In 2016, PwC and The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Outlook for the Retail and Consumer Products Sector in Asia report indicated that the region’s retail sales will increase by 8.5% in US dollar terms which are higher than the global average growth rate of 5.6%. Mobile commerce transactions in SEA is another game-changer. In a study of mobile commerce by Criteo, m-commerce made up 25% of transactions on average in Q4 2015 for retailers in the countries of India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Technologically savvy SMEs will be better equipped to leverage on this phenomenon to increase sales revenues but ‘mom and pop shops’ that are unable to jump onto the technology bandwagon may suffer dire consequences amidst the gloomy economic backdrop.

Here are 4 major retail trends across SEA which SMEs should be aware of:

1. The Relentless March Of Smartphone Dominance in South-East Asia.

SMES should pay heed to the increasing dominance of smartphone commercial transactions.

Savvy customers now do not hesitate to swipe countless websites and view dozens of landing pages before making a decision to purchase.

In Criteo’s study, the company found that among digital retailers, smartphones accounted for 73% of m-commerce transactions, while tablets accounted for the remaining 27%.

_{(https://www.emarketer.com/Article/Mobile-Commerce-Inches-Upward-Southeast-Asia/1013770)}

According to management consultancy AT Kearney, online retail sales in Malaysia in 2013 was worth US$250 million and this is expected to double over the next five years; much of which is contributed to mobile-commerce. _{(Source: comScore Media Metrix, March 2012 and March 2013 http://www.accenture.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/PDF/Accenture-Surfing-ASEAN-Digital-WaveSurvey.pdf)}

SMEs must be ready to ride this digital wave to fully reap the opportunities that become available as this market matures.

For instance, SMEs must ensure that they have a well-designed user-friendly website which is also mobile responsive to capture this target segment of customers who are agile and have the ability to access hundreds of similar products and services through the smartphones.

To complement this, digital marketing strategies must be focused and targeted to effectively convey the message to the intended segments. Importantly, the digital marketing must also be optimized for mobile commerce while being relevant and efficient to leave a lasting impression to influence buying behaviors.

2. Social Commerce

“Social commerce involves the use of Internet-based media that allow people to participate in the marketing, selling, comparing, curating, buying, and sharing of products and services in both online and offline marketplaces, and in communities”. _{(Source quoted from: Electronic Commerce Research and Applications. Social commerce research: An integrated view)}

According to consulting firm Bain & Co. 150 million people in the region purchase products online, with Facebook and Instagram accounting for 30% of digital sales alone. Southeast Asia has almost 175 million social media users and the market is expected to grow as millions of new users from emerging markets such as Myanmar, Vietnam, and Indonesia join social media sites.

On average the rate of social media penetration in Asia is 35%.  As young consumers have been very fast in adopting the use of social network sites, SMEs must firstly create a social media strategy by identifying the target audience, the appropriate platform to engage them and then integrate their social media approach to the marketing strategies with a 24/7 engagement.

Facebook statistics on Southeast Asian users in the mid quarter of 2016 reveals that the platform has 241 million people in SE Asia, with 94 per cent of them coming through mobile. Interestingly, an analysis of  over 50 million SMEs in SEA that use Facebook to find customers also shows 30 per cent of their fans are from other countries.

However, certain profiles of customers may differ. Sensis data identifies men as more likely to use LinkedIn, Twitter and Snapchat while women prefer Pinterest. While 18-29 year-olds might be the most prolific users, the data shows that 40 to 49 year-olds being the most likely to use LinkedIn and Google+ for example.

3. Consumer Buying Patterns

Another trend worth noting is the use of data analytics to discover hidden buying patterns, correlations and SMEs can track customer transactions, online conversations and shopping habits such as time period spent in store and preferred delivery methods. This can empower SMEs to derive important answers instantaneously to design efficient customer-centric solutions that can serve customers better.

SMEs can then use this information to their advantage to provide customers with a personalized service and also reward them for their loyalty and gain first-mover advantage in promoting new products which would eventually increase profitability.

4. Rise of Omnichannel Retailing and its Importance for SMEs

Omni Channel e-commerce is set to send ripples across the retail industry in the years to come due to the digital revolution as it is seen to be the solution to ride all the emerging trends.

This seamless customer-centric approach strengthens customer relationships as it integrates various customer touch-points from the physical store, website to even the e-commerce marketplaces such as Lazada, Zalora and Qoo10.

Omni-channel integrates the front-end multiple sales channels with a strong back-end system comprising Inventory Management, CRM and Accounting, Logistic, etc. This creates a unique eco-system that prevents dropouts from any stage of the buying process and convert customers to loyalty.

Without an online website, e-commerce store or ability to adopt omni-channel retailing, you will not be able to reach out to today’s tech savvy customers.To learn more about omni-channel inventory management and explore available e-commerce and enterprise business solutions, visit RNext website at http://www.rnext.singalarity.com/To learn more about omni-channel inventory management  and explore available e-commerce and enterprise business solutions, visit RNext website at http://rnext.singalarity.com:8069/slides/public-channel-1

Edited by Bryan - Follow the commgate.net.