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.

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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.

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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.

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Image Credit: TWG Tea

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