Thai billionaire buys e-commerce portal Tarad, heating up competition
Thai beverage, property, industrial, agriculture and retail conglomerate TCC Group said it is acquiring a majority stake in Tarad.com, a leading domestic e-marketplace operator in Thailand, to expand its reach in the country’s e-commerce market.
TCC Group, owned by Thailand’s second- richest man Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, whose net worth Forbes estimates at $17 billion, said the acquisition of a 51-per cent stake in Tarad.com will “strengthen TCC’s digital business arm, the company’s “new engine of growth”, by allowing it to better analyse and monetise data of customers.
Reportedly, the price for the share in the e-commerce company was 250 million baht ($8 million), although financial details were not officially disclosed.
Tarad.com confirmed the acquisition, which will be carried out by TCC’s digital arm, T-Space Digital Co.
The move comes amid strong competition from international operators expanding in Thailand such as Taiwan’s Shopee, South Korea’s 11street and Lazada, which is backed by China’s Alibaba Group Holding.
However, Tarad.com said it will tune down its online marketplace business and instead focus on solutions such as providing data analytics, marketing, advertising and e-payment expertise for other e-marketplace operators, a strategy that could also include collaborations with Shopee, 11street and lazada.
But in the long term, TCC Group might well develop Tarad.com into an e-commerce channel for goods under the TCC Group. The group’s subsidiaries include Big C, the largest supermarket operator in Thailand, and it also owns consumer brands highly popular in the country. For example, TCC flagship company Thai Beverage makes Chang Beer and the Oishi sweet tea-flavored beverage, both of which are leading brands in their respective markets.
Established in 2001, Tarad.com has around 200,000 merchants and is among the top ten e-commerce businesses in Thailand. It operates tarad.com, tarad-plaza.com, taradquickweb.com, and ThaiSecondhand.com. Japan’s Rakuten acquired 67 per cent of Tarad.com in 2009 for $3.35 million but sold its stake back to the Thai firm in 2016 following a strategic overhaul of the Japanese firm’s business in Southeast Asia.
Thailand’s e-commerce market has been valued at $900 million by a 2016 report by Google and Singapore’s Temasek and is expected to grow by 29 per cent over the next decade, according to the market researchers.
Thai beverage, property, industrial, agriculture and retail conglomerate TCC Group said it is acquiring a majority stake in Tarad.com, a leading domestic e-marketplace operator in Thailand, to expand its reach in the country’s e-commerce market. TCC Group, owned by Thailand’s second- richest man Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, whose net worth Forbes estimates at $17 billion, said the acquisition of a 51-per cent stake in Tarad.com will “strengthen TCC's digital business arm, the company's "new engine of growth", by allowing it to better analyse and monetise data of customers. Reportedly, the price for the share in the e-commerce company was 250 million baht...
Thai beverage, property, industrial, agriculture and retail conglomerate TCC Group said it is acquiring a majority stake in Tarad.com, a leading domestic e-marketplace operator in Thailand, to expand its reach in the country’s e-commerce market.
TCC Group, owned by Thailand’s second- richest man Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, whose net worth Forbes estimates at $17 billion, said the acquisition of a 51-per cent stake in Tarad.com will “strengthen TCC’s digital business arm, the company’s “new engine of growth”, by allowing it to better analyse and monetise data of customers.
Reportedly, the price for the share in the e-commerce company was 250 million baht ($8 million), although financial details were not officially disclosed.
Tarad.com confirmed the acquisition, which will be carried out by TCC’s digital arm, T-Space Digital Co.
The move comes amid strong competition from international operators expanding in Thailand such as Taiwan’s Shopee, South Korea’s 11street and Lazada, which is backed by China’s Alibaba Group Holding.
However, Tarad.com said it will tune down its online marketplace business and instead focus on solutions such as providing data analytics, marketing, advertising and e-payment expertise for other e-marketplace operators, a strategy that could also include collaborations with Shopee, 11street and lazada.
But in the long term, TCC Group might well develop Tarad.com into an e-commerce channel for goods under the TCC Group. The group’s subsidiaries include Big C, the largest supermarket operator in Thailand, and it also owns consumer brands highly popular in the country. For example, TCC flagship company Thai Beverage makes Chang Beer and the Oishi sweet tea-flavored beverage, both of which are leading brands in their respective markets.
Established in 2001, Tarad.com has around 200,000 merchants and is among the top ten e-commerce businesses in Thailand. It operates tarad.com, tarad-plaza.com, taradquickweb.com, and ThaiSecondhand.com. Japan’s Rakuten acquired 67 per cent of Tarad.com in 2009 for $3.35 million but sold its stake back to the Thai firm in 2016 following a strategic overhaul of the Japanese firm’s business in Southeast Asia.
Thailand’s e-commerce market has been valued at $900 million by a 2016 report by Google and Singapore’s Temasek and is expected to grow by 29 per cent over the next decade, according to the market researchers.
