Former Reckitt ASEAN commerce lead joins Wunderman Thompson APAC

Aadit Bimbhet, former ASEAN head of D2C eCommerce at Reckitt, has joined Wunderman Thompson Asia Pacific as regional commerce director. Bimbhet (pictured right) will help grow the agency's commerce capability and continue to deliver seamless commerce solutions for clients that bridge the gap between inspiration and conversion.

He has more than a decade of experience in the Asia Pacific commerce space with leadership roles covering the region. At Reckitt, he focused on its health and nutrition portfolio, according to his LinkedIn. He also built and managed a team of 14 people spread across acquisition, conversion, retention, supply and operations. Before that, he was with Luxasia as GM, eCommerce, Asia Pacific, during which he was responsible for the P&L for esentials in Singapore and for freyja in the Philippines, his LinkedIn added.
He has also worked at full-service eCommerce enabler SP Commerce for more than four years, where he helped launch 12 D2C stores across six Asia Pacific countries.

Meanwhile, Bimbhet has also worked with a portfolio of global and regional brands including adidas, Uniqlo, Under Armour, Nestle, Canon, Muji, Levi’s and Philips. According to him, eCommerce in Asia Pacific has seen massive growth during the pandemic and as millions of new consumers come online, brands need a holistic and seamless eCommerce strategy to attract and retain them.

"The future belongs to brands that combine technology, creativity and insight to build experiences that excite and delight. I’m excited to join the Wunderman Thompson team and help brands succeed in eCommerce in Asia Pacific," he added.

Kaythaya Maw, chief technology officer of Wunderman Thompson Asia Pacific, said over the past year, commerce has become the fastest growing area of the Wunderman Thompson business and it is thrilled to keep this momentum going. "Bimbhet brings both a strategic and nuanced understanding of e-commerce within the region, and will help us continue to drive growth for our clients by narrowing the gap between inspiration and transaction," he added.

According to Wunderman Thompson's recent Future Shopper Report, online shopping will form 51% of retail sales globally in the post-pandeic world. Nearly three-quarters of the 28,000 consumers surveyed globally said online shopping came to their rescue in 2020, with Thailand at the top of the global ranking with 94% of consumers agreeing with the sentiment. Majority of respondents (73%) said eCommerce would be more important to them in 2021.

Marketplaces have gained from this trend, with 42% of all online spend globally going to the likes of Amazon, Alibaba, JD.com, Mercado Libre and eBay. In Asia Pacific, marketplaces other than Amazon account for a third (33%) of all purchases, led by Japan at 45% and Thailand coming in at 41%.

Although marketplaces are winning across the globe, there remains hope for branded direct-to-consumer sites. Over one quarter (29%) of shoppers in China said they have used branded direct-to-consumer sites as a source of inspiration, putting the channel third behind dominant marketplaces like Taobao and Tmall, and social media.

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