International delivery company DHL has chosen Thailand to be its first Southeast Asian country to launch its DHL eCommerce domestic delivery service.

DHL eCommerce is a division of Deutsche Post DHL Group and is now offering end-to-end domestic delivery service for Thai e-commerce merchants.

DHL is investing heavily in its infrastructure in Thailand, including a 3,000 square metre central distribution centre in Bangkok and a network of over 20 depots throughout the country ensuring full coverage across Thailand. It expects to double the number of depots in the country by 2017 and will expand its fleet primarily in motorcycles that can operate more efficiently in the congested towns and cities.

DHL eCommerce plans to use its two and four wheeled vehicles to provide a next day delivery service to all urban areas and a 2-3 day service to all other locations in the country. E-commerce merchants will have access to a cash on delivery service with daily remittance and access to a multilingual call centre.

“Thailand, with its tremendous growth potential, fast e-commerce adoption and high smartphone penetration rates, has been identified as the first Southeast Asian country to launch DHL eCommerce’s domestic delivery service,” said Thomas Kipp, CEO, DHL eCommerce.

“The Thai e-commerce market is expected to more than triple in size to EUR 3.6 billion between now and 2020[1] and with this investment, we are well positioned to support the growth of e-commerce businesses in Thailand.”

“We see major strategic opportunities for e-commerce growth in Thailand, particularly with the Asean Economic Community which is expected to increase the movement of goods within the region. Despite e-commerce already being a billion-dollar sector with extremely rapid adoption, Thailand’s e-commerce share of the retail market is still relatively low compared to other high-growth economies. Only 1.7% of total sales in Thailand are obtained from e-commerce, compared to more than 10% in China,” said Malcolm Monteiro, CEO, Asia Pacific, DHL eCommerce.

“Thailand is ranked as one of our top priority markets in Southeast Asia: its expected annual market growth of more than 20% (from 2014 to 2020) is likely to be largely driven by significant numbers of SMEs beginning to extend their business models into online marketplaces.

“In order to fulfill Thai consumers’ expectations of seamless and simple e-commerce, businesses need logistics services that keep up with extremely rapid changes in consumers’ expectations while providing high operational excellence,” said Kiattichai Pitpreecha, Managing Director, DHL eCommerce Thailand. “This makes the need for a tailored e-commerce delivery service greater than ever before – so that merchants, especially SMEs, can focus on their core business and grow faster based on a high performing logistical backbone.”