Aiming to boost website sales to $10 million in fiscal year 2014, Thailand’s largest retailer the Central Group has introduced a new suite of e-payment services for its customers.
The technology from 2C2P, a Southeast Asian payment services provider, will give Thai shoppers additional payment choices, including the option to pay using ‘123 Payments’ and through wider card and bank acceptance through 2C2P’s partner network.
Other benefits include quicker transaction processing times, enhanced security against transaction fraud, and for the first time, installment payment plans (IPP), offered by leading partner banks.
“Central Group can structure consumer promotion plans across credit cards by letting customers enjoy payments stretched out in monthly instalments. This payment solution will help customers spread the initial transaction burden, enabling them to buy more, and in turn, helping Central Group gain more customers,” 2C2P Thailand CEO Piyachart Ratanaprasartporn said.
According UBS research, from Thailand's $94.4 billion total domestic retail market, e-commerce has a potential of $4.7 billion.
Nielsen research has also highlighted that 55% of shoppers in Thailand felt comfortable shopping online with their payment card details stored on smart devices. This was amongst the highest in Southeast Asia, ahead of Vietnam (46%), Malaysia (45%), Singapore (49%), Indonesia (50%) and behind only the Philippines (57%).