Tag: E-commerce

Singapore – Digital commerce enabler in SEA, CREA, has announced a new and enhanced offering that will enable it to efficiently import international brands to Southeast Asia, acting as their gateway to the market.

The extended offering means that CREA now offers brands the full spectrum of support regarding importation, licensing, product strategy, and distribution across online, social, and offline commerce channels. With this, brands will be able to rapidly accelerate their entrance to the Southeast Asian market, which is estimated to be made up of 350 million online shoppers, according to an annual study conducted by Bain & Company and commissioned by Facebook.

In addition to this end-to-end support, brands can now leverage CREA’s community of digital content creators to amplify their reach and drive mass awareness and engagement amongst consumer audiences through social channels such as TikTok and Instagram. Brands will also be able to access its in-house marketing, branding, and data-driven insight capabilities to further drive sales and reach new audiences, with the aim of establishing themselves as household brands in the region. CREA will also be offering brands access to its technology-driven logistics network, further streamlining their entrance to the market.

Aimone Ripa di Meana, founder and co-chief executive officer of CREA, shared that this transformation of their business was a natural progression for their company, and they are proud to see how much they have grown in such a short space of time. 

“We started working with brands in Southeast Asia that were looking to ramp up their digital presence, and now with our expanded capabilities, we can support international brands on their journey to enter the market. We look forward to bringing more global brands to the region and driving their success,” he said. 

CREA said that the new offering launches with it having already secured exclusive rights to distribute and manage some of the hottest new-generation brands from the United States, including skincare and beauty brands Mario Badescu, ILIA, and Malin+Goetz. More brand partners will be announced in due course.

The Philippines – MARKETECH APAC‘s What’s NEXT returns this year with a stronger push to bring the industry together through a variety of knowledge-sharing activities. MARKETECH APAC will continue to feature thought-leadership articles written by renowned marketing leaders to cover various marketing areas, as it did last year.

With MARKETECH APAC‘s ongoing push to create relevant video content, we will gather the best in the industry this year and sit down with them to discuss how marketers can prepare for the upcoming year of marketing opportunities and challenges.

On November 3, 2022, What’s NEXT 2023 will kick off with a regional webinar, What’s NEXT: Events in Asia Pacific, in collaboration with event tech platform, Hubilo. On November 8, in partnership with influencer marketing platform Vamp, another regional webinar, What’s Next: Influencer Marketing in APAC, will be held.

True to its mission of creating a well-connected marketing community in Asia Pacific, What’s NEXT 2023 concludes with a two-day hybrid conference, What’s NEXT 2023: Marketing in Asia Pacific, on February 21-22, with at least 120 physical attendees in Manila and 1,500 virtual attendees from various markets in Asia Pacific.

The conference will spark offline and online discussions about digital, e-commerce, customer engagement, CX, esports, research, B2B, metaverse, and other relevant topics that will help marketers future-proof marketing strategies.

MARKETECH APAC’s What’s NEXT 2023 will be a go-to platform for checking out the marketing industry’s new trends, opportunities, and challenges to be explored in the region through this holistic approach.

Keep an eye on our website and social media pages for updates on the hybrid conference.

Please contact Joven Barceñas at [email protected] if you are interested in becoming a partner.

Australia – Cloud-based e-commerce solutions ChannelAdvisor has announced its integration with regional e-commerce giant Shopee. Through the partnership, ChannelAdvisor customers will be able to reach new consumers in the SEA region.

Customers can now extend their multichannel commerce strategies to new markets in the region, while leveraging the efficiencies of a centralised platform.

Some of the solutions include transforming product data to meet the unique requirements of each channel, optimising and managing product content from a centralised location, maximising reach without overselling by synchronising inventory quantity across channels, and identifying growth opportunities with powerful reporting and dashboard analytics.

Derek Conlin, VP for global business development at ChannelAdvisor, said, “We’re excited to announce our integration with Shopee, which will provide ChannelAdvisor customers with access to millions of new buyers in Southeast Asia and beyond.”

He added, “Brands and retailers keen on accelerating growth of their online business should evaluate selling on Shopee to increase visibility and sales in Southeast Asia and Taiwan.”

Singapore – TikTok Shop, the new e-commerce solution by short-video platform TikTok, has officially launched in Singapore. Starting 10 August, shoppers can usher in Singapore’s 57th birthday festivities via the TikTok Shop 8.8 campaign.

As part of the platform’s ongoing efforts to support local businesses, TikTok Shop is a dynamic marketplace built into the TikTok platform, allowing consumers and creators to connect and engage directly with brands and sellers. 

In particular, TikTok Shop offers merchants and brands a bustling online space they can leverage to connect with newfound consumers keen to discover new brands and share fresh finds with others.

Ng Chew Wee, head of business marketing for APAC at TikTok, said that they have observed that Singapore has exceeded its potential as a major e-commerce market, with its projected market volume expected to hit US$11.45 billion by 2025. 

She stated, “As more people shop online, TikTok Shop presents the ultimate convergence of content and commerce with unique Shoppertainment experiences for all.”

Wee added, “In this way, TikTok Shop not only empowers local businesses to effectively tap onto the platform’s fast-growing audience base to drive tangible business results but also affords the delivery of content that delights and entertains – resonating with the right audience across the discovery to purchase stages.”

With TikTok Shop, sellers can also create an e-commerce experience by having full control of the end-to-end process within TikTok – from uploading the products to curating the point of purchase as well as managing shipping and order fulfilment – affording a seamless consumer journey that will help businesses thrive. 

Additionally, sellers will also be able to tap into the rich variety of content formats to showcase their creativity, connect with their audiences and be discovered by the community. These include shoppable live sessions and creator collaborations that can be easily forged using the TikTok Shop Affiliate Program, which connects creators with sellers through commission-based product marketing. 

Manila, Philippines – E-commerce platform Shopee in the Philippines has recently launched Shopee Cares PH, an online community platform where Shopee provides customer education and support to combat the rising number of online scams.

The goal of the platform is to empower consumers with proper know-hows and tips on how they can protect themselves from phishing scams, money and gift card scams, and third party seller scams.

With Shopee Cares PH, users are also encouraged to seek help for any product inquiry or concern, and inspire other users through their memorable Shopee finds and experiences. Sale tips and tricks are also provided to ensure online shopping is made enjoyable with exclusive deals and promos. 

Martin Yu, director at Shopee Philippines, said, “Shopee has always been committed to ensuring that every Filipino’s online shopping experience is safe and reliable, and Shopee Cares is a testament to that. Through this platform, we aim to equip them with knowledge on how to shop safely and combat these online scams together so that they can continuously enjoy shopping online.”

He added, “As more Filipinos rely on e-commerce, we continuously ensure that measures are in place to make their experience with Shopee more secure. What we want is for our shoppers to continue enjoying the benefits of online shopping, as this has become an essential part of their daily lives.”

Jakarta, Indonesia – Alban Dudek, formerly the chief digital and marketing officer at Omnichannel Retail Indonesia, has joined Wavemaker Indonesia as partner for e-commerce. In his new role, he will be responsible for leading e-commerce services for all Wavemaker Indonesia clients, from brand awareness to conversion on multiple channels.

He brings into the company a multi-market experience that will positively make business to be more competitive and profitable, in addition to advancing the team to improve their e-commerce expertise, and focusing on the clients’ performance growth area.

He will be reporting to Amir Suherlan, managing director of Wavemaker Indonesia.

Regarding his new role, Dudek said, “Digital transformation and expansion of marketplaces, particularly in Indonesia, have allowed the growth of multiple inspired brands and sellers who took this opportunity to grow fast, sometimes with a short-term vision. The establishment of bigger and well-implemented brands is now challenged by the growth of this new market.”

He added, “More than ever, agencies and marketers are now empowered to accompany this transformation while keeping respect for brand values. Accompanying this growth requires strong leadership and actions. And it requires creativity, interest in the product always and eyes wide open to new tech emergences.”

Meanwhile, Suherlan commented, “We continuously build agency capability to offer a full-service commerce solution for the brands and retailers. It is a fast-growing pillar within Wavemaker Indonesia.”

He added, “Dudek has the eagerness and strong view how to build further commerce services not only on digital marketing but an end-to-end solution including commerce strategic consultation and creative assets developments.”

Manila, Philippines – The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) government agency is eyeing an online shopping platform dedicated to the country’s micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), the Philippine News Agency (PNA) first reported.

According to DICT Secretary Ivan John Uy, said platform would provide a complete e-commerce “ecosystem” from sourcing of raw materials, global digital marketing, as well as an e-payment system.

The platform, which will be operated in collaboration with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), would be similar to other online shopping platforms such as Shopee and Alibaba.

“This will be integrated — they won’t have to worry about how would they transform their business from a brick-and-mortar into an e-commerce-enabled business. This will bring them up, make them more, and will become a major player. Because MSMEs have always been a major player in our economy,” Uy said.

He also added that the government would design the platform and the MSMEs would simply need to ‘register and be onboard’.

“They haven’t been able to shift their business into the e-commerce platform because of challenges. We’re here, and we’ll solve those challenges for them and make it easier for them to do,” Uy said.

Singapore – Regional e-commerce platform Shopee and multinational consumer goods company Procter and Gamble (P&G) have recently launched an exclusive virtual home shopping experience, as part of P&G’s ‘Regional Super Brand Day’ on Shopee.

Said virtual home shopping experience aims to include campaign-exclusive deals, on-site visibility, and traffic drivers such as influencer engagement and media. It will also include multi-format touch points including videos, gamification, and localised content in a bid to make online home shopping convenient and engaging for all.

The new virtual home shopping experience is a one-stop shop for household essentials produced by P&G brands such as Olay, Downey, Gillette, where users can browse through items categorised according to rooms. The immersive shopping experience aims to provide consumers with an interactive and elevated online shopping journey that changes the way they discover and browse products, beyond traditional product pages. 

This feature is being rolled out progressively across six countries in the Southeast Asia region. Starting with Malaysia and Vietnam on 10 July, it is being progressively rolled out in July and August across Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia. Elements of the microsite will be localised to each country with the aim of better resonating with consumers through familiar imagery.

Pavan Challa, director of regional brand partnerships at Shopee said, “We are happy to deepen our long-running partnership with P&G to elevate the digital home shopping experience. This new feature will help consumers immerse themselves into the journey of browsing and discovering new brands and items very much like visiting a showroom.” 

He added, “Deeper engagement with brands will also help to facilitate greater customer loyalty, which is a win-win for our users. As we continue to grow the household and personal care categories on Shopee Mall, we look forward to working closely with brands such as P&G to innovate experiences.”

Meanwhile, Shankar Viswanathan, head of e-commerce for Asia Pacific Middle East & Africa at Procter & Gamble, commented, “With the COVID-19 pandemic causing a surge in e-commerce over the past few years, staying ahead with digital innovation is more important than ever. In partnership with Shopee, the virtual home experience has been carefully curated with consumers in mind.” 

He added, “By leveraging the power of technology and gamification, we aim to provide consumers with the best possible virtual home shopping experience in the new normal. In line with P&G’s belief in constructive disruption, we are certain that this will drive growth and value, shaping the future of e-commerce.”

Singapore – Japan-based end-to-end commerce enablement company AnyMind has raised ¥4b in funding, around US$91.7m, to strengthen the company’s advancement in the e-commerce enablement space and fund future acquisitions.

The Series D funds were raised from new investors including JIC Venture Growth Investments, Japan Post Investment Corporation, Nomura SPARX Investment, and PROTO Ventures Inc., along with existing investor Mitsubishi UFJ Capital.

In addition, the funds raised will be used for future acquisitions both in Japan and internationally. To date, AnyMind Group has acquired seven companies from various parts of the region including Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand and India. The reasons to make these acquisitions were either to acqui-hire a company’s leadership, expand into new businesses or regions, acquire additional sales channels, or all three. 

Kosuke Sogo, CEO and co-founder of AnyMind Group, said, “Despite COVID-19 and geopolitical situations impacting the world, we have still been able to achieve solid growth as a business. On the other hand, we are seeing economies across Asia, including our operating markets of ASEAN and India, rapidly regaining growth momentum.” 

He added, “We will continue to grow our business at a pace that matches our ambitions, look towards expanding our capabilities through M&A, and strengthen our investment and profit structure for growth, as we continue to become the next-generation infrastructure for commerce in Asia.”

In March this year, the company launched AnyChat, a conversational commerce platform, and in April, the company launched e-commerce management platform AnyX, which optimises e-commerce operations through central management of multiple e-commerce channels. Funds from this round will be used to further enhance existing platforms and strengthen market share across the company’s operating regions. 

On the company’s various business and product movements, Sogo said, “We will continue to make it exciting for everyone to do business by enhancing and expanding our innovations that form the infrastructure for the next generation of commerce. Over the years we have developed platforms across the end-to-end spectrum of commerce that can be used individually, and can now also be used as part of an integrated suite of tools to deliver more effective and efficient commerce for businesses.” 

He added, “We are just at the start of our journey, as we power some of the most exciting enterprises and forward-thinking publishers and influencers in this part of the world.”

Singapore – South Korea’s cosmetics and personal care company, LG H&H, and regional e-commerce platform, Shopee, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to deepen their partnership in the SEA region, with the aim to scale up LG H&H’s e-commerce business and capture new online buyers.

The MOU is expected to accelerate LG H&H’s growth not only in the premium beauty category but also in the premium personal care category in five key markets, namely Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam, as well as Thailand, and Taiwan. It also aims to help LG H&H to be in the Top 10 Brand Principal in the Health & Beauty Category on Shopee. LG H&H brands that already have official stores on Shopee include The Face Shop, belif, and su:m37.

Moreover, under this partnership, both companies will be working together closely to accelerate new user growth by bringing more brands under LG H&H onto Shopee, and identifying new collaboration opportunities in areas such as marketing and exclusive product launches. 

In June 2022, LG H&H officially launched the luxury brand, The History of Whoo, on Shopee Mall and Shopee Premium with their first regional campaign across five markets, which are Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, and Vietnam, as well as Malaysia. Designed to introduce customers to the secret of Korean Royal Beauty, the campaign featured the brand’s signature skincare range, the ‘Bichup’ product series. A campaign launch video was also created by LG H&H and Shopee Premium to build awareness and educate about the brand heritage through richer storytelling.

Sean Lee, the head of the overseas business division at LG H&H, commented that they are glad to start this new partnership with Shopee as their key priority e-commerce partner in SEA, and they believe that LG H&H and Shopee together, will be able to accelerate the company’s growth with the help of Shopee’s deep insights on the local market landscape, and especially their expertise on using data-driven approaches to understand consumer behaviours on e-commerce. 

“We are proud to have launched our representative luxury brand, The History of Whoo, on Shopee Premium with our first regional campaign. We are glad to receive a warm response from Shopee users, and hope to further our reach to more customers on e-commerce,” said Lee.

Meanwhile, Terence Pang, chief operating officer at Shopee, shared that as the demand for premium health, beauty and personal care products continue to grow on Shopee, they are delighted to deepen their partnership with LG H&H to bring greater variety and value to their shoppers. 

“We aim to support them in expanding their omnichannel presence in Southeast Asia, especially in reaching the emerging generation of digital luxury shoppers through Shopee Premium. Together with LG H&H and many of our brand partners, we look forward to co-creating more exciting, unique and rewarding experiences for our customers in future,” said Pang.