Tag: Zalora

Singapore – E-commerce platform ZALORA is blending style into modest wear in its ‘ZALORAYA 2025’ campaign. The new campaign is redefining modest wear in the midst of Ramadan, weaving modernity with tradition.

‘ZALORAYA 2025’ builds on the Ramadan tradition of donning festive attire for family gatherings.

Through a short film, ZALORA captures a stylish family wearing its curated collection, turning heads within their neighbourhood. The feature film incorporates humour through characters like a social media sensation grandma and a dad father clad in a contemporary biker look.

Employing an omnichannel strategy, ZALORA moves beyond the digital space to physical pop-up events in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore.

ZALORA’s first-ever physical store will be set up in Kuala Lumpur, where a kampung-inspired fashion show will also be held. Its event in Indonesia will feature homegrown brands, tapping into the market’s national pride. Meanwhile, it will conduct a styling session in Singapore.

As ZALORA champions innovation, it is bringing back designer Syomirizwa Gupta with ‘Lé Chic Raya’ collection, fusing French and Malay heritage.

While promoting inclusivity, ZALORA is introducing plus-size clothes for men under ZALIA Basics. It also introduced an outfit series designed specifically for coordination between cats and cat lovers, called the Lubna Meow Series.

ZALORA’s new collections continue to promote sustainability using eco-friendly and timeless materials, ensuring that festive garments can maintain their wearability even outside of the Ramadan season.

“Fashion is about confidence, joy, and inclusivity. ZALORAYA 2025 celebrates this core cultural experience by offering stylish, accessible options for every family member,” Neha Bhasin, regional brand communications director at ZALORA, said.

India – After nearly three years with Zalora Group in Singapore, Achint Setia is returning to India to take on the role of chief executive officer at Snapdeal, the e-commerce platform under AceVector Group.

In a LinkedIn post, Setia announced his appointment as CEO, highlighting his commitment to serving Snapdeal’s extensive consumer base and unlocking the vast “untapped” potential of India’s e-commerce market.

“[I am] humbled and supercharged to take on my next mantle of serving Snapdeal and millions of consumers in the large untapped value e-commerce market in India. Thank you [co-founders] Rohit Bansal, Kunal Bahl, and the AceVector board for entrusting me with this responsibility,” he wrote. 

Setia’s appointment at Snapdeal follows closely on the heels of his recent departure from Zalora.

Setia most recently served as chief revenue & marketing officer and country managing director at Zalora Group, where he managed the P&L for key markets, including Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. He also led the group’s marketing and ad sales efforts across Southeast Asia, covering major markets such as Indonesia and the Philippines.

Prior to Zalora, he held senior leadership roles at prominent companies, including CXO and head of marketing & social commerce at Myntra, as well as senior vice president of digital ventures and head of VStEP at Viacom18 Media Private Limited.

Singapore – The rise of experiential retail integrated with artificial intelligence (AI) in omnichannel setups is among the key trends shaping Southeast Asia (SEA), according to a report from online fashion retailer Zalora.

Zalora’s report draws insights from the 2024 shopping trends to guide brands’ decisions and strategies in SEA.

While global economic issues, inflation, and geopolitical concerns continue to influence consumer spending, the report sees resilience in SEA with a diversified economy, strong domestic consumption, and regional trade integration.

The role of AI remains a significant factor shaping the future of retail as it is integrated with experience. With more brands leveraging AI and social media in their strategies, consumers see more shoppable content that keeps them engaged.

Consumers in SEA are also becoming more immersed in hybrid shopping experiences, blending online and offline channels. Responding to this trend, retailers now offer shopping journeys that integrate technology while creating physical experiences.

According to the report, nearly 50% of retailers in the region are expecting a shift from online spending to physical shopping, with 42% seeing the foot traffic to return to its pre-pandemic levels.

Additionally, consumers are becoming more conscious of environmental issues, building a preference for sustainable choices.

The growing middle class is also contributing to current trends, with the rising demand for beauty and wellness products, luxury brands, and ‘buy now, pay later’ (BNPL) services.

The luxury retail sector in SEA remains resilient, with more consumers becoming inclined to spend on luxury items and more people embracing the market. 50% of luxury customers are Baby Boomers, while 30.8% are millennials.

Meanwhile, middle class consumers are also turning to flexible payment options, with BNPL increasingly being used in the luxury sector, democratising high-end products.

The report also underscores the democratisation of the sports industry, with smaller brands emerging to gain market share, competing against major players’ dominance.

Singapore – Achint Setia, most recently the chief revenue and marketing officer at ZALORA, has stepped down from his role after more than two years with the company, according to an announcement he made on LinkedIn.

“Today, I completed another chapter in my journey with memories, learnings and lots of gratitude for the wonderful folks at ZALORA Group. Back to homeland now in the new year for a new adventure,” he stated.

During his tenure at ZALORA, he led the marketing and ad sales functions for the ZALORA Group across Southeast Asia, including Indonesia and the Philippines. He also served as ZALORA’s country managing director for Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, overseeing the PnL responsibilities for these markets.

He also oversaw the monetisation of ZALORA’s ad inventory, delivering value for fashion brands while advancing adtech solutions in e-commerce. He also played a role in customer acquisition, retention, and lifecycle management for the company, emphasizing churn prevention and lifetime value (LTV) growth.

Moreover, he drove ZALORA’s brand-building efforts, including digital marketing, customer relationship management (CRM), social media, and optimizing the onsite app and web experience. 

During an interview with MARKETECH APAC’s Milestones series, he previously remarked that the biggest challenge in his ZALORA leadership was driving business outcomes in a very volatile macroeconomic landscape in Southeast Asia.

“Throughout this period, I am extremely thankful to be a part of a caring organisation surrounded by highly talented colleagues, and for the presence of a strong family support system to help me through this transition,” he said back then.

He also remarked how he wanted to further understand the consumer behaviour in the region by being part of ZALORA’s mission.

“My personal passions include investments in building deeply segmented experiences using advanced analytics, along with driving a multi-channel engagement ecosystem to inspire customers to shop at the convenience of their fingertips,” he added.

Last week, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur were surprised with a troupe wearing red spandex, wandering around the city while pushing carts and carrying big boxes. In Singapore, individuals dressed in red spandex roamed iconic spots like Orchard Road, the Merlion, and Raffles Place, pushing red trolleys and carrying boxes emblazoned with ‘Shop more. Save more. Meanwhile, across the border in Kuala Lumpur, a similar group made their way through areas around the Petronas Towers, Putri Heights, busy shopping districts, and train stations.

As social media buzz intensified, regional fashion and lifestyle e-commerce platform ZALORA has revealed that they are the ones behind the ‘IRL’ execution as part of its promotion for the platform’s 11.11 sale.

In an exclusive conversation by MARKETECH APAC with Neha Bhasin, director of marketing and brand communications at ZALORA, she stated that given that the 11.11 Sales period is their biggest event of the year, they wanted to capture attention with something that would resonate with people offline and create buzz online as well. This is on top of recognising how there is increased competition nowadays between e-commerce players locally.

“Guerrilla marketing was the perfect choice because it allowed us to break through the noise, turning everyday public spaces in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur into interactive touchpoints with our audience. The spandex-suited troupe and vibrant red carts symbolised the energetic and diverse world of ZALORA, which offers everything from fashion to beauty and sports, creating an immediate, fun connection to the massive savings offered on 11.11,” Neha explained.

The campaign, done by ZALORA’s in-house team, drew inspiration from the energy and vibrancy of the digital shopping experience and the universal excitement around a good deal.

“The concept of spandex suit-clad individuals pushing red carts with bold messages like “Shop More Save More” aligned well with the 11.11 Sale’s spirit. Each cart was curated to represent a major category on ZALORA, like fashion, beauty, sports, and luxury, reinforcing the variety of our offerings and amplifying the idea that there’s something for everyone in this sale. It was about making a direct, impactful statement to the public while maintaining the fun, engaging tone that our customers associate with ZALORA,” Neha added.

When asked how important it is for ZALORA to create an ‘IRL’ campaign despite its e-commerce offerings, Neha noted how they always wanted to create a bridge between the online and offline worlds.

She also stressed that while ZALORA’s core is e-commerce, the brand recognises that real-world, tangible experiences deepen customer engagement and trust. 

“An IRL campaign makes our online sales event more relatable and approachable, especially to those who may not be active digital shoppers. By presenting a memorable, shareable spectacle on the streets, we’re not only expanding our reach but also creating content that is likely to go viral, which complements our digital strategy for a full 360-degree approach to the 11.11 sale,” she said.

In terms of what the ZALORA team learned from this guerilla marketing campaign, Neha stated that one of the biggest takeaways was seeing firsthand the value of disruptive, creative marketing in building brand visibility. For them, this campaign taught them the power of experiential engagement and how it can amplify an online event. 

“We found that people are eager for novel, share-worthy experiences, and this campaign delivered on that front by generating organic conversation both on the streets and across social media. This experience reinforced the importance of a holistic approach to our campaigns, where every activation — online or offline — works in synergy to create a cohesive and memorable brand experience,” she concluded.

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Offline campaigns remain essential for e-commerce players like ZALORA because they bridge the digital and physical worlds, creating memorable, tangible experiences that resonate with a wider audience. By capturing attention in high-traffic, real-world locations, brands can engage new customers, increase brand visibility, and spark organic social media buzz as people share their encounters online. 

These offline touchpoints generate excitement, foster brand loyalty, and amplify digital engagement, making them a powerful tool to drive traffic and sales in a highly competitive e-commerce landscape

Singapore – Regional fashion and lifestyle e-commerce platform ZALORA has announced the launch of its AI-powered customer service chatbot, designed to provide seamless and personalised support to customers across Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, as well as in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

ZALORA’s new customer service AI-powered chatbot is the result of a partnership between ZALORA’s technology team and Forethought, a provider of customer-first AI experiences. 

The chatbot leverages AI that is programmed to learn and understand the intent behind customer inquiries, to provide relevant, accurate responses in a highly intuitive and visual format. For simple queries, it leverages generative AI and draws from an ever-growing comprehensive knowledge base of FAQs, while for more complex questions, it utilises natural language processing to grasp the customers’ intentions before providing useful answers. 

Moreover, the chatbot can adapt and respond to any language communicated with it, for instance, an entire conversation can be started in English and ended in Mandarin or any of the local languages seamlessly. 

In addition to delivering a seamless customer experience, the chatbot is envisioned to support and augment the capabilities of our human customer service representative. Across the e-commerce industry, millions of customer service inquiries have to be answered each year, which traditionally requires a human customer representative to address.

For ZALORA, what makes its AI-powered app to other ones in the industry is that it has a deep integration with our consumer core services. This means, once customers sign into their ZALORA shopping profiles, the chatbot can directly access and offer personalised information linked to their accounts, this includes information about the status of their orders, deliveries, and returns.

Liam Hutchinson, director of product at ZALORA Group, said, “As a fashion company at heart, we want to help our customers discover great products and brands that make them feel great and confident. ZALORA is known and loved for its industry-best customer service and we’re continuously exploring ways to improve that experience, especially in a more scalable and digital-first way.”

He added, “The innovation around generative AI and large language models (LLMs) has given us access to more capabilities and partnerships to deliver experiences to give our customers an elevated fashion shopping experience.”

Meanwhile, Sumit Jain, chief technology officer at ZALORA Group, commented, “The chatbot sits as part of our broader investments in automation & artificial intelligence under TITAN, our proprietary platform intended to lead fashion e-commerce innovation in maintaining a safe and seamless experience for customers and taking the online shopping experience to the next level.”

Jakarta, Indonesia – Online fashion and lifestyle retail company ZALORA launched its ‘ZALORAYA 2024’ campaign, aiming to showcase its festive modest wear collections for the Hari Raya season.

As modest wear continues to grow in popularity across the region, this year’s ZALORAYA features a diverse range of pieces from 19 renowned brands, including ZALORA’s private labels, and established and emerging local designers from Malaysia and Indonesia.

Indonesian labels, Ria Atelier and Embara, and Malaysian label, FM by Fuzana Mokhtaza, will also be part of this year’s ZALORAYA collections for the first time. Additionally, there will also be exclusive pieces from popular Malaysian designers Neelofa, founder of Naelofar, and Tom Abang Saufi.

ZALORAYA’s regional-wide campaign also includes both online and physical activities. In Malaysia, this includes a fashion showcase in Sentul Pavilion in Kuala Lumpur, exclusive benefits for VIPs, such as early access to the collections and the chance to attend the exclusive fashion showcase, and exciting giveaways throughout Ramadan, to celebrate the launch of this year’s collection.

In Indonesia, there will be a ZALORAYA 2024 pop-up store and fashion show at Kota Kasablanka in Jakarta, which will also showcase pieces from local designers and brands as part of ZALORA’s commitment to support the Indonesian government’s ‘Bangga Buatan Indonesia’ (Proudly Made in Indonesia) campaign.

Talking about the campaign, Mia Lim, category manager for Modest Wear at ZALORA, said, “Being Asia’s fashion expert, ZALORA recognised the immense opportunity early on in catering to the diverse needs and tastes of our Muslim consumers. Since launching our modest wear category in 2014, we have been seeing positive growth.”

“From our early foray into modest wear to our ongoing collaborations with local designers, we remain committed to growing this vibrant market segment and leading the way in shaping the industry in this region”, she added.

Singapore – Online fashion and lifestyle retail company ZALORA has announced the launch of ‘The Terminal By Zalora’, its newest omnichannel retail experience that aims to play a part in kicking off the year-end shopping season. 

Inspired by the magic of the year-end travel season, The Terminal by ZALORA is a week-long offline pop-up experience that showcases the latest and greatest from ZALORA’s top global brands in fashion, beauty, luxury, and lifestyle.

Located at Wisma Atria within Singapore’s shopping district at Orchard Road, The Terminal will be open to the public from 2 to 13 November. The pop-up store will kick off ZALORA’s campaign for 11.11, one of the world’s largest shopping events, with Zalora’s 11.11 sale going live from November 8th till November 13th.

The Terminal features over 40 specially curated international brands across the fashion, beauty, luxury and lifestyle categories, from over 3000+ global brands that Zalora carries on its app and web platforms. The experience store also features the latest arrivals and an exciting array of products from popular global brands such as The Ordinary, Paula’s Choice, & Other Stories, Nike, Monki, and Adidas, to luxury brands like Kate Spade, Coach and Gucci.

Talking about the campaign, Achint Setia, chief revenue and marketing officer at ZALORA, said, “In today’s retail landscape, consumers increasingly crave for immersive and seamless omnichannel shopping experiences. Our commitment at ZALORA has always been about creating WOW moments by innovating and elevating the customer journey.”

“We are thrilled to launch ‘The Terminal by ZALORA’ to mark the exciting start to the year-end shopping season and in partnership with featured well-loved global brands. This pop-up embodies our dedication to providing shoppers with a curated, and immersive experience, ensuring our valued customers enjoy not just the finest fashion for one and all in the family, but also unmatched ease and unbeatable prices,” he added. 

In pursuit of one’s professional aspirations, a true marketing leader is dedicated in delving deeper into the intricacies of customer dynamics within their regional leadership landscape. For an ideal leader, the true ambition is to not only comprehend the nuances of this diverse market but also to play a pivotal role in moulding their business framework into one that fosters enduring profitability through steadfast foundational principles.

For MARKETECH APAC’s second Milestone Series article, we spoke with Achint Setia, chief revenue and marketing officer at ZALORA, to share one of his greatest milestones–leading ZALORA’s marketing efforts across the Southeast Asian region, in order to contribute towards shaping ZALORA’s business model.

In this narrative, we take a look of his accomplishments within the company, what his industry insights are, and what he aspires as a marketing leader moving forward.

Challenges on leaping to a new role

Prior to joining ZALORA, Setia was previously the CXO and head, marketing and social commerce business at Indian fashion e-commerce company Myntra. He has two decades of experience across media, management consulting and technology. For him, he joined ZALORA at a time when the larger consumer tech industry, and e-commerce in particular, was going through a major transition, with the focus shifting from pure play growth towards profitability. 

When asked what was his biggest challenge as a business leader, he said that it had something to do with driving business outcomes in a very volatile macroeconomic landscape in Southeast Asia, among inflationary pressures, geo-political challenges, supply chain disruptions (with lockdowns in some markets), unprecedented consumer purchase behaviours (with the return to offline), as well as weakened employee morale from the pandemic era.

“Keeping our teams excited and motivated about the opportunity ahead, while continuing to push problem-solving and innovation in unexplored territories, has been a roller coaster thus far, but it has also been an immensely rewarding ride over the last year. Throughout this period, I am extremely thankful to be a part of a caring organisation surrounded by highly talented colleagues, and for the presence of a strong family support system to help me through this transition,” he said.

What contributions led to one

Building continued success on the company’s anniversary milestone

Setia noted that a key factor why businesses needed to calibrate nowadays is because consumers are now enticed with digital-led strategies, which include innovations like “Shoppertainment” – a portmanteau of “shop” and “entertainment” – and virtual retailing, which further diversified retail’s omnichannel ecosystem.

Citing a recent report they had, he goes on to say that consumers are becoming increasingly adept at shifting between reality and virtual landscapes – they constantly straddle between both on a daily basis. This brought on an increased demand for shopping journeys to be more humanised and personalised as they continue to discover their footing in today’s “next normal.

“Customer experience is always a key priority for me, and we still see many opportunities for us to spearhead improvements to consumers’ e-commerce experience in the region,” he said.

For ZALORA’s recent anniversary, the company launched several pop-up activations with partners like Adidas, Nike, and Trendyol, which offered immersive ‘click-and-mortar’ experiences. Citing an example, a pop-up collaboration with Adidas, called The Supermart, showcased over 90 Adidas products exclusive to ZALORA, and enabled customers to explore a supermarket-themed physical store, scan unique QR codes tagged on each item, and purchase via the ZALORA app with direct shipping to their doorstep.

Moreover, a significant portion of the company’s achievements this year can be attributed to their year-end mega campaigns such as 11.11, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and 12.12.

“We see strong performance during our shopping events, and typically enjoy three to six times the number of sales as compared to non-campaign days – last year, we saw the highest number of sales during 11.11 and 12.12 compared to any other day,” Setia also added.

He also added that the company also made significant investments and progress on customer loyalty. For the company, they revamped their subscription program, Zalora VIP, which offers free and fast shipping at no minimum spend, along with a host of privileges such as access to sales, priority customer service, and exclusive offers from their lifestyle partners for a complete VIP like experience for their subscribers. 

Aspirations of bringing more success to ZALORA

As the company’s chief revenue and marketing officer, his main objective is to drive business growth and profitability led through customer experience, assortment and post purchase experience.. For him, they are placing significant emphasis on their customer journeys and personalisation to ensure increased engagement, loyalty, and satisfaction when customers interact with ZALORA.

“This includes anticipating and addressing the growing demands of our customers by ensuring that we offer the best assortment of only authentic products from over 3,000 brands; deploying innovative omnichannel strategies–like The Supermart–to create inventive and personalised retail journeys; and adopting 27 different payment methods, including innovative options like BNPL and other digital wallets to broaden financial accessibility and inclusion for millions of SEA’s underbanked,” he explained.

He goes on to say that they also aim at expanding their platform services business to enable brands to grow their presence in the region and provide breakthrough solutions to enhance the overall customer journey.

However, Setia noted that brands venturing into overseas markets often face a multitude of challenges, and this is particularly true in Southeast Asia, a region with complex geographies, and where each country boasts its own customs, culture, religion, and language.

And yet, for him, it is also a region where e-commerce is experiencing strong growth on the back of continuing digitalisation and a rising middle class.

“The combination of ZALORA’s holistic platform services empowers our brand partners to swiftly and more effectively capture the region’s demand boom – whether it is harnessing benchmark data to understand buying behaviour and pricing insights from close to 60 million monthly platform visits with our ‘TRENDER’ data service, or boosting brand visibility through targeted content, onsite campaigns, influencer marketing, insights, and analytics through our ZALORA advertising platform (ZAP), or even tapping onto our comprehensive supply chain infrastructure and state-of-the-art logistics capabilities across different markets, through our fulfilment services,” he added.

When asked what he wants to continue doing as part of ZALORA, Setia says he wants to go deeper with his customer understanding in Southeast Asia, as well as contribute towards ZALORA’s business model.

“My personal passions include investments in building deeply segmented experiences using advanced analytics, along with driving a multi-channel engagement ecosystem to inspire customers to shop at the convenience of their fingertips,” he said.

This piece is published under MARKETECH APAC’s content series ‘Milestones’, which celebrates the different milestones and achievements of industry leaders across the Asia-Pacific region. Please reach out to [email protected] for more information.

Singapore – Online fashion and lifestyle retail company Zalora, a part of Global Fashion Group (GFG), is adopting generative AI technology with the launch of its proprietary platform-as-a-service integration (PaaS) of OpenAI, TITAN. 

TITAN is used to drive new efficiencies in operations, improve online fashion customer experiences, and unlock growth opportunities for the company. It will also create more immersive and conversational online shopping experiences and data-driven recommendations for customers. 

Among the areas being powered by TITAN is its smart search discovery to handle a wider array of spelling variations and errors and better identify, present, and sort customers’ results, reducing the chances of experiencing zero search results. 

TITAN also powers their conversational shopping assistant, which includes smart prompts and improved real-time interactive features; their production automation to unlock automation across different functions and improve employee productivity gains; and their internal chatbots, which improve employee experience and productivity. 

Gunjan Soni, Zalora CEO and Global Fashion Group COO, said, “With a history of innovations under our belt, we are excited to embrace the future with Generative AI and leverage it to deliver the best ‘tailored for fashion’ e-commerce experience for our customers both during and post-purchase.With TITAN we will once again be the first in the region to offer these innovations to our growing loyal base.” 

Zalora’s drive to innovate is paired with the responsibility to safeguard the millions of customers it serves as well as their personal data. The company is committed to using AI and TITAN in a responsible way, having developed a series of principles to guide responsible innovation, and implementing several measures to protect customers’ data. 

Meanwhile, Sumit Jain, Chief Technology Officer at Zalora, also shared, “ZALORA is excited to leverage the potential of OpenAI via TITAN, our AI platform, to reimagine eCommerce and create a truly ‘wow’ customer experience. The future of retail will be driven by technology innovation, and the extent to which we prioritise ensuring a safe and seamless experience for customers.” 

“By building on OpenAI technology through our proprietary platform, TITAN, we intend to lead Fashion E-commerce innovation in maintaining a safe and seamless experience for customers and taking the online shopping experience to the next level,” he added. 

Zalora’s introduction of TITAN, its proprietary integration of OpenAI technology into its platform, comes alongside a series of new tech advancements the company plans to roll out this year. This includes the development of their conversational shopping assistant and Warehouse Management System (WMS), both of which are still in the early phases of development. 

TITAN will also serve as a gateway for ZALORA and its parent company, Global Fashion Group, to scale new heights in Southeast Asia and replicate this technology across the Group’s different regions, including Latin America, Australia, and New Zealand.