If there is a phrase to describe MustThai, an online grocery store located in Thailand, it will be “breaking barriers.” Based in a country where English is not widely spoken — Kunsiri Gestrong, the founder of MustThai, admits that the language barrier can be tricky sometimes. And this is just one of the many other hurdles that Kunsiri has to overcome in order to keep MustThai up and running.
Breaking Barriers — The Game-Changing Story of MustThai
Surely enough, MustThai is a business that is set to become a game-changer sooner or later. Not only because of its unique selling model, but also because the company is in the hands of a dedicated and wise owner.
Curiosity Turns Into Opportunity
The story of MustThai was borne out of Kunsiri’s curiosity, which then turned into an opportunity for the entrepreneur. Starting out by buying Thai products for friends abroad several times a month, Kunsiri found a chance to expand a simple favour into a fully-fledged business.
One of the key selling points of MustThai is that international shipping is available for customers outside the country. While Kunsiri admits to the difficulties in crossing the language gap, MustThai’s philosophy remains the same: providing quality service with a sincere heart.
And admittedly, quality is one of the main factors in making or breaking a business. Not minding the challenge posed by not being able to fully communicate with customers all the time — Kunsiri compensates with impeccable service that will surely keep customers coming back for more.
With the business still up and running today since its domain was first acquired in January 2015, it’s safe to say that people are loving MustThai and will continue to do so for the years to come. It’s clear that Kunsiri has found something that works for the business — and is doing it well, and enough for people to spread the word about MustThai.
Kunsiri finds joy in receiving positive feedback and seeing customers return to MustThai, thus making her trips to the shopping malls, and her work to complete customer orders, more worthwhile.
“We admit to some difficulty with foreign languages but never for our services. We focus on sincere service, and (we) look forward to serving you (customers) in the future as we believe that word of mouth is highly essential.” Kunsiri Gestrong, Founder of MustThai.com
Always Be One Step Ahead
Full transparency and disclosure are the names of the game with MustThai. As Kunsiri puts it, shipping costs and the appropriate breakdown are always available for customers to check out on the MustThai website’s Order Page, even without a registered account.
“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
This quote, attributed to the Chinese philosopher Confucius, just about sums up Kunsiri’s work ethic and approach in handling MustThai. Kunsiri finds happiness in every job that needs to be done in order to keep the website up and running.
Punctuality is what sets Kunsiri and the business aside from competitors. Being ready to deliver products as soon as possible regardless of circumstances to the customer is a big part of Kunsiri’s principle and approach towards running MustThai — an expectation that Kunsiri also wants to see from future staff.
And speaking of circumstances, MustThai has also seen its fair share of challenges during its operations. Thailand Post, a service that plays a vital role in MustThai’s shipping process, made sudden changes to its foreign shipment policies in 2018. Without any precise information to work with, Kunsiri had to refund the full payment to customers without compensation.
During the beginning of MustThai’s operations, Kunsiri also walked down the wrong path. After graduating with a degree in Computer Science, Kunsiri underestimated the difficulty of managing e-commerce platform.
Admitting that the initial platform was too much to handle, Kunsiri had to shell out even more money to fix the issues that came with using the platform. Eventually, Kunsiri decided to move to another platform that significantly improved customer satisfaction.
She also started to write articles on cooking,and she shared her recipes with amazing photographs. Through her articles, she also gain local and regional customers for her business along the way.
From her story, we learned that it is essential to bounce back despite facing an unexpected turn of events. Running a business is never easy, and it’s Kunsiri’s “one step ahead” mentality that keeps MustThai afloat.
“When a customer said, ‘thank you’ to us on an email reply or express their gratitude in any big or small way – it encourages us a lot.”
Kunsiri Gestrong, Founder of MustThai.com