Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and business operators have called on the Trade Competition Commission to investigate alleged practices by large online platforms that force them to use the logistics services of their own providers.
According to Sakon Varunyuwatana, chairman of the Office of the Trade Competition Commission (OTCC), many local enterprises have filed complaints with the office that international e-commerce and online platforms such as Lazada and Shopee have forced vendors to use the logistics channels of their own providers, then hiked logistics service fees.
Mr Sakon said the OTCC is investigating this issue and studying information and data. The probe needs to be precise as offenders are subject to both criminal and administrative penalties if the allegations are found to be accurate, he said.
"All Asean countries and other nations around the world such as those in the EU are facing the same problem, as international e-commerce and online platforms force their clients to use their own logistics channels," said Mr Sakon.
He said trade competition committees around the world have been closely discussing this issue and sharing data.
In 2021, the Electronic Transactions Development Agency reported that Thailand's e-commerce grew by 6.11% to 4.01 trillion baht year-on-year.
Business-to-consumer e-commerce accounted for 50.6% of the total value at 2.03 trillion baht, with business-to-business tallying 27.2%, valued at 1.09 trillion baht, while business-to-government made up 22.2%, valued at 890 billion baht.
E-commerce from retail and wholesale tallied 1.63 trillion baht, representing 52.1% of the total e-commerce value.
Southeast Asia's internet economy is forecast to triple to US$300 billion by 2025 from the end of 2020, according to a report from Google, Temasek and Bain & Company.
Asean members are scheduled to have a meeting on July 27 to find solutions to the trade competition guidelines for e-commerce in Asean.
According to Mr Sakon, all 10 Asean members face similar problems as fast-changing business structures driven by the pandemic have made it hard for SMEs, which are trying to deal with the disruption caused by the platforms and increasing mergers and acquisitions by large domestic and international firms.
Regulations need to create fair market practices and help SMEs survive and maximise the intra-Asean market, as well as develop the economy for inclusive growth among the digital transformation challenges, he said.
