Mr. Lamacchia, why is the Thai e-commerce market important for the promotion of Made in Italy?

“It’s a market that leans heavily towards e-commerce like other countries in the ASEAN area: in 2020, out of 70 million habitants, 34 million were e-commerce users with a penetration of 48%. It’s a demographically young population that spends an average of two hours per day on social media, which, even before Covid, spent a lot on time surfing on the internet and making online purchases: in fact, a good 52% of users do research online before proceeding with their purchases. Over the last five years, however, the Thai e-commerce market has experienced double-digit growth, up +18% in 2019, and even projections for the future point toward an estimated 42 million users in 2024, up +26% from today: a stronger growth trend than what is expected in western markets. An interesting trend that aptly explains the phenomenon is how today, during rush hour, around half of the mopeds circulating in Bangkok are dedicated to the transportation of goods ordered through e-commerce/online”.

In 2021, you launched the Lazada-ITA Authentic Italian Promotion project: could you tell us about it?

“To promote the digital exports of Made in Italy businesses in Thailand, we signed an agreement with Lazada for the creation of an “Authentic Italy” pavilion hosted on the LazMall marketplace. It’s important to remember that Lazada, together with its competitor Shopee, represents one of the two top undisputed e-commerce players in Thailand. Through this new sales channel, companies will be able to tell the story and highlight the uniqueness of their brands, using a direct sales channel to Thai consumers, while immediately orienting them towards their purchases on Lazada. The promotion is aimed at guaranteeing, on a monthly basis and for the duration of a year, maximum visibility for companies and their products thanks to extensive and high-profile communication campaigns promoted through the social media of the country (FB, IG and Line, and Lazada), and fully backed by the financing of the ICE Agency. A valid opportunity for exporting on the e-commerce market of this country, which has already been taken up by 45 companies that are already operative”, out of a total of around 150 officially admitted to the project.

What requirements must the companies interested in accessing your platform have?

“Anyone can create an account, it’s enough to have a completely Made in Italy product and an agreement with a local importer, a condition that is necessary for doing business on this market. In any case, the ICE Agency can eventually assist businesses that do not have an importer find one. With the importer, it is also necessary to come to an agreement on the shipment terms that can be at the expense of Lazada, the importer, or a mix”.

The application form can be found at the following link: Modulo adesione progetto su Lazada (google.com)”.