AMONG the products in great demand during the current “Shop for the Country” tax incentive period is the humble engine oil with PTT Plc seeing sales soar online after its market shrank most of the year, Thai News Agency reported today (Nov. 23).
A key reason auto lubricants are so much in demand is clearly because people are getting ready for yearend holidays.
Mr Boonnin Ratansombat, PTT’s executive vice president for lubricant business, said his company’s total lubricant sales this year dropped by 3-4%. This matches the overall picture of a drop in spending in the provinces due to the lower prices agricultural products are fetching this year.
However the introduction of the “Shop for the Country” scheme, with Thais allowed a tax deduction of up to 15,000 baht ($453) on certain goods and services they buy from Nov. 11 to Dec. 3, led to a substantial jump of total sale of these products online.
PTT now expects that total sale of lubricants this year will stay at the same level as last year, which is 150 million liters.
However a bright spot this year is that PTT’s overseas sales jumped by 5% to reach 25 million liters.
The company now expects 2018’s online sales to grow by 10%. It also aims to expand to 2 to 3 more countries from 39 it is marketing in today.
“Online market is a new trend for spending and PTT will be growing in this area too. In Thailand it joined hands with Lazada while also developing other channels.
“On Nov. 11 sales increased by 40 to 50%; there are now 900 purchase orders a day,” Boonnin said.
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Top: A Cadillac engine. Photo: Michael Gil (CC-BY-2.0)
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