Blog
Websites, selling online, getting customers, back-office systems and AI, for people who run businesses in Thailand. Written from what we see working with real shops.
30 of 30 articles
WebsitesBuilding a business website: an owner's guide from choosing a design to launch day
Most owners start a website by hunting for the prettiest design. The question that decides whether it brings in customers is a different one: once someone lands on the site, what should they do next?
Selling onlineStarting your own online store: let customers order without messaging first
At 11 pm someone finds a shirt she loves and asks the price. The shop replies in the morning, but she has already bought one elsewhere. The online shops that last do one thing differently: nobody has to message before they can order.
Getting customersFinding customers online as a local business: you have 30 seconds on their phone
Seven on a Friday evening, someone in a car park scrolls through three restaurants and picks one in under a minute. The better place two streets away didn't lose on the food. It lost on the phone screen.
Back officeBack-office systems for service businesses: when every question waits for the owner
It's 8 pm, the owner has finally sat down to eat, and the phone won't stop buzzing, because every question in the shop waits for one person. That's the day a business needs a back office. Here's how to start, one piece at a time.
AI for businessAI for small businesses: what it's actually good for in a shop
At half past ten at night, a bakery owner asks AI how to sell more and gets an answer she can't use. Meanwhile the work AI could really help with is sitting in 23 unread messages on her phone.
WebsitesHow much does a website cost? Every payment you'll actually make in a year
"15,000 baht and it's done" sounds nice and clear, until month eight, when the shop needs to change its menu prices. Here's every cost a website brings, and what a year really adds up to.
Selling onlineMarketplace or your own online store: one brings sales, the other brings customers back
On 11.11 a skincare shop packs orders until 3 am and spots a name buying the same serum for the third time. The shop sold to her three times and still doesn't know her. That's the real difference between a marketplace and your own store.
Getting customersGetting your business on Google Maps: when a car breaks down, the honest listing wins
Sunday evening, the engine light comes on mid-traffic. The driver pulls over and types "garage near me". The garage that gets the job isn't the best or the closest. It's the one whose Google Maps listing tells the truth.
Back officeCustomers who book and don't show up: the empty slots quietly costing you
Saturday, 2 pm, the best slot of the week. The customer doesn't come and doesn't message. Almost every appointment business has been here. Why it happens, what it costs, and what the shops that rarely see it do differently.
AI for businessUsing ChatGPT to write sales posts: why they all sound the same, and what to tell it
A maths tutor opens a new course and asks ChatGPT for a sign-up post. Every line is polished and nobody gets in touch. The problem isn't the AI. It's everything she didn't tell it.
WebsitesFreelancer, agency or monthly plan: who'll still be there when your website needs changing in month six
When hiring someone to build a website, nearly every shop compares who's cheapest. But the day the site really needs changing usually comes in month six, and by then the question that matters is whether they're still around.
Selling onlineAccepting payments online for small shops: the problem isn't getting paid, it's checking every slip
Saturday, 7 am. Twelve cakes need decorating, and one of the owner's hands is scrolling LINE for payment slips. Most small shops can already take money online. What wears them out is everything after the money arrives.
Getting customersHow to get ChatGPT and other AI to recommend your business: it can only tell what it knows
The night before a concert, someone asks an AI which salon nearby can do event hair on Saturday afternoon. It names three. The best salon in the area isn't one of them, because the AI has no idea what that salon does.
Back officeHow to choose an online booking system: it should think like your shop, not a calendar
Friday, 7 pm. Two customers booked the same oil massage slot and the system said yes to both, but only one oil therapist was free. A good booking system knows things like that. Here's how to tell which ones do.
AI for businessShould AI answer your customer chats? Which questions to hand over, and which need a person
At 10 pm, a clinic admin answers a dozen messages about this month's promo price. The one message asking whether a face should still be red after a laser treatment gets answered the next morning. That's the case for letting AI answer some chats, and not others.
WebsitesI have a Facebook page. Do I still need a website? A stall in someone else's mall versus your own shop
The page gets likes and people message about the menu. Everything looks fine. But some customers come looking for opening hours, can't find them, and quietly go elsewhere, and the shop never finds out.
Selling onlineWhen selling in chat stops working: the signs you need an order system before the next rush
The night before Valentine's Day, a flower shop has hundreds of unread chats. The next afternoon a customer asks where her bouquet is. That order was never written down. A day like that is the sign a shop has outgrown selling in chat.
Getting customersLINE OA for shops: thousands of friends, used as nothing more than an inbox
Tuesday afternoon, a salon owner opens her LINE OA and sees thousands of friends. Most of the chats went quiet the day the customer's hair was done. And she's thinking of paying for ads to find new customers.
Back officeShould you take a deposit when customers book? A deposit is an agreement, not a punishment
Sunday, 11 pm, after the third no-show of the week, a salon owner types out a post: deposits on every booking from now on. It fixes one problem and quietly creates another.
AI for businessUsing AI to read your sales: the numbers are already there, what's missing is the right questions
Sunday night, six hundred parcels packed. Sales look great this month, but the bank balance doesn't. The file that explains where the money went has been on the laptop all along. Nobody has asked it anything.
WebsitesWhat pages does a business website need? Each one is a question customers no longer have to ask
Half past nine, twelve unread chats, almost all asking the same things. Every question a customer has to message to ask is a page your website is still missing.
Selling onlineSetting shipping fees without losing money: how a wrong fee eats profit one order at a time
At the end of the month, a souvenir shop lines up courier receipts against the shipping it charged customers and finds a loss on almost every box. A few dozen baht each. No single order stands out, but together they add up.
Getting customersWhy customers go quiet after asking the price, and how to reply so they book
Ten past ten on a Wednesday night, a customer asks how much a facial costs. The next morning the clinic replies with one line. She reads it and never answers. The number was right. It just left her three more questions to ask.
Back officeCustomer data and PDPA: a list spread across five places is a list you can't use
A nail salon owner wants to message customers she hasn't seen in three months. The names are in a notebook, LINE chats, an ex-employee's spreadsheet and several people's phones. Two hours later she has forty names and isn't sure she can message any of them.
AI for businessYour shop's data and AI: what to share and what to keep out
An admin copies a month of customer chats, names, numbers and addresses included, into an AI to find out what people complained about. The answer is excellent. But the data she sent wasn't only the shop's to send.
WebsitesWebsite visitors but no enquiries: people stay silent because getting in touch takes too much thinking
Ten on a Sunday night, someone with toothache, ready to book, opens a clinic's website and leaves within a minute. They were interested. Getting in touch just took too much thinking.
Selling onlineManaging stock across sales channels: selling what you don't have is worse than not selling
On Saturday morning the last piece sells over the counter. At 9 pm someone orders the same part on Shopee, and the shop has to cancel and gets a one-star review. Selling something you don't have is worse than not making the sale.
Getting customersHow to get more genuine customer reviews: happy guests are just waiting to be asked
Sunday morning, a family checks out of a small beach resort, praising the room and the breakfast and promising to come back next year. Two weeks later, the only new review is two stars, about slow Wi-Fi.
Back officeMemberships and points: do they bring customers back? What does is a shop that remembers them
A drawer under the counter holds two hundred stamp cards, nearly all with two stamps. A few doors down, a small yoga studio has no cards at all, yet one customer comes back every week, because the teacher remembers her tight left shoulder.
AI for businessMaking product photos with AI: change the scene, but keep the product real
A mustard shirt laid on a bedroom floor, shot under a yellow ceiling light. AI makes it look far better. So much better that the shirt in the photo isn't the one the customer will get.