The announcement late last week came as Ascend Commerce seeks to leverage its winning strategy in Thailand for expansion into new markets.

Ascend Commerce reported an increase of 65 per cent in the average number of orders per day, and efforts to attract new customers through partnerships with leading brands.

The company reported an average of 14,000 orders per day in the period, with a peak of 30,000 in a single day. It also reported repeat sales in the same month among as many as 50 per cent of its customer base.

“This is a step forward in our mission to bring high-quality products at great prices to online shoppers in key markets within Southeast Asia,” said PunnamasVichitkulwongsa, chief executive officer of Ascend Group.

“With our category-by-category approach proven in Thailand, we are now expanding throughout Southeast Asia. Based on the strength of the customer response so far, we are confident that we will be able to provide access to the same shopping experience that people in urban areas enjoy to improve the standard of living for the millions who live in rural areas in Southeast Asia,” he added.

iTrueMart is a business-to-|consumer retailer, while WeLoveShopping is an online market place for small business, entrepreneurs and consumers to sell their goods.

Both businesses originally launched in Thailand, but iTrueMart is now building customer bases in other Asean markets – and launched in the Philippines late last year.

Last year, Ascend Commerce invested in its own fulfilment centres as a way to retain control over the whole process, from purchase to delivery at customers’ doorsteps, Punnamas said, citing this investment as key to giving customers an excellent experience and resulting in repeat purchases.

iTrueMart.com has also been successful in terms of speedy delivery, with 98 per cent of orders seeing next-day delivery in Bangkok and delivery in two days for upcountry addresses.

WeLoveShopping’s orders grew nearly 300 per cent in the final quarter, while the number of new sellers rose by 1,300 during the period.

WeLoveShopping.com also signed agreements with new brands, which helped to drive new purchases among existing and new buyers in the quarter.

“In the first days of 2015, we launched with just a few hundred orders per day, and we have grown 700 per cent to achieve great results by the end of the year,” said Seubsakol Sakolsatayadorn, general manager of Ascend Commerce.

“Ascend Commerce will continue with our strategy of winning on a category-by-category basis. We will introduce a new category only when we are sure of the strength of the product offering. It’s working in Thailand, it’s working in the Philippines and it will work elsewhere,” he explained.

“Although launched late last year, iTrueMart Philippines has already seen achievements that exceeded initial goals and is considered a key market for Ascend Commerce,” said Dean Krstevski, regional chief operating officer for e-commerce at Ascend Group. “Ascend Commerce remains optimistic about growth of iTrueMart.ph and will focus efforts there on expanding the product range and delivery,” he added.

Somprasong retired from the position in December and was appointed adviser to the CEO on January 1 on a one-year term. He is still chairman of InTouch’s executive committee.

He said the first significant bid was in 1992 when Shinawatra Computer, now known as InTouch, bid for a TOT concession to operate one million fixed-line telephone numbers in the provinces.

Shin proposed to share 33.7 per cent of gross annual revenue from the concession to TOT but TT&T won the bid after offering an annual revenue share of 43.1 per cent to the state agency.

Now that mobile phones have replaced fixed-line telephones as the most popular means of communications, fixed-line telephone operators have seen their revenue declining.

The second significant bid was the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission’s (NBTC) auction of 24 terrestrial digital TV broadcasting licences in late 2013.

InTouch targeted a licence in the variety programme category in standard definition but pulled out during the bid after believing that the price was too high. The final price was around Bt1 billion, which was lower than the level the InTouch adviser for the bid had recommended.

However, InTouch decided to stop bidding on the view that it might be difficult for a new player to compete against existing analogue players, who could win the licences.

Currently some digital TV broadcasters have experienced intense competition in the market.

They blamed the NBTC for failing to create a favourable landscape to help them survive the bumpy transition from the analogue broadcasting era to the digital one.

The third most significant bid was when InTouch flagship Advanced Info Service decided to stop raising the price in last month’s bid for a 900MHz licence. AIS’s final price was Bt75.98 billion.

“I’m confident that we made the right decision [to stop bidding]. During the bid, I convinced all of our team members in the bidding room that we must bid on rationale, not emotional. I thought that the appropriate licence price was Bt35 billion,” he said.

“Once the price exceeded that level, we used rationale in every round we raised the price higher.

“The decision to stop bidding was the consensus of everyone in the bidding room – we didn’t have to vote on this.”

True Corp and Jasmine International each won a 900MHz licence by proposing Bt76.3 billion and Bt75.6 billion, respectively. Both have yet to pay the first instalment of the licence upfront fee of over Bt8 billion to NBTC and hand over the bank guarantee for the remaining upfront fee.

They have to pay the first instalment and hand over the bank guarantee by March 21.

Industry observers believe the companies may have paid too much for licences.

But True CEO Suphachai Chearavanont recently said that the money paid was worth winning a 900MHz licence, as it would enable the company to achieve higher growth.

The low-band 900MHz is also technically suitable for the company’s network expansion in the provinces, Suphachai said.

Shortly after winning the licence, JAS insisted that it had the financial ability to develop a 4G service on the spectrum. It said that it had already secured strong commitments from banks and equipment vendors.

However, it is rumoured that JAS’s major funding sources declined to support the company.

Somprasong likened his time at InTouch to a marathon, as the company has experienced several obstacles along the way.

Now at his adviser’s post, he has more time to spare, so he is learning to fly small aircraft – a dream he has held since he was an airforce official. The course has 35 students and he is the oldest but he passed the fitness test to join the class.

“Now my life has 7,000 days left, given the average human life is 74 years. I hope I can achieve all goals during the remaining period,” he said.

President Watchai Vilailuck said yesterday that a clearer plan for the energy-project investment programme would be seen in March.

The group’s Samart U-Trans subsidiary is involved in energy, utilities and transport business.

Teerachai Phongpanangam, managing director of Samart U-Trans, said the company planned to seek a listing in the stock market within the next two years, by which time its revenue is targeted to reach Bt10 billion.

Revenue of Bt5 billion is estimated for this year.

Samart Corp has around 20 subsidiaries, of which four are listed: Samart itself, Samart Telcoms, Samart i-Mobile and One To One.

The group has a consolidated-revenue target this year of Bt24.1 billion.

The ICT solution-provision business led by Samart Telcoms will account for Bt10 billion, handset and multimedia content sales led by Samart i-Mobile for another Bt7 billion, Samart U-Trans for a further Bt5 billion, and related businesses for the remaining Bt2.1 billion.

Chakkrit Charuchinda, the new chief executive officer of Samart i-Mobile, said his company had diversified into e-market place operations and tourist-assistance service provision.

It will also launch 3G cellular service under a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) deal granted by CAT Telecom, with the service using the Open brand.

Samart i-Mobile will also launch an Alibaba-style e-commerce website, following on from the recent launch of its wappwapp.com e-commerce site.

Chakkrit, 58, moved to Samart from PTT Retail Management, where he was managing director.

Of Samart i-Mobile’s Bt7 billion revenue target for the year, Bt5.5 billion will be generated from an estimated 2 million handset sales.

Samart Telcoms targets landing additional projects worth at least Bt15 billion this year, out of an expected Bt25 billion-worth of new projects available for bidding.

And the company is gearing up to accelerate its fuel-pump expansion even more this year, Esso spokesman Mongkolnimit Auacherdkul said yesterday.

Jesada Chancherngkij, Asia-Pacific marketing communications manager, fuels and lubricants, of ExxonMobil, said the company opened nearly 20 new service stations last year, and after deducting some pumps that were closed during the year, its net addition was about 15.

“That was the first time since 1997 [the Asian economic crisis] that we had a positive net addition” of petrol outlets, Mongkolnimit said.

Jesada said the company had recently set up a team to take care of its pump-expansion plan since it aimed to open even more outlets this year, at least 30.

All outlets will be invested by its dealers, with costs excluding land of more than Bt20 million for each station.

Loyalty programme

Esso is also scheduled to unveil a loyalty programme to allow its customers to accumulate points, similar to PTT’s Blue Card campaign, in May, he said.

The company currently has more than 500 petrol stations in Thailand.

Esso’s renewed expansion of its retail network came as petrol consumption in Thailand surged by 13.2 per cent last year, the highest growth in more than a decade, thanks to a sharp decrease in prices. Diesel demand also rose 3.7 per cent last year.

Mongkolnimit praised the government’s policy to eliminate subsidies and allow fuel prices to reflect their true costs. Now only ethanol is still being subsidised, he said.

He said the general public might not understand why fuel prices could not be cut more, as world oil prices have shrunk to only around US$30 a barrel. The reason is the cost of ethanol, which is currently as high as Bt21 a litre, which is blended with petrol to make gasohol.

The government has maintained the subsidy on ethanol because it wants to assist farmers who supply sugar cane and tapioca to ethanol plants. Nevertheless, some energy experts have suggested that the government allow ethanol prices to reflect the true cost and provide subsidies directly to farmers.

Ogilvy & Mather Asia Pacific has started the year with an optimistic view about the opportunities for marketers and brands in Asia, despite bearish economic forecasts in several parts of the world.

The demand for social and digital media will continue to increase rapidly for the agency, along with other service areas such as consulting, content development and data analytics, it said.

However, the company sees both creativity and effectiveness staying at the heart of the marketing agenda, particularly in the changing digital-media landscape.

Paul Heath, chairman of Ogilvy & Mather Asia Pacific and worldwide executive director, said during a visit to Bangkok this week that the Asia-Pacific market remained highly promising.

Despite slowdowns in big markets like China, overall economic growth in the region is high compared to that in Europe and other markets.

Ogilvy & Mather therefore has strong confidence in many Asian markets, especially China, India and Vietnam.

“There will be lots of good news in 2016. The Olympic Games in Brazil later this year and elections in some key markets will create fresh opportunities for marketers,” he said.

The changing media landscape driven by the growth of social and digital media has changed the way communications work is done. As digital media and mobile devices have become part of people’s lives, they are engaged more with online conversations.

To win in this environment, a brand has to become interactive and be part of consumers’ conversation, rather than interrupting their activities to catch their attention, like in the past, Heath said.

Brands and marketers have to use good story-telling techniques to touch the hearts of the people and be part of their conversation.

“We believe in making brands matter,” said Heath. “As consumers continue to move to more social media, mobile and digital content, we see a lot of great opportunities for marketers in the region to grow their business.”

Ogilvy Asia now has a diverse range of skills across the communications spectrum, from consulting services with Ogilvy RED, to production and delivery through H+O – its specialist production unit – he added.

Other highlights include Ogilvy’s leading regional network of social-media services throughSocial@Ogilvy, automated marketing services through Verticurl, consulting services and public relations through Ogilvy PR – all of which have enjoyed robust growth over the past 12 months.

“The development of digital technology means that communications and commerce move faster than ever. Ogilvy has the full breadth and depth of skills and systems to truly integrate all the skills needed to deliver seamless modern marketing,” said Kent Wertime, chief operating officer of Ogilvy Asia, who is based in Bangkok.

Opportunities lie ahead in Asean

As Asean becomes integrated, marketers are looking at a broader market and a larger group of diversified consumers and businesses, Wertime said.

“Most marketers are now considering which strategy they should take, to look across all the markets or at an individual market. They need experts to help them analyse and select the right strategy to grow,” he explained.

Ogilvy RED, for example, provides front end consultancy service, helping marketers build the right strategy across markets, while OgilvyOne helps marketers manage relationship with their customers across media platforms.

Another trend observed in Asean is emerging middle-class consumers who have high purchasing power.

“It’s a matter of choice. There are lots of choices for consumers these days. Our role is to help brands and marketers understand consumers as well as B2B customers, and sell their products and services. We help build their brands as the preferred choice,” the COO said.

BES general manager Justin Powell said the Thai economy was expected to see good signs of recovery this year driven by investment and the government’s economic stimulus schemes as well as benefiting from the growth of trade and investment in the AEC countries.

In addition, the private sector has seen this opportunity and is overhauling production technology and business capacity, which will significantly help the local exhibition industry.

Powell said BES was set to turn Thailand into an international product-exhibition hub. This year it aims to organise six events, two in Thailand and four in Myanmar, with the domestic events expected to generate more than Bt31 billion, an increase of 15-20 per cent over 2015.

He said that despite Thailand’s economic deceleration last year, the exhibition-organising business, particularly in the industrial group, could have grown by about 15-20 per cent, since manufacturers and business operators sought more opportunities and new customers. They considered it worthwhile investing in product exhibitions rather than other channels since they could meet a great number of targeted customers at one time and immediately close sales.

He said the product-exhibition industry would continue to grow this year since the world economy had started to recovery, while trade and investment within the AEC would grow along with investment in infrastructure and government stimulus here in Thailand.

These factors have built up the private sector’s confidence to invest and develop product and service production capacity in order to become more competitive, which has tended to boost the industrial-product exhibition business in the past years.

BES plans to organise six international industrial-product exhibitions this year, two of them in Thailand.

“ProPak Asia” is the region’s biggest exhibition of processing and packaging of industrial products, production technology, food and beverage processing, medical-supply packaging and containers. “Food & Hotel Thailand” is an industrial-product exhibition of international food and hospitality services. These two major events will occupy more than 65,000 square metres of combined space.

The other four industrial-product exhibitions BES organises this year will be held in Myanmar, including “Food & Hotel Myanmar” and “ProPak Myanmar”. “CommuniCast Myanmar” is an exhibition focusing on communication and information systems, and “Construction, Power & Mining Myanmar” showcases the construction, electricity, alternative-

energy and mining industries.

Exhibiting in Myanmar, considered one of the most attractive countries for investors worldwide, can benefit businesspeople and investors from Thailand, since the two countries have several things in common both in their economies and society, BES believes.

BES has set up strategies to turn Thailand into the Asean hub for industrial product exhibitions, since the company has seen Thailand’s potential and strong economic foundations that can be further developed. If the politics remain calm and the economy shows some sign of recovery, it believes Thailand will get back on track as one of Asean’s most attractive countries for investment.

“However, management of e-mail delivery and technical complexities make the use of e-mail marketing a challenging task for many organisations. Common problems with sending e-mails to desired destinations, or late delivery, can cause unfavourable results: for example, low speed when sending bulk e-mails, getting e-mails blocked by recipients, or [being] moved to the junk folder.

“As an online marketing agency whose services include website development and online marketing campaigns, we have also experienced these problems. Once a campaign had been completely developed and had to be publicised, we outsourced e-mail delivery tasks to providers available in the market. Unfortunately, we did not get what we want,” Phaiboon said.

To address such common issues, Taximail has been developed as a cloud-based solution to simplify the entire e-mail marketing process, eliminating all concerns and restrictions of today’s e-mail distribution.

Taximail comes with innovative marketing tools to assist users in their strategic e-mail delivery planning, database update, and spam evaluation before sending an e-mail – making identification of the target audience an easy task – and analysis of customer response. These give users “full control” of e-mail marketing service at their own pace.

After the completion of the development and a product test and trial, a Taximail customer shared the experience: “Previously, we sent 100,000 e-mails but only 100-200 were opened, which represents only 0.2 per cent. But when we have realised the essence of e-mail marketing and then opted for Taximail, now we receive a 25-to-40-per-cent response for every campaign.”

Regarding the business direction for 2016, Phaiboon said Orisma Technology would focus on two strategies.

The first is to help marketing professionals better understand how to use their e-mail marketing more effectively. Customers need to know how to deal with problems when e-mail delivery failure happens or a mail gets stuck in the junk folder. Content customisation can also help increase response rates: for example, by specifying the name of the Taximail recipient. As an e-mail marketing solution provider, Taximail considers this can make a difference and wants to encourage better understanding in the Thai market.

The second strategy is to expand the scope of e-mail marketing. In addition to being a promotional |e-mail, a Taximail e-mail can be transactional: for instance, subscription e-mail, confirmation of order or e-invoice.

Taximail currently assists a telecom provider in distributing its |e-invoice via e-mail in a faster and more efficient way. It also assists |in customer-relationship tasks of a life-insurance firm by sending birthday wishes via e-mail. These e-mails help improve their corporate image and increase traffic in their websites. It is evident that e-mails have an important role in the business process, and from here organisations can make use of e-mail marketing analytics to create more competitive advantages.