Bangkok--6 May--KASIKORNBANK
KASIKORNBANK, King Power and Alipay have joined forces to widen business opportunities in China’s e-commerce market, which jumped 21.3 percent in 2014. Under this concerted effort, an online duty-free shopping platform will be introduced to serve the more than 4,000,000 Chinese tourist arrivals in Thailand each year. This new online shop will be connected to the K-Payment Gateway service, which will allow incoming Chinese tourists to select merchandise at www.kingpoweronline.com and to make payment using an Alipay account. The full service is expected to be launched this May.
As stated by KBank Chairman of the Board Mr. Banthoon Lamsam, this cooperation reinforces KBank’s digital banking leadership with enhanced cross-border solutions offered by the K-Payment Gateway service, which will promote online commerce in the global arena and present greater opportunities for Thai businesses offering goods to Chinese internet shoppers. This new service will also feature a payment facility through Alipay – the largest online payment service provider in China, with more than 300 million registered users.
“The skyrocketing growth of online trade has been supported by the development of the digital economy, wherein greater access to the internet infrastructure is crucial for interconnectivity within the economic system, with commercial banks, business operators and consumers as key players. With our K-Payment Gateway service, KBank hopes to upgrade Thailand’s online businesses to the global level, whether it is C2C (Customer-to-Customer), B2C (Business-to-Customer) or B2B (Business-to-Business). The K-Payment Gateway service, which reported a combined transaction value of 66 billion Baht in 2014, gaining the top position in terms of market share, is expected to grow 22 percent to reach a total of 80 billion Baht this year”, said Mr. Banthoon.
According to Mr. Dayong Zhang, Alipay Southeast Asia Vice President, Alipay is expected to enhance Thai businesses’ knowledge and understanding of the Chinese market, a development to be strengthened by the collaboration between KBank and King Power. In return, this partnership will likely fortify Alipay’s online and mobile payment service offered to Chinese consumers as well as the Thai companies, for the mutual interest of all parties.
Mr. Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, Group Chairman of King Power Group, said this cooperation will provide convenience for incoming Chinese tourists with an easy way to shop duty-free and Thai products through www.kingpoweronline.com, enabled by connecting with KBank’s K-Payment Gateway, which offers payment service for Chinese clients with an Alipay account. They can pick up their orders by showing their electronic receipts at the pick-up counter in the departure lounges at Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports. Moreover, for Thai products, King Power facilitates delivery service to customers’ residences.
“Looking ahead, we plan to expand our business with new distribution channels in response to customer demand. Meanwhile, a number of Chinese tourists with high spending power are visiting Thailand. Therefore, fresh sales channels will, in a way, support the country’s economic development,” Mr. Vichai said.
Currently, Chinese tourists represent the largest share of foreign travelers in Thailand, accounting for 18.7 percent of the total in 2014. This year, 4.6 million Chinese tourists are expected to travel to the Kingdom, and within the next three years, Thailand will become the top destination for Chinese travelers, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand.