When talking about Commart There are probably few people who don’t know this big event in the IT field. Because for more than ten years now, Commart has been on the list of events that IT equipment lovers look forward to. In addition to the stores bringing products at special prices at huge discounts, This kind of atmosphere that comes all in one place has always made Commart number one.
Bangkok Business IT will take you to know the story behind the success of Commart work who arrived at the event Commart Best Deal and will be held until December 3, 2023 at the BITEC Bangna Exhibition and Convention Center through the words of Phonchai Chandrasuphasaeng Director of IT and Digital Media Business, ARIP Public Company Limited, father of Commart
Predict Commart this time?
“We want Commart at the end of the year to be one event that stimulates the ICT industry market. This is our main duty. Many people have talked about it during the past year. The economy, especially the ICT market, is relatively quiet. It’s rather sluggish. If we analyze it simply During Covid, the market grew beyond normal. Because Covid is a changer. causing new behaviors in work and study For example, a house has two children and parents. In the past, there was Covid. There may be one computer in the house. Then gradually share it. Because most of the children will go to school. Parents also go to work in the office. But when there was Covid Children must study at home. Parents must work at home It turned out that one computer couldn’t support four people. Therefore, there is a phenomenon of purchasing demand that exceeds normal.
Once purchased, it may not be possible for people to immediately buy a new device a year later. There will be a market vacuum for a while, but it’s starting to get better if you look at some of the signals in Commart’s sales, but it’s still not as good as during the normal hyperbolic period. From one device to having to buy three more devices.
But I have to admit that the entrepreneurs themselves and the sellers still expect it to go back to that point again. This makes everyone have homework on what to do. Because normally when doing business, if we make a target of 10 baht, one day we make 15 baht. It probably won’t be a target of 15 baht the next year, but it will be 20 baht, 30 baht, 40 baht when the market conditions start to stabilize. But the business’s goals were set higher. So there was a struggle, a fight. Commart is the one that will help here. From the organizer’s point of view, we look at the situation that has passed from Covid and bought the device. Now it’s time to start changing. Because it must be accepted that IT equipment will need to be replaced after one year or the second year. with the application With various things Make it like that.”
Do you look at the Commart brand in the industry?
“Commart’s brand, people will feel that it’s okay. It’s more reliable than buying from outside. Second, Commart is a source of all the big stores in Thailand. Big stores in Thailand that are in the Top 5 must come out with Commart. It’s a good opportunity to take a look. Compare each store Because if you go to one of the shops in the mall You just walk to that store. If you go to another store, you may have to go to another floor. Or it may or may not be close to each other, I don’t know. But of course, we won’t meet at five stores in a row. And I haven’t encountered promotions that every store has the same.
And imagine if we decide to buy something at that store. It doesn’t mean that the store will stock every model. But while the store is gone Everyone brings in all their stock. Commart’s charm is therefore its reliability. And we can bring everyone together. And we ourselves have additional marketing campaigns, for example, where we make vouchers to distribute at various events. for additional discounts from these stores The person responsible is the organizer. The person who left the event was happy. Or when we make a voucher for half the price of the voucher, which immediately sells out in less than 10 minutes, or each day we do a Big Bonus, which is to shop every 3,000 baht and get a lucky draw. Each day we will draw prizes every evening. The prizes we try to select are different each day. Find things that people want but are not easy to find, such as this graphics card that you go and buy. The shop doesn’t sell them separately. But we have only the graphics cards you want. You don’t have to buy it either. But you have to shop at the event and try your luck, etc.”
Commart’s other role?
“This era is the content era. We are also the media. We use this space to create content. We also have a content team to forward for consumers to see. From the first day we turned around and did it because Commart actually started out as a media. Before becoming an event We used to be a magazine called Commart. Over the past three years we’ve brought our media identity back to life. Because Commart’s media normally works diligently during work. When the work is finished, we let it go. But now we do it regularly. Insert content There will be a group of fans who like buying technology and will come to see.”
Expected sales?
“Last time, we had about 3,300 million baht spread at the event. This time we want to get it at 3,500 million baht, which if from past statistics, we usually exceed our target because in fact in the middle of the year we set it at 3,000 million baht, but 3,300 million baht is considered a success.”
Economic conditions affect Commart work?
“We cannot deny that the economic situation has an impact on Commart in terms of money in our pockets. But now we have to come back and ask what part of life the products we sell are in? I believe that with today’s technology products, smartphones, laptops, people these days don’t have to be children. Take me at this age. Wake up and we have to use technology. You don’t have to be a kid these days. The first thing my generation does is turn on the television and turn on the radio. We don’t even turn on our cell phones. After we finish getting dressed we will leave the house. We’ll open our cell phone and see who’s on line and what email they have. So we have to ask, if you’re going to live a normal life, you have to have these things with you. These five factors, six factors, are what compel people to buy.
And if people have to buy it, they go back to the basics of what is the most worthwhile purchase. Many people say that it is cheaper to buy on e-commerce platforms. But in reality it is not like that. That is, it’s only cheap if you get a discount coupon. But those platforms do not provide discount coupons to everyone. So it’s framed. And we have to accept that stores may not be happy with selling on e-commerce platforms. Because the more he sells, the more he gets hurt. With GP fees, interest on product installments, and various things, some store owners told me that even if they don’t want to sell, they must sell. Because people believe that they have to buy there. And if his brand isn’t there, it’s like he’s missing the train.”
Product trends at Commart?
“The trend these days is probably DIY computers, graphics cards. Graphics cards used to be very booming. When people mined crypto But now graphics cards are starting to become hard to find again after the AI boom because big companies They all bought good graphics cards to use, so they didn’t produce enough to fill the place. But it’s probably not as brutal as crypto.
As for laptops, which are our all-time main heroes, they are still on the market. Make a promotion There are new CPU models from both Intel and AMD at this event, and even Mac itself has released a new M3 model. This is something that makes people who like new things rush to buy it. As for people who like outdated products, they will rush to buy them because the prices of previous models will go down.
Previously, we were criticized for walking around with only a laptop. I only find the same brand over and over again. Because these people go to large representative stores. But later we tried to find new faces, such as Silicon gaming chairs. Health chairs or other Smart Home gadgets at each booth are starting to differ. During this year, we will start to see more Apple pop up at our events than before when there were only two. It seems like the market has begun to change. But one thing that Commart walkers feel is that when they come like this, there is little to walk around.
We try to find new things because our position is technology. Now we are starting to look back and see that the event itself may need to be more technological than it is. From the beginning we were just selling space, we began to find a platform for Commart in the next years to be more high-tech. We are probably not just the same old event anymore.”
Commart’s challenge?
“The main challenge of Commart is adapting to the technology of the time. and looking for new things That sometimes people who buy it themselves still don’t realize that I want it. But we have to pin it and pull him in first. In the past, people said that if they brought in a Mechanical Keyboard, who would buy it? Keyboards are generally bought for only a few hundred baht each. What about keyboards, 4,000, 5,000 each? Who will buy them? Someone asked me if I invited them to a booth, would they be able to sell them? I brought these keyboards to sell when they were just a 3×3 booth. It’s a small booth and when I brought them, they were able to sell quite a bit. Until later, when they grew up together, he gradually grew until he was now a big booth.
Or when the health chair was first brought in Someone asked who would buy it. It appeared that he could sell it. So I see that the challenge is that we have to predict what buyers want to buy. We can’t just follow the trend. It’s not like everyone is a fan of keyboards right now, so we’ll pull out keyboards and sell them. But we brought him in before the trend came. Then he will feel that we gave him a chance.
We can’t survive by relying only on big retail brands, and fairgoers probably won’t be happy to only see five big brands. But he wants to experience something new. After buying a laptop, I bought a keyboard. After purchasing the keyboard, I bought a chair. That is, they don’t compete with each other. But if every booth sells laptops, it’s like when we go to some events. The owner thinks easily. Selling only snacks that were popular at the time. Take Ba Bin snacks for example. There will be 5-6 people selling bins in a row. The question is, if we buy the first bin, we probably won’t buy the second one. But if the first one sells bins The second one sells gold yib foi thong. The third vendor sells snacks. We had the opportunity to purchase all three. The principle of Commart organizers is that we must create as much diversity as possible. Find as many things as possible that people never thought they’d want to buy. If they try it and it’s good, it will be popular in the market.”
Why do you have to go to Commart?
“Commart is a market where we believe you will get the best and cheapest products, but not too cheap. Because if you go and buy things that are unrealistically cheap, you might get divine things. It’s okay to be fake. But with ours, you can be sure of the quality. Because every store that comes in, we know who it is and where it comes from. I know every shop owner. If something happens, Commart will be the one to complain and help. I’ve had some people buy things and have problems. We also have a duty to help coordinate. If you go shopping with someone you don’t know He might let it go. But our duty is to serve them as best we can. Solve their problems to the utmost, come to Commart and get the most modern, best, cheapest products in the real world.”
