THAIRATH GROUP From ‘Thairath’ to ‘Thairath Online’ and ‘Thairath Logistics’
THAIRATH, as a leader in the newspaper, not only transformed the business into online media but also transformed it into the logistics business
Situation
THE VACHARAPHOL COMPANY LIMITED, the manufacturer and distributor of Thairath newspapers was in a downtrend of its industry from the disappearing of the value of advertising spending in print media.
Year 2015: Advertising spending for print media is 12,332 MB
Year 2019: Advertising spending for print media is 4,600 MB
Challenge
There is a decline in original business income from newspapers from 2014 until 2019 the performance began to have a number of losses.
Year 2013: Revenue 4,754 MB, Net Profit 2,092 MB
Year 2014: Revenue 4,082 MB, Net Profit 1,647 MB
Year 2015: Revenue 3,504 MB, Net Profit 1,456 MB
Year 2016: Revenue 2,739 MB, Net Profit 927 MB
Year 2017: Revenue 2,238 MB, Net Profit 603 MB
Year 2018: Revenue 1,725 MB, Net Profit 313 MB
Year 2019: Revenue 1,304 MB, Net loss 36 MB
Online Industry Opportunity
On the other hand, advertising spending in the online media industry has benefited from the increasing popularity of online media.
Year 2015: Advertising spending for online media was 8,084 MB
Year 2019: Advertising spending for online media was 20,163 MB
New Growth Opportunity
Another growing business is the ‘Logistics Business’. In 2015, the Thai e-commerce market value was 2.2 trillion baht, while in 2019, the Thai e-commerce market value was 4.0 trillion baht, which has almost doubled in the period of 5 years. The growth of the e-commerce business has also led one business to grow as well, that is, “Parcel Transportation Business”. In addition, the market value of the parcel transportation business in 2017–2019 has grown by more than 96%, and there is still a trend to grow.
Year 2017: The market of parcel transportation business is valued at 25,000 MB
Year 2018: The market of parcel transportation business is valued at 35,000 MB
Year 2019: The market of parcel transportation business is valued at 49,000 MB
Transformer Map (Source: Ethan Than, & Dr.Nattaporn Virunhagarun. (2022). TRANSFORMER PLAYBOOK. www.transformerplaybook.com.)
Business Transformation of THAIRATH
The business model can be divided into 4 parts:
Box 1: Current [Core Business] + Current [Market]
'Thairath Newspaper' adopted a strategy that refocuses to maintain a specific customer base that can still generate income or profit for the business coupled with a lean strategy to reduce costs and make operations more efficient.
Box 2: Current [Core Business] + New [Market]
In addition to 'Thairath Online', Thairath has also launched 2 new websites, MIRROR content for modern women, and PEEPZ content for teenagers.
Box 3: New [Core Business] + Current [Market]
Use AI and Machine Learning to optimize performance in delivering content to meet the needs of readers.
Thairath Online has used Google Cloud's AI Technology called Vision API and Auto ML to analyze images and to find important information in images. Then use that data to automate keywords to help organize the entire Thairath Group's instead archives and images of more than 10 million images of requiring human resources and long hours of work. It also increases the efficiency of the editorial team. You can find images, news, content, and documents faster and easier through Google Cloud search.
The performance of Trend VG 3 Co., Ltd., the administrator of news and information in various fields of Thairath through digital media system under the name “Thairath Online” increase revenue and profit every tends to year.
Entering the transportation business, THAIRATH Logistics, is another adaptation of the media giants in the Technology Disruption battlefield where everyone has to find a way to survive and create new opportunities in the business that is still growing.
Box 4: New [Core Business] + New [Market]
For Thairath, the company has 6-wheeled trucks, which are high-speed transport vehicles for transporting Thairath newspapers to send and sell to various provinces all over the country. The company considers such vehicles can be used to transport materials and other stuff to various locations as well. This helps generating income from new businesses for the Thairath group and also the attempt to utilize the existing resources at its best to generate income in the new business.
Entering into the transportation business of the Thairath Group has served the trend of e-commerce business that is growing high. The growth of the e-commerce business has led the ‘Parcel Transportation Business’ to grow as well because every business has to enter online commerce and must use transportation services.
Decode THAIRATH step-by-step business transformation with 9 boxes of Digital Transformation Canvas
