ShopeeTailoringAt the inaugural Shopee Brands Summit 2021, Shopee’s leadership team shared their 2021 roadmap for brands to capture the next wave of growth in the region’s US$172 billion e-commerce market, as an increasing number of consumers spend more online.

Since the launch of Shopee Mall, orders have grown by 10 times, indicative of a growing consumer demand; similarly, the ongoing impact of the pandemic on retail traffic has also driven more brands to expand their online businesses, with the number of official stores on Shopee Mall doubling in the past year. Over the past few years, Shopee has leapfrogged other e-commerce sites to become the largest e-commerce site in the Southeast Asia region.

According to Ian Ho, Regional Managing Director and Head of Brand Partnerships at Shopee, Shopee is extremely user centric and every major decision that they made was centered around improving the assortment, convenience, and discoverability of brands and products on their platform. Shopee believes in taking a hyper-localised approach by running seven different apps in each of their markets and localising their in-app features, from logistics and payments options to marketing campaigns.

During the event, Shopee also invited four panellists from leading brands to discuss the challenges and opportunities they face on e-commerce. To better understand Shopee’s meteoric rise, we decided to ask these panellists what it is like working with Shopee.

Nicholas Lee, the Personal Health Leader at Philips ASEAN Pacific, mentions that Shopee takes an open and collaborative approach to working relationships which helps brands understand consumers better, and the various opportunities that can be developed with Shopee. Shopee’s propensity for innovation has also encouraged Philips to be more innovative and experimental themselves. This sentiment is echoed among other brand panellists with Rohit Bhasin, Global Vice President at Unilever POND’s, adding “Whenever brands have an eCommerce idea, Shopee are willing to take the time to explore the idea and execute it quickly and effectively if they see the opportunity and size of prize”.

Staying true to the topic of the month, we had to ask them about the key event triggers that they look out for. Nicholas Lee categorizes these key event triggers into specific moments:

•    life moments (e.g. birthdays)

•    commercial moments (e.g. promoting key campaigns, reminding consumers of the schedule of their key activities, and reminding them the actions required prior to the key activities)

•    product moments (e.g. new product launches)

•    behavior moments (e.g. cart reminders)

“Winning in e-business/e-commerce requires us to connect with consumers across the entire path to purchase.”, says Alexandra Vogler, Senior Marketing Director in E-Business, AMEA, Procter and Gamble. “We therefore look out for a combination of awareness, consideration and purchase triggers, to in turn deliver relevant content for our consumer.” The aim for marketing is hence, to be useful, superior, and interesting—which she regards as far more easily achievable with a personalized message.

A point of purchase on platforms like Shopee can also lead to personalized recommendations says Ng Tian Chong, Managing Director, Greater Asia, HP. Nevertheless, striking a balance is key. Data privacy should be taken very seriously, and content that is too personalized can end up feeling intrusive and off-putting. Thus, conscious consent of the audience is needed if content is to be tailored for them.

By Muhammad Shaqeez