Things have changed in this new normal –consumer needs and expectations have shifted dramatically since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since early 2020, the pandemic has led to major restrictions on personal mobility. Our experience at TWG Tea in the past 18 months has confirmed our belief that customers increasingly expect to access their favourite brands through both brick-and-mortar as well as online retail experiences.

In 2020, TWG Tea saw growth in every market we have an online presence in. Furthermore, we have noticed that this new online shopping trend is remaining consistent even in instances when social distancing measures are lifted, proving that consumer behaviour has evolved.

What we did

When we launched the TWG Tea mobile commerce app in 2013, it was the first of its kind in the tea industry. No other tea brand at the time had invested in m-commerce. We wanted to stay ahead of the curve and connect with our customers where they were increasingly spending their time — on their smartphones.

From then on, we have been extending the reach of our delivery network globally, while gradually improving our customers’ online and offline retail experiences at the same time. Today, the TWG Tea app has over four million users worldwide.

By 2019, we were already available in 58 countries through TWGTea.com and our physical stores in major cities across the globe. Then came COVID-19 last year.

To bridge the gap caused by social distancing, in August 2020 we started expanding our online retail footprint globally, focusing on establishing new official online stores in third party marketplaces.

Also Read: TWG Tea takes traditional track with its mobile commerce platform

We prioritised the following:

• Countries where we do not have brick-and-mortar locations
• Markets we anticipate have potential for brand growth
• The rest of the country beyond the capital cities we have physical stores in

What our strategy delivered

By the end of 2020, we surpassed our target of launching 20 new official online stores in third party marketplaces. We saw a 98 per cent increase in online retail in 2020, compared to the same 12-month time frame in 2019.

It also gave us the opportunity to extend our reach into markets such as Germany, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands where TWG Tea does not have existing physical stores.

Where we already have physical stores located in major capital cities, such as London, we have been able to extend our reach to the rest of the country via third party marketplaces.

Here’s what we learned:

Leverage and collaborate

Establishing our own flagship or official online stores in third party marketplaces helps us to protect our brand equity and assures customers that they are purchasing genuine TWG Tea products. We chose to work with marketplaces that have created platforms committed to featuring authentic brand owners. They take on the responsibility of registering and protecting our intellectual property.

We are conscious that as a luxury brand, our brick-and-mortar locations are unlikely to be on every street corner around the globe. Adding third-party marketplaces to our e-commerce mix gives us a unique opportunity to reach out to customers who are at different points of their consumer brand journey with TWG Tea.

They may already be loyal TWG Tea customers, or are curious about experiencing TWG Tea, but not ready to commit to placing an order through TWGTea.com. In regions where consumers are already accustomed to shopping online, third party marketplaces also make it easy for shoppers previously unable to buy TWG Tea products to make their first purchase online.

Make no compromises

Since the pandemic last year, we have doubled the size of our e-commerce team to support our growing online business and operations. In order to meet the significant growth we anticipated in online sales, we also made a 6-figure investment in an e-commerce warehouse and fulfilment centre located in the central part of Singapore. We fulfil all online purchases in-house so that we deliver a consistent brand experience.

Also Read: 7 non-dairy milk startups that can make your vegan transition easier

As most of our products are packaged by hand, we focused on designing a facility that would help our e-commerce colleagues. Ergonomic workstations were constructed specifically to suit our different teams and products.

Our e-commerce team picks, packs and customises all online orders by hand for Singapore and the rest of the world from this facility.

Listen to your customer (as old school as this may sound)

The global pandemic has led to major restrictions on personal mobility. In addition to expecting a seamless shopping experience, our customers are seeking familiarity and a brand experience online that resonates with them. Tailoring our online retail offerings to suit each market has helped us to better connect with our customers.

We achieve this by being sensitive to market specifics such as:

• Language
• Gifting seasons
• Buying patterns
• Cultural preferences

Even simple things like monitoring the news to get a sense of the general mood and feeling on-ground can help us to better connect with our customers.

For example, in Singapore, we launched our work from home campaign — Stay Home, Stay Calm with TWG Tea —  in May this year, three days after the city-state was placed on Heightened Alert. We anticipated that our customers would be feeling low.

Knowing that most people were likely to remain at home, our intention was to help ease customers into making their TWG Tea purchases online. The campaign offered customers a small incentive to shop online, with messaging that changed from week to week.

Our outreach touched on different needs such as taking the opportunity to unwind by enjoying tea at home and connecting with loved ones we cannot see in person through thoughtful gifting. Our customers responded positively to these calls to action.

Also Read: Lahapp, the Indonesian startup that wants to make sure you do not miss your favourite food cart

This year, the number of TWG Tea official online stores in third party marketplaces continues to grow. We plan to be in new markets in North and South America by the end of 2021.

Furthermore, consumers will have a wider selection of languages and currencies to choose from when they shop at TWGTea.com by the end of 2021.

As we scale our e-commerce operations, we are also searching for more ways to run our business sustainably.  One of our priorities is to avoid using packing materials unnecessarily in our deliveries. We aim to achieve this by creating customised 100 per cent recycled carton boxes which will protect our products and reduce the need for additional cushioning inside the box.

In addition, reducing the extra volumetric weight of packing materials can potentially reduce our carbon footprint. We are also moving away from the use of plastic when packing our products, with the exception of our most fragile tea accessories.

–

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. This season we are seeking op-eds, analysis and articles on food tech and sustainability. Share your opinion and earn a byline by submitting a post.

Join our e27 Telegram group, FB community or like the e27 Facebook page

Image Credit: TWG Tea

The post TWG Tea’s founder on how a luxury food brand can tap third party digital marketplaces to expand business appeared first on e27.

Despite being in the thick of a pandemic, Singapore-based financial aggregator MoneySmart Group still managed to record strong business growth in 2020. The company generated US$16.7 million in annual revenue, a 25 per cent increase compared to the previous year. Launched in 2009, MoneySmart is one of Southeast Asia’s largest personal finance portals. Apart from providing financial insights, it also helps consumers find relevant personal finance products such as loans, credit cards, and insurance. MoneySmart does not sell any of these products, but it does earn a commission from banks and insurers via a built-in referral business model. The company claims to have served more than 100 million people across four countries: Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the Philippines.

“One of the most effective ways to reach our customers is by making sure that we’re visible with super contextually relevant content based on what they’re looking for at that time,” explains David Harling, CMO of MoneySmart Group. Joining the company in January 2018, David has overseen an in-depth business transformation at MoneySmart, which has helped the company almost quadruple its revenue within three years.

Speaking with ContentGrip, David provides a glimpse into how MoneySmart’s marketing engine operates to drive growth, capitalising specifically on first-party data and original content.

Managing first-party data is important

Harling believes in the importance of building first-party data for marketing purposes. When he joined the team three years ago, they started using the data management platform (DMP) Oracle BlueKai to integrate MoneySmart’s marketplace comparison side with its content assets.

As a result, the team now has an advanced understanding of customer data.

With a DMP in place, MoneySmart can also collect behavioural data of everyone who visits the site (e.g. what content they are reading, which products they are comparing, and whether they have already converted into a customer). The company then uses this data to create highly specific audience segments.

Also Read: MoneySmart founder Vinod Nair on why his company will never lose its relevance

“One of the biggest channels for customer acquisition is taking that first-party data and using it to drive retargeting to re-engage those customers that were on our platform who might not have converted or who might not have finished their research or education process,” he explains.

Armed with first-party data, MoneySmart can also leverage third-party data like Facebook’s lookalike audiences, for the purpose of retargeting campaigns.

Looking to take it one step further, Harling is now planning to transition the company’s DMP system into a customer data platform (CDP). Unlike a DMP, which gives an overall look at the audience, a CDP would provide the MoneySmart team with a clearer view of individual customers and their activities. Thus, the marketing department could make informed decisions about each and every case.

For example, the team could personalise their messaging and offer better solutions to users.

“And then, suddenly acquisition becomes less important. It’s more about retention and customer lifetime value in a digital marketing play,” he adds.

Because of this dynamic, Harling is not overly concerned with the imminent arrival of a ‘cookieless’ world. He says, “Our retargeting efforts aren’t reliant on third-party data.”

As an alternative, however, he does think it’s a good idea for marketers to explore second-party data (leveraging first-party data from other businesses). That said, it can be tricky to overlay both data assets (first-party and second-party) while avoiding a potential conflict of interests.

MoneySmart’s user acquisition play

Another crucial aspect of MoneySmart’s marketing success, according to the CMO, is its content. SimilarWeb estimates that more than 80 per cent of the company’s traffic comes from organic search.

The company’s most mature product, MoneySmart Singapore, is estimated to serve around 1.3 million visitors each month. Harling says that the team has historically invested a lot of time into content and has become a well-known independent voice around personal finance in Singapore.

Currently, 4,000 out of MoneySmart.sg’s 7,600 pages are blog posts, while the rest are part of the marketplace’s product pages. David says that these articles are optimised around the ‘discovery’ and ‘consideration’ parts of the marketing funnel (as opposed to pushing for the final transaction).

Also Read: Singapore finance portal MoneySmart raises US$10M to boost presence in APAC

In this way, the editorial team can focus on crafting what they know is meaningful content for consumers at various life stages.

Beginning his marketing career in the search department, the now-CMO notes that Google’s SEO algorithm is different in each geographic market.

This is one of the reasons the team uses different languages for each site: English (Singapore, Hong Kong, and the Philippines), Cantonese (Hong Kong), and Traditional Mandarin (Taiwan).

According to Moz, MoneySmart Singapore has garnered an impressive 717,000 inbound links from 4,800 domains. Harling says that inbound links are more of a quality game than a quantity game. He notes that the team regularly receives strong SEO juice from Yahoo Finance Singapore and MSN thanks to a news syndication strategy.

According to him, Google may become even smarter soon, going beyond links when scoring websites. “I think they look at brand mentions. And so any sort of organic PR or editorial strategy can carry some weight,” he explains.

He reminds marketers that they still need to provide the very best platform experience to users. In this respect, things like site speed and UX truly matter.

Harling is also considering how strategic distribution partnerships for MoneySmart’s content may look in the near future. According to him, this could mean letting other businesses carry and publish MoneySmart’s assets.

These partnerships could potentially help David’s marketing team extend the site’s reach, while also controlling the rising costs of essential tools like Google and Facebook.

In early 2018, for example, MoneySmart partnered with Singapore’s online marketplace Carousell. Carousell users were able to discover recommended financial listings (MoneySmart’s product pages) quickly inside of the app.

Don’t just think about user acquisition

Harling advises fellow marketers not to focus solely on customer acquisition, but pay attention to the overall customer experience.

Also Read: Branding lessons from a first-time startup CMO caught up in a pandemic

He explains, “You can have the most efficient customer acquisition machine. But if you fail to deliver on the experience, essentially, you’ll find yourself re-recruiting that same person […] as opposed to retaining that person and actually giving them an experience that matters.”

Marketers will end up spending more on user acquisition if they don’t care about customer experience. CMOs, in particular, should start caring about customer experience to retain and lengthen customer lifetime value.

“For any business, your attitudes toward marketing should strongly connect to the needs of customers right now,” explains Harling, adding that such needs can be dynamic and change quickly in a three-to-six-month window.

In MoneySmart’s case, the marketing team has identified that customers in Singapore are already financially disciplined, and they’re now looking to protect themselves, even as the pandemic winds down.

This has driven tangible demand for insurance, and the company is now doubling down on related content marketing efforts.

When it comes to producing meaningful, original content, he adds, “I would encourage you to really understand your target consumers, and what’s important for them, as opposed to what you think they want.”

This article appeared first on ContentGrip.

–

Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. This season we are seeking op-eds, analysis and articles on food tech and sustainability. Share your opinion and earn a byline by submitting a post.

Join our e27 Telegram group, FB community or like the e27 Facebook page

The post How did MoneySmart grow its revenue by 25 per cent amidst a pandemic? appeared first on e27.

Malaysian integrated digital media group, iMedia, has signed an agreement to acquire 100 per cent stake in Lovelife Technologies, owner of community online beauty store Favful.

The financial details remain undisclosed.

This acquisition marks iMedia’s entry into the commerce business and is in line with its mission of becoming an integrated digital media group.

According to a press statement, iMedia will be responsible for the acceleration of Favful’s revenue for its influencer advertising unit as well as branded content. It is also tasked to generate lifestyle content and engagement around its website and social media platforms.

Also Read: Malaysian digital media group REV Asia to acquire iMEDIA for US$9.6M

As part of the deal, all social media assets from Favful will be fully merged into iMedia’s ecosystem.

“The current technology behind Favful’s platform allows it to analyse the sentiments of our users and community’s voices, giving us the opportunity to understand their interest and demand better and will now be extended to the online websites of iMedia to deliver more targeted content that is relevant to our users,” said Voon Tze Khay, CEO and co-founder of iMedia.

Founded by CEO Sasha Tan, Favful’s social commerce platform curates recommendations from its community members based on the customers’ skin type, skin concerns, and lifestyle choices. This is done by combining crowd intelligence from its community preference intelligence generated through machine learning.

“Since our launch in 2016, Favful has grown into a trusted community marketplace. We house over 3,000 beauty and lifestyle influencer members reaching out to potentially 146 million social media audiences. By integrating this reach with ITTIFY (iMedia’s existing influencer agency), our combined social media audience reach is well over 172 million,” said Tan.

iMedia owns and provides digital advertising and marketing, customised content production, and solutions for popular local language sites, premium video streaming networks, and social influencer platforms. Over the past year, the company invested in/acquired half a dozen companies, including OhMedia, Ittify, Goody25, BeautifulNara, and Moretify.

As per a press statement, the iMedia network of owned and managed websites currently reaches over 15 million Malaysians every month.

Also Read: iMedia acquires BeautifulNara to expand its digital media footprint within Malaysia

“Together with the wide-reach audience network and distribution strength of iMedia, we are confident to expand Favful’s community to become a fully integrated digital platform in the media, commerce, and influencer marketing business that will provide our customers and consumers the solutions and experience that matters. One of the key areas of focus is to accelerate Favful’s and all of iMedia’s brands social and live commerce initiatives and expanding beyond the beauty lifestyle segment,” said iMedia’s Tze Khay.

iMedia claims it is looking to complete its IPO on Bursa Malaysia via its own acquisition by Rev Asia, currently listed on Bursa Malaysia for approximately MYR40 million (US$9.81 million). Upon approval by regulators and shareholders, the Favful acquisition will be part of iMedia’s move to Bursa Malaysia.

—
Image Credit: iMedia

The post iMedia enters e-commerce by acquiring Malaysia’s community beauty store Favful appeared first on e27.

Singapore-based logistics and supply chain management integrator, Locad, has raised US$4.9 million in a seed round led by Sequoia Capital India’s Surge.

Other backers include Antler, Febe Ventures, Foxmont, Global Founders Capital, the Gokongwei Family, Hustle Fund, and unnamed angels.

Locad was launched in 2020 by ex-Zalora and ex-Grab executives Constantin Robertz, Jannis Dargel, and Shrey Jain. They decided to create the startup when they realised that not everyone with online business has knowledge about running logistics.

Also Read: Locad founder on building SEAs first cloud logistics network in the midst of COVID-19

“I figured that not every brand, retailer and business that want to sell online should have to go through figuring out how to build warehouses, the tech that supports it and runs their logistics. Because of that, we built Locad as the on-demand supply chain and fulfillment network for e-commerce brands so they can focus on selling more and developing great products and not figuring out how to run warehouses and logistics,” said Robertz.

Through its platform, brands can manage their orders and stocks from a single virtual pool across multiple sales channels, with visibility of sales, orders, inventory, and service levels.

Locad’s customers also have the opportunity to integrate with e-commerce platforms such as Shopify, WooCommerce, Amazon, Shopee, Lazada and Zalora.

The startup is currently a part of Surge’s fifth cohort of 23 companies.

“We are now serving more than 30 brands across the Philippines, Singapore, and Australia, helping small businesses to some of the largest retailers deliver tens of thousands of items each month. We’re excited to be providing logistics infrastructures to e-commerce businesses of any size in these countries and we will continue to grow our presence across the region,” shared Dargel.

The logistics market in Southeast Asia is expected to total US$55.7 billion by 2025 – demonstrating the growing demand and necessity for flexible, technology-enabled solutions.

—

Join our e27 Telegram group, FB community, or like the e27 Facebook page

Image Credit:  Locad

The post Locad lands US$4.9M seed funding to provide logistics infra for e-commerce businesses appeared first on e27.

Pickupp, a Hong kong-based on-demand delivery startup with operations in Singapore, Malaysia, and Taiwan, announced today that it has closed its ~US$15 million in Series A and Series A+ financing round from a group of regional strategic investors.

The Series A+ round was led by Taiwan e-commerce giant PChome and Cornerstone Ventures. They were joined by existing investor Swire Properties, and new investors including Cathay Venture, DRIVE Catalyst (the corporate venture arm of Far Eastern Group) from Taiwan, and the Jardine Matheson Group and Zipx from Hong Kong.

The Series A funding process commenced in November 2020 and came from Vision+ Capital, Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund, Cyberport Macro Fund, Swire Properties New Ventures and SparkLabs Taipei.

Also Read: Pickupp snags Series A funding to expand last-mile logistics platform in Southeast Asia

Pickupp will use the fresh injection of funds to accelerate its expansion in Taiwan and deepen its presence in existing markets. It also plans to add at least 10 more dispatch points in Singapore within the next 12 months. Besides enabling to cope with growing demand in Singapore, the additional points would also help the startup utilise its walker network more.

A part of the funds raised will also go into building new strategic partnerships to enhance its digital offerings across Shop On Pickupp, a one-stop e-commerce platform offering all-rounded payment and tech-enabled delivery solutions for businesses in 2020.

“The pandemic has triggered a seismic shift in consumer behaviour, it has led to droves of retailers moving their business online and scaling up their digital presence to meet the surging demand. Over the past year, we’ve seen more retailers looking for reliable, flexible, and faster delivery solutions,” said Crystal Pang, Co-founder and CEO of Pickupp. “This round of funding will help us to fuel our expansion in Taiwan and other markets, as well as diversify our product portfolio and offerings based on the needs of each market.”

“Through our tech-driven solutions and services, we will be able to significantly enhance the support we provide to SMEs and help them to meet the growing demand of the digital economy,” Crystal added.

Founded in 2016, Pickupp provides flexible, tech-driven logistics solutions. Through its “highly optimised” batching and chaining technology, customers can book a delivery anytime, while real-time GPS tracking provides end-to-end transparency.

Pickupp claims it provides logistics support to 20,000-plus businesses — spanning MNCs, logistics giants as well as retail and e-commerce — across Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, and Taiwan. It also has a team of over 100,000 delivery agents across all these cities.

Lee Chee Meng, Co-COO at Pickupp Singapore, said: “We have seen a 20 per cent increase in the demand for Pickupp’s express deliveries in Singapore just over the last month. The support we receive from our investors is timely and beneficial as it enables us to grow our satellite dispatch network across the country, minimising the travelling distance for our agents to support faster and more efficient last-mile deliveries for our customers.”

Also Read: ​​Hong Kong startup Pickupp raises funding from Alibaba, Spark Ventures, Axis Capital

To date, Pickupp claims its user base has grown by 250 per cent since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020, with over 100,000 delivery agents onboard across all regions. The startup has become a platform of choice, as the last mile for MNCs and the first step for startups and SMEs.

In December 2018, ​​​​​​​Pickupp had bagged an undisclosed sum in pre-Series A, led by Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund.

In a new forecast by Forrester, online retail sales in the Asia Pacific region will grow from US$1.5 trillion in 2019 to US$2.5 trillion in 2024, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.3 per cent.

—

Image Credit: Pickupp

The post Pickupp closes US$15M Series A to add 10 new dispatch points in SG, enter Taiwan appeared first on e27.