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Shopee has upgraded and expanded logistics capabilities to extend coverage areas and improve customer experience

The 172 billion dollar question, how brands can win big in the fast-growing Southeast Asia e-commerce market

As online shopping becomes more of a norm and a need, Shopee scales up efforts to ensure that brands stay top-of-mind 

 

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With the pandemic forcing people to stay home in 2020, South East Asia (SEA) witnessed an e-commerce boom as consumers headed online for their shopping needs. A behavioural shift illustrated by the fact that e-commerce grew by 63% in the region last year. 

Yet it’s just the tip of the iceberg. Online retail currently stands at less than 5% of all retail sales in SEA, while research estimates the e-commerce market could be worth US$172 billion by 2025. 

So how can brands respond to meet the changing expectations of online shoppers and capture growth in the region? Those trends and strategies were the focus of a panel of industry leaders at the Shopee Brands Summit 2021.

Better visibility

In 2020, 95% of Shopee orders happened via mobile devices, evidence that today’s digital-first consumers are comfortable shopping online anytime and anywhere.

“The key thing to succeed, is just to remain the most salient brand,” stated panellist Rohit Bhasin, Global Brand Vice President, POND’S, Unilever, highlighting the benefits of Unilever’s partnership with Shopee Mall in helping retain and grow brand visibility. 

Shopee Mall offers three guarantees -- 100% authentic products, free returns and free shipping

Launched in 2017, this dedicated online mall lets shoppers browse over 23,000 authentic brand stores and ensure those brands remain high in consumer’s minds through a robust ecosystem of marketing and data tools and solutions. 

For Alexandra Vogler, Senior Director, E-business, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, Procter & Gamble, visibility was essential, but brands also need to tap into the consumer data on e-commerce platforms to personalise messages. 

“It’s not a one-size-fits-all approach, we need to be more relevant in our messages,” said Vogler, on the need to better tailor content to match different touchpoints on a consumer’s purchase pathway. 

Last year, to help maximise their year-round visibility, Shopee Mall worked with brands to run over 600 Super Brand Days, 200 co-branded activations, plus Mega double-digit campaigns such as 9.9, 10.10, 11.11 and 12.12. The results were a 2.8 times increase in site traffic during Mega campaigns while brands recorded an average 300% rise in orders. Shopee has announced plans to scale up shopping campaigns in 2021, further developing the range of brands and products to suit the needs of different segments.  

Better engagement

With a growing audience shopping online, there’s also a growing demand for more information from brands to help consumers make better purchase decisions. Consumers also want to be entertained during that process. 

“We can see up to two million views on a live-shopping campaign,” explained Nicholas Lee, Vice President, Market Leader APAC, Philips Domestic Appliances. “The live stream lets us show what a product can do but just as importantly it acts as a form of entertainment.”

Shoppers can browse and buy products, collect vouchers and get limited-time deals through livestreams on the Shopee app

Last year, Shopee ran over 4,500 live stream events with brands every month. 

Indeed, it’s clear customers are beginning to demand such increased engagement and personalization as part of their shopping experience. Shopee partners brands to develop innovative engagement methods, such as integrating augmented reality and artificial intelligence technology onto the app. 

Bhasin pointed to the POND’S Skin Advisor Live campaign that ran on Shopee Mall as a great example of how effective ‘edutainment’ can be. The brand leveraged AI technology to assess individual consumers' skin types and through chatbots offered personal feedback on the right skincare products. The result saw conversions improve by 2.6 times across the region.

The Unilever POND’s Skin Advisor Live technology was integrated onto the Shopee app, offering users personalised recommendations on skincare products

To ensure even deeper levels of entertainment and interactivity, Shopee will continue to expand on engagement features such as introducing gaming capabilities into live streams, as well as enabling co-streaming so brands can invite viewers to actively participate in a live stream. 

Better customer experience

As customers become more comfortable shopping online, brands need to maintain the levels of product trust originally developed via offline stores. That’s particularly true for premium and luxury product brands eager to tap into SEA’s growing middle class.

“Online consumers are becoming more demanding, they want more information, they want things faster,” explained Vogler of changing expectations. “It’s all about winning hearts and minds, building the brand and loyalty to the brand at every stage of the process.”

It’s one reason behind the continued development of Shopee Premium, a dedicated in-app space designed to better meet the needs of this growing e-commerce segment and engender loyalty through rewards schemes and superior customer service. 

Shopee Premium caters to the growing demand for premium and luxury products online

“If someone is spending a few thousand dollars on a product, then they probably have questions beyond our standard FAQs,” explained Ng Tian Chong, Managing Director, Greater Asia, HP. 

To ensure that customers enjoy a smooth shopping experience online, HP used Shopee Live in one of their campaigns to run product demonstrations and take questions from viewers on specifications. Their team also responded swiftly to chat messages and comments on social media. By delivering prompt customer service via multiple channels, consumer confidence increased and their “store followers increased three to four times”, added Ng. 

It’s further evidence of how brands can meet changing expectations by embracing tools and strategies that offer shoppers a more personalised, engaging and entertaining online experience. 

 

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