Thailand's Siam Commercial Bank to take on rivals with delivery 'super-app'

[snoop1130]

FILE PHOTO: A woman walks out from a Siam Commercial Bank branch in Bangkok, Thailand, April 18, 2016. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai lender Siam Commercial Bank Pcl on Tuesday said it would increase the services offered by its food delivery app Robinhood next year to include travel, parcel delivery and groceries in Southeast Asia's second-largest economy.

 

Robinhood was launched last year amid surging demand for food delivery due to COVID-19 related lockdowns and now boasts around 2.3 million users and 26,000 riders who handle over 150,000 orders a day.

 

"Next year will be a year of travel ... Food is a loss leader, but it is building our customer base. This is why we have to be a super-app," said Thana Thienachariya, chairman of Purple Ventures, a subsidiary of SCB, the country's fourth largest lender.

 

Competition in Thailand's food delivery market intensified this year after Malaysia's AirAsia bought Indonesia's GoJek's business in Thailand and e-commerce platform Shopee, owned by Singapore's Sea Ltd, rolled out a local food delivery service.

 

By 2023, Purple Ventures will have invested 4 billion baht to 5 billion baht ($120 million to $150 million) in the app, Thana said. SCB will also seek investors for the app, he added.

 

Its travel feature will include hotels, flights and car rental and will launch in February next year ahead of Songkran, Thailand's new year festival in April.

 

Its groceries service will focus on premium products and shops that do not exist on other apps, Purple Ventures Managing Director Srihanath Lamsam said.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-10-26

 

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(Reporting by Chayut Setboonsarng; Editing by James Pearson)

[StayinThailand2much]

Yawn! Another food delivery service, by a bank...

 

Why not a 'cash delivery service' (deposits and withdrawals); with the bank clerk coming to your door, saving one the trip to the bank or ATM?

Edited October 26, 2021 by StayinThailand2much

[internationalism]

I would suspect outright boycott from politically aware younger generations, who do tend to use online shopping applications

[zzaa09]

1 hour ago, internationalism said:

I would suspect outright boycott from politically aware younger generations, who do tend to use online shopping applications

A commendable consideration, yet most [the world over] are unwilling to live their protests in exchange for surface obsessive values. That's why we're in the state that we are......everywhere. 

[RafPinto]

Super....Thailand

 

does that work?

[mrfill]

Another 'super' app which will quite soon be subject to a 'super' hack in all likelihood...

[klauskunkel]

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

food delivery app Robinhood

I think FriarTuck would be a more appropriate name for a food app.

And if they want to branch out into dating apps I suggest MaidMarian.

Edited October 27, 2021 by klauskunkel

[cauldlad]

They should invest in more ATM's especially in Pattaya rather than wasting billions on a food app. There are virtually no stand alone ATM's on the streets. I only know of one on 3rd road. You have to visit a bank branch or go to Big C for an ATM.

 

Not like the other banks who all have many stand alone ATM's on the streets of Pattaya.

[brucegoniners]

Are they even in Pattaya? Never seen them.

[hotandsticky]

9 minutes ago, brucegoniners said:

Are they even in Pattaya? Never seen them.

Are you serious?

[cauldlad]

10 minutes ago, brucegoniners said:

Are they even in Pattaya? Never seen them.

The only stand alone ATM that I know is on 3rd road.

 

The rest are at branches or supermarkets.

[jacko45k]

21 hours ago, cauldlad said:

They should invest in more ATM's especially in Pattaya rather than wasting billions on a food app. There are virtually no stand alone ATM's on the streets. I only know of one on 3rd road. You have to visit a bank branch or go to Big C for an ATM.

 

Not like the other banks who all have many stand alone ATM's on the streets of Pattaya.

Are you on something.... ATMs are all over the place, you often see them in lines of 6 or 7 in Malls, each bank parking it's own there. How many are in or around Big-CX, maybe 30! People get mugged at stand alone ones, but usually you can find them in front of 7-11s, and there is no shortage of those! Surely you can use a SCB card at any of these machines..... 

[cauldlad]

1 hour ago, jacko45k said:

Are you on something.... ATMs are all over the place, you often see them in lines of 6 or 7 in Malls, each bank parking it's own there. How many are in or around Big-CX, maybe 30! People get mugged at stand alone ones, but usually you can find them in front of 7-11s, and there is no shortage of those! Surely you can use a SCB card at any of these machines..... 

Did you not read my post????

 

I am talking about stand alone SCB ATM's on the soi NOT ATM's at supermarkets or malls. 

 

Tell me where the stand alone SCB ATM's are on the streets of Pattaya?

 

I only know of one on third road!!

 

Of course there are loads at the 7/11 shops but NOT from SCB which was my whole point!!

[jacko45k]

7 hours ago, cauldlad said:

Of course there are loads at the 7/11 shops but NOT from SCB which was my whole point!

Are you claustrophobic or something.... ?

Why do you specifically need an SCB one....  and specifically stood out alone? I can get money from any!

Edited October 28, 2021 by jacko45k

[cauldlad]

Where do you get claustrophobic from???

I can use any atm as well. My point was there are no SCB atm's on the streets of Pattaya compared to the other banks who have many!!!

Why is that? The only one I know is on 3rd road.

[The Hammer2021]

On 10/27/2021 at 9:35 AM, cauldlad said:

They should invest in more ATM's especially in Pattaya rather than wasting billions on a food app. There are virtually no stand alone ATM's on the streets. I only know of one on 3rd road. You have to visit a bank branch or go to Big C for an ATM.

 

Not like the other banks who all have many stand alone ATM's on the streets of Pattaya.

So what difference does it make whose bank machine you use?

[Chad3000]

I find this bank's service dropped considerably. Suggest they focus on that. Shorter lines, more pleasant tellers, more services for foreigners.

 

Another delivery service. Well, I guess with force of money and an exceptional plan to storm the market and crush rivals ok. Anything short of that there's some stiff competition shipping at cutthroat rates.

 

I sense this bank is out of ideas

[cauldlad]

8 minutes ago, The Hammer2021 said:

So what difference does it make whose bank machine you use?

It does not make any difference to me. It was just an observation that there are no SCB atm's on the streets of Pattaya compared to other banks who have loads.

The only one I know is on 3rd road.

[PoorSucker]

When logging off SCB bank, there's a message that my browser doesn't support flash.

[Chad3000]

3 hours ago, cauldlad said:

It does not make any difference to me. It was just an observation that there are no SCB atm's on the streets of Pattaya compared to other banks who have loads.

The only one I know is on 3rd road.

This is interesting. The first bank I had an actual account with was SCB and I opened it in Pattaya.

 

One of the big reasons I'd been fanboi of SCB was all it's ATM.

 

I'm not saying you're wrong. I've not been to Pattaya in 11 years.

[Chad3000]

3 hours ago, The Hammer2021 said:

So what difference does it make whose bank machine you use?

Well, could be a fee if you use another bank's ATM too often. I recall a few times a quarter???

[Chad3000]

11 hours ago, cauldlad said:

stand alone SCB ATM's are on the streets of Pattaya?

Many years ago two on Soi Bukhao.

 

One in front of the 7 at the head of Soi Honey. The other further down near the market before the bend.

[cauldlad]

I agree there used to be many but for some reason they have all but disappeared now. It just seems strange as all the other banks are well represented on the streets apart from SCB??