Shopee adds another new mega shopping event, ad tools for merchant marketing

In the last two years of the pandemic, Shopee Mall saw an eight times increase in the number of users shopping online at least once a month. To further ride on this wave, the eCommerce platform unveiled three marketing initiatives to grow brand awareness and build deeper brand affinity for its partner merchants.

To increase brand awareness through broader marketing efforts, Shopee is introducing a new mega shopping event on 15 March. There will also be four new Shopee Premium regional campaigns to help premium brands cater to the increasing demand for premium and luxury products online. Since its launch, the eCommerce brand said Shopee Premium has scaled efforts in reaching digital luxury shoppers, achieving eight times growth in traffic, and shoppers outside tier-one cities contributing to more than 50% of purchases.

At the same time, it will also build a new sampling channel to help brands in the FMCG, beauty and toys, kids and babies categories attract new shoppers. This feature enables shoppers to buy sample-sized products where they will also receive store vouchers to incentivise their next purchase. According to Shopee, this has shown to be an effective method in driving discovery and conversion as brands that participated in the pilot at last year’s 12.12 shopping event recruited up to 90% of new buyers.

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Elevating brand experiences with upgraded engagement tools

Shopee is also upgrading its suite of shopper engagement features to deliver more immersive, personalised, and entertaining experiences that aim to contribute to deeper brand affinity and loyalty. Shopee BeautyCam, an AR-enabled makeup try-on tool will be enhanced with new functions such as more colour shades and filters to provide a more immersive online shopping experience.

On average, Shopee said the tool has helped to drive conversion of up to three times higher for beauty brands. The eCommerce platform will also be tying up with more beauty brands to implement this feature for a wider variety of products.

At the same time, Shopee will also enable integration of the online and offline CRM programme for brands, streamlining the customer experience across channels while cultivating customer loyalty and retention. According to Shopee, Shopee Mall brand members tend to spend twice as much as non-members per transaction.

Meanwhile, as livestreaming continues to be an important tool to connect with shoppers, Shopee will be using AI to recommend more personalised livestream content and deals based on shopping behaviour and user interests.

Driving higher business performance with innovative solutions

Shopee has also expanded its suite of marketing solutions and tools to optimise marketing impact and returns for businesses. As part of this, it is deepening its collaboration with Meta, and will integrate Facebook Ads for its sellers. According to Shopee, Facebook Ads have been shown to deliver good campaign performance with sellers in the electronics category, achieving 14 times return on investment last year.

Also, brands on Shopee Mall can now purchase new homepage banner display ads to showcase their campaigns. Shopee explained that this will give them the highest exposure in-app and help to drive on-site traffic to their store and products. Last year, sales generated by Shopee Ads increased by 200% overall.

Additionally, brands can also access more insights on shopper demographics and segmentation to customise their eCommerce and marketing strategies. With a better understanding of customer preferences, brands will be able to improve their customer engagement and deliver a more personalised experience in-app.

These initiatives were announced at the Shopee Brands Summit 2022, which also saw the eCommerce platform unveil five brand partners that made it to the "Shopee 100 Million Dollar Club" - L’Oreal Group, Oppo, realme, Samsung and Xiaomi. The "Shopee 100 Million Dollar Club" is an exclusive programme launched last year that awards brands who achieve at least US$100 million in gross merchandise value with bonus perks, including a dedicated regional brand campaign.

Shopee's chief operating officer, Terence Pang, said the eCommerce platform was thankful for the tremendous support shown by its brand partners in 2021. As retail becomes hyper-digital and shopping online becomes integral to people’s lives, Pang added that Shopee believes there is huge room for growth in this region. "By working together with our brand partners, we will continue to expand and enhance Shopee Mall to serve more customers and scale to greater heights," said Pang. 

Separately, the popularity of eCommerce has also led to a rise in scams. As a result, Shopee Malaysia issued a warning earlier this week to the public to be wary of individuals impersonating the eCommerce platform's employees. According to the eCommerce platform, these individuals are said to offer employment opportunities, cash rewards, and lucky draws via messaging platforms, such as Whatsapp. Addressing the issue, Shopee said in a statement that it does not recruit employees through messaging platforms for purposes of "increasing the exposure rate of merchants". 

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