Health care, beauty services and E-commerce have been identified as three top-performing businesses for the coming year, as they were this year, in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a projection by the Centre of Economic and Business Forecasting of the University of Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC).
It said that, as many businesses have faltered over the past two years, these three sectors have been thriving, as Thai people adjust their lifestyle to the “new normal” and adapt to new technologies.
The wearing of face masks, maintaining social distancing and regular use of sanitisers have become the norm for the majority of the people, to the extent that this behaviour has spurred an increase in health care and beauty services and E-commerce.
Without the COVID-19 pandemic, it may have taken about five years for E-commerce to expand to the level it enjoys today, as more people tend to stay home for their safety, but continue to shop online, said the UTCC’s forecast.
Because the charges for health care and beauty services in Thailand are comparatively lower than in many developed countries, but enjoy worldwide recognition, the businesses have been thriving. E-commerce has also been stimulated by the government’s economic stimulus measures, such as the 50:50 co-payment scheme, easy access to the internet, good logistics and convenient electronic payment systems, said the research centre.
The second best-performing is the “platform business”, a model that focusses on helping to facilitate interactions across a large number of participants, like connecting buyers and sellers. The centre said that this online model allows businesses to connect directly with the consumers, in line with the changes to their lifestyles.
The third group of thriving businesses are logistics, which include produce delivery and storage, Fintech and life and non-life insurance, as more people are concerned with their and their family’s health and security.
Other promising businesses for the coming year include pharmaceutical and health products, food supplements and health food, processed rubber products, processed food, content provision, pet products, packaging, electronics, automobiles and the horizontal real estate business.
