Google has released its latest e-Conomy SEA report in association with Temasek and Bain & Company, which reveals that Southeast Asia’s digital economy is set to enter a new phase of growth as it is expected to hit major milestones in 2024. While the profit from the digital economy is expected to increase by 24% and go past $11 billion this year, the gross merchandise value (GMV) is also slated to boost by 15% to reach $263 billion.
For sustaining a profitable growth and resonating with increasingly savvy digital consumers, businesses ought to double down on their marketing strategies. To that end, video marketing can be an effective tool as video commerce currently makes up for 20% of the e-Commerce sector’s GMV, and has registered a more than 4X jump from 2022.
So, based on the latest e-Conomy SEA report, here are three strategies that can help you engage Southeast Asian consumers via video campaigns.
1. Leveraging Full-Funnel Video Marketing Campaigns to Reach Digitally Fluent Consumers
Almost 65% of Southeast Asian consumers are now a part of the digital economy. That means that businesses need to update their marketing strategies. A key part of this overhaul would entail shifting their focus to their existing consumers, who contribute about 70% in the e-commerce growth.
Since the frequency of online purchases has gone up significantly over the last decade with shoppers buying across a wide range of products, the average basket sizes now tend to be smaller with buyers purchasing lower-priced items like groceries. However, the 3X increase in digital spending means that businesses need to win sales at every opportunity to overcome the issue of lower revenues per transaction.
Also, it is more likely than ever for consumers to chance upon a brand and purchase their products after having explored multiple options. This means that brands now need to be present throughout their customers’ purchase journeys, which would require them to connect their customers across the entire funnel on platforms where they are. For example, 86% of Southeast Asian consumers turn to YouTube when using video to research brands and purchases.
2. Engaging Shoppers With Relevant Video Content to Help Their Search
Along with increasing digital fluency, the search behaviors of shoppers are also evolving, which lets brands drive deeper engagement.
For instance, the digital economy sector searches involving four or more words have increased by 2X between 2020 and 2024, which means that searches are becoming increasingly specific. Also, the rise in searches for locally relevant content means that searches made in local languages in Southeast Asian countries have grown 1.4X from 2020 to 2024.
Shoppers are turning to online videos to satisfy their searches and YouTube’s diverse ecosystem of creators is playing a key role in providing them with localized content. Almost 88% of online creators post videos in their native languages. Hence, partnering with YouTube creators to dish out highly relevant ads can help brands engage shoppers as 43% of shoppers use video for product discovery, research, and transactions.
3. Leveraging “Shoppertainment” to Win Over Video Commerce Customers
While it is essential that businesses do their best to meet their customers’ needs and interests, they must also try to engage them by providing them with immersive video shopping experiences.
Brands are already leveraging the “shoppertainment” trend, an immersive experience that blends shopping with entertainment. Its GMV is expected to hit over $1 trillion in 2025. Brands can cater their customers by providing them with shoppertainment content to showcase their products, either on their video channels with creators or via live shopping.
One way of gaining video commerce traction is by tapping on to the YouTube Shopping affiliate program. This program, in partnership with Shopee, helps brands team up with creators for a seamless integration of their products into YouTube content across videos, Shorts, and livestreams.
Bottom Line
With the Southeast Asian digital economy on a continual rise, businesses must try to maximize upon the potential of video commerce to drive sales and win customers. And YouTube could be the perfect platform to convert digitally savvy Southeast Asian consumers.
To delve deeper into the findings of the report, download the entire report by clicking here.
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