Analyzing 71 million retail shopping transactions across desktop, smartphones, and tablets from retail advertisers in the Southeast Asia region in 2017,  Criteo saw a 78 percent increase in average site-visitation on 11/11 itself, signaling the start of a primetime year-end purchasing season that impacts most retail categories across Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Vietnam. The 2018 edition of Singles’ Day broke 2017’s record by racking up more than US$30.8 billion (214 billion yuan) in the 24-hour shopping event.

“Omnichannel shoppers move across screens with seamless ease, said Alban Villani, managing director of Criteo for the Southeast Asia region, including Hong Kong and Taiwan. “To meet them wherever they are, retailers must do likewise, at scale. Whether it is on mobile apps, the mobile web, or desktops, it is crucial for retailers to identify and create individual shopper profiles across channels, ensuring that each person is served just the right amount of highly relevant and personalized ads.”

In the APAC Holiday Playbook by MediaMath, the advertising technology company recommended that merchants and marketers make use of video to capture the attention of target shoppers early in the awareness phase: The guide recommended that decision-makers follow up video branding campaigns with native, display, and other formats to bring consumers down the funnel.

“Mobile is the preferred channel,” said the report. “In APAC, 59% of impressions came from mobile, proving the need to invest in mobile inventory as part of omnichannel holiday campaigns.”

The Blis-commissioned The Real Retail Story, a global study of 6,000 consumers, found that of the 450 study respondents from Singapore, 80% use their mobile phones while browsing in stores. According to the marketing intelligence company,

  • Check prices online (72%)
  • Read customer reviews (51%)
  • Search for discount vouchers (43%)
  • Ask friends and family for their opinions on specific items (40%)

“Shoppers’ attention and discretionary spending are now being pulled in multiple directions, meaning retail strategy has to evolve,” said Richard Andrew, MD of Blis in Asia. |In a mobile-first world, retailers have to master new approaches like location-based data to connect with shoppers at the right place and time to win their hearts, minds, and wallets.”

In light of the pandemic, Collective Audience sought to understand how marketers in the APAC region need to prepare for Single’s Day (11/11) and the holiday season.

“To come out on top, online retailers have to look beyond the provision of a seamless and personalized shopping experience – that’s table stakes these days – and ask themselves how the experience they offer can be more engaging so they stand out from their competitors,” said Jennifer Arnold, the VP of marketing at SAP for the Asia Pacific, Japan, and Greater China markets. “With the surge in online shopping, now is the best time for retailers to attract new shoppers with unique experiences but also use those experiences to build a connection and provide a strong incentive to keep them coming back for more after the holiday period ends.”

According to our SAP Consumer Propensity Report, Singapore customers want basic services for ease-of-use, such as having an easy means of exchanging products and a 24/7 inquiry service. Arnold said that if a physical location isn’t possible for a retailer, then they should provide virtual or augmented reality technologies to help prospective customers picture how products will look like in real life.

Migrating away from Magento, the relaunched Bonanza Satrangi is now powered by Shopify takes the advice from Arnold, and features a shoppable lookbook and augmented reality filters for online shoppers to ‘try on’ outfits in a virtual environment. Nida Siddiqui, the head of eCommerce at Bonanza Satrangi, told Collective Audience that the new site represents the next logical step in the omnichannel of the Eastern apparel brand. The migration is also just in time for the upcoming Single’s Day event in the region.