PHILIPPINE RETAILING
Social shopping, health and freshness are
amongst the top five trends set to influence
Asia’s grocery retail market over the next five
years, according to Shirley Zhu, Programme
Director of FMCG insights organisation IGD
Asia.
Over the last 12 months, Asia’s grocery
landscape has continued to develop rapidly.
Retailers have been opening new stores
at pace, stores are getting smaller, the
offline and online worlds continue to
merge and new technology is being used
to make operations more efficient.
Feature
accelerate online growth across Asia.
These partnerships come in many forms,
with retailers, suppliers and technology
businesses increasingly looking to blur the
boundary between the offline and online
worlds. In 2019, we expect to see more
partnerships emerge, existing ones develop
further and the influence of Asia’s largest
online players to spread across the region.
In 2019, IGD expects this pace of
change to continue. Retailers will
keep refining their operations to meet
growing demand for convenience;
partnerships will continue to shape the
future of online; health and wellness
and social media are set to grow in
importance; and in-store technology will
fundamentally change the way people
shop.
4. Social shopping
Social commerce is rapidly growing
in importance across Asia. Brand
communication via social media platforms
is commonplace, influencing shopper
behaviour and providing smartphone
users with easy ways to shop online. New
innovations will continue to emerge in 2019,
as retailers and suppliers deliver targeted
marketing and new ways to make online
shopping more social.
5. Technology transformation
Asian consumers are exceptionally open to
new technology. In 2019 we will be keeping
a close eye on digital and technological
innovations in Asia, particularly those helping
retailers to differentiate their offer, raise
service levels, develop stores that are set
up for an online future, and deliver more
efficient operations in the face of rising costs.
Asia’s online landscape is incredibly fluid
and competitive. Collaboration between
partners will help online expand both within
individual markets and across borders, faster
than previously thought. Suppliers should
ensure they stay on top of the latest online
partnerships.
Convenience is not purely about speed.
Retailers that are able to meet different
shopper demands through their stores,
ranges, services and the experience they
offer will win. These experiences will need to
be fast, relevant and seamless, so suppliers
will need to ensure they also have the
necessary flexibility in their businesses. 3. Health and freshness at the heart
Increasing levels of affluence, improved
education, targeted government campaigns
and historical food safety scares mean that
Asian shoppers are increasingly aware of
the importance of healthy living, fresh food,
nutrition and product sourcing. Retailers are
responding by highlighting healthy ranges
and freshness using innovative concepts,
layouts and technologies.
2. Partnerships shaping the future of online
Over the past few years, major partnerships
have helped share expertise and Fresh food, foodservice options and health
and wellness ranges will feature more
prominently in-store in the future as retailers
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respond to changing shopping habits – so
suppliers should be aware that competition
for space in-store will intensify.
Shopping via social media platforms is a key
route to market in the region. Retailers and
suppliers must therefore truly understand
the landscape and have a clear social media
strategy to engage shoppers and stay
relevant.
Looking to next year and beyond, IGD
has identified five key trends predicted
to shape Asia’s grocery market and
influence retailer strategy, revealing
what this means for suppliers in the
region:
1. Ultimate convenience
Changing lifestyles mean shoppers
across Asia are becoming increasingly
demanding. Shopping little and often is
a growing trend and consumers expect to be
able to source products anywhere, anytime
and anyhow they like. Retailers are adapting
their operations to respond to this –
convenience store chains continue to rapidly
expand their networks, stores are using
space in new ways, retailers are developing
smaller and more unique stores, and online
delivery times are being cut.
1ST QUARTER 2019
Technology is revolutionising the food and
grocery industry in Asia, which could have
big implications for how shoppers interact
with brands in store in the future. However,
it is not only about a focus on customers –
it’s also about reducing costs and improving
efficiency. Suppliers need to understand
which technologies are set to have the
biggest impact on their category.
See these trends in action with a free report
and gain access to more Asia insights at IGD
Asia: asia.igd.com
About the author:
Shirley Zhu leads IGD Asia’s
research team in its Singapore
office. She has extensive
research experience in the
FMCG industry and has helped
many multinational and local
clients achieve their strategic
objectives. Her role with IGD involves
strategic planning, expanding research
coverage in Asia and supporting its members
in the region.
1ST QUARTER 2019
World News
The alliance, currently made up of plastics
makers, for the most part, said about 90%
of global marine litter comes from just
10 rivers and over half of the land-based
plastic litter leaking into oceans originates
from five Asian countries: China, Indonesia,
the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.
PLASTICS,
CONSUMER GOODS
MAKERS PLEDGE TO
REIN IN WASTE
Global companies including BASF,
DowDuPont, Procter & Gamble
and SABIC have formed an alliance
to fight plastic waste, pledging to
spend $1.5 billion over the next five
years.
The Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW),
composed of over 25 companies convened
amid reports of a worsening environmental
crisis from about 8 million tons of plastic
waste that end up in oceans every year,
which has triggered bans on some single-
use plastic products.
ASIAN MILLENNIALS
WILL LEAD GLOBAL
CONSUMER
MARKET—REPORT
Asia has more than six times as
many millennials than in the US and
Europe combined and will reshape
the global consumer market,
according to the report by US-based
private equity giant KKR.
The report also highlighted the secular
Current alliance members have committed
more than $1 billion to the project over the
next five years, while money that additional
members will pledge should take the
five-year budget to about $1.5 billion, a
spokesman said.
The funds will be spent on waste collection
infrastructure mainly in Africa and Asia,
on technology for recycling and re-use of
waste, on educating governments as well
as local communities, and on cleaning up
highly polluted areas.
AEPW counts none of China’s major plastics
and chemical groups among its members
but the spokesman said discussions to
enlist Chinese players were continuing. IHS
Markit reported that 59% of global plastic
waste comes from packaging.
Amid rising consumer concern over plastic
waste, consumer goods heavyweights
such as Kraft Heinz, Nestle, Unilever and
Henkel have individually pledged to make
their packaging recyclable, reusable or
compostable by 2025 over the last two
years.
Reuters, 01/16/2019
trend of consumers moving away from
‘things’ and towards ‘experiences’. In the
US too, consumers are earmarking an ever-
growing amount of their paychecks for
what we are increasingly coming to view
as ‘fixed charges’ such as healthcare, rental
expenses, and iPhone maintenance, the
report states.
According to the report, personal financial
services, healthcare services, wellness/
beauty, healthier foods, and food safety
should also be major long-term beneficiaries
of the environment. It further anticipates
that the continued demand for China to
tackle air, water and soil pollution, will
LAZADA LEADS
THE E-COMMERCE
BATTLE IN
SOUTHEAST
ASIA
According to a new study by the
iPrice Group, the most visited
e-commerce platforms on desktop
and mobile web in Southeast Asia in
2018 was Lazada, commanding the
largest market share of total visits at
46%. It was followed by Shopee and
11street at a market share of total
visits at 23% and 13%, respectively.
PHILIPPINE RETAILING
Shopee, however, fought tough. Between
the first and the fourth quarter, the Alibaba
backed e-commerce received a strong
challenge from Shopee who grew its
total visits on desktop and mobile web by
98%. Towards the end of the year, Shopee
reduced Lazada’s lead by 62% to become its
closest competitor.
In July and August last year, Lazada’s
dominant position was almost overtaken
likely create opportunities for companies
that address these issues.
Nowhere is this shift toward e-commerce
more prevalent these days than in China,
with its outsized millennial population.
Entrepreneur Asia Pacific, 01/12/2019
by Tokopedia. The Indonesian company,
founded in 2009 by William Tanuwijaya, had
a high number of total visits on desktop and
mobile web, thank to its Ramadan and Hari
Raya sale campaign in May 2018. Among
the many successful efforts initiated by
Tokopedia, which raised $1.1 billion in a
funding round led by Alibaba and SoftBank
in December last year, to maintain its
increased total visits on desktop and
mobile web after Hari Raya was with its
ninth-anniversary sale in August.
Also going strong were Vietnamese
e-commerce platforms Thegioididong and
Tiki, receiving an average total visit on
desktop and mobile web at 29 million and
26 million, respectively in 2018.
Entrepreneur Asia Pacific, 01/25/2019
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