Singapore – Despite ongoing economic uncertainty, a new Twilio survey reveals that four in five retailers across the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region remain confident in their ability to successfully implement customer engagement strategies over the next 12 months.
However, the data also highlights a key concern: customer loyalty is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain. In a competitive, value-driven, and price-sensitive market, 27% of APAC retailers identified maintaining customer trust and loyalty as their top challenge.
This concern outweighed other pressing issues, including addressing price-related dissatisfaction (23%) and managing communications around pricing or product availability (21%).
As market conditions remain mixed—with 43% of retailers anticipating a balance of opportunities and challenges—retailers are placing renewed focus on loyalty and re-engagement. Among confident respondents, 28% identified loyalty and re-engagement as the greatest untapped opportunity, pointing to a revival of interest in loyalty programs and personalised rewards as key drivers of growth.
Other areas being prioritised include product discovery (24%) and post-sale care (18%), reflecting a broader commitment to enhancing the entire customer journey.
Retailers are also aligning their investments accordingly. A quarter (25%) are investing in personalised offers and loyalty programs, 27% are turning to conversational AI, and 22% are increasing human agent support. These moves indicate a wider trend toward more empathetic, relevant, and human-centred customer experiences.
“Confidence is high in the region, which is fantastic. However, the brands that truly shine will be the ones that actually do something with that confidence,” commented Nicholas Kontopoulos, vice president of marketing for Asia Pacific & Japan at Twilio. “Customer loyalty is under pressure. Building resilience means responding to customers with empathy, relevance, and precision. And that begins with a data-driven, customer-first approach.”
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