SEA retailers must reimagine consumer engagement to drive sales: report

Digital media has taken a heavier role in brand discovery and consideration.

Retailers who are looking to take advantage of the e-commerce boom in Southeast Asia must consider reimagining their consumer engagement in order to drive sales in the region, according to a report from Bain & Company.

Almost eight in 10 people (78%) amongst Southeast Asia’s population of 15-year-olds and above are projected to be digital consumers by the end-2021, with the strongest growth seen in Indonesia. The region’s online retail penetration is also projected to grow 85% year-on-year by the end-2021 and is now larger than India’s or Brazil’s.

For digital consumers in the region, whilst the proportion of end sales is still split between offline and online, the role of digital media and channels far outweighs offline channels for brand discovery and consideration, the report noted.

This has been the case as e-commerce platforms are increasingly being used for search and social channels are increasingly used as a point of sale.

The report cited common pitfalls many businesses find themselves in such as “flying blind”—low visibility on how much is spent or a “last-year” mindset to allocating commercial spends or not being return-of-investment-driven.

“Brands must independently reevaluate their commercial activities and re-orient their marketing and route-to-market spends to mirror this multi-channel, multi-platform path to purchase,” the report stated.

Bain further noted that today’s buyers are becoming a lot quicker to switch brands and platforms, as they come to expect a seamless experience, from discovery to sale to delivery.

“Create a unique, consistent and engaging experience across your offline presence, social channels, website and app. In doing so, you can establish brand loyalty and differentiate yourselves from your consumers,” the report added.

In addition, the report recommends retailers recognise that commercial operation levers are different for offline channels versus e-commerce, and must tweak their internal processes like sales and operations planning, decision rights, dashboards/key performance indicators and organisation structure.

“The talent in your commercial organisation needs to be well versed across all elements of the funnel versus taking a legacy siloed approach,” the report added.