KBank leads effort to help SMEs counter foreign rivals

The initiative comes as the value of e-commerce business in Thailand is estimated to skyrocket to as much as Bt2.8 trillion this year.
Kasikornbank yesterday joined with the Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA), Google Thailand and Line Thailand to launch “K SME Good to Great”, a project that aims to support SMEs in retail make the move to take advantage of the growing opportunities in e-commerce.
Digital technology brings out many competitors not only from the local scene but also from overseas, so Thai SMEs have to learn how to reorganise their businesses by incorporating so-called omni-channel selling for their products offline and online, said KBank executive vice president Surat Leelataviwat.
The bank plans to organise a seminar for 5,000 SMEs on the trends in retailing and how the owners and managers can use digital tools to run the business as part of survival strategies in the new environment. 
The bank will also offer five days of in-depth training for 50 applicants to be selected for guidance by experts. After that, five will be short-listed to be in the running for prizes of Bt100,000 each. The bank will also offer them a one-on-one business advisory service. 
Surangkana Wayuparb, executive director and chief executive of ETDA, said that e-commerce business for consumers, also known as B2C, came to about Bt703 billion last year and is expected to jump to Bt2.5-2.8 trillion this year. Thailand's e-commerce market is the largest in Asean.
In regarding to competition from China, Surangkana said that Thais should not worry about e-commerce giant Alibaba entering the Thai market
“This may lead to more imports of Chinese goods but we could also have an opportunity to sell our products to Chinese consumers,” she said.
Surat said that Thai SMEs have room to grow as the bank expects loans to SMEs will rise about 4-6 per cent this year.
The bank has outstanding loans worth about Bt700 billion for its SME portfolio. 
The bank also uses a digital platform to help assess loans for SMEs loans as it can draw on the Big Data of the bank's clients to guide its loan approvals process, Surat said.
Alibaba may provide some financial settlement or financial services for those who use its e-commerce platform but it is unlikely to hurt the Thai banking business, he added. 
However, he is worried that many Thai SMEs have not yet adopted online sales and management tools for their businesses. Those businesses that have done so have cut their operational costs and increased their market opportunities, he said.