Southeast Asia was among the first regions to experience the full-scale impact of COVID-19. During these times, multiple industries and business verticals have witnessed the effect of a shift in consumer behaviour, both positive and negative.

MoEngage analysed over 650 million mobile app users in Southeast Asia and translated their behaviour into an easy-to-understand graph by plotting new users (downloads) and active users (DAUs) of some of the top consumer apps in different business verticals. This quadrant is a part of MoEngage’s report on the business impact of COVID-19 on global apps.

The Explosion quadrant has industries and apps that have seen a surge in both new and active users.
The Growth quadrant represents industries that have seen an increase in active users, but a decrease in new users.
The Slowdown quadrant, on the other hand, consists of industries that have seen a decline in both new and active users.
The last quadrant, Emergence, denotes a decrease in active users, but an increase in new users

Travel and Hospitality

Countries in Southeast Asia, especially Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia, were the first ones to put up domestic and international travel restrictions. This resulted in a complete stop of flights both to and fro from these countries – which naturally led to a steady decline in both new and active users for OTAs.

OTAs saw a 37 per cent decline in daily active users around the last week of February 2020, which went up to 50 per cent by the end of March 2020. On the Hospitality side, major hotel booking and lodging apps have shown a downward slump from as early as the second week of February.

Also Read: How are Asian startups dealing with the side effects of COVID-19?

Businesses in Southeast Asia implemented WFH protocols earlier than most regions – which meant a complete stop of business travels and cancellation of all seminars, events, and conferences. This led up to a 30 per cent decline in downloads and a 10 per cent decrease in active users of hotel booking apps and apps that provide lodging and homestay experiences.

One of the most common use-cases for Mobility apps was regular travel to and fro from work. Naturally, due to the WFH protocols, there is up to an eight per cent decline in active users, and about a 25 per cent decline in new users since mid-February in Southeast Asia.

Online conference and media apps

Work-from-home protocols have caused meetings to move from a physical setup to virtual rooms. In fact, the number and frequency of online events have increased since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

More and more brands are conducting webinars, virtual meetups, and roundtable discussions over video chat apps. This has led to about a 200 per cent increase in active users for video chat and online conference apps in Southeast Asia.

Honestly, though this trend was kind of expected, the percentage increase is definitely a head-turner. Zoom, arguably the leader in this cohort, has seen more than a 300 per cent surge in its new user base since the first week of March. Microsoft Teams (including Skype) and Google Meets are the next big names in this list.

Also Read: Survival vs growth: ShopBack co-founder shares 3 golden rules to withstand the pandemic

There is one app, however, that deserves a shout-out – Houseparty. Saying Houseparty’s organic, word-of-mouth growth has been meteoric is an understatement. The app has gone absolutely viral, reporting as much as a five-digit growth rate in app downloads in March.

There was a scare, however, for a while for Houseparty and its parent company Life On Air Inc, when there were allegations of data breaches and privacy concerns. However, these claims were denied.

Just as video conferencing apps have seen a surge in users, media & entertainment apps have witnessed more than a 20 per cent increase in new and active users. Recreation has moved online – people are consuming more online content, streaming more videos, and watching a lot more TV shows and movies.

Now, this trend has proven to be quite harmful to theatres. Movie production houses are looking at Direct-to-OTT releases, which is causing turmoil among theatre owners.

Back in 1998, when Netflix started as a DVD rental service, it reshaped the way people consumed long-form video content – primarily due to the convenience factor of watching a movie on-demand in the comfort of your home, without any commercials. This pandemic is perhaps an indication of another significant shift that will be spoken about for years to come.

Real estate apps

The impact this pandemic has had on the Real Estate industry and rental service apps is quite predictable. In Southeast Asia, there is about a 19 per cent decline in new users and an eight per cent decrease in active users.

Also Read: How are Asian startups dealing with the side effects of COVID-19?

Respecting quarantine and lockdown protocols, Southeast Asians aren’t shifting houses or purchasing new properties currently. The real estate and rental services giant, Zillow, saw a downward trend in new app downloads as well as daily active users. The company, in fact, has seen a combined worldwide drop in downloads by about 24 per cent – which to them is a big decrease considering the number of users is in millions.

As long as social distancing policies continue, house hunting will be the last of peoples’ concerns. Online shopping for groceries and essentials is going to keep us all busy for the time being.

Online shopping and food delivery apps

Speaking of online shopping, apps in Southeast Asia have seen a 40 per cent increase in active users in March 2020 – particularly for grocery deliveries and essential services. Although physical stores and retail outlets are functioning, people are opting to get their essentials and grocery items delivered to their doorstep to avoid travelling outside.

E-commerce apps need to figure out what products are favourable to consumers today. Looking at what product categories customers are visiting and using Google trends to find out if the search volume for specific terms has changed is a good starting point.

Food delivery apps have witnessed a 21 per cent increase in new users during the COVID-19 pandemic. Restaurant partners are taking WHO mandated steps and safety protocols to maintain hygiene in their kitchens. They’re sanitising packaging equipment and are ensuring regular temperature checks for their delivery partners.

One interesting reason behind an increase in active users for food delivery apps is also the fact that people have started “gifting” food to their family members by ordering on their behalf. There is an increase in the order frequency of comfort food like desserts, especially during dinner time.

Also Read: How to scale blockchain as COVID-19 hits traditional markets

Healthcare apps

There is an interesting trend in downloads and DAU for Healthcare apps, which is quite different from most businesses – the number of new users has increased by about 25 per cent, whereas the number of active users fell by 40 per cent. This trend implies that people in Southeast Asia are looking to solve particular pain points and want features that healthcare apps are unable to provide.

To combat this fall in active users, one notable healthcare brand, Alodokter, is taking an interesting step to engage their users. Alodokter has deployed real-time chatbots that help users with COVID-19 related queries and safety measures. The responses of the chatbots have been reviewed and approved by a panel of doctors. This chatbot has already interacted with more than a million users in less than a week!

Next steps for online businesses

First and foremost – businesses must use this time to revisit their strategies and figure out ways to adapt to the current times and for the near future. This is not business as usual. Right now, the customer’s current pain points supersede everything. Brands that understand their customers in these changing times will come out stronger.

Marketers must review all active and scheduled ad campaigns to check if they are relevant to the current situation of the customers. What was relevant a few weeks ago may no longer be useful to the customer today. If something is not working, turn off the campaign immediately and realign the remaining budget.

Businesses also have to diversify to other essential segments either by partnerships or on their own to engage and delight their users. Here are some steps different brands are taking during these times:

E-commerce giants across Southeast Asia like Blibli, Tokopedia, and Bukalapak are making sweeping changes to their business models to assist with the response to the coronavirus outbreak or to survive the crisis without going bust. A few brands have also switched to manufacturing hand sanitizers, and are sourcing material to produce PPE like masks and hospital gowns.

Food takeaway services like Foodpanda have already implemented a “no contact” service, giving customers who are self-isolating or keeping their distance from other people the option to have meals left on their doorstep.

Fitness apps like Strava and HealthifyMe have launched “workout from home” challenges and are gamifying the entire process by showing the scores of all their users and giving grades according to their performance.

Another point that businesses have to remember is to empathize with users and change the communication accordingly. Businesses don’t have to remind everyone that they’re in a pandemic – everyone knows that – instead they need to focus on what your users can do during the lockdown.

Read MoEngage’s report on the impact of COVID-19 on online businesses to get insights from North America, Europe, the Middle East, and India.

Note: If you prefer watching a video explaining how online businesses have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in Southeast Asia, you can check this out:

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