The journey of Flash Express did not begin with glamorous success but was shaped by the real-life experiences of Komson Lee who learned the value of business and recognized social inequality.
At the event "Thaimart x Thairath: Building Brands, Building the Nation" Komson Lee, founder and CEO of Flash Express, recounted that his business journey did not start in luxury but began as a boy selling pork at a butcher’s stall with his father, the first place he experienced and learned about trade and business.
He then expanded to being a broker, opening franchises, and eventually became a mining executive. This journey taught him that entrepreneurial success doesn’t come from a single factor; the straightforward answers are “luck” and “opportunity.”
Regarding startups, which face a high risk of failure or "death," Komson advised that some degree of luck is needed to survive, but more important is the readiness to constantly adapt, because throughout business, the initial Plan A never goes exactly as planned.
Even now, facing impacts from war and rising oil prices, Flash Express bears monthly fuel costs of 300 million baht from its own funds to avoid system disruption, a continuous challenge to manage.
Early in choosing a business, Komson observed that everyone seeks ventures that can generate wealth. But as a business grows, its true value emerges, especially in recognizing the inequality between urban and rural societies—in education, access to information, and opportunities—where logistics is the critical chain.
“In the past, rural residents had to buy goods at higher prices than city dwellers but sold their own products for less despite lower incomes. The main reason was the high logistics costs. Building good transportation infrastructure is key to equalizing opportunities between rural and urban people, improving quality of life alongside business growth.” This motivated Komson to seriously address this issue.
Regarding growth philosophy as a small player entering a Red Ocean market to compete with giants, Komson’s key principle is “Eat in the Mouth, Look in the Pot, Think in the Field,” meaning a startup must first successfully handle its immediate tasks (eat in the mouth).
Then, seek expansion opportunities (look in the pot) to eventually build a solid foundation and sustainable space of its own (think in the field). Starting out doesn't mean comparing footprints with big competitors from day one but finding small overlooked problems and solving them well until having a sufficient customer base and doing what competitors can’t or doing better what they do. Continuous growth then follows.
Flash Express was the first Thai logistics provider to introduce free Door-to-Door parcel pickup, initially a heavy cost burden since drivers would collect even a single box using only in-house staff, not freelancers, resulting in high labor and fuel expenses. The break-even point per employee was 40 parcels daily, but only 15 were achieved, causing a loss of 200 baht per employee per day.
Komson drew confidence from experience in China, where one worker could handle 150–200 parcels per day, believing that Thailand could reach at least 20 per day. Within one year, Flash Express broke even, shifting consumer behavior from queuing at branches to businesses reaching customers, now the industry standard.
However, during the COVID-19 crisis, despite e-commerce booming, the company faced monthly losses of 500 million baht because logistics operations could not stop. Over 10,000 employees were infected or quarantined for a month, requiring double payroll to hire replacements.
Additionally, a warehouse shutdown in Wang Noi due to over half the staff being infected left more than 500,000 items stuck, leading the company to compensate both buyers and sellers fully. The company recovered to a new high in under two months through responsibility and sincerity toward consumers.
Komson highlighted that what keeps customers returning is the principle of “First Class Service” at Economy Class prices to reduce living costs for buyers and sellers.
In early e-commerce, average shipping cost was 60 baht per item, while products were priced at only 99 or 199 baht, making shipping more than 40% of product price. Now, Thailand’s average shipping cost has dropped to about 20 baht, ranking its logistics infrastructure as the best, cheapest, and most comprehensive among 6–7 ASEAN countries.
For younger customers (Gen Z), service choice behavior has shifted from just reliability, coverage, or low price to seeking brands that “understand” their identity and business.
This shift prompted executives to adapt by building personal branding through social media like TikTok to transform the company’s image from distant to approachable. Simultaneously, the business developed free data analytics for sellers to analyze delivery acceptance rates, buyer behavior by province, and plan stock accurately.
Currently, Thai logistics faces major challenges from foreign platform domination. Originally, 3–4 million sellers were dispersed, but now most rely on a few major platforms, where buyers and sellers cannot choose logistics companies independently. Platforms pressure shipping prices and charge high GP fees to SMEs.
In developed countries, logistics costs are only 12–17%, and e-commerce fees don’t exceed 15%. The cooperation between Thai platforms like Thaimart and major media like Thairath is a crucial step to create alternatives and restore bargaining power to Thai entrepreneurs.
For entrepreneurs aiming to grow, the era of merely being brokers or resellers has ended due to direct foreign factory sales and AI reaching consumers directly. Survival demands focusing on "brand building." Trading is like gathering fruit from others’ forests, requiring new forests when depleted; brand building is like planting one’s own tree—it’s initially hard and slow but becomes a sustainable asset. The key is that entrepreneurs must love, believe in, and test their own products before selling.
Flash Express has expanded its ecosystem to comprehensively support entrepreneurs, including
Finally, Flash Express’s organizational culture has evolved through three phases—from survival to regulation to today, with over 100,000 employees in six countries, centered on the “FIGHTER” spirit: never giving up on challenges and continuously improving.
Komson concluded that the company focuses on caring for employees by providing a livable base income alongside performance-based incentives, allowing diligent workers to earn 200,000–300,000 baht monthly, plus accident insurance and scholarships for employees’ children to truly enhance their quality of life.
Follow the Facebook page Thairath Money at this link -https://www.facebook.com/ThairathMoney