To enhance the online shopping experience for Thai consumers, Taobao has officially launched a Thai-language version. According to Taobao, since its launch over a month ago, new users in Thailand have increased by nearly 60% year-on-year.
The Thai version uses AI translation services based on Alibaba’s Tongyi large model, supporting Chinese, English, and Thai. After switching to the Thai interface, the system, product titles, and detail pages all display in Thai, and users can settle payments directly in Thai baht.
The Thailand market is a popular destination for Chinese e-commerce going global. With a population exceeding 70 million, a young demographic, and high internet penetration, Thailand offers a solid user base for e-commerce platforms. Amid the boom of cross-border e-commerce platforms, Chinese goods are widely welcomed by Thai consumers for their quality-price ratio and innovative design. For example, during the recent 618 shopping festival, Taobao’s Thailand station achieved steady GMV growth, with outstanding sales in apparel, home goods, and 3C digital products. The women’s shoes category saw GMV more than double year-on-year.
Currently, Taobao’s overseas expansion is steadily advancing. After launching the overseas growth plan in 2024, going global has become a new growth direction for Taobao merchants. Notably, after releasing a Russian version for Kazakhstan in May, Taobao launched multiple language versions for overseas markets within two months, accelerating its overseas pace. Compared to other cross-border e-commerce platforms, merchants in this plan retain ownership and pricing rights without extra operational costs. The process involves merchants sending overseas orders to official consolidation warehouses in mainland China; subsequent cross-border logistics are handled by the platform, enabling “one-click global selling.”