Recently, Rakuten Advertising hosted a Lunch & Learn session on Reaching Consumers Across Asia-Pacific presented by Stuart McLennan, Senior Vice President of Asia-Pacific and Camille Mandray, Client Services Director of Enterprise.
The insights and strategies presented in this session and the “The Road to Recovery: 2020 e-Commerce in Asia-Pacific” report will help you form a comprehensive online marketing strategy for the APAC market as retailers around the world approach the most important quarter of the year.
In case you missed it, you can watch the full session below.
Key takeaways include:
How COVID-19 has impacted APAC consumers
Recent research from Google showed 200,000 new households across Australia has shopped online, with e-commerce share of sales jumping from 10% to 25%. According to our research, “The Road to Recovery: 2020 e-Commerce in Asia-Pacific”, consumers across APAC are increasing online spend in verticals such as Groceries & Household Goods and Restaurant & Takeaway during the COVID-19 crisis. Aside from essentials, APAC consumers are also shifting their spend towards online entertainment such as video-on-demand and events streaming services.
What APAC consumers want from brands during the pandemic
Australian consumers want brands to show empathy when they communicate to their customers during this time. A majority of Australians think brands should advertise as usual and only 36% prefer retailers to avoid humorous tones in their ads and communications. On the other hand, Chinese consumers prefer brands to put health first, with 79% stating they want retailers to suspend normal factory production to produce essential goods such as face masks and hand sanitisers.
Network trends and holiday predictions
According to data from the Rakuten Affiliate Network, average online order values across the APAC region have declined by up to 15% since the start of the global pandemic, with the exception of the Footwear vertical. During lockdown, shoppers have become increasingly savvy and are unafraid to explore different types of affiliate channels such as content, deals and shopping sites.
Search traffic from Google Trends indicate that consumers have started looking for their holiday purchases and this trend will continue to rise leading up to holiday shopping season. Due to pent up demand and improving consumer confidence, we expect to see strong growth in Luxury and Jewellery in Q4 as consumers begin to seek out these luxury products.
Using insights to reach APAC consumers
Throughout the pandemic, APAC consumers have developed new habits that are likely here to stay. Not only are consumers spending more time shopping online, they are also reading reviews, discovering new brands, researching products and comparing prices more than ever.
Using insights from “The Road to Recovery: 2020 e-Commerce in Asia-Pacific”, brands should tailor their approach to each APAC market based on different consumer preferences, and adapt their communication style to suit each country. As consumers become increasingly savvy, brands can help their customers save money by partnering with cashback and coupons sites. At the same time, they can also leverage upper funnel publishers such as influencers and bloggers to encourage brand discovery while content consumption is at an all-time high.
More importantly, brands should consider designing their online strategy based on a return-on-investment (ROI) goal through utilising performance marketing channels. The question is not how much you are willing to spend, but rather, how much revenue do you plan to generate.
Find out more strategies by downloading our latest report “Shopper-Led Strategies for Q4”. This report takes a deep dive into consumer shopping trends by vertical and offers predictions based on our network data. Additionally, our experts share data-led actionable strategies and client success stories to help your brand on The Road to Recovery.
