PHUKET, July 27 – Despite the coronavirus disease 2019, business could expand through e-commerce, said Deputy Prime Minister/Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit.
Opening a training session on e-commerce at Phuket Merlin Hotel on Sunday, Mr Jurin said global economic slowdowns resulted from the trade war between China and the United States and the COVID-19 pandemic, so producers and service providers should turn to e-commerce.
He said that e-commerce was necessary for small and medium-sized enterprises and community-based businesses; therefore, the Commerce Ministry was sharing knowledge about e-commerce.
Many young entrepreneurs were successful with e-commerce. Each small-scaled vendor could sell products worth over 200,000 baht after a live promotion session of 10-20 minutes, he cited.
While international business trips were difficult during the COVID-19 pandemic, e-commerce helped arrange for the export of Thai fruits. Online business negotiations on July 18-19 resulted in the sales of 32,000 tons of longan worth about 2.1 billion baht from about 50 companies to eight countries, Mr Jurin said.
Vuttikrai Leewiraphan, director-general of the Department of Business Development, said his department had organized such training sessions in Sukhothai, Udon Thani, Phatthalung and Songkhla provinces and there had been about 6,000 trainees.
The fifth session in Phuket drew about 600 trainees including students, local producers and smart farmers. Many trained operators had proved to be successful despite their young ages, he said. (TNA)
