The TV commercial with CR7 attracts 35 million online view. — VNS Photo Thu Ngân

Thu Ngân

HCM CITY — In september, e-commerce company Shopee surprised its customers by announcing it had signed up football star Cristiano Ronaldo as its brand ambassador and he would be a part of a number of its campaigns.

The benefits began to flow immediately.

The TV commercial for its 9.9 promotion campaign in which he appeared went viral globally, attracting over 35 million online views in less than a month. His livestream on the company’s channel got over 1 million viewers.

The 9.9 sale saw turnover triple from the previous year.

The success this start-up has achieved by signing up Ronaldo underlines a rising new trend driven by engagement and social features in the digital economy.

Digital companies, including those in e-commerce, have organised many programmes and social features to strengthen engagement and interaction with customers.

Many other companies like ride hailing platform Grab and e-wallet MoMo have also strengthened engagement with the customer by organising social features and games.

MoMo at Lunar New Year 2019 organised a game called Lắc Xì 2019 which attracted 4.5 million users. During a ‘golden’ hour one million users played at the same time.

Another game called Tường Lửa also attracted over a million users.

Shopee told Việt Nam News that it has expanded in-app games and interactive features so that users could have more fun on the app.

They include the 1st AR game in Southeast Asia, Shopee Catch, which has been played over 60 million times across the region. 

Users can also have real-time interaction with Shopee Quiz, which has been played over 11 million times.

Interactive live streaming, Shopee Live, across all markets has recorded over 200 million views so far. More than three million brands and sellers have access to Shopee Live.

Chris Feng, the company’s CEO, told Việt Nam News that there are plans to make e-commerce engaging and social for everyone in the region.

“We want to make online shopping a simple experience that brings happiness.”

Talking about the trend, Dong Hyun Kim, associate director of e-business, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa at P&G, said: “Shoppers are expecting an effortless shopping experience, they want products to come to them at the time of their choice and their terms. Increasingly, shoppers want a personalised shopping experience based on who they are and what they shop for. Therefore, we have introduced innovative and new ways to cultivate customer loyalty.

“More choices, personalisation and to be socially engaged. These are a few critical reasons why customers like to buy online.”

Concurring, Visna Lim, APAC chief digital officer, L'Oréal (consumer products division), said: “Consumers are looking for more than just a transactional experience when they shop online; they want more services and new, personalised experiences.”

For example, thanks to an engaging programme, consumers could try more than 500 shades of lipsticks across her company’s popular brands like L’Oréal Paris, Maybelline New York and NYX professional Makeup, she said.

“E-commerce offers a new playground for us. It offers a new channel for us to develop in new markets and optimise customer outreach.” 

The trend is expected to further grow since it is very profitable for merchants, she said.

Lim said Southeast Asia has among the youngest populations and highest rates of video consumption in the world.

L’Oreal has been seeing rapid growth in online purchases of beauty and cosmetics products, she said.

“We experienced a very positive uplift in sales at an online channel across their seven markets during the International Lipstick Week campaign in July.

“We engaged our users with a variety of unique content and services. As a result, L’Oréal saw a 30-fold rise in sales during the peak day of International Lipstick Week compared to an average day in 2019.”

One lipstick was sold every 30 seconds across the region during this week, she added. 

Shopee too said top performing sellers see orders more than triple when they use Shopee Live. — VNS