January 10, 2024 | Posted in News
Smartphones and computer products posted strong sales growth of 30-60% during the first week of January, boosted by the government’s e-receipt programme, signalling a positive sales result for the first quarter, according to IT product vendors.
The cabinet approved the Easy E-Receipt programme which offers tax rebates of up to 50,000 baht for those ineligible for the digital handout.
The programme runs from Jan 1 to Feb 15, offering a tax rebate for spending at businesses that issue e-tax invoices and e-receipts with certain conditions.
“We saw a slowdown in sales in December, particularly during Dec 1-24, as a result of the subdued economy, compared to a normal December which is the high season for IT products,” said Dusit Sukhumvitaya, chief executive of Jaymart Mobile.
After the slowdown, demand bounced back in the final week of last month with the company’s launch of promotional campaigns and rose sharply in the first week of January during weekdays at 30-35% growth following the start of the e-receipt scheme.
Mr Dusit said this indicates delayed demand for specific smartphones in every range, mainly the current Galaxy Ultra S23 mobile phone model.
More new flagship mobile phones will also be launched this month, including the Samsung Galaxy Ultra S24 with artificial intelligence capability, and a new Xiaomi model in the premium segment.
He anticipates improved sales of smartphones in the first quarter but for the second or third quarters, the company is waiting to see the launch of the digital wallet scheme and the start of the new government budget spending.
Takon Niyomthai, head of IT business development at Com7, a SET-listed IT retail chain, said during the last week of December, Com7’s sales surged rapidly by 30% compared with the regular period due to its year-end promotional campaigns.
During the first week of January, after the promotions had ended, the company’s sales also rose 10% from the last week of December, due to the e-receipt tax scheme, he added.
Smartphones were one of the leading products in terms of sales during the final week of December as they are deemed to be necessary devices. In the first week of January, sales of the new iPhone 15 model increased.
The computer segment also posted a strong growth of 60% from the final week of December, due to the e-receipt scheme, particularly notebooks priced 20,000-30,000 baht.
“There is delayed demand for some specific notebooks as consumers want to upgrade their devices and gain benefits from the scheme,” Mr Takon added.
He expects the positive momentum to continue, contributed by product replacements and new flagship mobile phone models this month and during Chinese New Year in February.
Somsak Pejthaveeporndej, chief executive of VST ECS (Thailand), said the scheme is expected to boost the sales of IT products by 15-20% compared to the regular period.
However, the tax scheme gives a big benefit to consumers who have a personal tax above 20% per year which can reduce tax by 10,000 baht, but for those who pay personal tax of 10%, purchases of 50,000 baht during this sluggish economic period might not work.
The scheme will help stimulate spending for a short period and the government should reduce high interest rates to help cut the cost of business operations and boost consumer spending, he added.
For the IT business, its corporate segment and goverment projects are expected to grow by 3% this year, but the consumer segment still faces a negative economic impact.
According to Gartner Inc, IT spending in Thailand is expected to have reached 935 billion baht in 2023.
Yod Chinsupakul, chief executive of Line Man Wongnai, said the company offers e-receipts and during the first week of January orders continued to grow.
The number of orders is expected to grow further in February, near the end of the scheme.
According to the company, Line Man Mart has the most stores participating in the easy e-receipt project within the delivery platform group with over 721 stores.
Chantsuda Thananitayaudom, senior director of commercial and marketing at Grab Thailand, said Grab is launching the ‘GrabMart Easy E-Receipt’ campaign to facilitate consumers with tax deduction when purchasing a diverse range of consumer products available on GrabMart starting from Jan 8 and continuing until the middle of February.