King Power. Thailand’s one and only duty-free retail, with dozens of outlets at airports across the country. In 2020, as COVID-19 hit the world, resulting in global lockdown, travel ban, and a sharp decrease in number of international tourists, King Power was adversely affected more than any other retailers, with total sales drop by almost 100%. We therefore decided to shift our target from international tourists to Thai consumers, and focus on our online retail instead. But one major obstacle seemed to be the fact that Thai people were not aware that King Power also offers non duty-free, home delivery products. With the current economic condition that inevitably limits promotion budgets, how can we incorporate every service offered while being able to compete in this online retail battle without spending too much?

TEAM POWER INFLUENCERS;

For the first time ever, we made a business turnaround by turning our 12,000 work-from-home employees into 12,000 online influencers who help sell varieties of products through King Power Online. We recruited employees from every department including Chairman, CEO, CFO, Corporate Branding & Communications, Finance, Accounting, Airport Commercial & Project Development, Legal & General Administration, Merchandising, and Human Resource Management. Top level executives and office maids alike, all joined hours of exclusive, remote training that helped upskill and reskill them to be Thailand’s new faces online influencers, posting a variety of contents e.g. short clips, Facebook live, and photo post in their own styles. Every employee turns their personal employee codes to discount codes, to give away to their followers. And every time the code is used, the employee gets a commission fee.

As offline retail across the globe was forced to cease operations, King Power decided to shift their target from international tourists to urban Thai consumers of 25-45 years old, and their focus to online retail instead. But the problem seemed to be the fact that King Power Online, with non duty-free, home delivery products, gained much less consumer awareness and reputation compared to offline retail. With the current state of economy that limits promotion budgets, how can we compete in this online retail battle without spending too much?

For the first time, we made a business turnaround by turning our 12,000 work-from-home employees into 12,000 online influencers who helped boost traffic on the internet, each using their own social media channels and selling products from King Power Online. We recruited employees from every department including Chairman, CEO, CFO, Corporate Branding & Communications, Finance, Accounting, Legal & General Administration, Merchandising, HR and ect. Top level executives and office maids alike, all joined hours of exclusive, remote social media training that helped upskill and reskill them to be Thailand’s new faces online influencers, posting a variety of contents e.g. TikTok clips or Instagram photo post in their own styles. Every employee turns their personal employee codes to discount codes, to give away special discounts to their followers. Every time the code is used, the employee gets a commission fee.

Timeline: 13 April - 30 June 2020

- Total mention and engagement 2,623,479

- Impression: 138M

- Earned media total 15,240,705.00 THB.

- Gross sale increases: 1133%

- Traffic increases: 254% (2.5x)

- New user increase: 105%

- Employees benefit 5.9MB THB total commissions fee.

- Employees Capability Development: upskill, reskill and discover their new talents.

While consumers were compelled to stay home during the pandemic lockdown, King Power put effort into materialising the plan of optimising the advertising and media budget at the same time as every brand switched their budget to digital media to the maximum. The average cost of session in Thailand is 6 THB/Session or higher during the lockdown. However, our website session from Apr to Jun 2020 was 7,859,427, a breakthrough in the market competition without any marketing cost. This reflects the amount saved of (7,859,427*6) = 47,156,562 THB. The campaign fetched admirable 138M total impressions.