Sanook! To Take Over eBay’s Site

The US-based worldwide e-marketing group eBay is to close its www.ebay.co.th website and hand over its Thailand businesses to Sanook.com. Thailand will be the 38th market where eBay has a local presence.

eBay Inc announced an agreement with Sanook! the leading online portal in Thailand, to launch an e-commerce site that will enable individuals and businesses in Thailand to participate in local trade as well as cross border trade through eBay’s global Web sites.

According to research firm IDC, Thailand currently has more than 16 million Internet users - a figure expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 25 percent through 2009.

“The e-commerce community in Thailand is among the most active we’ve seen anywhere,” said Lorrie Norrington, president, eBay international marketplaces. “Through this agreement, we are combining our core competency in cross border trade with Sanook’s local market expertise to deliver the best e-commerce experience for Thai users, enabling them to not only engage in domestic trade but also to buy from and sell to the world.”

“We are pleased to partner with eBay in creating this new e-commerce site which we believe will provide new economic opportunities for the growing online community in Thailand,” said Torboon Puangmaha, chief executive officer, Sanook Online Limited. “As Thai Internet users become more comfortable doing transactions online, there is a tremendous opportunity to leverage the eBay global online marketplace via the local co-branded site created especially for Thai users. We expect that the Sanook! eBay Web site will quickly become a popular place for people to buy and sell a wide variety of items both within Thailand as well as internationally.”

Bangkok Independent Newspaper Nation has the full news, you can read it Here