SINGAPORE (Apr 17): Countries all around the world are slowly going into lockdown mode —citizens are required to stay home throughout the period, only leaving to gather essentials. Government guidelines are strict: All non-essential retail shops must temporarily shut its doors, leaving just supermarkets, pharmacies and food and beverage outlets to stay open.
As it is, surgical masks, hand sanitisers and even toilet papers are flying off the shelves. Quickly these items are the new ‘must-have’ in everyone’s homes.
But if going out to shop is becoming so inconvenient — with many panic buying and leaving shelves constantly empty — where will shoppers turn to?
Many, it seems, are shopping online.
According to market intelligence agency Mintel’s 2030 Global Consumer Trends report, the way people shop is going to change. More home cooking and better considered shopping strategies might lead to consumers to better appreciate using what they have, leading to less waste. This could mean fewer home-delivery meals and less throw-away packaging, Mintel says. On top of this, fewer trips to the mall might even lead to less impulse fast-fashion purchases even, which could lead to a reverse of the throw-away culture dominating the industry currently.
There are changes happening in tandem: Consumers’ behaviour, brands’ marketing tactics and how goods and services are being consumed. Even gym classes, cooking demonstrations and even movie premieres are moving online.
China has emerged as a vibrant market for such ‘live commerce’ — where live streaming melds with shopping — activities. Leading platforms such as Taobao and JD.com are leading this trend by enabling the live stream viewers to purchase items while consumers watch.
As more brands from other markets take to live streaming and other interactive ways to engage with consumers, Mintel’s research also shows that three-quarters of consumers across Asia-Pacific are wanting to learn more about things that they used to. This also means, for established brands at least, it is a chance for them to position themselves as experts and reliable sources of information in their respective fields, says Mintel.
According to Capillary Technologies, which provides management software for the retail industry, these so-called omni-channel retailers — who are able to make a sale whether both via a physical retail shop or an e-commerce platform — are the ones that are most resilient and therefore better positioned for a recovery from the Covid-19 outbreak.
“Brands who invested in enabling a personalised omnichannel shopping experience are experiencing the fruits of their labour,” says Capillary Technologies, in its study of more than 50 brands operating some 10,000 stores across China, India and Southeast Asia. Some omnichannel retailers in China — apparel brands Peacebird, Gloria and Youngor among them — have invested in integrating their online and offline channels. This means they can offer a customised shopping experience to individual customers on their databases, thus building brand loyalty. So while customers aren’t always buying when they visit the physical stores, they are doing so in growing volumes when they go online, says Capillary.
On the other hand, within the same brands and companies the in-store teams should coordinate with the online team to divert the traffic to their e-commerce website or app and clear out the inventory.
Brands can also improve the quality of customer engagement across relevant channels by merging store behaviour data with CRM data to communicate and notify its customers about store operating hours, delivery timelines or to send any form of notifications.
“Integrating data across online, social and offline channels can improve the micro-segmentation of customers and enhance the relevance of personalised communication,” Capillary adds.
