Italthai Industrial launches online wine sales

PHUKET: Upbeat about the potential of e-commerce, Italthai Industrial has joined hands with MCFIVA (Thailand) to create an online-shopping website for its wine products.

The www.italthaicellar.com website will highlight a variety of secured online-payment methods and next-day delivery as major selling points, as well as promotional offerings for Italthai Industrial’s premium wines.

The company expects total sales volume via the e-commerce channel in Thailand to increase by 30 per cent annually.

“E-commerce around the world and in Thailand is growing continuously, as it provides convenience and rapidness as well as time-saving and cost reduction. As a result, more consumers are confident [about using e-commerce] and prefer to shop online,” said Skon Sriwannawit, Italthai Industrial’s vice president for marketing communications.

“Italthai, a leading importer of premium wines from around the world, is launching www.italthaicellar.com, a website offering award-winning red wine, premium white wine from various types of grapes, rose wine with flower flagrance and popular sparkling wine.

“Given our 50 years’ experience in selecting wine for Italthai Group’s hotels, including the Mandarin Oriental and Amari Group, wine lovers can be confident that they will get the same wine as served in these famous hotels, at affordable prices. They will have more confidence [in buying online], as the website is overseen by a digital and e-commerce leader like MCFIVA.”

“E-commerce – or online markets – is not just part of the internet, but plays a major role of growing size,” said Supachai Pachariyanon, managing director of MCFIVA (Thailand).

“We would like online wine shopping to be easy for customers. They can shop everywhere and their wine can be delivered anywhere throughout Thailand as well. We are confident in our services, so we have developed [the website] in the form of B2C [business-to-consumer].

“MCFIVA provides a one-stop service for the website, starting from marketing strategies, promotions and responsive Web design, to supporting multi-devices with secured payments and next-day delivery. Every step is safe and taken care of by Thai e-commerce experts.

“Emphasizing convenience and safety, the website offers various payment methods, including money transfer, credit cards and cash or credit-card payments upon delivery, with quality certification and product-return policies,” said the MD.

The key factor supporting the growth of e-commerce is the internet and the country’s 3G network, with a move to 4G being the next step.

The number of internet users, as well as smartphone and tablet users, has increased by 50 per cent from last year, Mr Supachai said, adding that social networks are changing Thai behavior from conventional shopping to online shopping. These factors will result in the number of people buying items through e-commerce increasing by at least 30 per cent annually, he said.

“For the past two or three years, imported wine has enjoyed annual growth of 7 per cent. Current sales volume is 15 billion baht worth of liters, with 1.6bn baht in market value,” he said.

— The Nation