กรุณารอสักครู่
COVID-19 situation has a severe effect on the global and Thai economy on a large scale. Evidently,
Thailand’s GDP contracted by 1.8% in the first quarter of 2020. In the same quarter, MSME GDP
contracted by 3.3% from a slowdown in tourism sector and expenditure of private sector.
In the survey on business adaptation to pandemic, the majority of over 2,700 entrepreneurs
responded that they were shifting focus to online promotion. However, the survey showed that 61.4%
of MSMEs did not have an online sales channel, and 38.6% of MSME businesses did have online
sales channels. The survey revealed that 79.3% of MSMEs accept online payments (bank transfer,
Prompt Pay, or others). The MSMEs top sales channel were Facebook, Line Application, and Website
respectively. The most lucrative online business was restaurants.
The pandemic caused entrepreneurs to adopt and cope with unexpected changes, including changes
in consumer behavior, social distancing, product safety, zoning, space utilization of business premises,
and less travel to crowded areas. These were driving factors toward a significant increase in online shopping.
These factors impacted the businesses and became imperative for enterprises to embrace such changes.
