Tesco brings e-commerce service to Thailand

Wednesday, April 10, 2013 - 09:36 by Simon Crisp

Tesco may be one of the UK's most prominent retailers, but it is also working hard to establish itself in other countries around the world.

This month, it revealed that it would be offering its customers in Thailand the chance to buy products via safe shopping online.

Thailand is home to Tesco Lotus, which nets the retailer 3.2 billion annually and is second only to the UK when it comes to sales, thanks to the 1,400 high street outlets that it operates.

Tesco Lotus will only be offering safe shopping online to those who live within the capital of Bangkok, but if the scheme is a success, it will expand to cover a wider slice of the Thai population.

Over 20,000 items will be available for purchase online, once the launch is completed, so people will be able to order groceries as well as non-food items, according to Internet Retailing.

Tesco Lotus spokesperson, John Christie, said that the company already has the infrastructure in place to support the new online service, which should lead to a positive response from consumers in the capital.

Tesco has also been training personal shoppers, who will be able to identify the most appropriate products, as well as highlighting the best time for delivery of the goods, so that the experience is as seamless and convenient as possible.

It is now 13 years since the UK got its first taste of Tesco's e-commerce operation and it remains one of the biggest forces in the online retail market domestically.

Each year, Brits order around a billion items from Tesco's online service, with about a million homes buying their groceries and other products through its well established site.

If Tesco is able to achieve similar success in Thailand, then its long term success will be assured.