Southeast Asia is witnessing a boom in the internet economy, along with online shopping. Now is the perfect opportunity for brands to introduce products and services through online mediums using commerce content.

This year, Southeast Asia witnessed more online shopping growth than any other region in the world. This ever-changing retail landscape allows brands to explore new marketing strategies. 

With rising internet usage and penetration rates, it is important for brands to connect with audiences beyond traditional advertising.  

Shoppers are turning toward better ways to research, purchase, and review products, including social media and content publishers that partner with consumer products. Between 2020 and 2021, the number of people in Southeast Asia using social media videos to find and buy products tripled. 

Engaging blogs, videos, or social media posts from trusted content creators carry more influence than outdated “click here/buy now” ads. 

That’s why more brands rely on commerce content to build authentic connections with potential customers. This strategic partnership happens when brands and media (social channels, websites, blogs, or mass media publishers) create shopping experiences that provide genuine reviews, recommendations, and product advice. Here’s how they do it. 

How commerce content supports creators and brands alike

As companies build lasting partnerships with social media influencers and online creators (“publishers”), both sides expand their reach and earn more revenue. Through editorial posts, content creators recommend and review products to their trusted followers. 

For brands, this marketing strategy is an affordable and highly customisable way to reach their ideal consumer. Rather than casting an impossibly wide net to find potential customers through expensive advertising, brands build rapport with content creators to get their products in front of highly engaged audiences. These creators provide honest reviews, demonstrations, unboxing videos, and more to showcase their experience with the product. 

On the publisher side, creators get products in front of their followers ready to purchase, while earning the chance to receive a commission for each sale. Followers are more likely to trust reviews, feedback, and demonstrations from influencers, publishers, and creators than they are from cold ads served up through social media.  

A report published by Impact.com and WARC titled “Aligning marketers and influencers” shows that long-term relationships between influencers and brands create better results. These content partnerships are most effective when:

• Brands communicate their key performance indicators (KPIs) to influencers upfront.
• The brand’s goals align with the influencers and vice versa.
• The content feels genuine.
• The content is relevant to the targeted audience.
• The content guides the audience’s buyer journey.

How Southeast Asian brands successfully use commerce content 

Successful partnerships start with a strong foundation and effective tools. With an industry-leading partnership platform like Impact.com, brands and publishers can build strong partnerships from recruiting through payments and beyond. 

Finding the right publisher partnerships for your brand

With the Southeast Asian shopping market covering many nations, regions, languages, and communities, brands must diversify their partnership channels. When you identify how to best communicate with new audiences, you’re more likely to convert. That’s because consumers respond better to content in their language or content geared toward their community.

Recently, the international women’s fashion brand Love, Bonito looked for a better way to gain traction and brand awareness in Southeast Asia. After implementing a successful affiliate marketing channel in the US, Love, Bonito’s team recognised how powerful content partnerships are for increasing reach and revenue. 

Using Impact.com’s purpose-built dashboard, discovery tools, and flexible commission structures, Love, Bonito’s team widened their focus and connected with many different publishers. From local influencers to larger content creators, this strategy helped the brand hit 253 per cent revenue growth quarter over quarter. Rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach to partnerships, Love, Bonito created a highly successful, efficient, and scalable commerce content strategy. 

Optimising commerce content with powerful automation

Automation also plays a crucial role in effective content strategies. As the largest online fashion and lifestyle retailer in Southeast Asia, Zalora used Impact.com’s advanced automation tools to streamline its commerce content channel and make the most of each partnership. 

Zalora’s team was slowed down by manual procedures, tricky onboarding challenges, and varying business needs. These hurdles harmed the publisher and customer experiences – and slowed potential growth for Zalora. 

After implementing Impact.com’s automation features, the team saved time and kicked their partnerships into high gear. Zalora’s referral program grew by 150 per cent – along with the activation rate increasing by 450 per cent. Instead of wasting time on each step, Zalora added tools into its workflow, so it could focus on building relationships with publishers and reaching new audiences through authentic reviews, demonstrations, and editorials. 

Content is the future of marketing for retail

The commerce content channel is perfectly positioned to combine engaging blogs, social media posts, and editorials with high-quality brands. Through the right influencers and niche content creators, brands connect with their target audience deeply, benefitting from the established trust between publishers and their audiences. 

When done right, everyone wins with commerce content: brands find their ideal customers, publishers earn commissions, and customers discover fantastic new brands. 

Want to find out more about commerce content and connect with Impact.com’s dedicated team in Southeast Asia? Contact grow@impact.com.