Tag: E-commerce

Bengaluru, India – Meesho, a local internet e-commerce platform, has launched its newest campaign, centred around the message of Loon Ya Na Loon, or the consumer dilemma of choosing one item over the other, and Sahi Sahi Lagaya Hai or the appeal of having the right price on the platform.

In separate 30-second TVCs, we see three different consumer segments – women, men and young adults, where the campaign highlights Meesho’s unmatched value proposition of offering quality products at the lowest prices. In addition, the campaign also tackles the fact that users fulfil multiple desires and for many value-seeking consumers, shopping has become an exercise of choosing one desire over another.

Conceptualised by agency DDB Mudra, the campaign is also focused on showcasing the protagonist’s journey from contemplation to a no-compromise shopping experience on Meesho.

Megha Agarwal, head of growth at Meesho, said, “When consumers want to purchase something they desire, the guilt or need to cut down on other expenses often crop up, making them prioritise one desire over another. The core objective of the campaign is centred around resolving the ‘Loon Ya Na Loon’ predicament. At Meesho, we are helping millions fulfil their desires by providing them a wide selection of quality products at the lowest prices.”

Meanwhile, Pallavi Chakravarti, creative head for West at DDB Mudra, commented that through Meesho’s appeal of putting up the appeal of a right price, the campaign result is a breezy yet insightful campaign which they believe will resonate with their target audiences around the country.

“To buy or not to buy – that is the question. Which bargain-hunting, value-conscious Indian shopper has not hit the pause button and wondered about all the demands on her/his budget, before picking up something? It is this behavioural truth that we played on to land a simple message – Meesho offers prices so low, you’ll never have to choose between one thing or the other again,” Chakravarti said.

The campaign will air on major TV networks such as in addition to YouTube, and OTT platforms. Each film is shot in three zonal master languages – Hindi, Tamil, and Bengali and further amplified in other regional languages.

New York, USA – AiTrillion, a global software-as-a-service (SaaS) marketing platform for e-commerce sellers, has announced the appointment of Sudiptaa Paul Choudhury to the role of global chief marketing officer. Choudhury brings into the company over a decade of marketing industry experience, having worked with Intuit, Tally, Ericsson, Oracle, HP and other notable organisations.

Her experience within the marketing industry revolves around her experience of leaning towards market research, competitive insight, customer and product marketing, digital marketing, brand-led content strategy, creation and execution, and achieving the results efficiently.

Speaking about her role, Choudhury shared that SaaS market & Artificial Intelligence (AI) is where the future is and currently one of the most revenue earning segments globally. For her, SaaS is empowering businesses with the highest contributions towards enterprise resource planning (ERP), e-commerce apps, and CRM.

“SaaS & AI is the future and is currently one of the most revenue earning segments globally with highest contributions towards ERP, Ecommerce, CRM. I’ve been hired to take the brand to the next level,” she shared.

The company offers a suite of products and services such as AiBrandInsights and AiConsumer Insights to help empower businesses of all sizes to beget success with an accessible, intelligent, automated sales and marketing platform that is powered by AI in its true sense.

Ireland – Ireland-based e-commerce financing and growth platform, Wayflyer, has secured a Series B funding round of US$150m, which brings the platform’s post-money valuation to US$1.6b, making it the country’s sixth unicorn. 

The all-equity round was co-led by DST Global and QED Investors, as well as three new investors, namely Prosus, Madrone Capital Partners, and J.P. Morgan. Existing investors Left Lane Capital and Guillaume Pousaz also participated in the funding round.

The new funds will be used to continue building Wayflyer’s presence in current territories, expand into new territories across Europe and Asia, further expand its product range, and hire the best talent globally. Wayflyer will also provide billions of dollars to e-commerce merchants in the coming years.

Aidan Corbett, Wayflyer’s CEO, shared that Wayflyer was launched in April 2020, and has been relentlessly focused on helping their customers drive growth and removing the barriers that limit their potential.

“Our Series B round will help us build our offering to customers, expand into exciting new territories, and hire more world-class talent. We’ve only just scratched the surface of what’s possible here, and with an incredible team all working together to solve the biggest challenges in e-commerce, I couldn’t be more excited for what’s ahead,” said Corbett.

Wayflyer helps ambitious e-commerce businesses unlock their true potential, solving some of the critical challenges that have long stifled growth. Combining access to capital and insights that help e-commerce businesses deploy that capital effectively, Wayflyer acts as a trusted growth partner to many merchants worldwide. 

Tom Stafford, DST Global’s co-founder and managing partner, shared that they are impressed by their commitment to building the best products for their customers and proactively helping their customers grow via analytics, practical insights and attractively priced funding. 

“We are pleased to continue supporting the team, as Wayflyer expands globally to provide innovative financing and growth solutions for e-commerce businesses around the world,” said Stafford.

Meanwhile, Sandeep Bakshi, Prosus Ventures’ head of investments for Europe, said, “The pandemic has accelerated e-commerce adoption globally and Wayflyer is transforming financial services for e-commerce businesses wanting to scale quickly, helping them to gain access to capital, inventory and insights at attractive terms.”

Manila, Philippines – ZAP, the loyalty and e-commerce platform in the Philippines forF&B businesses, has secured Series A funding from True Digital Group (TDG), the digital arm of True Corporation, Thailand’s integrated telecommunications and digital services provider.

Launched in 2012 as a mobile number-based loyalty and rewards program, ZAP launched its E-Store service in June 2020 in partnership with the world’s largest e-commerce SaaS Platform, Shopify. The E-Store streamlines the order fulfilment process by digitising restaurant operations – such as order taking and inventory, payment, customer management, and delivery, as well as centralising them within a merchant’s own e-commerce website, which ZAP helps build. 

ZAP said that it envisions itself as growing into a one-stop-shop, an end-to-end platform that captures every interaction from the moment a customer steps into a business’ doors – both in the physical and digital sense. 

Dustin Cheng, ZAP Group’s CEO and co-founder, shared that the working relationship with True Digital Group presents new synergies for ZAP in terms of smart retail and analytics.

“Everything we do is for the benefit of our partner merchants, and this fund-raise is no different. Our partner merchants can look forward to an even easier-to-use platform with more robust capabilities in the coming months. These include richer analytics and remarketing and targeting features that will help partners foster better customer relationships and ultimately increase sales,” said Cheng.

Meanwhile, Michael Gryseels, True Digital Group’s executive vice chairman, commented, “We are excited about the synergies between our digital media platform and ZAP’s CRM and e-commerce capabilities, and see great potential in scaling our joint offering across Southeast Asia.”

Dindo Marzan, True Digital Group’s country head of Philippines, said, “To help close the gap in consumer’s digital journey, we see a very hopeful opportunity with ZAP as the local market expert and believe that together, we will be able to deliver an exciting experience for consumers in the Philippines.”

Islamabad, Pakistan – Daraz, the South Asia-centric e-commerce platform, has announced a new brand look for their company, following on the company’s significant progress from 2021.

Daraz, which was formed in 2015, allows SMEs in South Asia to grow their business online, whilst creating an immersive and personalised shopping experience for customers. One of the main drivers to refresh the brand is Daraz’s ambition to make e-commerce a key part of people’s daily lives across its five markets in South Asia – Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Myanmar.

A key change in the new brand revamp is the new icon, which represents a package that is symbolic of how the e-commerce platform physically connects SME sellers to customers. At the center of the icon is an arrow that highlights the focus on progress and fast deliveries, but also resembles a ‘play button’ symbolising how Daraz is continually innovating to create a more dynamic content experience for users.

For Bjarke Mikkelsen, founder and CEO at Daraz Group, the launch marks an exciting step forward for the business, adding that the new brand look still represents the elements that have always been part of their DNA – progress, innovation, exploration, and discovery. 

“At the same time, it signifies a shift to a more personal experience that will allow us to create greater connectivity between buyers and sellers on our platform,” Mikkelsen said.

He added, “We recognise that to achieve this ambition we need to create more personal experiences, ensure that we deliver quality products and services at each step of the customer journey, and create new avenues of entertainment and engagement for our customers. This brand refresh will play a key role in helping us elevate and evolve our offering across these crucial areas.”

As part of the new brand look, Daraz is also consolidating all of its brands under the overall Daraz umbrella-brand to simplify the experience for customers. Daraz has also launched a new website, Daraz.com, that showcases the new brand and gives people a better understanding of who Daraz is and what it stands for.

Manila, Philippines – Zyllem, a global logistics technology company offering enterprise SaaS solutions, has announced its further expansion in the Philippines amidst a growing e-commerce market in the country.

Zyllem is a cloud-based software that allows companies to manage and operate their entire logistics distribution network in a more efficient, simplified, and transparent way. It counts pharmaceutical giant Zuellig Pharma, Metro Drug Inc, logistics firm Airspeed, and wholesale grocery distribution company Suy Sing as key clients in the Philippines and is actively looking to acquire more players in the market.

For Lisa Nguyen, chief operations officer and co-founder at Zyllem, the Philippines presents an exciting opportunity for them to help companies digitize and optimize their logistics network, eliminating legacy systems, despite the numerous unique logistical challenges that the country presents.

“Southeast Asia’s digital economy has been spurred on by the rapid pace of digitalisation from consumers and businesses and has witnessed unprecedented acceleration by the pandemic. Zyllem is poised to capitalize on this growth as more businesses are seeing the necessity to provide better and faster services, and look to optimize their logistics network to meet their customer’s orders. As the fastest growing digital economy in the region, the Philippines is an important market for us to achieve that,” Nguyen explained.

Meanwhile, Joanna Pawluczuk, head of sales at Zyllem, commented, “Logistics networks are often fragmented with companies having to manage multiple third party logistics partners and middlemen. Zyllem solves operational pain points with data gathered and fed into a unified dashboard, where customers will be able to take control of their logistic network and streamline their operations.”

She added, “We are able to optimize routes and reduce time spent on planning by 85%, allowing drivers to complete up to 30% more deliveries per day. With more predictable deliveries and real-time tracking, we also enhanced the experience for the end customer and eliminated the need for any customer calls

Since its go-to market in 2017, Zyllem has been working closely with pharmaceutical, logistics, retail and F&B brands to solve their supply chain problems across Asia. Headquartered in Singapore, Zyllem has presence in eight countries in Asia and manages two million monthly delivery orders, with 20% coming from the Philippines. Zyllem is funded by Philippines conglomerate JG Summit Holdings and leading early-stage venture capital firm Wavemaker Partners.

Singapore – Singapore arm of e-commerce giant Amazon has unveiled its new end-to-end shipping service, Amazon Easy Ship, aimed at helping local sellers scale their businesses online.

For a fee, Amazon Easy Ship allows sellers to ensure faster and more predictable delivery experiences for customers along with the up-to-date shipment tracking information, which is optimized for cost and speed with shipping services through Amazon’s enrolled carriers. The sellers will not need to configure fulfillment time manually, freeing up their time to focus on better sourcing, creating, and promoting their products and brands to grow their customer base.

The new shipping service is currently available in Singapore as a pilot and invite-only program, with the full roll-out to all sellers planned for February 2022.

Eric Broussard, Amazon’s vice president of international seller services, believes that they are helping small and local businesses sell online through shipping solutions such as Amazon Easy Ship, where we offer shipping labels from Amazon-negotiated contracts with carriers to Merchant Fulfilled Network (MFN) sellers. 

“To date, Amazon has invested over US$18b globally in logistics, fulfillment capabilities, new product launches, services, programs, and tools in support of seller success,” said Broussard.

Amazon said that the launch of the new service comes at a time when the number of Singapore sellers in Amazon’s local and international stores has increased by more than 45% between 2019 and 2021. This is in addition to the 25% increase in sellers exporting their products with Amazon.

More will be shared at the Seller Summit 2022, which will be held virtually today, 14 January, from 9 am to 6:30 pm SGT. The free event will educate sellers in Singapore on key e-commerce topics such as shipping and fulfillment, advertising, brand building, and global expansion. Attendees can also look forward to networking with experts, successful Amazon sellers, and third-party service providers.

Singapore – Shopee has once again unveiled in its inaugural Shopee Brands Summit the list of new initiatives it has in store for brands this 2022. Last year, the platform launched the ‘Regional Champion Brands Program’, a by-invite program that will comprise 16 brands that will receive priority support from Shopee. This year, Shopee announced exciting new features and programs including enhancing its partnership with premium brands where four new regional campaigns are slated to boost the presence of premium brands on the platform.

According to Shopee, it experienced a strong growth momentum on its Shopee Mall in 2021, where the majority of Shopee’s brand partners more than doubled their Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) year on year as they adapted to major shifts in the retail landscape.

Shopee also said that Shopee Mall saw an eightfold increase in the number of users shopping online at least once a month during the last two years of the pandemic. With the new initiatives, the e-commerce platform wanted to help more businesses capture this growing base of new and existing digital consumers.

First off, Shopee revealed that it will be introducing a new kind of mega shopping event in March to deliver greater excitement and deals for shoppers in the first half of the year. On the four new Shopee Premium regional campaigns, meanwhile, the campaigns were put in place to help premium brands cater to the increasing demand for premium and luxury products online.

Moreover, Shopee will be driving higher business performance with innovative solutions, including Facebook Ads on Seller Center, which enables sellers to create and manage campaigns easily and quickly, and a new Shopee Display ads, which allows brands to purchase new homepage banner display ads to showcase their campaigns. There will also be a new Customer Intelligence dashboard where brands can now access more insights on shopper demographics and segmentation. 

And lastly, the platform will also be elevating brand experiences with upgraded engagement tools and features like a new sampling channel and the Shopee BeautyCam. The new sampling channel will allow consumers to try products before purchasing online, while Shopee BeautyCam is an AR-enabled makeup try-on tool with new functions such as more color shades and filters. 

Shopee will also be launching Shopee Mall Brand Memberships, a tool that enables integration of the online and offline CRM program for brands, and an enhanced Shopee Live, which now uses AI to recommend more personalized live stream content and deals based on shopping behavior and user interests.

Terence Pang, Shopee’s chief operating officer, shared that as retail becomes hyper-digital and shopping online becomes integral to people’s lives, they believe that there is huge room for growth in SEA. 

“By working together with our brand partners, we will continue to expand and enhance Shopee Mall to serve more customers and scale to greater heights. I would like to congratulate our partners for their achievements last year, and look forward to creating better brand experiences for our users in the year ahead,” said Pang.

In the event, Shopee has also unveiled the five brand partners who made it to the 2021-launched ‘Shopee 100 Million Dollar Club’ which are L’Oreal Group, Oppo, and realme, as well as Samsung and Xiaomi.

The exclusive program awards US$100m-valued brands with bonus perks, including a dedicated regional brand campaign. Following the success, Shopee said it will continue to support the 20 brand partners onboarded this year with priority access to new initiatives and campaigns that will deliver high business impact.

Singapore – Intrepid Group Asia, e-commerce services platform with SEA presence, has announced two new appointments in its marketing team – Steven Ghoos, the new regional digital marketing director, and Anna March, the new regional director of e-commerce and performance marketing.

Ghoos is most recently a managing director at digital agency Lion & Lion, where he led business profitability and managed teams and campaign strategy in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Indonesia. Prior to Lion & Lion, Ghoos was also the managing director at the Indonesian marketplace Lamudi, the head of sales and customer experience at Lazada, and the managing director at Rocket Internet. As he now joins Intrepid, Ghoos will be bringing over 16 years of experience in driving business profitability and strategy at market-leading companies.

Meanwhile, March has previously held performance director roles, where she led key digital accounts and strategy at Omnicom Agency Hearts and Science, Wavemaker London, and OMD Australia, as well as Aegis Australia. Prior to joining Intrepid Group late last year, she has also ran performance marketing for audiobook provider Audible in Australia and Japan. March brings almost two decades of experience in leading performance marketing strategy and teams.

Through their new roles, Ghoos and March will be driving Intrepid’s digital marketing business. March will be based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where she will help drive the performance marketing strategy for brand partners in the e-commerce market, while Singapore-based Ghoos will be focusing on full-funnel, content, and creative propositions and clients in non-B2C e-commerce verticals.

Both will be reporting directly to Jasper Knoben, Intrepid Group Asia’s CEO.

Knoben commented, “Their complementary experience, valuable insights, and track records for impactful, performance-driven marketing will further strengthen our position and capabilities as a full-funnel partner that can help our clients gain a competitive edge in today’s digital world.”

When I look back to the time someone in my family had to do grocery runs to the neighborhood store and then at the present, where what we need is available at the click of a button, it often seems surreal. In the world of today, there is so much more convenience – convenience that we did not even know could exist all those years ago.

As we approach the end of the year, holiday shopping and many mega-sales are beckoning. Although festivities are expected to be carried out in a measured way due to mobility restrictions and social distancing, consumers continue to shop online. Within Southeast Asia alone, 70% of the population is now online. According to the latest report by Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company, the region gained 40 million new users in 2020 alone, as compared to the 100 million that cumulatively came online in the past 5 years.

Mobile has embedded itself in our lifestyles

The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred the adoption of digital ways to stay connected with family and friends. Mobile has been playing an instrumental role in helping people stay connected as they navigate this new normal. It has also been like a shot in the arm for mobile commerce.

Shopping over the mobile has already become a part of our lifestyle and will soon become so, in many other households. According to a recent study, purchases made over the mobile phone rose 30% from January to May 2021, with the Asia-Pacific region driving a majority of the global growth.

In Singapore, a study by InMobi found that 63% of all online retail sales are being conducted on mobile, while 34% of shoppers are expecting to spend more than SGD 500 this holiday season. This is despite a majority of respondents having not finalized their holiday shopping plans this year due to the uncertainty of how COVID measures will change.

New digital habits and why there is no going back

The new digital habits learned during the pandemic have been fully integrated into people’s daily routine, where the latest e-Conomy report by Google found that more than 9 in 10 still are still using at least one digital service adopted in 2020. A whopping 94% of these new users have expressed that they will be continuing with these digital habits post pandemic.

The improvements in productivity and efficiency brought about by the increased adoption of mobile services is benefitting both consumers and brands. Mobile technologies and services generated over $750b of economic value added in Asia Pacific over the past year. This figure has been forecasted to increase by another $110b by 2025 to $860b.

Asia being slower on relaxing COVID control measures have caused consumers in the region to still be wary while following social distancing and lockdowns measures. Shoppers continue to be resilient this holiday season as they leverage on online channels to skip the crowds and hunt for bargains. Many consumers in the region are purchasing through mobiles across a wide category of items with clothing and accessories being high on the list of many in the SEA countries. The region has experienced a 240% increase in spending according to an AppsFlyer report on the State of eCommerce App Marketing in 2021.

A personalized experience versus a kitchen sink approach

The evolved shopper has new expectations and is seeking richer experiences from existing brands. Brands that are able to adapt to this change and create bespoke experiences for their customers will thrive. For example, Lazada targeting customers who are moms with diaper and baby merchandise deals makes them feel that the brand understands their needs and wants.

With personalization in the forefront of the current retail experience, and smartphones accounting for 70% of total digital media time, mobile is an ideal way to reach audiences at scale and directly at this point in time. Brands must look to adopt a mobile centric advertising strategy, and avenues such as in-app advertising within apps with engaged users. In-app ads are scaled to fit the app, and therefore look much more appealing to the user than mobile web.

Moreover, by improving user experience, retail brands in SEA have a huge opportunity to turn newly acquired users from the pandemic into long-term customers.

For mobile commerce to continue to grow, it takes an understanding of data, design, and how people behave. Not all retailers understand that, and if they do they are presenting personalized screens or personalized shopping journeys that are keeping consumers engaged.

This article is written by Karam Malhotra, partner and global VP at global internet technology company, SHAREit Group

The article is published as part of MARKETECH APAC’s thought leadership series What’s NEXT. This features marketing leaders sharing their marketing insights and predictions for the upcoming year. The series aims to equip marketers with actionable insights to future-ready their marketing strategies.

If you are a marketing leader and have insights that you’d like to share with regards to the upcoming trends and practices in marketing, please reach out to [email protected] for an opportunity to have your thought-leadership published on the platform.