Alibaba to help Thai SMEs succeed in online commerce

The Thailand government and Alibaba Group have signed an agreement to cooperate on a range of initiatives to develop e-commerce in the Southeast Asian nation. The initiatives include providing training to SMEs and individuals, and exploring ways to enhance the country’s logistics capabilities to support Thailand 4.0 and Digital Economy strategies.

 
The Letter of Intent, signed in presence of Thailand’s deputy prime minister Somkid Jatusripitak and Alibaba Group’s executive chairman Jack Ma in Hangzhou, China, covers four key areas.

The first involves offering e-commerce training to 30,000 Thai SMEs to aid their access to both domestic and international e-commerce platforms. Alibaba and its majority owned e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia, Lazada Group, will help provide the training. They will also share their experience and expertise with the Thai government to help build Thailand’s own National E-Commerce Platform.

Secondly, Thailand and Alibaba will collaborate on the creation of a nationwide People and Talent Development Programme, which aims to train around 10,000 individuals so they can be proficient in digital technology. The two sides will also work together to nurture software developers who will be given access to the China market via Alibaba Cloud’s marketplace for their software apps creations.

Furthermore, senior government officials will receive training at the Thailand Digital Government Academy, initially on big data and artificial intelligence technologies. Alibaba and Lazada will jointly run a train-the-trainer programme to groom e-commerce business coordinators who will in turn help SMEs establish their own online export capabilities.
 
Thirdly, Alibaba and Lazada will contribute to the development of the country’s supply chain and logistics systems by sharing their experience and expertise with Thailand Post, in a bid to expand the coverage of domestic delivery services to all provinces across Thailand in 2017.

Studies on Alibaba’s inventory management systems and international e-commerce fulfillment services will also be undertaken by Thailand Post to gain insight into the establishment of bonded warehouses and fulfilment centres.
 
Lastly, Alibaba and the Thai government will explore cooperation opportunities under the Eastern Economic Corridor Development project and help establish Thailand as a hub of digital technology and regional data centres in Southeast Asia.