Ookbee Mall Thailand, the operator of ookbeemall.com, announced on Thursday it will close down its e-commerce website in March after facing a heavy financial burden brought on by fierce competition.
The company, a joint venture firm between Thailand’s startup Ookbee and Japan’s Transcosmos, was set up in November 2015 with a combined 150 million baht from both registered capital and investment spending.
Ookbee Mall Thailand Co, however, will not be dissolved.
The shutdown of Ookbee’s website follows a similar move by Japanese e-commerce operator Rakuten last year, which closed down its business-to-consumer ecommerce site in Southeast Asia markets.
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Natavudh Pungcharoenpong, founder of Ookbee, Asean’s leading ebook store and cofounder of Ookbee Mall Thailand, said running an ecommerce business in Thailand requires a large scale of operations and funds as global players are using subsidised promotion strategies.
“We can no longer afford the losses. We would rather invest our money in other profitable businesses instead,” he said.
Ookbeemall.com sells books, magazines, and beauty and cosmetic products that are both locallymade and imported from Japan.
Several ecommerce operators in Thailand went out of business last year due to the intense competition.
(Source: Bangkok Post)