How to seize future opportunities with your holiday campaigns in Asia - Tips and tricks for creating compelling social commerce strategies that sell
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How to seize future
opportunities with your
holiday campaigns in Asia
Tips and tricks for creating compelling
social commerce strategies that sell
1
Seize new opportunities
with your holiday campaigns
How can marketers create relevant experiences
across Asia during the holidays?
Social commerce is here to stay, and if there’s one thing marketers agree on,
it’s that social commerce will only become more important. In fact, 95% of
marketers surveyed in the “The State of Social Commerce in Southeast
Asia” agreed that social commerce will become increasingly important
over the next five years.1
However, there are a number of challenges associated with social commerce
and marketing. One question that marketers find particularly critical is how
to create strategies that are relevant and unique to the diverse regions and
markets across Asia.
Many marketing teams that are new to the region — or expanding across
the region — make the mistake of using a single marketing strategy and
identical campaigns for each country. It may feel convenient in the short
term, but it will cost your company in the long run.
Festive seasons are an especially important time for culture and for selling,
so holiday campaign planning is a great point in time to re-evaluate your
social commerce strategy to create suitable and relevant campaigns across
the region. To help you, we’ll share telling data from this year’s Lunar New
Year, as well as tips and best practices to help you create suitable
social commerce strategies for each market you’re selling to for
the next holiday season.
1
Econsultancy, Hootsuite, Magento, “The State of Social Commerce in Southeast Asia”
2
Social conversations really start picking up during major holidays because
traffic, purchase, and consumer discussions increase dramatically during this
time. This spike in activity begins rising quickly during the days leading up to
the holiday, then drops sharply immediately after the holiday (Figure 1).
But once you dive deeper, the type of social activity, attitudes, and interests
are far from uniform in countries across Asia, which highlights the need to
approach each country separately.
So let’s take a closer look at marketing best practices we gleaned from social
listening data captured across Asia for your next holiday season campaign.
Figure 1. Topic mentions related to Lunar New Year or Chinese New Year across Asia, Feb 2021, Talkwalker.
Results over time 64.2k Results
20
16
12
8
4
1 Feb 8 Feb 15 Feb 22 Feb 1 Mar
Chinese New Year
This graph from Talkwalker analytics shows the mentions of topics related to Lunar New Year or Chinese New
Year across Asia in February 2021. You can see the activity build up for several days then drop sharply after the
1st day of the Lunar New Year.
Face your marketing challenges head-on with a fresh
approach for the holidays
Best practice indicates that companies should spend extra time getting to
know their customers and researching their individual target markets to
ensure messaging is right on target. To help guide you — and highlight the
importance of treating each market individually — we’ll also share insightful
social commerce data from several countries in the region.
3
Get to know your customers better, so you can meet their expectations
If you don’t have a wealth of data about your current customers, ensure you
invest in the technology and strategies that will help you get to know them
better well before the next holiday season.
Get to know your customers using:
Surveys
Ask your most loyal customers what they want to see directly in an
invitation-only survey.
Social listening
By staying on top of local conversations happening online, you can get a
better idea of the products customers are interested in, how they’re using
them, how they feel about your brand and your competitors, and more.
Incentivised profile completion and AI
Give customers a reward for completing a series of questions (age range,
gender, brand preferences, etc.), which your AI and machine learning
tools can use in combination with transactional data to create a more
personalised experience, including more relevant product suggestions.
Preference Quizzes
Entertain shoppers and get to know them better at the same time with
simple questions and captivating visuals.
Shopee’s Story Quiz and
Voting Stickers are tools
that help engage their
shoppers, but also allow
the marketplace to better
understand their audience.2
Avoid a one-size-fits-all approach
We know it’s a mistake to create one campaign and recycle it across multiple
countries in Asia, but once you’re ready to personalise, how can you know if
you’re headed in the right direction with your targeted campaigns?
We’ve gathered some social commerce trends from several countries across
the region to help inform your campaigns. Combined with the power of social
listening and conversational intelligence3, you’ll have everything you need to
create messaging that resonates.
2
Shopee Seller Education Hub
3
“How to drive growth with conversation intelligence” Talkwalker, Sep 2020
4
Spotlight on
social shopping
and selling trends
across Asia
Let’s take a journey across the region and
dive deeper into the mobile trends and
social commerce tendencies in each market.
Here we’ll explore why developing and
delivering a unique marketing strategy for
each country is worth your time.
Malaysia
E-commerce
This is a strong country for e-commerce — when surveyed, 82% of internet users had
bought something from e-commerce stores during the specified time period.4
Between 2019 and 2020 the biggest lift in dollars spent was in the fashion/beauty
category (43.7%), followed by food/personal care (35.1%).5
Social media
Malaysia has 26 million active social media users. 99% of them use their mobile devices
for social media. 59.5% of users use social media as a main source when researching.5
Chat is king
Malaysia is a country that believes in the power of chat! When it comes to c-commerce
(conversational commerce), 31% of Malaysian shoppers say they chat with companies to
help determine whether they are trustworthy.6 Among those customers who engage in
c-commerce via social or messaging platforms, 88% do so using Facebook products.4
Payment preferences
In terms of preferred payment methods, according to “Digital 2021 Malaysia”, 85% of the
population aged 15 and over have a bank account but only 21% has a credit card and
only 11% has a mobile wallet. 5
4
“The Top Social Commerce Platforms in Southeast Asia”, J&T Express, 21 Jul, 2020
5
“Digital 2021 Malaysia”, Data Reportal
6
“Insights To Go”, Facebook IQ
5
Philippines
E-commerce
From 2019 to 2020, the biggest jump year over year, in dollars spent, was in the
food/personal care category (64.3%), followed by the toys, DIY, and hobbies
category (47.8%).7
Social media
As the so-called Social Media Capital of the World, 99% of the country’s internet
users have registered on at least one social media platform. And they spend
approximately four hours online via mobile devices. 65.4% of users are using
social media as a main source when researching.8
Social commerce is everywhere
Facebook (94%), Facebook Messenger (84%), Instagram (56%), and WhatsApp
(21%) are the top platforms for transactions. In light of these facts, it should come
as no surprise that 69% of merchants in the Philippines that are not already
doing social commerce are looking to start.
Payment preferences
34.5% of the population aged 15 and over have a bank account.
However, only 1.9% have a credit card and only 4.5% has a mobile wallet.
This may indicate a preference for cash among Filipinos.7
Indonesia
E-commerce
Indonesians spend up to four hours a day on their mobile phones, like their Filipino
and Malaysian counterparts. But they are not just browsing — they’re shopping.8
Year over year, between 2019 and 2020, the largest uplift in dollars spent were in the
Toys, DIY, hobbies (51.5%), followed by fashion and beauty (50.7%).9
Social media
When it comes to social media, 65% of Indonesians use this as a main source for
research. Ten million Indonesians buy only via social commerce, while another
ten million also buy through marketplaces or e-tailing. Facebook, Instagram, LINE,
and WhatsApp are the preferred platforms, while Tokopedia is the top-performing
marketplace in the country.8 Strategies that involve ephemeral content such as
Instagram Stories, Facebook Messenger’s My Day, and Snapchat Stories have been
received positively by the Indonesian audience.
Payment preferences
48.9% of the population aged 15 and over have a bank account, but only 2.4%
have a credit card. Only 3.1% have a mobile wallet.9
7
“Digital 2021 the Philippines”, Data Reportal
8
“The Top Social Commerce Platforms in Southeast Asia”, J&T Express, 21 Jul, 2020
9
“Digital 2021 Indonesia”, Data Reportal
6
Singapore
E-commerce
A striking 81.5% of internet users in Singapore regularly use shopping apps
on their phone10
Since 2019, we have seen more Singapore shoppers spend money in the digital
music category with YoY lift in spend at 39.7%, followed by food and personal
care (YoY lift in spend of 37%)10.
Social media
Though social selling is popular in many countries across the region, only
63% of merchants in Singapore are doing social selling. Consumers, too,
are slower to adopt social media in their purchase journey, as only 42.5% of
users are using social media as a main source when researching. With that
said, Singapore shoppers spend an average of US$785 annually on consumer
goods online, spending much more than their neighbours in the region.10
Payment preferences
97.9% of the population aged 15 and over have a bank account and
48.9% have a credit card. Only 9.5% have a mobile wallet.10
10
“Digital 2021 Singapore”, Data Reportal 7
Hong Kong
E-commerce
85.4% of internet users aged 16 to 64 have searched online for products or
services and 74% have purchased a product online, while 52.2% purchased
a product using a mobile phone. 44.2% of users use social media as a main
source when researching. Annually, Hong Kong shoppers spend an average
of USD$2,825 annually on online consumer goods purchases, which is
much higher than its neighbours across Asia.11
Since 2019, Hong Kong shoppers have shifted their spend to the food and
personal care category with a YoY increase of 42.5% in spend, followed by
the Toys DIY and Hobbies category (40% lift in spend YoY).11
Social media
The most popular social media platforms in Hong Kong are Facebook
(with a penetration rate of 82%), YouTube, and WhatsApp.12
In terms of mobile marketing, popular strategies in Hong Kong include
contests, “instant winner” promotions, mobile coupons, and polling apps.12
Payment preferences
95.3% of the population over the age of 15 have a bank account,
and 65.4% have a credit card.11
11
“Digital 2021 Hong Kong”, Data Reportal
12
“Social Media Marketing Trends in Asia”, Info Cubic
8
What are customers looking for during holiday seasons?
Another way to approach any upcoming retail holiday season is to “fill the gap”
between what your brand currently offers vs. what consumers want to see.
This doesn’t just mean meeting customers’ needs with festive products and
services; it also extends to your marketing campaigns.
Using social listening data from the recent Chinese New Year peak season, we’ll
explore how you can optimise planning for holiday spikes. Then we’ll dive into
individual market data to examine how customer expectations vary in two key
areas: shopping interactions and product trends. To do so, we’ll share insights from
selected Asian markets to deliver visual proof of why listening to local markets
matters so much during the holidays. Finally, we’ll spotlight campaign examples
that performed particularly well this year.
What are customers talking about during the holiday season?
Let’s start out by taking a look at what people were talking about on social media
before, during, and after the Chinese New Year festivities.
Happy new year messages 35.5%
Stock market news 4.5%
Feng shui, zodiac, astrology 3.1%
Family tradition 5.1%
Lapses in COVID-19 lockdown restrictions 5.3%
Solidarity for social causes 3.9%
CNY celebrations 12.2%
COVID-19 cases, testing and vaccines 6.7%
CCTV Spring Festival Gala 11.3%
Figure 2.
Conversation Clusters around Asia,
Talkwalker, Feb 8–18, 2021.
The Conversation Clusters13 in Figure 2 display the most popular English-language
conversational topics around Asia, gathered by Talkwalker, based on 20,000 conversations
between February 8 and 18, 2021.
An impressive 12.5% of the conversations revolved around holiday offers and
promotions. And, as you might expect, holiday greetings were near the top of the list,
with people sending each other messages to say “Happy New Year”.
COVID was also very much on peoples’ minds, with much of the discussion centred
around testing, vaccines, and restrictions. There was also a large cluster of conversations
about family traditions, solidarity, stock market news, feng shui, zodiac, and astrology.
These are great themes to keep in mind, especially later in this eBook, when we examine
popular Chinese New Year campaigns released this year by brands.
13
“Four ways to level up your trend research with Conversation Clusters”, Talkwalker, Jan 2020.
9
Consumer considerations
Now, let’s look at consumer considerations in Indonesia and Singapore regarding
shopping interactions. We’ve selected these two markets because of the clear
contrast between them. These differences may be attributed to economic
maturity, culture, or consumer preferences, but they emphasise the need to
treat each country as its own, unique market.
“Shopping interactions” tell us the factors consumers take into consideration
when making a purchase. These are identified from online consumer mentions
across various social channels. They include payment methods, delivery,
returns, discounts, and the overall shopping experience.
Figure 3. Share of consumer considerations in Indonesia, Talkwalker, Feb 2021.
Results over time Share of consumer considerations
By consumer considerations 22.6k Results
7.4%
850 13.8%
680
510
340 78.4%
170 Discounts
Payment
1 Feb 8 Feb 15 Feb 22 Feb 1 Mar Delivery
Returns
Discounts Payment Delivery Returns Buying Experience Buying Experience
In Indonesia, discounts accounted for over three-quarters of all consumer
consideration engagements! We’ve established that Indonesians are highly
active in social commerce and e-commerce in general, so we can infer that
brands are competing on discounts in this particular market.
10Figure 4. Share of consumer considerations in Singapore, Talkwalker, Feb 2021.
Results over time Share of consumer considerations
By consumer considerations 5.1k Results
150 23.4%
120
90
60 23.6% 51.4%
30 Discounts
Payment
1 Feb 8 Feb 15 Feb 22 Feb 1 Mar Delivery
Returns
Discounts Payment Delivery Returns Buying Experience Buying Experience
In Singapore, by contrast, payment and delivery occupied a much greater
share of the conversation. What does this tell us? Services and payment
methods are getting significantly more attention in Singapore. And,
according to iPrice Group, Singaporeans are, in fact, quite demanding
when it comes to delivery speed.
According to their research, 75% of consumers rate e-commerce delivery
satisfaction 5 out of 5 if the delivery time is three days or less, 60% give
the same rating if delivery time is between three and six days, but when
it takes between six and nine days to receive the delivery, that number
falls sharply to just 34%.14
Singapore consumers happy with the state of delivery, but most demanding in terms of speed of delivery across Southeast
14
Asia”, Parcel Perform & iPrice Group
11Product trends
Product category is another area where we saw differences in market preferences.
Figures 5 to 8 show the volume of online mentions for each product category during
Chinese New Year in 2021. Social listening tools allow you to identify the categories that
are most important for your business and strategise accordingly.
Figure 5. Product considerations in Indonesia, Talkwalker, Feb 2021.
Results over time
By shopping categories 38.5k Results Share of consumer considerations
900
5.4%
720 5.5%
7.6%
540
8.2%
360
10.2%
Toys & DIY
180
Entertainment
Travel
1 Feb 8 Feb 15 Feb 22 Feb 1 Mar Fashion
Groceries
Toys & DIY Groceries Furniture & Appliances Electronics & Media
Entertainment Electronics & Media Beauty & Personal Care Restaurant & Takeaway
Travel Restaurant & Takeaway Baby Products Furniture & Appliances
Fashion Beauty & Personal Care
Baby Products
In Indonesia, toys and DIY ruled among product categories for the entire month of
February, with an incredible 52.6% of the social conversation share. This strikingly high
share of social media attention may be attributed to families staying at home due to the
surge in COVID cases that the country experienced in early 2021. This further highlights
the important role of continual social listening and surveying. These help businesses
understand shifts in preference, especially during times of uncertainty and change.
Figure 6. Product considerations in Singapore, Talkwalker, Feb 2021.
Results over time
By shopping categories 8.1k Results Share of consumer considerations
95 4%
21.1%
8.1%
76
10.5%
57
11.1%
11.6% 17.3%
38
12%
Travel
19
Entertainment
Restaurant & Takeaway
1 Feb 8 Feb 15 Feb 22 Feb 1 Mar Electronics & Media
Groceries
Travel Electronics & Media Fashion Beauty & Furniture & Appliances
Entertainment Groceries Toys & DIY Personal Care Fashion
Restaurant & Furniture & Baby Products Toys & DIY
Takeaway Appliances Baby Products
Beauty & Personal Care
In contrast, travel, entertainment and restaurants received a far higher share of attention
in Singapore, a reflection of consumer tastes from a more mature market economy.
12Figure 7. Product considerations in Hong Kong, Talkwalker, Feb 2021.
Results over time
By shopping categories 3k Results Share of consumer considerations
35 20.7%
7.5%
28 9.4%
21 10.5%
10.8% 20.4%
14
14.6%
Fashion
7
Travel
Entertainment
1 Feb 8 Feb 15 Feb 22 Feb 1 Mar Restaurant & Takeaway
Groceries
Fashion Restaurant & Takeaway Furniture & Beauty & Electronics & Media
Appliances Personal Care Furniture & Appliances
Travel Groceries
Toys & DIY
Entertainment Electronics & Media Toys & DIY Baby Products
Beauty & Personal Care
Baby Products
In Hong Kong, a market where Chinese New Year is one of the biggest celebrations
of the year, fashion stole the number one spot, with travel, entertainment, and
restaurants following closely behind.
Figure 8. Product considerations in Philippines, Talkwalker, Feb 2021.
Results over time
By shopping categories 3k Results Share of consumer considerations
150 4%
26.6%
7.8%
120
7.9%
90 8.7%
14.9%
60 10.6%
12.8%
Entertainment
30
Travel
Electronics & Media
1 Feb 8 Feb 15 Feb 22 Feb 1 Mar Fashion
Restaurant & Takeaway
Entertainment Fashion Furniture & Toys & DIY Groceries
Appliances
Travel Restaurant & Takeaway Furniture & Appliances
Electronics Groceries Baby Products Beauty & Baby Products
& Media Personal Care Toys & DIY
Beauty & Personal Care
Meanwhile, for the same period in the Philippines, entertainment took the top spot
among categories, occupying over a quarter of the share for the month. The graph
shows a clear surge in entertainment-related conversations specifically during the
Chinese New Year period.
When you see what shopping considerations, product categories, or other
factors are driving each market in real time, you can optimise your campaigns
to reflect the most relevant products and services. Even if you sell a limited
range of products, this data allows you to take a more proactive approach.
As engagement and expectations shift, you can also alter your marketing and
advertising investment per country to stay where customers are, always.
13Spotlight on
Chinese New Year
campaign trends
Another great source of holiday preparation
inspiration is to look at what other brands
are doing successfully. Here are a few
creative campaigns that received a lot
of engagements this Chinese New Year.
Spotlight on Furniture: Courts
Family traditions were a huge point of
conversation on social this year, and
Courts didn’t shy away from highlighting
the importance of family.
As part of their "Where There's Love,
There's Home" campaign, they offered
a giveaway for followers who could
Court’s Facebook campaign answer a fun question about the video.
14Spotlight on Fashion: Love, Bonito
Love, Bonito’s Instagram campaign
Love, Bonito, a popular women’s fashion brand in Asia, showcased its authentic,
creative style, giving their Instagram followers style tips for the lunar season.
Their real-feeling campaigns struck a real chord with customers
in the Philippines!
Spotlight on education: MSU Malaysia
MSU Malaysia’s Twitter post
Celebration was another major conversation category for Chinese New Year, and
MSU Malaysia joined in with an engaging post on their virtual holiday celebration.
The emphasis on local cultural traditions was a hit with their followers.
15Marketplace Trends
Marketplaces are the hottest place to shop for many consumers across
Asia, so let’s take a look at two engaging social media posts made by some
of the biggest marketplaces out there.
Shopee went for engagement with
their post on the @ShopeeMY
Facebook page. They focused on
the holiday and used humour
(and plenty of internet memes)
to create a video with not-so-
practical tips on how to enjoy CNY
in a not-so-normal year. Of course,
there was a practical suggestion to
use Shoppee to send e-Ang Pow.
Shopee’s Facebook campaign
Nike received a lot of added reach on
social media thanks to the promotion
of their Lazada storefront on the
Lazada Philippines Facebook page.
(Remember how popular Facebook
is in the Philippines?)
Nike and Lazada’s Facebook campaign
16Start preparing for the next big season
Keep your finger on the social pulse in every market you sell in.
Keep up with social shopping trends in each individual market. This will
allow you to create targeted messages, amplify your campaigns and boost
holiday sales. By using deep conversational insights, you can ensure your
next holiday campaigns resonate with your audience.
Use surveys, incentivised profiling, and other tools to get to know your
current customers on a deeper level.
Utilise social listening to understand your wider audience and conversation
trends. This will enable you to target your audience with relevant, timely
posts. By uncovering what’s working and what isn’t at any given time, you’ll
be prepared to optimise your campaigns on the fly.
Extend your plans beyond the holiday and include the post-holiday period
too. Prepare customer retention campaigns well in advance to ensure new
customers remain loyal and stay with you in the long-run.
Finally, remember to have a happy, healthy retail holiday, wherever you are!
Talkwalker helps the world’s leading brands activate the voice of the customer in real-time
by making sense of consumer & customer feedback across all channels. Going beyond social
listening, our AI-powered conversational intelligence platform connects the dots between
what customers think, say, and do. Enabling customer-centric companies to drive revenue,
increase retention and reduce costs.
With offices in Luxembourg, New York, San Francisco, Frankfurt, Singapore, Paris, Tokyo,
London, and Milan, we provide best-in-class service to our 2000+ clients across the globe.
For more information, please visit www.talkwalker.com.
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