key. Before Panpuri, there were many good products but they came with unimpressive packages. Thai people can excel, but they don’t know how to present themselves. It’s necessary that a good product is good from the inside to the outside,” Vorravit said.

He said design was a complicated process, and now Puri has an in-house team for this task. Altogether, the company employs 210 staff, and this is growing in line with business expansion. From 40 outlets in Thailand, the number will expand as new shopping malls open.

The uniqueness of Puri’s products helped win orders from the Anantara hotel and resort chain.

“It was difficult, but once you win a deal, it tends to stay for the long term. That deal helped me sell products to other hotel chains,” he said.

The company recently branched out to open its own spas, starting with one in Bangkok. After closing a branch in Madrid, it closes a new one at Eastern Oriental Penang. Two more are planned in Bangkok and Hua Hin. And Vorravit did not hide plans to explore other businesses, to promote the Panpuri brand further.

“To me, success means people will still queue up to buy my products even after my departure. My dream is to make it a world-class brand from Thailand,” he said.