Tag: Consumer Insights

Jakarta, Indonesia – The large majority of consumers are willing to pay a higher price for eco-labelled products, even if they are 50% higher than their old brand choices, according to data from market research company YouGov.

With the exception of gaming-related products, Indonesian consumers are willing to accept more than 80% higher prices for eco-labelled food items such as milk, rice, coffee, and tea, compared to other product categories. In contrast, at least one-fifth of consumers who would pay more for eco-labelled fashion and personal care products such as cosmetics and skincare, as well as clothing items, bath soap, oral care, footwear are only willing to accept higher prices of 10% or less.

When asked about food related items, around one-third of consumers are open to switching the brand of rice (34% of respondents), coffee/tea (33% of respondents) and milk (33% of respondents) they currently purchase in order to buy an eco-labelled one. While slightly more are willing to pay more for eco-labelled rice (35% of respondents), slightly less would be for coffee/tea (30% of respondents) and milk (30% of respondents).

Meanwhile, when asked about household appliances and furniture products, more than one-quarter are open to switching their current brand of home furniture (29%) in order to buy an eco-labelled one, while just under a quarter (24%) are willing to pay more.

Lastly, one-quarter of consumers (25%) are open to switching the brands of smartphones they currently purchase to buy an eco-labelled one, while slightly more (27%) are willing to pay a higher price for greener smartphones. But less than one in seven consumers would consider switching brands and paying more for eco-labelled cars (14%) and gaming consoles (5% to 6%).

Hong Kong – A vast majority of international buyers in the ASEAN market – 93% – have used online sourcing platforms since the pandemic began, with more than 85% attending virtual fairs to meet their sourcing needs, according to a study conducted by Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), a statutory body. Despite this, the study noted that 63% of most buyers surveyed said they would prefer to source via physical fairs or hybrid fairs which consists of 59% of buyers once travel restrictions are lifted.

For those that prefer sourcing online, the study found the top reasons to be 70% preference for searching for new suppliers and making enquiries (70%), wanting to compare products and prices (66%), and opting to identify the latest product trends (57%).

“In the wake of the pandemic, many industries are committed to organising virtual fairs to strengthen the connection between international buyers and suppliers. These events have been well received by the industry, with the survey showing that more than 85% of buyers surveyed had participated in virtual fairs in 2021,” commented HKTDC Director of Research Irina Fan. 

The survey also showed that buyers who prefer hybrid fairs were more likely to register a higher average spend per order (in the range of US$50,000-$100,000+) compared with counterparts who prefer physical or virtual fairs. This suggests that hybrid fairs could be well-positioned to facilitate more lucrative business opportunities.

Fan said,”The survey reflects that more buyers have been choosing to purchase online due to the pandemic. However, this makes it difficult to perform tasks such as product examination and evaluation as well as supplier authentication. We believe that physical fairs and hybrid fairs are the future, with the two complementing each other.”

Hong Kong — Viu has been named the number one premium video on demand platform in terms of the number of Monthly Average Users (MAUs) in the Greater Southeast Asia region according to Media Partners Asia’s consumer insights division –AMPD. Viu is the OTT video streaming service of Hong Kong-based information tech company Pacific Century CyberWorks.

The report revealed that Viu’s MAUs are once again ahead of other major streaming platforms in Greater Southeast Asia and continued to be the highest for all quarters of 2021. The platform also ranked second in both paid subscribers and premium video streaming minutes amongst major video streaming platforms in the region in quarter four of 2021.

Helen Sou, chief business officer of Viu Asia, said that Viu’s consistent performance in a very competitive region, coupled with its significant growth in monetization in 2021, firmly entrenched Viu as a leading player in this part of the world.

“Our content has clearly resonated with our Asian audience, and our freemium business model has consistently proven popular with both consumers and ecosystem partners. As the destination of premium Asian content, we will continue to invest in stories that are relevant, from both our expanding content partnerships as well as with Viu Original productions,” Sou said.

Compared to 2020, the top 10 Viu Original titles showed stellar growth of over 94 per cent in video views and an exponential increase of over 200 per cent in video minutes. This helped drive subscriptions by 58 per cent from 5.3 million in 2020 to 8.4 million in 2021.

Singapore — Almost three out of four shoppers, or 73 per cent, now consider shopping online to be integral to everyday life, with 67 per cent of them identifying e-commerce mega campaigns as a key factor in shaping their consumer buying behaviour. Furthermore, nearly 60 per cent of consumers also welcomed online shopping as a part of their daily life less than two years ago – possibly owing to the pandemic. These are the results of a recent report by SEA e-commerce platform Lazada in collaboration with Milieu Insights.

Regional findings note that consumers continue to actively participate during Mega Campaigns such as Lazada 12.12, with 67 per cent of the digital consumers completing a purchase during a Mega Campaign.

Additionally, the report unveiled key reasons Southeast Asians shop, which is a number of motivations such as pricing and functionality. Low prices (45%), and affordable shipping (45%) topped the list followed closely by the ease of search (43%) and convenience (43%). Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines show a strong preference for the items to be delivered straight to them, with 55 per cent, 48 per cent, and 49 per cent, respectively.

Reviews and ratings are also key to a positive shopping experience, especially for online shoppers in Singapore (61%), and Thailand (66%). In regards to reviews, the study uncovered that one in two shoppers, or 54 per cent, said reviews make the shopping experience positive. In addition, half, or 50 per cent of those surveyed said they leave reviews on the product post-purchase, and one in three, or 32 per cent, said the reviews are one of the top 3 reasons why they prefer to buy online. This shows that the culture of shopper engagement by leaving authentic reviews helps build trust and has a significant influence on the final purchase behaviour of shoppers.

James Chang, chief business officer of Lazada Group, shared that digital commerce has changed the way people shop in the past decade, especially in the last two years with the pandemic accelerating the shift towards online retail.

He added: “Such changes are showing a lasting effect, especially in emerging markets. This first region-wide Lazada Consumer Study shows that Mega Campaigns, pioneered by Lazada in Southeast Asia a few years ago, still matter to the consumer. They look forward to the deals and shoppertainment features that come with each campaign.”

Gerald Ang, chief executive officer of Milieu Insight, commented that the online shopping landscape has evolved massively in the last two years with Southeast Asia leading this change globally.

“This is why we wanted to identify the new behaviours and current sentiments of online shoppers in Southeast Asia. On the back of this partnership with Lazada, we’ve gathered fundamental data across their 6 regional markets, helping them understand the intricacies of each. As Lazada continues to shape the thriving modern-day e-commerce economy, these insights are meant to equip them in formulating the most effective consumer outreach strategies in the current environment,” Ang said.

Paris, France — Ipsos has announced the launch of its new online market research platform Ipsos.Digital in key markets across the Asia Pacific. The company said the launch is part of its ongoing vision in delivering fast, high-quality data while simultaneously bringing the best of science, technology, and know-how to its clients.

The intuitive, self-service, end-to-end platform offers clients efficient access to Ipsos’s global research capabilities and insights. It provides access to Ipsos’ fully integrated online panels of consumers.

Ipsos has developed this proprietary platform to seamlessly provide clients with innovative technology and efficient professional expertise, providing as-needed access to its expert teams across the world.

The Ipsos.Digital platform contains a range of solutions such as FastFacts, its DIY research tool allowing users to build their own surveys. Clients can choose from more than 700 pre-defined category targets or create their own bespoke definitions. Other solutions include two Ipsos flagship tools: InnoTest, an innovation testing tool, Creative|Spark, and Creative|Spark Digital – a 24-hour turnaround creative assessment tool.

Commenting on the implications of the launch in a new market, Yang Kil, chief growth officer of Ipsos for Asia Pacific, said that Ipsos.Digital is a revolutionary step for them, with real-time, self-serve consumer research. Kil added that clients need to make faster decisions than ever to cope with rapid changes in consumer behaviour and Ipsos.Digital answers these needs.

“Its fast turnaround time, from set-up to delivery, ensures high data quality. It reflects our commitment to outstanding research quality and turning data into actionable insights. In an ever-growing DIY market, we bring a unique alternative that combines technology with state-of-the-art knowledge and applies our principles of ‘security, simplicity, speed and substance’,” Kil said.

Ipsos. Digital’s main benefits are its speed with the ability to access research responses within 24 hours; simplicity of use with DIY functions and the ability to access a research expert at any stage; security with time efficiencies without compromising quality, and substance of being able to design bespoke surveys or a specialised Ipsos solution.

Andrei Postoaca, CEO of Ipsos.Digital, commented, “The digitalisation of market research, like that of most industries, has risen significantly over the last few years. The global pandemic has accelerated this trend, making the ambitious vision of the democratisation of market research a reality. We are delighted to launch our digital platform in Asia, the power of Ipsos.Digital is its ability to streamline processes and enable clients to access insights in hours rather than days or weeks. Platform users can work on their own or obtain assistance from relevant Ipsos experts around the world.”

In February, JCDecaux partnered with research firm IPSOS to launch a customer feedback program called ‘JCDecaux VOICE’.

Singapore – ServiceNow, a business workflow solution, and experience management provider Qualtrics have unveiled new joint capabilities that aim to help companies deliver personalized service experiences. Combining ServiceNow’s digital workflows with Qualtrics’ experience management technology, the new capabilities will help organizations harness and act on customer and employee experience data on the Now Platform in real time, to quickly resolve issues and improve engagement, loyalty, and retention. 

The Now Platform is ServiceNow’s flagship product which includes core capabilities, such as configuration management database, service level management, and machine learning, that help companies to quickly and efficiently digitize workflows. 

Organizations can now access additional customer experience data from Qualtrics on the Now Platform via the Qualtrics CustomerXM™ and ServiceNow Customer Service Management integration. The data help service teams to create personalized workflows and automate support experiences, increasing loyalty and spend and to reduce operational costs. 

The partnership aims to solve organizations’ pain points that still struggle with siloed systems and disconnected customer insights which hamper their ability to design and deliver the experiences customers want. According to research from the two parties, 80% of respondents have switched brands because of poor customer experience, and it being the number one reason why.

“What it means to truly know your customer has changed. Organizations need to deliver empathy at mass scale in every interaction to retain customers and drive growth in 2022,” said Michael Ramsey, VP for customer workflow products at ServiceNow. 

“Access to rich customer insights allows agents to respond to individual needs and powers digital workflows that drive great experiences, customer loyalty, and empathy,” adds Ramsey. 

Meanwhile, Jay Choi, chief product officer at Qualtrics, commented that great experiences are the currency of modern business, where the experiences that companies deliver today can become their greatest competitive advantage moving forward. 

“Companies who understand and act on experience data – the feedback that employees and customers share with them – to deliver incredible service experiences will successfully build long-term, meaningful relationships,” said Choi.

The new capabilities are now available on the ServiceNow Store and the Qualtrics Marketplace. Qualtrics said that the partnership will be rolling out additional integrated capabilities in 2022, targeted at helping teams visualize sentiment and profile data directly on the Now Platform, giving agents and frontline teams a more holistic view of the customer and employee. 

Singapore – Global trend forecasting WGSN has announced the launch of their latest consumer tech vertical aptly called the ‘WGSN Consumer Tech’ which will aid brands in Asia in providing specialized vertical insights from up-to-the-minute movements to 10-year forecasts of the consumer tech scene in the region.

Said vertical is led by Lisa Yong, content director for consumer tech at WGSN, who has 20 years experience in product design and is currently based in Silicon Valley.

With a focus on product experience and driven by technology’s ever-growing presence, WGSN Consumer Tech will help brands, product designers, manufacturers and business owners to innovate with purpose and create meaningful consumer-first products and experiences.

For Yong, the observable breakneck speed at which Asian consumers are adopting new technologies has only been accelerated by the global pandemic and active programs by regional governments to digitize their economies, adding that the next 10 years will see technology transform or disrupt almost all industries, changing the way of live, work, play and move in the new reality.

“As technology continues to permeate all aspects of our lives, it’s vital for companies to understand new behaviors and expectations in tech consumerism, and develop the right products that consumers will want and need for years to come. WGSN Consumer Tech works across industries to outline the shifts that can be actioned today and built on tomorrow,” she stated.

As part of the launch of their consumer tech vertical, WGSN has also published its first flagship report entitled ‘Future of Consumer Tech 2030’, providing actionable insights to help tech businesses adapt and make the most out of the systemic changes affecting the post-pandemic world. 

Key insights in the report include the rise of the augmented self, an increased focus on regeneration and survival, and a post-pandemic focus on wellness that will accelerate consumer adoption of health-tech.

“WGSN Consumer Tech offers specialized insights into evolving consumer tech trends, from up-to-the-minute movements to 10-year forecasts, on one platform. With a talent map of over 250 people around the world, WGSN provides global trend insights and expertly curated data. We empower clients to develop products and services today, for tomorrow’s world,” said Carla Buzasi, president and CEO at WGSN.

Manila, Philippines – At a time when there is stronger imperative for brands to deliver data-driven brand experiences and campaigns, global advertising agency network dentsu in the Philippines has announced a new leadership movement within its data department – the elevation of Roki Ferrer, its former Connections Strategy and Research Lead, to now assume the role of Head of Data. 

The network’s Filipino team said that the new leadership is in line with its goal of keeping the agency’s commitment to delivering ideas-led, data-driven, and tech-enabled work. 

The appointment of Ferrer commences with immediate effect and will report directly to dentsu Philippines’ CEO, JC Catibog. 

Ferrer is a marketing and communications expert who boasts over 16 years of experience in brand management, corporate communications, and integrated marketing communications, as well as connections planning experience. His foundation of business understanding and campaign management can be seen through the success of the campaigns he had worked on as a client marketer. 

These campaigns include work for Coca-Cola, Globe Telecom, and SkinWhite. In the past five years, he has worked on the agency side and widened his perspectives of different planning tools, frameworks, and approaches to deliver custom solutions in solving complex business problems for both local and global brands

Catibog said that during Ferrer’s stay with the agency, which started in 2019, he has enabled the team to become thought-leaders in the realm of consumer and media by spearheading webinars, media bulletins, and bespoke research consultancies, most especially in the pandemic, where insight-building activities surfaced “new truths.”

“Roki’s marketing acumen and knowledge of the power of data will sharpen consumer understanding of our clients and future-proof the agency to unlock audience identity solutions, solutions that help navigate challenges in the digital world,” said Catibog.

For his new role, Roki will be expanding his strategy and research remit to equip and accelerate the data offering of dentsu Philippines and create business value through data services and products for clients.

Ferrer himself commented, “People-based marketing is the way forward and data will be the spine that bridges brands closer to the ever-evolving consumer beliefs, dispositions, and behaviors.” 

“I am looking forward to working with the team to deliver next-generation data products as we evolve our proprietary audience panel and planner, and find key technology and media partnerships to build new platforms. It is definitely an exciting time for dentsu,” he added. 

Singapore – The digital disruption during the offset of the global pandemic has made businesses in the Asia Pacific prioritize investment in improving insight and analytics capabilities, a new report from computer software company Adobe shows.

The APAC-centric report shows around 49% of businesses willing to invest in insight and analytic solutions for their business to achieve their top marketing goals this year. In addition, one third (35%) of ANZ leaders believe their organization has strong capabilities in accuracy, actionability, speed, and access of insights, while Asian leaders are far more pessimistic at around 9%.

With that in mind, leaders in ANZ think their interest in investing to analytic support is a focus on personalized customer experience as 33% of respondents agree to this reasoning, while Asian leaders are committed to enabling digital customer acquisition (35%).

Duncan Egan, vice president of DX Marketing, APAC, and Japan at Adobe commented that organizations with better access to insights are more likely to say their customers are positive about their digital experience compared to their peers with lower levels of insight.

“For brands across every sector, 2020 brought a loss of predictability. Organizations of all kinds were driven online at an accelerated rate, creating a wave of new digital customers with increasing expectations. Customers now have the upper hand in the ‘digital relationship’, with more than half of marketing respondents across APAC reporting unusual changes in customer behaviors and journeys in 2020,” Egan said.

He added, “A company with a strong customer experience (CX) strategy is more likely to achieve long-term growth than its competitors, as they are better positioned to adapt to changeable customer behaviors and markets. This report highlights that organizations need to accelerate their insight and action capabilities by moving to more flexible technologies and cloud-based platforms, as well as a unified and real-time view of the customer journey.”

The report also showed that respondents who are confident about their company’s customer experience feel optimistic about their corporate strategy (63% in ANZ vs. 73% in India vs. 56% in Asia) and their own prospects for career growth (61% in ANZ vs. 70% in India vs. 57% in Asia). In addition, organizations across APAC report three significant barriers that are hampering marketing and experience: legacy technology and systems (51% in ANZ, 37% in India and Asia), workflow issues (38% in ANZ, 33% in India, and 48% in Asia), and a lack of digital skills and capabilities (34% in ANZ, 24% in India and 43% in Asia).

Egan explained that the manifested data has been a result of the current shift to remote work, which in turn has a significant and enduring impact on businesses moving forward, requiring new marketing strategies for reaching and keeping customers.

“Companies have never been more interested in being agile and adding new capabilities for seamless digital execution, with one third (34%) saying they’ve been unusually agile and able to make quick decisions,”said Egan. 

“A hybrid approach to technology – comprising cloud and other data management systems – allows organizations to be flexible and collaborative, letting them work better with existing solutions and quickly integrate new ones. The effects of such an approach within these organizations can be seen in the improved capability in key areas of analytics and insights, added Egan

Furthermore, the report also found that transparency is still lacking with only a small number of leaders (13% in ANZ and 12% in Asia) claiming their organization is effective at communicating how data is collected and used. Also, only 10% in ANZ and 13% in Asia believe they are highly effective at communicating the value offered in exchange for customers’ consent when they first encounter the brand.

Lastly, Adobe reported that most organizations are still a long way from authentically displaying digital empathy. Just over a third (37%) of Indian executives have significant insights into customer mindset, followed by 27% in ANZ and 19% in Asia. Drivers of purchase, friction points, and attribution of how marketing actions relate to customer behavior fare only marginally better.

Singapore – Consumer insights tool InsightzClub has announced the rollout of its new data discovery tool for its existing insight dashboard, aimed at driving real-time automation of insights discovery.

Through the tool, InsightzClub allows customers to run self-discovery with the accumulated data with an accessible user interface (UI). Traditionally, to obtain cross tabulations involves data processing on statistics which are time-consuming and exhaustive.

The release of the tool comes after the launch of its passive embedded insights technology on its app last December 2020, to gather data behaviorally rather than survey-based data.

“The data discovery tool is a no-code, drag and drop tool aimed to support insights and marketing teams to have the power to explore the data. The addition of the data discovery tool to our real-time dashboard is also part of the end-to-end customer automation stack,” said Padmanabhan Ramaswamy, co-founder of InsightzClub.