Mega Sales, Shoppertainment and Livestreaming create new records as popularity surge in SEA

Conversations around Mega Sales reach half a million mark in 2021

Mega Sales events like Singles’ Day are as popular as ever among value-seeking Southeast Asian consumers, with more than half a million online conversations in 2021, as shared from Meltwater’s Unlocking E-Commerce Success in Southeast Asia report. Most of these conversations took place on Twitter, and peaked right before the annual 9.9 shopping sales, as consumers sought discounts and deals during campaign days.

Corroborating this, Shopee, a major e-commerce platform, found that consumers across the region started adding their desired items to the cart as early as 30 days in advance. Plus, data from Shopee shows that sellers participating in the 11.11 event for the first time last year saw 10 times more orders than on an average day.

What’s trending is the combination of entertainment with the shopping experience. Nearly one in every five conversations is about exclusive K-pop partnerships with leading e-commerce platforms. Beyond discounts and entertainment, pandemic-riddled consumers are also drawn to immersive shopping experiences, as conversations around live streaming jumped more than twice (213%) this year. Shopee’s data supported this finding, reporting a 2.5 times increase in annual live stream viewership on its platform.

Influencer content is 4x more effective for brand recall

“Brand recall for influencer content is 4x up versus traditional digital content,” says Nicholas Bruce, Head of Consulting and Research for Asia at Nielsen. Recently, Nielsen shared findings into the power of influencers in APAC. Compared to mass content, influencers are able to reach and engage with specific audiences. But what constitutes an ‘influencer’? According to the report, there are five tiers based on their following, starting with Nano (1k-10k), Micro (10k-50k), Mid (50k-100k), Macro (100k-1M) and Mega (>1M).

In APAC, there are more than 15 million influencer profiles of which 87% are Nano influencers. Additionally, Instagram is the platform of choice, with the largest number of influencers, collecting 67% of the total influencer profiles within the region. Country-wise, Indonesia has the highest number of influencers with over seven million personality profiles.

Overall, the growth of the influencer market is incredibly complex, with influencers at every different level. The key to success is choosing the right personalities to advocate for your brand.

Discover the four key themes from this year’s 11.11 Singles Day event

Forbes shares early highlights from this year’s 11.11 Singles’ Day including Metaverse, NFTs, Sustainability, and Loyalty. Following Facebook’s push for the metaverse, Alibaba has responded with a timely Double 11 “Metaverse Art Exhibition” on its Tmall/Taobao mobile app. Consumers can buy these virtual products separately with Alipay. These are early experiments of using the metaverse and NFTs in B2C marketing use cases.

Mature brands now differentiate 11.11 marketing with exclusivity rather than discounting, rewarding the most loyal customers with member-exclusive promotions and offering repurchase coupons to encourage repurchase after Singles’ Day.

Sustainability is a growing movement among shoppers. AliExpress created an “11.11 SALE — Sustainable living” page dedicated to eco-friendly products and supported with green logistics, such as a self-pickup locker network to reduce carbon footprint, together with recycling efforts and green shopping vouchers.

Livestreaming sets new records for luxury e-commerce. Brands like L’Oréal and Lancôme have now grasped livestreaming know-how and can attract over 5 million viewers in their own hosted livestreaming sessions. Luxury brands are now more comfortable with e-commerce marketplaces and have started to replicate the success seen in China in Southeast Asia, as well, on platforms such as Lazada and Shopee.

TikTok helps brands to reach the right target market in Indonesia during Mega Sales

In a recent survey, Indonesian TikTok users acknowledged that they shopped more during Mega Sales season. “This tendency is the highest at 63 percent compared to other Southeast Asian countries,” said Sitaresti, the Head of Business Marketing at TikTok Indonesia. The survey on users in Indonesia also found that 78 percent of respondents eagerly anticipated Mega Sales events. Moreover, “Seven out of ten TikTok users have shopped online over the last seven days. The figure is 1.2X higher compared to other platforms they use,” said Sitaresti, referring to the survey results.

TikTok users also use the platform to seek information on new brands and products, through hashtags like #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt and #GaraGaraTikTok (Because of TikTok). When brands are involved in these viral hashtags, it can help raise brand awareness and drive sales through real reviews made by use and direct word-of-mouth advocacy. These are one of the many reasons why TikTok is seen as the ‘happy place’ for Southeast Asia.