New consumer needs revealed whitespace: Shoppertainment has arrived and it’s $1 Trillion..

E-commerce and retail continue to be the key pillars in 2023. To win over consumers in commerce, brands know consumer attention is the most expensive marketing currency. Consumers reward brands who connect with their emotions, therefore, brands need to connect with today’s consumers through quality content. This is what we called Shoppertainment, a content-driven commerce that seeks to entertain and educate first

In this exciting new space, there is a new breakthrough to win consumers across all shopping channels. The breakthrough is entertainment-first, commerce-second. When commerce is done in this sequence, it’s called Shoppertainment and this new category of commerce will be worth more than USD $1T in APAC by 2025.

WINNING APAC CONSUMERS

5 Shopper Insights Shaping Commerce Today

Shopping evolved from transactional to communal. Our latest consumer research points to 5 fundamental shifts in shopping behaviors that shape commerce today that marketers need to know.

• • • APAC has always been digitally savvy, and the pandemic has accelerated adoption
      According to the World Bank, an additional 37M individuals in Southeast Asia gained access to the internet during the 1st year of the pandemic. [Source: World Bank, 2019-2020 data]

      In Southeast Asia, people spend between 8 to 10 hours a day online. In Japan and Korea, it’s around 4 to 6 hours a day. That’s between a quarter to a third of a person’s day is spent online.

      This is not just limited to a younger population, but across ages. A growing number of senior citizens in Asia are turning to social media, online games and other internet services as they spend more time at home due to the pandemic. In Japan and South Korea, more than 90 percent of seniors (those above 60) are expected to be online by 2030.

    • More choices mean more distractions, higher inertia and less attention.
      Shopping has evolved today – there’s physical malls, social commerce, ecommerce, marketplaces, direct-to-consumer and many other channels and forms. More choices resulted in higher inertia to make decisions and less attention. In our report, we discovered that 47% buy on a different day , 85% switch apps while going through consumer journeys and skip 9 out of 10 ads they see.

    • Advertising turnoffs dampen shopping intent
      The appetite to shop has decreased because advertising today speaks less to consumers. When we asked consumers what turns them away from brands, they tell us it’s overly Exaggerated, Picture-Perfect, Boring and Distracting content. A whopping 7 out of 10 consumers say they are not in the state of mind to purchase when they see branded content and 34% are skeptical about branded content.

    • Today, an element of ‘fun’ can turn consumers into customers
      Shopping moments today show that consumers increasingly want an element of fun in the process. Either consumers start with wanting to meet a shopping need (need-led shoppers) or simply browsing or discovering content (content-led shoppers) to be entertained and end up making a purchase in the process. When users are entertained faster, they share more, and are more likely to buy a product or service based on the brand’s video as they are engaged.

    • Because they are seeking emotional connection with brands
      Consumer needs span from basic transactional needs to elevated emotional needs when shopping online. Our report findings pointed out clearly that shoppers value fun and emotional connection with brands. Consumers want shopping to entertain & educate.

BCG Demand spaces: A powerful tool to uncover needs and unlock disruptive growth

Through BCG’s proprietary demand space framework, we uncovered 6 demand spaces for online shopping, divided into two main groups, functional and emotional demand spaces that will shape how brands engage with consumers.