Market Entry Strategy Selection Of China’s Cross- Border E-Commerce Platform Into Thailand

In the recent years, traditional export growth in China has declined; on the other hand, the amounts of cross-border e-commerce export are increasing rapidly and accounting for a larger market share.As cross-border e-commerce decrease the supply chain, lower the cost, and pass over intermediary services which are inevitable in traditional trade, so the manufacturer is able to face customer directly, as well as boosting profit and reducing product price.However, the Chinese domestic e-commerce market begins to saturate, Chinese enterprises are seeking new foreign market in order to avoid intense competition in the domestic market. Now, Southeast Asia is an emerging market for the e-commerce and it is still in initial stage of development, competition amongst e-commerce platforms is not fierce. Thailand, located in the center of Southeast Asia, soon will become the e-commerce technology center in Southeast Asia and still have much potential for growth.Before an enterprise entry the new foreign market, the first step that needs to be taken is environmental analysis to get a clear picture of domestic market and industrial status. Thus, SWOT analysis is an essential process. This thesis mainly focuses on the market entry strategy selection of China’s cross-border E-commerce Platform into Thailand based on the case study of Alibaba’s Aliexpress in order to find out Aliexpress should entry Thai E-commerce market or not? And how Aliexpress entry?Internal and external environment factors is analyzed in this thesis based on 4M, 7’S, PEST and Porter’s five forces model to find out strength and weakness of the platform, as well as opportunity and threat that exist in Thai market. Then, this research uses 5 point scale to quantify these four factors. Next, establishes four dimensional systems, constructs SWOT strategic planning matrix; and determines the suitable strategy for entering to market. So, this result found that Aliexpress scores 4.36 in strength and 4.43 in weakness, while 4.167 in opportunity and 3.975 in threat. The result is deriving from the matrix is in the aggressive strategic area; the suitable strategy for Aliexpress in current situation is WO strategy (Weakness and Opportunity). Therefore, the answer to the question on whether to enter Thai market is positive; Aliexpress should take advantage of external environmental opportunities, also overcome internal disadvantages for development in Thai market.Besides, questionnaires are used to survey Thai’s consumers market. The results from questionnaires and quantitative SWOT analysis are combined and concluded in this thesis in order to suggest the strategy for Aliexpress to entry Thai’s market, as follows; to take advantages of external environmental opportunities, through expansion and strives before Thai e-commerce market gets mature, as well as developing logistic system of Kunming-Bangkok road. The way to overcome internal disadvantage is to enter Thai market by joint venture or acquisition, create social network tools in Thai version, improve quality of product and brand awareness, encourage online sellers to stop posting goods through illegal method, and eventually establish domestic logistic system in Thai.