Thai SMEs encouraged to do e-commerce

BANGKOK, June 17 (TNA) - Bangkok-based Krungthai Bank (KTB) and Alibaba Group are inviting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Thailand to do e-commerce via the [www.alibaba.com] website for international sales. Amorn Meemano, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Crown Tech Advance Public Company Limited (AJD), which represents Alibaba in Thailand, told journalists on June 16 his company, Alibaba Group and KTB have signed an agreement to invite Thai SMEs to use the services of [www.alibaba.com] that holds the biggest share of e-commerce markets in China and has more than 100 million members in 240 countries. Under the agreement, Amorn said, the three parties will train interested SMEs to use the e-commerce services and help solve their problems. Meanwhile, KTB Senior Executive Vice President Songpol Chevapanyaroj, acknowledged that products from Thailand are demanded and among top products that worldwide buyers are looking for on the Internet, with popular products including mattresses, health pillows, jewelry, textiles, fabrics and food items, but the number of online Thai sellers has remained limited so far. Songpol viewed that the [www.alibaba.com] website should help Thai business operators sell their products well to the global markets. The KTB senior executive vice president predicted that more than 10,000 local SME operators should use the services this year, 20-30 of whom should be KTB clients. According to the KTB senior executive vice president, promotions for members include one-year free KTB Corporate Online services, unlimited uploads of product items and advertisement banners. (TNA)