Southeast Asia’s retail landscape underwent a game-changing revolution during the COVID-19 pandemic. With e-commerce growth skyrocketing in recent years, online shopping has gone from being an exception to a norm within consumer habits. Combined with social media and advancing artificial intelligence technology, the retail industry is now ready for its next evolution.
In the last decade, e-commerce sales have increased every year and are now forecasted to double between now and 2026. At the same time, Southeast Asian retail businesses have increasingly pivoted their customer experiences towards social media and instant messaging.
Together, they have come to form conversational commerce – or c-commerce. Essentially, this is the use of messaging applications, chatbots, and other communication channels to allow interactions between customers and businesses with the aim of enhancing the shopping experience. Customers can interact with companies in real-time, receive tailored suggestions, and make transactions without leaving the conversation or losing that connection.
Conversational commerce is expected to bring $12 billion to the e-commerce market by the end of 2023. In Singapore, where almost half of consumers use apps such as Whats App and Facebook Messenger for shopping, demand for conversational commerce is rapidly accelerating.
For Southeast Asian retailers, c-commerce presents an opportunity to drive customer engagement at an unprecedented scale. The region boasts a high mobile internet penetration, a mobile-first generation, and a hugely active social media population. In short, it is ideal for c-commerce to thrive.
Enhance and deliver
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Conversational commerce is not a new term, originally coined in 2015 by Uber’s developer experience lead, Chris Messina. At the time, it covered any consumer business that used a conversational platform or messaging app to speak to its customers directly.
Over the years, this has evolved to encompass online chatbots and some instant messaging services that sat alongside helplines and emails. However, the talent crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic crippled many of these human-led customer centres. And now, thanks to advances in generative AI and natural language processing (NLP), retailers are better positioned to use c-commerce as a viable alternative.
C-commerce tools enable businesses to uncover a customer’s query or issue early on and steer them towards a resolution swiftly and seamlessly. In simple cases, the AI bot can resolve the query itself. If not, they can ensure the customer is directed to the right person or department, thereby avoiding long phone calls.
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In addition, c-commerce serves as an interactional exchange that can improve the online shopping experience for a customer. Customers can enter into this exchange at any point of their buyer’s journey, from the discovery and awareness stage to the consideration and purchase stage. C-commerce use can include prompts, product recommendations or inquiries as to whether the customer needs assistance. It should reduce the need for telephonic support in a buyer’s journey and accelerate the path to purchase.
AI-powered conversational tools take this one step further. These ensure every interaction is fully automated, but still personalised to the individual. The chance of human error or delay is also reduced with AI. As a bonus, the more AI chat tools interact with consumers, the more information can be gleaned about their tastes and preferences. This will allow marketers to continue personalising and tailoring the customer’s experience.
However, capitalising on the c-commerce opportunity means more than just investing in technology. It also means always considering customer needs and preferences, from the content and messaging to the time and medium of delivery.
WhatsApp, iMessage and Instagram have become the favourites of business messaging as these form a fully-immersed part of consumers’ lives. Being connected to consumers means finding them where they’re most likely to be engaged. WhatsApp in particular offers more possibilities than just information about new deals and offers. Sephora Singapore, for example, allows customers to use the app to organise orders and collections. The Straits Times, meanwhile, uses it as another means of communication and a way to forge deeper connections with readers.
C-commerce has the power to steer retail brands into a new era of communications and shopping experiences. The tools are there, the demand is high, and the market is ripe for the taking.
Saurabh Madan is the general manager of SEA, ANZ & Japan at MoEngage
