T3 Technology, a Bangkok-based technology solutions firm, aims to make a deep impact in the retail market in what it calls "household intelligentisation" to achieve an ambitious goal to be the first smart brand in Thailand within three years.
With a goal to be a high-tech, trusted partner in the telecom industry, T3 posted US$105 million in revenue in Thailand in 2022, said deputy chief executive Kevin Guo.
"We see the potential of Thailand's business opportunities in high technology adoption and geographic location to expand into Southeast Asia, which led us to decide to operate and invest in the country," he said.
The T3 Technology group has six strategic business units, covering telecom, retail, enterprise, international, clean energy and the cloud. While the carrier business continues to be its primary source of revenue, the company is actively generating more profit in the retail segment and expanding into the enterprise segment as well as diversifying into new areas such as clean energy and the cloud.
It is also expanding into the Asean market.
T3 Technology provides household solutions to the customers of its carrier partners, totalling over 5 million household users in Thailand at the present, said Mr Guo.
He said following five years of market development, T3 is now the No.1 fixed broadband equipment supplier in Thailand and the first supplier bringing WiFi6 and WiFi7 technology to Thailand.
"We will continue the customer-centric approach to bring users a better experience and a smarter lifestyle," said Mr Guo.
HOUSEHOLD INTELLIGENTISATION
He said T3 Technology rolled out smart product solutions in the local market in 2021 and posted good results in 2022.
"We will further increase investment in the retail business in 2023 to bring more competitive products and services to the Thai market," said Mr Guo.
He said the retail segment is the main focus for T3 Technology this year and the company is committed to building T3 retail business into the No.1 smart brand in Thailand. This segment started market development in Thailand before expanding to other Southeast Asian markets and then worldwide.
Mr Guo said there is still a lot of room to improve in terms of household intelligentisation. All smart and scenario-based terminals can be intelligent, including home security, entertainment, home appliances, wellbeing and healthcare products.
"Smart technology will make our households more intelligent, with a better understanding of our behaviour, making our products easier to use and create a more convenient life," he said.
"I believe that T3 has the ability to build the entire household smart ecosystem, redefining and changing the household smart ecosystem. Integrating all household appliances and electronic products into one platform is what we will do to build the first smart brand in Thailand," he added.
Open technology and integration with the company's apps will enable all devices connected to its system easier to control and thereby make it more convenient for consumers to use, he said.
According to Frost & Sullivan's recent analysis entitled "Global Home as Hub Growth Opportunities", the Covid-19 pandemic has transformed the conventional home into a smart home hub, encompassing aspects of work, health and wellness, and entertainment. This encourages smart home market participants to develop products for the home hub ecosystem to provide a premium home experience.
Additionally, companies need to embed artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms into connected home devices to facilitate self-learning behaviour and maintain a competitive edge.
"The IoT [Internet of Things] market in Thailand is forecast to grow, driven mostly by consumer-related IoT, rising to $2.19 billion by 2030," Mr Guo said.
According to market and consumer data provider Statista, Thailand's smart home market revenue is projected to reach $143 million in 2022 and is expected to post a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17% between 2022 and 2027, reaching $348 million by 2027.
Household penetration stood at 12.9% in 2022 and is expected to reach 21.5% by 2027.
POWERFUL SUB-BRAND
In order to stand out from rivals, T3 decided to use '365 Selection' as a sub-brand to provide customers with high quality products and services, Mr Guo said.
"We will focus on the IoT, IT products and accessories, and combined with T3's cloud subsidiary, we will provide customers with a new business model, so that users can experience more and better products and services," he said.
365 Selection will create a new business model to provide users with an offline experience, while relying on the company's cloud platform to build a private channel to provide users with cloud, terminal and app services.
"Combining our products and own local cloud will keep data inside the country and allow competitive pricing that brings more connected devices to more households," he said.
The 365 Selection moniker will be used as T3 retail's first store name, which was opened on April 23 at Central Westgate mall. The company hopes to have more in-depth contact with users directly through this store in order to continue to dig deeper into their requirements and provide users with more high-quality products.
Mr Guo said 365 Selection will be the main online and offline promotional brand of T3's retail business in the future.
"We plan to open more than 10 365 Selection stores in 2023," he said.
It also has a dedicated team for the online channel. T3 will uniformly control online and offline channels to protect the interests of consumers and ensure that their online and offline experiences are the same. There is a unified online and offline after-sales service platform to provide end-to-end services.
"We also plan to bring better quality and more competitive products from China and other countries to provide more choices for Thais, offering better products and services for Thailand's digital transformation," said Mr Guo.
GROWING RETAIL MARKET
Thailand is still an offline market. The pandemic severely affected the Thai economy. After the country fully reopened, there is still huge room for the economy to grow, he said.
According to a recent report by the World Bank, the global economy is on track to grow at the fastest post-recession pace in 80 years. Meanwhile, Thailand's retail market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 5.95% between 2023 and 2027. The size of the market is forecast to increase by $63.2 billion.
Thailand's economy is experiencing a rapid recovery. The tourism and service industries will soon recover to similar levels before the pandemic and a large number of opportunities will emerge.
"We are confident that the Thai economy will recover soon, and T3 has a social responsibility as a Thai company to help the economy rebound. T3 will continue to invest in the next 2-3 years to build the first smart brand in Thailand," Mr Guo said.
