Tag: Shopee

This month, MARKETECH APAC truly lived up to its name. For the top 5 stories this September, we saw a diverse set of newsmakers hailing from around the APAC region.

The top stories were identified based on Google Analytics from August 17 to September 15. In the list, two great brands from Southeast Asia and East Asia flexed their creative prowess to showcase novel brand marketing moves. Marketing leaders also continue to dominate the list; a marketing executive from South Asia recounted her almost two-decade marketing journey, another one, an APAC business director filled us in on a growing buying trend that no one saw coming amid the pandemic, while a significant appointment from ANZ also grabbed people’s attention this month. 

Top 5: Shopee gets fictional character Phua Chu Kang as new face of the brand

Ever since eCommerce platform Shopee was launched, it has only been putting its trust to big, international names to represent its brand – that would be Kpop girl band Blackpink and professional footballer Cristian Ronaldo. During its 9.9 super sale, the brand decided to show what hyper localization really means by getting not just any local personality, but a deeply rooted cultural icon – sitcom character Phua Chu Kang.

Phua Chu Kang, played by actor Gurmit Singh, is the title character of the longest-running sitcom by network Mediacorp, which revolves around the misadventures of the Phu family.

The show ran from 1996-2007, and within that time, Singaporeans grew to love the eccentric, overly confident, and yellow-boots wearing contractor. So what has truly made the Shopee team go for this rather unconventional stint?

Speaking to MARKETECH APAC, Head of Marketing Tiger Wang said, “The [appointment] marks another milestone for us as we continue to build on the hyper-localized approach and deepen our engagement with the local audiences. Phua Chu Kang is a household name and a celebrity, [and] local icon. His ability to resonate with and unite local communities aligns with Shopee’s vision, making him the best choice for us.”

Top 4: Hong Kong-based Towngas cooking academy extends its expertise to YouTube 

Amid in-person limitations during the ongoing pandemic, many brands and businesses alike have turned to the virtual side of things. Take Hong Kong-based cooking school Towngas Cooking Centre as an example. The culinary academy which has flame cooking at the core of its program, has gotten things rolling this September as it forayed to YouTube this month, and it doesn’t stop at that. It has a bunch of high-caliber celebrity chefs to boot, tapped to showcase the school’s virtual sessions.

Healthy Monday, French Wednesday, Culinary Tips4U, and Star Chef Weekend and Sunday Mom & Dad are just some of the quirky-titled lessons that are slated for its YouTube viewers.

General Manager for Retail Marketing & Sales Catherine Wong said that the occurrence of COVID has definitely pushed Hong Kongers to prefer home-cooked meals to dining out, and this is what ultimately brought the brand to make the most out of the situation. 

Top 3: Healthcare marketing maven Jasrita Dhir

Last month, the #MARKETECHMondays episode of Philippines’ Mark De Joya entered the top five list, and this time, another one of the webisode’s guests – India-based marketing leader Jasrita Dhir has been one of the stories that garnered the most views.

Jasrita’s marketing expertise expands almost two decades, where she’s worked with a list of well-known brands such as consumer product giant Procter & Gamble, hospitality brand Oberoi Hotels and Resorts, and television media company NDTV before having focused entirely on brand and marketing for healthcare services. 

Currently, she is the assistant vice president for healthcare provider Fortis Healthcare in India. When we sat down with Jasrita during her #MARKETECHMondays episode, she shared some very helpful advice that could be very well treated as a guiding light to budding marketers. 

“I just have two things to say to [marketers]; the first is, please never forget why you decided to become a marketer. There would be times in your journey when you’re feeling low, but constantly remind yourself [your why], [which is] because you want to be your consumer’s voice inside your organization,” said Jasrita. 

‘The second is keep upgrading; it’s nobody else’s responsibility to upgrade your skills. Because your consumer is going to keep changing; there are new avenues, [mediums], [and] new platforms. You have to have their pulse,” added Jasrita.  

Top 2: Stella Berry’s take on a new phenomenon in shopping amid the pandemic

Have you heard of revenge shopping? We bet not, but we too are sure that it would be a term soon to ring bells. In a nutshell, revenge shopping goes hand in hand with luxury shopping. It is a phenomenon that sees luxury stores opening their doors to shopping-starved consumers looking to avenge their months spent holed up at home during the lockdown.

This month, Regional Business Director of mobile advertising solutions Adludio, Stella Berry dedicated a full thought leadership article on the buying trend.

Stella said that it is a testament to the unique relationship consumers have with luxury. 

“No one could have predicted that after months of lockdown, the need for luxury goods has resulted in long queues outside of boutiques. This phenomenon is the result of brands, really making the effort in continuing to engage with people even during the lockdown,’ shared Stella.

All looking positive for brands and consumers, but Stella also puts out a caution.

“Returning to business as usual at this [rapidly] accelerated pace could bring about a negative impact [on] the environment, and consequences on sustainability. So luxury marketers need to find their balance to ensure the brand continues to remain sustainable, but also well-loved,” said Stella.

Top 1: Cognizant ANZ ropes in former PwC executive Jane Livesey

Our top story for the month comes from Australia and New Zealand, and from global IT firm Cognizant at that. In August, former PwC managing partner Jane Livesey was roped in by the firm to become CEO. 

Livesey breathes and lives IT. At PwC, she led over 800 IT professionals for the company’s technology consulting practice team in Australia; while for 12 years, she served as tech managing director for Accenture. With a seasoned IT experience under her belt, Livesey has also become an active advocate for women in the field of science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics, or STEAM. 

It hasn’t been very long since Jane settled into the role, and as we checked up on her, she shared with us, “It’s been great to join Cognizant and hit the ground running in Australia and New Zealand. Over the past few weeks, I’ve had conversations with both our clients and our teams. At Cognizant, we are focused on how to enable organizations in ANZ to keep on top of era-defining innovations and drive growth in the face of continuous technological and market changes. As CEO of ANZ, my priority is to provide local enterprises and governments with high-quality, market-leading digital transformation capabilities that enhance the lives of people and support digital-first.”

Watch the MARKETECH APAC REPORTS of these top five stories, with exclusive appearance and commentary from the newsmakers themselves.

If you have interesting stories, thought-leadership pieces, and case studies in the area of marketing, technology, media platforms, and SME, please send us an email at [email protected]. Who knows your story could be part of our top 5 next month.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – The Malaysia unit of used-cars trading platform Carsome will now be available on the eCommerce platform Shopee.

The platform, which caters to both sellers and buyers of second-hand vehicles runs its own website, and now with the extension to Shopee, those looking to buy gain another avenue to view and purchase from the company’s selection.

Cars will be listed with complete car specification details and multi-angled photos. All featured vehicles also come with a one-year warranty and a five-day money back guarantee. Carsome assures that cars are “Carsome Certified,” which indicates that vehicles have passed the company’s inspection, ensuring that it has not been in a major accident, has no frame damages, and has not been through a flood.

Additionally, Shopee users can purchase a RM500 cash voucher at the special promotional price of RM199 and use it to pay for the down payment of their selected cars.

According to Carsome Co-founder and Group CEO Eric Cheng, the collaboration enables Carsome’s official store on Shopee to be the first online store selling used cars in Malaysia.

“We are proud to work with Shopee, who have been very supportive in our endeavor to reshape and elevate the used car buying experience through digitalization,” Cheng said.

Shopee’s Regional Managing Director Ian Ho said that the launch of Carsome in the platform is just in time as they gear up for the 10.10 Brands Festival. 

“Carsome will gain exposure from the increased customer traffic to the platform and by leveraging it, bring about the awareness that users can now experience a new way of shopping for quality used cars,” said Ho.

Carsome is currently running a number of promotions, and those buying through Shopee will also be able to avail them, such as exclusive Carsome merchandise for the first 100 test drives, and the Refer-A-Friend promotion, with which successful buyers can invite their friends and family to buy from Carsome, where both parties can receive combined cash rewards of up to RM800.

Carsome is a Southeast Asia-focused company where aside from Malaysia, it has presence in Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore.

Singapore –  For the very first time since it launched, Shopee has partnered a local personality for its brand ambassadorship, but it isn’t how one would commonly think of in terms of seeing a brand model.

Ahead of its 9.9 super sale, Shopee has announced that it has gotten iconic TV character Phua Chu Kang to represent its brand.

The character Phua Chu Kung, which was played by actor Gurmit Singh, is the protagonist of its namesake sitcom and was one of the most popular comedy icons in the country. The sitcom ran from 1996-2007, where the character is identified to be an eccentric contractor, with a staple appearance of wearing yellow boots, and having a large mole on the face. 

In the past, Shopee has been signing international celebrities to represent its brand. In November of 2018, it inked a partnership with South Korean girl group, Black Pink, and in August of 2019, it tapped professional footballer Cristiano Ronaldo. 

Chief Commercial Officer Zhou Junjie said the company believes that Phua Chu Kang is a perfect match for the brand as the character’s attributes parallel its deep understanding of Singapore and its culture.

”Phua Chu Kang has always been a celebrated local icon and at Shopee, it was particularly meaningful for us to appoint an ambassador that creates a sense of oneness among local communities,” said Zhou. 

For starters, Phua Chu Kang will start showing up in exclusive appearances for the platform’s annual shopping event, 9.9 Super Shopping Day. 

The sale event started last week in Southeast Asia and Taiwan and is set to run for three weeks until Sept. 9. For the duration of the super sale, the platform is said to feature a series of promotions, new in-app games, and exclusive perks in partnership with leading industry partners. 

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia  — Shopee and Procter & Gamble achieved strong performance for their first-ever experiential online initiative, Show Me My Home. The initiative recorded more than 15x increase in orders at peak day, and it is a key activation under the recently signed regional Joint Business Plan (JBP) between Shopee and P&G. The JBP marks a joint commitment between Shopee and P&G to improve the online shopping experience for users across the region, and to provide convenient and easy access to quality FMCG products on Shopee.  

Chris Feng (pictured right), CEO at Shopee, said, 

“As we transit into the new normal, e-commerce has taken on greater importance in people’s lives.” 

“Consumers are increasingly going online to fulfil their everyday needs, and it is important for businesses to remain agile and adapt quickly. The success of P&G’s online debut of the Show Me My Home initiative on Shopee is proof of that. By merging P&G’s portfolio of leading FMCG brands and retail expertise with Shopee’s wealth of insights on online shoppers’ behaviour and preferences, it allowed us to deliver a novel, experiential online home shopping experience for consumers across the region. This success has inspired us to continue innovating to provide the best for our users, and we are excited to work closely with P&G going forward, he added”

Shoppers enjoyed greater convenience with Show Me My Home

The Show Me My Home initiative was initially an offline concept which was well-received among both consumers and retailers. With a shared vision to serve the region’s increasingly savvy digital consumers at scale, P&G leveraged Shopee’s technology expertise and insights on online shoppers to optimize and scale the experience online. The Show Me My Home initiative offered greater convenience as shoppers could easily find what they needed as the microsite simulated the household environment. This novel way of shopping online successfully captured shoppers’ attention with an overall increase in traffic for P&G.  

Fostering meaningful connections with Shopee’s in-app engagement features 

As people spend more time online, brands are also increasingly finding new ways to interact and engage with their consumers. As part of the Show Me My Home initiative, P&G leveraged Shopee’s engagement features to foster deeper and meaningful connections with their consumers.

  • Shopee Live: P&G tapped on Shopee Live to engage consumers with a special series of live streams featuring popular local celebrities. The biggest stars, including Yuna, Iman Azman and Preston Kaw shared with fans and Shopee users their favourite P&G products, as well as provided tips on how to use them.
  • Shopee Throw: Users visited Shopee daily to play Shopee Throw, an in-app game where users can win exclusive P&G vouchers and prizes by throwing arrows onto a target on the Shopee app. The game was played over 600,000 times in 5 days, offering added entertainment and value to consumers while they shopped for their favourite P&G brands.      

Show Me My Home marks the first of many initiatives under the recent regional JBP between Shopee and P&G. The JBP aims to better serve and capture the hearts of online shoppers in the region by providing a seamless access to P&G’s wide range of leading brands and products. This agreement will see P&G broadening its multi-brand portfolio offerings on Shopee and tapping on Shopee’s big data analytics capability to provide a personalised customer journey via precise marketing. 

“At P&G, we are continually trying new ways to personalize and engage our consumers, be it offline or online. The encouraging results we have achieved from this campaign proves the partnership with Shopee to be very successful as we managed to engage more meaningfully with our consumers on digital platforms. We look forward to evolving with the customer as we work closely with Shopee to execute future innovations online, serving more regions and value-adding to digital transactions,” said Shankar Viswanathan (pictured left), Vice President, E-Commerce, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa.