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Key insights
- 66.9% of Thai consumers shop online every week, the highest in the Asia-Pacific region, and 92% shopped online in the last six months.
- Bank transfers are the most popular payment method, followed by digital wallets.
- Thai consumers spend the most on consumer electronics and are most interested in clothing.
- The biggest hurdle to online shopping for Thai consumers is trust in payment methods.
- The preferred shopping experience for Thai consumers is self-checkout.
- Two-thirds of online purchases are made via mobile devices.
Thailand overview
Thailand is the fourth most populous country in ASEAN, with a population of approximately 71.6 million. The population is largely middle-aged, with 43% of the people aged between 25 and 54. The primary language spoken is Thai, and English proficiency is relatively low.
As the second-largest economy in Southeast Asia, Thailand has a GDP exceeding $500 billion, a 2.7% growth from 2024. The e-commerce market also boasts a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11%.
96% of Thais have a bank deposit account, and 11% are credit card users.
Let’s take a look at its economic landscape.
Economic overview of Thailand
69.27% of Thailand's population is aged 15 to 64, representing the main consumer group. The unemployment rate is relatively low, at only 0.91%. The service industry is undoubtedly Thailand's dominant sector, accounting for 56.19% of the economy.
Thailand's imports overview
In addition, Thailand is a major goods importer, as shown in the data below:
In 2023, Thailand's goods imports reached $28.975 billion, with manufactured goods making up the largest portion, totalling $19.25 billion.
To understand Thailand’s payment landscape, it’s key to pay attention to consumer trends that drive purchase patterns, shopping habits, payment preferences and more.
Consumer trends in Thailand
First, let's examine Thailand's household income and expenditure:
In the first half of 2023, the average monthly household income was THB 29,502 (USD $908), with wages and salaries making up the largest share at 43.8%. In terms of expenditure, food and non-alcoholic beverages ranked first, accounting for 33.7%.
Now, let's take a look at its current physical retail and e-commerce landscape.
According to Euromonitor International, it is expected that Thailand's retail industry will grow by 8% in 2024 compared to 2023, with e-commerce projected to grow by 16%.
Physical retail
As one of Southeast Asia's key economies, Thailand’s offline retail market shows no sign of slowing down, with malls and shopping centres dominating the shopping landscape. According to a report by the Economic Intelligence Center of the Siam Commercial Bank, the retail sales of physical stores are expected to return to pre-pandemic levels by 2024, driven by economic and consumption recovery, while online retail sales will continue to grow.
E-commerce
Thailand is the second-largest e-commerce market in Southeast Asia, with a Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of $22 billion. By 2025, Thailand's e-commerce market is expected to achieve a CAGR of 13%. Additionally, the Digital 2023: Thailand report by media companies We Are Social and Meltwater noted that in 2022, 65.9% of consumer goods purchased through e-commerce platforms were ordered via mobile phones.
In 2023, the number of online shoppers in Thailand reached 15.15 million, and according to Statista, this number is expected to grow to 17.59 million by 2025, representing a 16% increase.
In 2023, the average e-commerce spending per user in Thailand reached THB14,000, and according to Bain & Company's forecast. By 2025, the GMV of Thailand's e-commerce market is expected to exceed $3 billion.
Notably, Thailand tops the Asia-Pacific region in terms of the percentage of weekly online shoppers:
With such a strong preference for online shopping, what kind of e-commerce activities are Thai people engaging in every week? See the chart below:
Curious what Thai shoppers are buying, and how their purchase journeys are like? See the chart below:
The top three products Thai consumers spend the most online are electronics, food, and beverages. The most frequently purchased items are clothing, shoes, and cosmetics and personal care products. Additionally, 58% of Thai consumers believe reviews are important, and 47% will search online before making a major purchase. Clearly, this is a group of highly sophisticated online shoppers.
What can businesses do to make these shoppers spend more online? And what factors might hinder their online shopping? Let’s take a look.
As shown, coupons and discounts are still highly effective and are the main drivers for Thai consumers to complete their purchases. The biggest factor hindering online purchases in Thailand is trust in payment methods, with 39.29% of Thai consumers citing this as a barrier to their online shopping.
Now that we have a better understanding of Thai consumers' spending preferences and consumption patterns, you might be curious – apart from online shopping – how are their digital habits? Do their lives also centre around the digital world?
Digital behaviour
Thailand boasts a generation of tech-savvy, mobile-centric digital natives. The country ranks among the leaders in global digital adoption. According to DataReportal, Thailand's mobile device penetration rate was 133% in 2019, and by early 2023, it had increased to 141%, with the total number of active mobile phone connections reaching around 101.2 million. This is one of the reasons for a high level of digital payment acceptance among the Thai population.
According to Statista, Thailand's internet penetration rate has been increasing since 2020 and reached 98% by 2024. With so many internet users, what exactly are they doing online?
As shown in the chart above, like the majority of internet users worldwide, Thai people primarily use the internet to find information, watch videos, and play games. So, how much time do they spend online?
As shown in the chart above, Thai people spend an average of 7.58 hours online each day. Among different age groups, Generation Y (ages 19-38) spends the most time online, averaging 8.55 hours per day.
With such a large digital population, what is their digital payment or e-payment usage like?
80% of Thais indicated that they use e-payments. The main use is for online shopping, followed by in-store purchases and transfers to friends and family.
The state of payments in Thailand
Currently, Thailand is one of the largest real-time payment (RTP) markets globally. By 2023, the number of digital payment users in Thailand has reached 30 million, and it is expected to reach 36 million by 2025.
According to PPRO data for 2023, bank transfers are currently the most widely used payment method, accounting for 42% of all transactions. The market share of different payment methods in Thailand is shown below:
How well do Thai merchants support the different payment methods? Let's find out:
According to a survey by IDC, 79% of Thai merchants accept card payments, followed by payment on delivery and over-the-counter payments.
How about their payment preferences online? We saw in the previous section, that Thai consumers use e-payments mainly for online shopping. So, what is the share of different payment methods in e-commerce?
Bank transfers are used by 32% of Thai e-commerce users , making it the most popular payment method in Thailand. This is followed by card payments and digital wallets.
“Digital Thailand”: The reason behind Thailand's rapid e-payment development
Since 2016, the Thai government has been promoting the digital economy and social development plan, releasing the National E-payment Master Plan, aimed at transforming the country into a "Digital Thailand." This transformation is referred to as the Thailand 4.0 revolution.
What measures are being taken?
- Introduction of the PromptPay system, allowing transactions using national ID and/or phone numbers
- Expansion of the Electronic Data Capture (EDC) network to reduce cash transactions
- Digitisation of the tax system
- Establishment of a national e-payment system to optimise welfare distribution
- Promotion of e-payment systems
To align with the National E-payment Master Plan, the Bank of Thailand (Thailand’s central bank) has developed a payment system roadmap, aiming to make digital payments the preferred choice for Thai people.
Next, let's take a closer look at different payment methods, such as bank transfers, digital wallets, cards and cash.
Bank transfers
In Thailand, bank transfers primarily use the PromptPay system, a nationwide remittance and e-payment system launched in 2017. With this system, users only need to provide their national ID number or phone number to make payments. Today, PromptPay is Thailand's leading digital payment method, with 67 million registered users as of 2023.
In 2023, the value of mobile banking transactions in Thailand was approximately THB 71.07 trillion, a steady increase from the previous year. Among this, PromptPay transactions accounted for about THB 47.42 trillion of the transactions.
Digital wallets
Digital wallets were the second most commonly used payment method in e-commerce and POS transactions. According to Statista's report on payment methods at point-of-sale (POS) in Thailand, the market share of digital wallets surged from 2% in 2017 to 22% in 2023. Additionally, digital wallets accounted for 25% of the total e-commerce transaction volume.
The user base for digital wallets reached 15 million in 2020, representing 21% of Thailand's population.
And by 2023, the number of digital wallet accounts in Thailand increased multi-fold to approximately 116.5 million. The total transaction value via e-wallets in Thailand in 2023 was about THB 713.4 billion. The details are shown in the chart below.
Furthermore, according to IDC InfoBrief 2023, digital wallet payments are predicted to account for 29% of all e-commerce payments in Thailand by 2028.
With so many digital wallets available in Thailand now, what is their share of the market?
TrueMoney leads the market with a 52.6% share, far ahead of competitors like Rabbit LINE Pay and ShopeePay.
Cards
Cards are divided into credit cards and debit cards.
Credit cards remain the dominant payment method in Thailand, despite the relatively low penetration rat
