QuinL to Boost Thai Exports With New eMarketplace Service

QuinL, which soft-launched in June, already has 4,000 Thai manufacturers as members.

Most of QuinL Thailand's investment capital of three million baht was spent on developing easy to use QuinL software and securing space on a high quality, high speed server in the U.S. QuinL Thailand has spent two years developing and testing the technical systems that drive its interactive directory.

Noppol Mekdumrongsang, QuinL's business development manager, says there is a huge need for reliable e-commerce services to boost both exports and Thai-to-Thai business contacts.

"Eighty percent of the six thousand or so e-commerce websites in Thailand don't work," says Noppol. "Website hosts take the money but don't maintain or develop the sites. Those that do work charge unnecessarily high fees. Our promise is that not only will QuinL.com work, we guarantee our members' products a first or 2nd page listing on Google when buyers do a search. The vast majority get first page. We are unique in Thailand," said he .

Noppol says e-commerce sites save exporters time and money finding buyers. "Companies on QuinL.com don't need their own website because QuinL provides them a sub-domain that will almost always come up on the first page of a Google search."

Carbon filter manufacturer, JK Green Products in Nonthaburi has seen a rise in visitors arriving at the company website from its sub-domain on QuinL.com*.

"QuinL.com is different from other online business directories I have used," says JK Green managing director Ms Thitithip Kongsoithong. "Customers who look and search for my products can see them with nice graphics, not just the company's name and contact details like yellow pages. This makes it is easier for us to promote the business. Also, the smart SEO techniques used by QuinL puts us on the top of Google searches by using the keywords of our main products."

On the foreign buyer side, QuinL Thailand's Dutch general manager, Mr Michel Rosmolen, travels the world building up new awareness of QuinL.com. "Foreign buyers want a large one-stop e-commerce window on Thailand. QuinL provides that. Thousands of Thai companies can now hop on the train and don't have to spend a lot of money to reach buyers," said he.

Depending on category of service, joining QuinL.com ranges from free to 6,900 baht per company per year. "This compares with most other e-commerce sites which are free, but don't work, because they are not maintained," says Mr Rosmolen. "Or they work quite well, but cost up to 300,000 baht per year to join."

Nakorn Pathom-based Vara Food and Drink exports canned tropical fruit beverages and tinned vegetables to over 50 countries. It has used QuinL.com's e-commerce platform for two months. "We are drink manufacturers, not e-commerce experts," says Vara's director, Mr Tedsak Kiatsukasem. "We need e-commerce to find new customers online. We're not giving up our traditional contacts and networks, we're adding new e-commerce ones with QuinL."

QuinL reports that 60% of buyer-seller contacts made on QuinL.com have been Thai buyers seeking Thai sellers. Says Noppol: "This shows us there is a huge domestic demand for user-friendly e-commerce within Thailand. A buyer in Hat Yai can find a paper flower manufacturer in Chiang Mai on QuinL.com and doesn't have to use English at all."

However, if language problems arise, QuinL offers translation services, a service hotline and optional live text chatting between sellers and buyers.

Once buyers and sellers agree to do business on QuinL.com, the financial transaction takes place offline through traditional channels such as banks. "This is still the main payment method, but it is changing quickly," says Noppol. "We offer advice for Thai sellers to help them safely carry out financial transactions offline and online."

On the demand side, QuinL says that seventy percent of first time buyers from overseas use a Google search to reach Thai customers on QuinL.com. On the supply side, Google says there are about 800,000 small and medium-sized businesses in Thailand, of which only about 100,000 have their own website to showcase their products to buyers.

According to Thailand's National Statistical Office, the country's e-commerce market will grow 40% to over 500 billion baht this year. The Thailand E-Commerce Association says the growth is being driven by the economic downturn because online selling is cheap but can reach a wide market.

The association says reduced costs for broadband internet and Thai government PR campaigns to promote e-commerce have also helped, as well as people's increased confidence in online security.