Technology today is no longer seen as a facilitator of everyday business practices. It has now become the heart, the centre of every business strategy.

Digital business offers companies and individuals new ways to connect, collaborate, conduct business, and build bridges between people. It impacts upon business functionality and the way business is managed today.

To imagine how far the Internet and digital technology have helped support business just think of an email. It helps companies reduce the cost of contacting customers, and generates more trade in less time compared with sending a letter by mail in the past. It helps us get connected instantly without waiting for days.

The advent of Facebook has helped businesses reach customers more easily and created more trade. Facebook has also helped business owners better understand their customers.

Google helps us spend less time researching information. Today, if you want to find something out, you just Google it, generating more results in the fraction of the time needed for traditional research methods.

Thanart Chamnanyantarakij, an affiliate marketer who prefers carrying out e-commerce with SEO affiliate marketing supported by social media channels, reveals that in the affiliate marketing world more traffic means more money.

“In my view, e-commerce helps make entrepreneurs become more productive. Because e-commerce helps us reach out to a wider range of customers,” he says. “We are not limited to the area where we opened our store or physically operate our business.”

Chamnanyantarakij has been involved in e-commerce for 10 years using SEO techniques to sell goods to buyers all over the world via Amazon.

According to him, data and statistics can be utilised by companies to produce, store and analyse relevant information in order to achieve a competitive advantage.

“If you want to start a business, but are not sure what to start, just search keywords on online tools such as Google Keyword Planner or www.semrush.com. There, you will find statistics that inform you which products are likely to be more interesting [to potential buyers]. For example, from the word ‘Thailand’, you will find the top three Thai products, namely jewelry, muay Thai and herbs. Anything related to these three will have good sales statistics in Amazon until now.

“I think Thai entrepreneurs should find more information to create channels for their products in order to penetrate deeper into overseas markets. Actually, there are online tools and technology around the world which are ready to support businesses and entrepreneurs. But Thai people seem not to realise that they can use all that. These tools and techniques are already in the world, just start and learn how to use them.”

Words by Natthinee Ratanaprasidhi