One notable trend is the surge in mobile e-commerce in Thailand. Mobile users account for 96% of the total population in Thailand, and 70% of them own smartphones. Thailand’s mobile traffic share is 79%, second only to Indonesia. Similar to other Southeast Asian countries, Thailand’s mobile traffic is highest on weekends, with 84% on Sundays. In terms of social media, LINE is one of the most popular platforms in Thailand, and Thailand is the only country in Southeast Asia where LINE is the main instant messaging application.
In Thailand, 70% of e-commerce transactions still use cash on delivery. Peter Kopitz, Thailand manager of Southeast Asian e-commerce Zalora, believes that this trend will continue until at least 2020, due to Thai people’s concerns about the security of personal property and information leakage. A study on Visa mobile payments and cashless payments showed that 82% of Thais believe that security is more important than convenience when it comes to mobile payments and cashless payments. However, Thais are still confident in mobile payments, as 61% believe that in the future they will no longer need to carry cards or cash, but can use mobile payments for daily consumption. Visa’s Thailand country manager Suripong believes that once Thais gain confidence in new security measures such as crypto tokens, they may increase their use of mobile payments.