It’s always interesting to look at the trends from Meta’s Seasonal Holidays Study, and one thing to note this year is how carefully and how far in advance people are planning for end-of-year purchases.
Shoppers, especially the younger generation, agree that planning ahead financially for the holiday season is more important than ever. Mega Sales Days (MSDs) are acting as catalysts, with their promise of delivering good bargains, entertainment and cultural relevance.
Clearly, MSDs are here to stay, as the Asia Pacific (APAC) region recorded the highest MSD participation rate last year. Our survey showed that a whopping 83 per cent of year-end shoppers in APAC made a purchase during an MSD compared to the global average of 70 per cent (in partnership with YouGov, we surveyed 14,009 people aged 18+ in December 2022 across 12 APAC markets). APAC also saw the largest increase in MSD spending at US$382 per person, which amounts to a 13 per cent increase vs the global average, which is a five per cent increase.
It’s interesting to note that APAC shoppers are still spending despite caution around global economic headwinds; they’re more open to discovering new products and services during the MSD season. This means businesses will need to rely on supercharging discovery more than ever.
AI-powered social discovery
Our survey shows that more shoppers are leaning towards social platforms for discovery and inspiration during the year-end shopping season, with reliance on in-store, search and store websites falling compared to previous years.
This was even starker when it came to purchases, with offline purchasing dropping six percentage points to 56 per cent compared to 62 per cent in 2022. Meanwhile, online purchasing increased to 87 per cent in 2022, compared to 81 per cent in 2021.
In fact, 67 per cent of APAC shoppers agreed that brands and products discovered on Meta technologies during the sales season are more relevant than those discovered on other platforms. Short-form videos emerged as powerful brand awareness drivers during the sales season, with 57 per cent of those surveyed saying they discovered new brands and products through short-form videos on social platforms.
This behaviour is especially pronounced in Gen Z and Millennials, with over 70 per cent saying they are always browsing online for shopping inspiration with a clear preference for short videos as discovery tools.
Also Read: The growth of business messaging: How it’s improving business performance in Southeast Asia
Our survey also uncovered some stark differences between Gen Z and Millennials. Gen Z shoppers appear to be more impulsive; 46 per cent of Gen Z shoppers took immediate action after discovering a brand/product by adding it to their carts, whereas for over half of Millennials (52 per cent), the online discovery led them to do more online research.
AI-driven mega sales
As we all know, something feels new this year, and that is the massive opportunity businesses have to use AI to build powerful connections with the growing ranks of Asia’s mega-sale shoppers.
So just as shoppers are planning early, marketers need to do the same if they are to offer customers value and remain competitive in a tight market. AI can help businesses automate campaigns or analyse performance and compare what works best at scale, and drive more efficient use of resources.
This is where our mature AI targeting technologies come into play, connecting businesses with valuable audiences at scale while respecting people’s choices on how their data is used. Meta Advantage is our suite of ad automation tools that help businesses maximise the performance benefits of AI to deliver superior campaign results.
Meta Advantage does this by allowing businesses to automate any or all of their campaigns. We invest in AI to help advertisers find, convert and keep customers through a variety of business objectives in a diversity of creative formats that flex to achieve outcomes that matter most to specific business growth. Put simply, AI can drive better performance by enabling brands to surprise and delight customers by intuitively serving up products they love – even before they’d even considered them.
Take the example of Pomelo, the Thai digital fashion platform that worked with us to automate some of its processes. They tested a Meta Advantage+ shopping campaign which uses machine learning to help brands reach audiences who are most likely to engage and convert.
Compared to manually created ads, Advantage+ shopping campaigns require fewer inputs during campaign creation, simplify audience options, and streamline the ad creative process. Pomelo relied on Meta’s powerful machine-learning technology to determine the best budget split to reach new and existing audiences. They achieve 2.1 times higher return on ad spend compared to the usual campaign setup.
Businesses can also use Meta Advantage for strategic targeting of segments to improve engagement and personalisation. Take the segment of ‘influencer followers’ that we identified. For this segment, creators have a stronger impact than brands when it comes to product awareness, consideration and purchase.
Among the subset of shoppers who follow creators, 79 per cent said they participated in MSD as they saw a promotion by a creator. Overall, 53 per cent agreed they look for creator/influencer recommendations to make holiday shopping decisions.
AI-assisted business messaging
One in two year-end shoppers also used Meta’s business messaging tools for inquiries, updates, tracking orders, returns and refunds management, payment/in-app checkout, and to access FAQs via chat automation or a chatbot.
Also Read: Future-proofing businesses and talent through technology
In Hong Kong, IKEA has implemented a Messenger-powered automated experience and promoted its automated care via Messenger Ads. Since doing so, IKEA Hong Kong has successfully improved the quality of its customer service and seen 300 per cent growth for Messenger as a customer care channel over a two-year period.
We are also seeing more businesses leveraging AI chatbots to provide instant customer support, guide users in purchasing decisions, and even upsell or cross-sell products, and this is all only set to grow.
AI-powered solutions and strategies
- Start early: Build enthusiasm early by setting earlier promotions or planning to launch new products to gain momentum. Leverage AI-driven solutions to hyper-personalise discoveries for shoppers that encourage conversion.
- Partner with creators: Collaborate with creators who align with your brand values and leverage co-branded marketing channels to spread the word.
- Harness AI to personalise at scale: With key segments in mind, increase your target audience by looking for new customers. Tap into AI, machine learning and business messaging to find the right audience at the right time at the best price.
To learn more about our solutions, click here.
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Image credit: Meta
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