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https://www.nationthailand.com/business/econ/40019496

Facebook Thailand from Meta and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) today shared the results of its latest study, which emphasized a quiet revolution in the growing adoption of business messaging in Thailand and Apac.

According to the report, over 40 per cent of Thais surveyed said they were messaging with a business more frequently than compared in the pre-pandemic period, with nearly one in two consumers chatting with businesses at least once a week.

The trend was similar across all age groups, especially among Thai Millennials and Gen Zs, who are messaging businesses up to 11.7 times every month. 

The new study, “Business Messaging: The Quiet Channel Revolution Across Tech” surveyed 6,500 respondents across Thailand, Australia, Indonesia, Korea, Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam, and showed how having seamless and deeper conversations is emerging as a baseline expectation and has become an integral communications channel for both businesses and consumers.

For Thai businesses, 90 per cent recognize that messaging apps are important for success, while 80 per cent of consumers plan to continue using messaging to interact with businesses, impacting the future of business’ commercial and customer experiences as business messaging gains traction following the pandemic’s acceleration.

Tarandeep Singh, Managing Director at BCG explained, “The Covid-19 pandemic forced countries around the world to go into lockdowns, enforce strict social distancing rules, and restrict in-person business operations. This resulted in more people going online, and businesses across many industries to increase their investment and engagement on online channels to connect with customers.” 

“Based on our research, business messaging adoption is gaining traction beyond small businesses. While smaller businesses have been using Business Messaging to digitize and scale their online presence for years, large businesses now recognize messaging as a critical component of their business model. Nine in 10 large Thai businesses rated messaging as very or extremely important to their overall business,” he added. 

The study also shows the immense potential of business messaging for the financial services sector. Consumers across Apac said it was important for them to message a business before they signed up for a financial product, with 69 per cent of Thai consumers believing it was of high and very high importance to their consideration. This was further reflected by 75 percent of local financial services companies, who perceive Business Messaging as extremely or very important to their business.

This extended adoption also means the continued expansion of use cases across industries such as Consumer Products, Retail, Financial Services, and e-Commerce – ranging from basic enquiries, lead generation, and one-to-one consultations to customization, feedback, re-marketing, and information collecting.

More than half of Thai businesses say that they use Business Messaging for after-sales services, while 59 and 67 per cent of retail and e-commerce businesses, respectively, use it to process pre-sales enquiries. Further, an average of 44 per cent of local businesses said they use messaging to process orders and transactions.

The end-to-end potential of Business Messaging can be seen in Thai beauty brand N’LIGHT 10, which built a conversational experience that manages customer conversations and drives sales. Their innovative experience, which involved click-to-Messenger photo ads and automated responses, made it easier for customers to converse with N’LIGHT 10 and purchase its products within Messenger using Facebook Pay. This helped the beauty brand increase its sales by 600% and played a key role in N’LIGHT 10’s increased confidence in achieving business success.

Prae Dumrongmongcolgul, Country Director, Facebook Thailand for Meta, said, “We are seeing fundamental shifts in how people and businesses connect, and the last few years have accelerated these shifts. This report shows that the ability to message a business is emerging as a consumer baseline expectation. As business messaging largely takes place across social and messaging platforms, we are committed to enabling businesses of all sizes with capabilities to activate this channel for growth,” she added.

The report also outlines key recommendations for how businesses can start their messaging journey, including defining clear objectives for messaging throughout the entire customer journey; prioritizing business messaging in the marketing strategy so contacts are timely, personal, and relevant, and adopting third-party messaging technology solutions and providers to rapidly scale messaging capabilities.

Commenting on the value of business messaging, Charnae Morris, Head of eBusiness, Nestle IndoChina said “We are very encouraged by the integration of business messaging. The business and brand value proposition for Nestle has been to really engage the consumer and shopper end-to-end from the moment they might have a question about our product, providing them with rich information, and for them to decide whether to purchase the product. We are using this as a proof-of-concept to potentially scale the solution to other businesses from coffee to pet care. As a next step, I would encourage marketers to understand the role business messaging can play in their overall brand strategy and channel mix. After which, they should allocate resources to orchestra ways of working to ensure success.”

Published : August 29, 2022

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https://www.nationthailand.com/business/econ/40019491

Thailand’s National Innovation Agency (Public Organization) or NIA has recently hosted the Southeast Asia Startup Assembly (SEASA 2022) in Bangkok under the theme “Open the Cities for Startup Opportunities among APEC Member Economies”.

The hybrid event brought together representatives from government startup agencies from ASEAN and partnering countries – Thailand, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, China, and India to discuss the main issues confronting the startup ecosystem and the solutions that can be achieved through a united effort.

Dr. Pun-Arj Chairatana, Executive Director of NIA, said the COVID-19 pandemic has brought changes in people’s life, as well as work and business operations. Notably, innovativeness, foresight, and resilience are some of the key factors helping firms to overcome global challenges and thrive during the post-COVID 19 era.

The government has a significant role to support in promoting invaluable assets such as Artificial Intelligence, digital transformation, technology, advanced materials, and manufacturing. 

“We should leverage on each other’s experience and expertise to enhance the strength of the overall ecosystem. SEASA event is therefore the place where key players in regional startup communities can exchange knowledge and experience regarding policies, current situations, and challenges that all are currently facing.”

Dr.Pun-Arj also expressed his confidence that with continued cooperation and goodwill within the region, the startup communities will together navigate through this dire time to a brighter future.

The representatives of each country made their brief presentations on “The Roles of Governments in Promoting Startups in the Post-COVID-19 Era” focusing on policy, launch pads, and the current startup situation to maintain strong collaborations of the ASEAN startup ecosystem. It reflected that they have similar policies to support startups.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic had accelerated the digital transformation and forced people to adapt their behaviors into accepting a cashless society, now 90% of Brunei population is now completely comfortable with the QR codes. This opens us up to the acceptance of things like e-wallets and cashless transactions. To support tech innovation and capacity building, they are going to launch a Brunei Innovation scheme in July 2022. 

India has India Stack model to support a market expansion through eKYC and customer onboarding. This enables its population to better access financial services. The government also developed and launched UPI to ensure that everybody has an opportunity to access the digital payment. 

While Thailand has been trying to provide easy access and create infrastructure and opportunities for both Thai and international tech enterprises under the Thailand 4.0 initiatives. 

And Malaysian government has been working on three pillars to promote the digital economy – digital talents, digital businesses, and digital investment.

Community and Ecosystem is also important. Hence, the Thai government started the Global Startup Hub in Thailand five years ago. They have currently set up offices in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) to facilitate local and foreign startups in various sectors.  

Malaysia also has been trying to build startup communities and facilitate the market. The government has launched Malaysia Digital Hub Initiatives with over 400 startups in communities. 

To foster its startup ecosystem, Vietnamese government is working aggressively on next steps by developing the policy sandbox to fund startups directly, producing more talents, setting up innovation corridor and strengthening both domestic and international networks. Recently, they also amended the Intellectual Property (IP) laws, aiming to encourage universities and startups to bring more technology and research into commercialization.

In terms of foreign investment, the pandemic disconnected most flights causing more difficulties to attract foreign startups to expand or establish in other countries. 

Therefore, China has set up Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) centers in overseas including in Bangkok. Besides, it also cooperates with Chulalongkorn University to set up an incubation center and creates partnerships with the government agencies and local investors to attract Chinese startups to Thailand by focusing on the sectors related to bioeconomy, circular economy, and green economy. 

The Malaysian government also welcomes foreign startups to invest in Malaysia by offering 1-5 year passes for entrepreneurs who would like to explore or want to set up a business in Malaysia

Panelists also discussed Environmental, Social, and Governance or ESG which is a huge trend influencing all sectors including startups. For some startups receiving funding from big corporates, they are already required to meet ESG compliances. 

In addition, businesses and universities should escalate their collaborative efforts to make the research or studies more practical for businesses. In conclusion, the post-COVID-19 time requires resilience and agility where startups need to create business models that suit the current situation. 

Therefore, the governments need to have policies in place to create business continuity for SMEs and startups as well as help ease some unnecessary regulations to improve a long-term business environment.

Apart from 6 countries joining the SEASA event, Thailand also has a strong connection with other ASEAN and partner countries namely Singapore, Korea, and Japan. And they will foster collaborations to together drive innovation in the future.

Published : August 29, 2022

By : Stephanie Adair

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https://www.nationthailand.com/business/econ/40019490

The Commerce Ministry has joined hands with a top Saudi supermarket to promote Thai products in Saudi Arabia.

Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit chaired the launch of a promotional campaign for Thai products at Manuel Market in Riyadh on Sunday.

Jurin said the trade value between Thailand and Saudi Arabia had shown satisfactory growth at 46 per cent in the first seven months of 2022.

He added that Thailand also enjoyed a trade surplus of 26 per cent with Saudi Arabia due to an improvement in bilateral ties.

The minister said Manuel Market sells 30 categories of Thai products, including canned seafood, canned fruit, rice, condiments and pet foods.

He added that Manuel Market had imported US$22 billion worth of Thai products last year, and hopes the value will rise to $30 billion this year.

According to the International Trade Promotion Department, Manuel Market is a top mall and supermarket in Saudi Arabia. There are 12 branches in big cities including Riyadh, Jeddah and Jubail.

Manuel Market imports consumer products from foreign countries, especially from Europe and Asia, including Thailand, from which it imports food products.

Published : August 29, 2022

By : THE NATION

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https://www.nationthailand.com/business/econ/40019489

Thailand and Vietnam are ready to cooperate on boosting the global rice price in a bid to help rice farmers, he Agriculture Ministry said on Monday.

An adviser to the ministry, Alongkorn Ponlaboot, said Thailand had asked Vietnam for cooperation in May.

He added that the cooperation was approved by Agriculture Minister Chalermchai Sreeon and his counterpart Le Minh Hoan.

“This is the first time that Thailand and Vietnam, the world’s second- and third-largest rice exporters, have agreed to cooperate on boosting the global rice price,” he said.

Both Thailand and Vietnam believe that the current global rice price is unfair to farmers, as they are suffering from debt and poverty, he said.

He also explained that rice production costs have risen sharply due to the Covid-19 crisis and the Russia-Ukraine war.

“If the situation continues, farmers would turn to growing other crops that generate higher income, leading to a decline in rice production with its greater impact on global supply of food,” he said.

He said Thailand and Vietnam will set up an ad hoc working group to inform rice farmers and exporter associations about the cooperation.

He added that the cooperation would be expanded to other rice exporters in the future.

“Both parties have agreed to increase agricultural trade as well,” he added.

In 2021, agricultural trade between Thailand and Vietnam was valued at 74.21 billion baht. Thai imports accounted for 25.46 billion baht and exports amounted to 48.75 billion, yielding Thailand a 23.28 billion baht trade surplus.

Published : August 29, 2022

By : THE NATION

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https://www.nationthailand.com/business/econ/40019488

A 6,000-per-cent rise in foreign arrivals July is among positive signs that Thailand’s economy is recovering to stability, the Fiscal Policy Office (FPO) said on Monday.

The FPO was announcing economic indicators and data for July.

July saw 1.12 million foreign arrivals, a rise of 6,126.3 per cent from the same month last year. Arrivals were also up 3.8 per cent from the previous month.

The majority of foreign tourists came from Malaysia, India, Vietnam and South Korea.

Domestic travel also increased to 16.7 million trips in July, up 1,818.6 per cent from last year and 2.4 per cent from the previous month.

Other positive indicators included a rise in consumption of durable goods.

For example, the sale of vehicles rose 15 per cent while motorcycle registrations rose 16.4 per cent compared with July last year.

Revenue from value-added tax (VAT) rose 1.8 per cent year on year while the consumer confidence index in July rose 0.8 points from June to 42.4.

Land and property tax revenue rose 8.5 per cent from July last year but dropped 4.8 per cent from the previous month.

July’s export value stood at US$23.629 billion, up 4.3 per cent from last year and seeing its 17th monthly rise in a row.

The agricultural production index also rose 1.1 per cent year or year while the industrial confidence index was up from 86.3 points in June to 89.0 points.

Private-sector investment fell by 5.1 per cent from July last year. However, investment in construction as reflected by cement sales rose by 6.3 per cent.

The FPO said Thailand’s economy was still enjoying stability with headline inflation of 7.61 per cent and core inflation at 2.99 per cent.

As of the end of June, the public debt-to-GDP ratio was 61.1 per cent. Meanwhile, newly laid-off workers applying for compensation from the Social Security Office in July constituted only 0.56 per cent of all Social Security Fund members.

Published : August 29, 2022

By : THE NATION

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https://www.nationthailand.com/business/econ/40019481

The government’s think tank has declared a “food security crisis” after more than quarter of a million Thais were found to be undernourished – many of them farmers.

Some 260,000 Thais are undernourished, according to the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC)’s report on Thai society in the second quarter of this year.

Titled “Food Security Crisis: Measures and Guidelines for Improving Thailand Food Security with Sustainability”, the report cites the Economist’s 2021 Global Food Security Index (GFSI). The GFSI report states that many of the 260,000 undernourished Thais are farmers who grow crops and produce food.

This is despite the fact that Thailand is among the world’s largest food exporters, ranking 13th last year.

The GFSI ranks Thailand 51 out of 113 countries in terms of food security, based on four criteria of affordability, availability, quality and safety, and natural resources and resilience. The GFSI 2021 gave an overall score of 64.5 out of 100 score, a slight improvement on the 2020 score of 63.6.

Thailand was ranked ninth among Asia-Pacific nations in terms of food security and 15th among middle-income nations.

The NESDC noted that although Thailand’s food affordability score was 81.8, 0.38 per cent of its population was under the global poverty line, meaning about 260,000 people, especially residents in remote areas, face undernourishment.

The NESDC said food insecurity mostly occurred in rural farming areas where drought is the major problem and transportation is an issue.

This year, soaring inflation has increased economic hardship for many Thais and made food less affordable.

The NESDC report added that farmers’ ability to subsist on the food they produce is also declining.

It said vulnerable groups still need government measures to make food more affordable.

Published : August 29, 2022

By : THE NATION

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https://www.nationthailand.com/business/econ/40019459

The baht opened at 36.29 to the US dollar on Monday, weakening from Friday’s close of 36.03.

The Thai currency will likely move between 36.20 and 36.40 against the greenback during the day and between 35.80 and 36.40 during the week, Krungthai market strategist Poon Panichpibool predicted.

Poon said the baht will possibly weaken as the dollar strengthens and the gold price heads downward.

He suggested monitoring foreign investors’ transactions. He also expects the Thai stock index to drop next week in response to the US stock index, though this will encourage foreign investors to buy Thai stocks.

Meanwhile, the dollar won support as the market expects the US Federal Reserve to increase the interest rate by 0.75 per cent in September. The greenback may strengthen further if the US labour data is better than expected.

However, the European Central Bank’s indication that it may increase the interest rate may support the euro and slow down the dollar’s strengthening.

The strategist advised investors to use hedging tools such as options to manage risks in a highly volatile currency market.

Published : August 29, 2022

By : THE NATION

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/business/econ/40019428

Young Thais investing in cryptocurrencies and digital assets risk big losses due mainly to their get-rich-quick attitude and lack of experience and knowledge.

That was the warning issued by the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC), a government think tank, in a report on Thailand’s outlook in the second quarter.

The agency said young Thai investors also tend to base their investment decisions on instinct rather than analysis.

People aged under 30 constitute about half of registered crypto investors in Thailand, the report said, citing a study by Mahidol University’s College of Management (CMMU).

“The CMMU study found that Gen Z invests in cryptocurrencies because they want to get rich quick,” it adds.

It said this attitude turned some people into millionaires in a short period but many crypto investors also made huge losses quickly.

Almost 45 per cent of Thai crypto investors have no knowledge or understanding of the market, said the NESDC report, citing the CMMU study. This lack of knowledge, particularly among young investors, makes them more prone to making wrong decisions, it warned.

A separate survey by the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) found that about 25 per cent of investors in digital assets made their investment decisions based on instinct alone. Meanwhile, 41 per cent used different analysis methods and 26 per cent based their decisions on the latest information.

The CMMU study also found that almost 65 per cent of Thai crypto investors traded through online platforms based overseas to avoid paying taxes in Thailand.

The NESDC report warned that crypto investors should opt for reliable platforms to avoid compromising their personal information. It said investors are often unable to examine overseas platforms properly, unlike those based in the country and under SEC supervision.

The government recently asked the SEC to lead an overhaul of Thailand’s crypto regulations after local exchange Zipmex halted withdrawals and entered bankruptcy protection. Yet despite a global meltdown that saw the crypto market lose about US$1 trillion in May and June, Thailand, a hotbed of digital currency trading in Southeast Asia, still has more than 20 SEC-registered digital asset operators.

Published : August 27, 2022