Being the leading fashion and lifestyle e-commerce platform, ZALORA has launched its inaugural Southeast Asia TRENDER Report to help industry stakeholders better understand and navigate during the current turbulent times. Driven by data and insights from its proprietary analytics platform, TRENDER, the report examines the impact of changing industry trends and recalibrates perspectives and strategies to help companies navigate the challenges brought on by COVID-19.
The report comes at an opportune time when the retail industry is still grappling with the impact of mass lockdowns and social distancing measures, whilst managing the challenges that come with the accelerated move online. Many businesses are also identifying and adapting their strategies and operations to keep up with evolving consumer behaviour and trends, as a result of the pandemic.
Written in a magazine-style format, a representation of where ‘Data meets Fashion,’ the digital edition feature links to video interviews from industry contributors to offer readers a practitioner’s guide, in addition to providing their insights on the topics tackled in the report.
The official launch, which took place via a live Webinar, offered a deep dive into the report’s key findings. Few of them include:
- E-commerce acceleration is here to stay: The onset of COVID-19 has accelerated the adoption trends for commerce and digital payments as more people in the region embraced online shopping during this period. In fact, it was cited that three out of four consumers in Singapore plans to maintain their current online shopping levels well after the pandemic subsides. ZALORA has been seeing strong acceleration in New Customer acquisition with Q2 seeing the share of revenue from them more than double across its various operating geographies.
- The Future is YOUNG and FEMALE: Women in SEA contribute to 80% of all household purchases, outshopping men by 20%, and spend 40% more time on online retailers. This is reflected in 80% of ZALORA shoppers being women as well. The region is home to over 200 million Millennials and Gen Z who are expected to comprise the largest shopping base in years to come as they reach mid 20s and higher disposable incomes.
- Fashion and lifestyle categories have shifted: Though hard hit by the pandemic, fashion demand did not disappear, instead the demand shifted, as demand for categories like sports and activewear, loungewear, children’s wear, beauty and home & living surged, together with health and hygiene products. Triple digit growth is seen across these categories in the last two quarters. For example, In the recent 10.10 Sales campaign ZALORA saw a 400% increase in Children’s Wear and 220% in Beauty
- Making and delivering sustainability commitments is key: With sustainability becoming more than just a lifestyle, consumers today are not just demanding for variety, but also longevity of business’s commitments. The report shared that 90% of customers who answered the ZALORA survey presented some level of interest in shopping sustainable products and more than 50% were willing to pay a premium.
- Immersive commerce is the future: Bridging the gap between offline and online experience is a must for every brand and retailer from payments, to brand experience and potentially augmented reality. We’ve also seen how effective use of content in commerce can contribute to increased sales. The report cited a case study on ZALORA’s /COVERS project which saw a 240% order uplift in the hero products featured.
- Cash is starting to lose its throne: While cash payments continue to be preferred over e-payments in Southeast Asia due to low user confidence, the region is seeing the latter’s emergence due to an acceleration of digitisation. With 250 million smartphone users, e-wallets are fast replacing conventional banking methods. Case in point: 49% of urban commercial bank customers within the region already use e-wallets.
It also featured a panel discussion by industry experts, including Gunjan Soni, Chief Executive Officer, ZALORA Group; Ettore Strapazzon, Lead for TRENDER, ZALORA Group; Samuele Saini, Sector Lead of Apps, E-Commerce and Entertainment, Google SEA; and Warren Hayashi, President, Ayden Asia Pacific, who shared their predictions on the future of the industry, as well as suggestions on ways to connect with the “new consumer”.
“This has truly been an unprecedented year for fashion and lifestyle retail, with businesses everywhere deeply affected by movement restrictions and disrupted supply chains. Uncertain times need more decisive action but leaders face challenges in access to reliable consumer data as all past patterns come breaking down!” said Gunjan Soni.
“This is why we decided to harness our internal data via TRENDER and are working closely with our valued partners to provide deeper insights into issues such as consumer buying behaviour, geo segmentation, as well as assortment. We hope that this report will be able to serve as a north star in helping players in the ecosystem better understand the evolving landscape, and be able to plan strategically for 2021 and the years beyond.
I am very thankful to our valued contributors from Google, Adyen, Abercrombie & Fitch, Shiseido and Style Tribute, their input added valuable perspectives and insights to our inaugural report.”
To access the full recording of the Webinar, please visit the link here.
You can access the full report HERE
