According to available data, there are over 1,700,000 goods sellers in Thailand, primarily consisting of street vendors selling food, clothing, souvenirs, and other consumer goods.
There are also over 18,490 retail outlets, including 80 department stores, 571 discount stores, 498 supermarkets, and 1,7341 convenience stores in Thailand.
Selling goods is a way of life for Thai people and as such, that is why it is very hard for foreigners to make money selling goods in Thailand.
When dealing in Thai baht, making a profit of 300 thb a day (~US $9) might consist of selling 10+ meals (you need 10 customers, you will find out you need more customers than is practical in most locations). A Thai person might be able to live on those small amounts of customers.
However, when you compare that to the US minimum wage of US $10/hour (US$80 day or 2,640 thb per day), you can see that most foreigners could not afford to live on 300 thb per day in sales. The chance of selling to 50+ customers per day is very slim.
When you are a vendor of food, clothing, souvenirs or other consumer goods, there is NEVER a guarantee you will sell anything at all on any given day.
Many Thai’s have learned to live with whatever they earn for the day, knowing some days it could be very little.
Foreigner’s making money selling is a very challenging effort, if not impossible.
The Thai’s are not going to standby and watch you make a lot of money. They will copy your idea and open a business right next door and sell for even cheaper. Cheaper than you are willing to work.
So trying to compete in sales in Thailand with the local’s is not going to end well.
Many foreigners see business as the only way they can earn and financially survive to live in Thailand.
Business in Thailand is super challenging and even worse with 95% of the geographic locations. You are competing with 1.7 million other sellers who are trying to survive with nothing to fall back on.
The allure of Thailand causes many foreigners to think they have business all figured out, when the reality is a high percentage will run out of money and go out of business.
My advice is don’t move to Thailand thinking you have a greater idea than the other 1,700,000 sellers haven’t already thought of and tried.
It won’t end well.