3 Phase Strategy in Digital Commerce

It's been quite some time since my last post on "5 Pillars in the Internet Content Business", where I was discussing the areas to look at from content to advertising, access/browsing, payment, and fulfillment/monitoring. I have been busy but I am back with a couple of ideas brewing in my head.

3 Phase Strategy in Digital Commerce from Nelson Wee

Lately, I have been deliberating on what are the phases in which the various players in the markets are putting into play as they go-to-market in digital commerce. I came up with the following 3 phases which I would like to share and discuss with you - all comments most welcome to refine this further :-)

(1) Apps (& Content)

• Today we are seeing apps and content ecosystems and symbiotic cross-platform partnerships being put together to address the needs, routines and opportunities of the consumers' Digital Life.
• The battle of the ecosystems is growing more rampant - Apple, Google are leading but Amazon, Microsoft are coming up with wave after wave of new hardware, content business models design and collaborations.
• Why? Cos I figure Apps (& Content) provide excellent outposts in the marketplace for the businesses, in listening and understanding the consumers on how they engage with the apps and contents on their screens - smartphones, tablets, PCs or even your humble feature phones.
• Content consumption is going mobile and across different screens and businesses need to experiment and learn from the changing habits of the on-the-go consumers.

(2) Social

• Today, we are also witness to the battle of the social networks - Facebook, Twitter, and recently and Google+ giving the former 2 a good run.
• Consumer fatigue in the above "traditional" social networks amongst especially the millennials are leading to exits from social networks like Facebook to micro-blogs like Tumblr and more rapid and engaging conversations through instant messaging.
• And so, instant messaging is also turning social.  And there are many players in the market - the popular WhatsApp, Naver Line, KakaoTalk, SK planet TicToc fast mobile messenger and more.
• Tremendous opportunities abound to engage communities from apps drawn to the social messaging platforms, with a relevant content marketing calendar.

(3) Commerce

• What we have been hearing like a broken record these days "Commerce is getting social"
• Indeed by understanding the conversations taking place in social networks, microblogs, group boards etc, businesses would be able to discern patterns and profiles of consumer behaviours.
• Not only will these consumer analytics help in the commerce of digital products but rather, end to end, with consumers buying time these days (ease of purchase key), businesses could look to explore differentiated offers via transmedia connecting people to a new world of entertainment (digital and physical merchandise).

Definitely non-prescriptive in the approach of how the above 3 phases "Apps-Social-Commerce" need to be deployed by businesses. It all boils down to sitting down and understanding the markets businesses would like to play in digital commerce and pursuing the relevant game-planning.

What do you think about the above 3 phases in digital commerce? What have your strategies been for your businesses and markets you play in?

Talk soon,
Nelson Wee
Catch me on Twitter @nelsonwee
Look me up on LinkedIn

5 Pillars in the Digital Content Internet Business

Over the last decade and more in the digital content business since the year 2000, consumers have been spoilt for choice when it came to personalising their mobile devices or drawing entertainment from their personal devices during downtime.  From black and white (ring) tones, graphics (remember those black and white operator logos, wallpapers, MMS greetings) and simple mobile games, digital content has evolved to streaming music, colorful and dynamically updated themes, and mobile (soon social) games, videos and much much more.

To be successful in this dynamic digital content business, there are 5 key critical success factors or pillars which I see should be looked at carefully and reviewed continuously for businesses, who venture into digital content sales and marketing, to be able to capture traction and sustainable consumer life-time value.

Digital content value chain analysis

View more presentations from Nelson Wee

(1) Quality Content

• Transmedia content, or essentially telling your story content across multiple platforms with different perspectives and possibilities, appears to be trending lately.
• People are being connected to a new world of entertainment.
• Not only are indie writers producing their own eBooks (and owning the rights to), are converting their content to other ensuing digital contents like eBooks, movies, books and movies are also being produced from games today.
• Read more on transmedia storytelling here from wikipedia
• With the myraid of opportunities in content development innovation, think about your audience and the markets they are in.
• Consider what content will drive immediate traffic vis a vis what content could bring you sustainable consumer lifetime value.

(2) Targeted Advertising (Promotions)

• Think about who and where your audience for your digital content would be.
• And there are an increasing number of channels available today, be it the mobile, EDMs, social media, (cloud-based) digital billboards, which you would need to analyse for the most effective targeted engagement channel(s) to your intended customers.
• But hey do not lose sight on the effectiveness of that little thing called the SMS marketing - it's loads more effective for immediate and targeted response in the emerging markets like Indonesia.
• In South East Asia, Youtube is top of mind.  An example of interactive video engagement is the SingTel TGIS video program series.

• And hey consider this thing called "Gladvertising" where outdoor adverts are tailored according to the emotions detected from the consumers - spooky or innovative push marketing?
• And then there're also promotions which are going more socially contextual in nature like the music moodbox Facebook marketing tool from StarHub (video below) 

(3) Great Experience in Access (Browsing)

• While smartphones are flying off the shelves from many stores and into the hands of the media hungry consumers all around the world, thnk about the 50% to 60% feature phone base in a number of markets like in the South East Asia (that's about 360 million phones - phew!).
• Feature phone users need some loving too. 35% of the top 20 performing phones in the AIS App Store were feature phones.

(4) Convenience in Payment

• Besides the hygiene credit card for OTT content business, think about cash on delivery, bank transfers, and other mobile wallets for the likes of the consumers in the emerging markets.

(5) Flexible Delivery and Reporting

• Along the buy process, look into add-on bundles (think how airlines are handling the consumers' online buy process with ancillary product suggestions).
• Profile your consumers and offer targeted recommendations along your engagement.
• Think about how you could get your customers involved, participate in your business and always think win win in terms of privileges for your customers.

Throughout the consumer journey, always bear in mind that quality, experience, convenience, participation and privilege are key drivers which would garner the WOW from your customer and lead to both sustainable engagement with your customer as well as increasing ancillary revenues in future interactions.

Do you have any experiences to share on your digital content business? 

Looking forward to hear from you.

talk more soon,
Nelson Wee
Linkedin Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/nelsonwee
Twitter: @nelsonwee

Who is spending more on Facebook Social Games?

I wrote about the growing opportunities in mobile social games, especially in Asia recently in my post "3 things you may not know about mobile social games".  Now it appears that social games in PC and in mobile from the juggernaut of Social Networks, Facebook, will be gathering its much anticipated momentum with its recent announcement.


In recent days this week, news of Facebook's collaboration with Bango (Bango integrates to operators' billing systems) has broken out. It's probably about time - given:

1. more than 800m Facebook members
2. more than 425m who are accessing Facebook mobile
3. about 30% Facebook members play the social games in Facebook (below pic from Smurfs' Village Facebook page)
4. huge opportunities awaiting further explosive growth from the emerging markets, e.g. in South East Asia where Social Networks like Facebook are accessed largely via mobile devices.

When one reads more into the consumption habits of Facebook social gamers, would you ever guess?

"while younger people are the ones spending more time on games, they are not the group with the highest propensity to purchase virtual goods. Just 10 per cent of 18-25 year olds bought virtual goods, compared to 70 per cent of those aged 45+"

The above was supported by an article in the 29th February 2012 edition of Singapore's Straits Times Digital Life section "Paying for 'free' Facebook games" where the writer, Oo Gin Lee, was scratching his head why his 48 year old sister is playing the Smurf's Village game, got hooked and started buying the smurfberries! She even invited him to join her game so that he could help water her crops!

What has your experience been like with the people around you who are playing social games?


Look forward to connect with you, 
See My Profile: Nelson Wee
Engage with me at twitter: @nelsonwee
 

From Print to Digital: Evolution of Retail Circulars

I read recently from a Nielsen market report that in the US, the ongoing consumer love affair with the retail store circular is transforming from print to digital.

Every day across America, a shopper walks into a store, grabs a cart and reaches out for the store circular to find out what’s on sale. Now however, a new generation of digital savvy consumers are viewing their circulars (or brochures, vouchers, deals) online or via a mobile browser or app.

From my observations, there are 3 trends happening even here in the Singapore retail shopping landscape.

1. Consumers are checking their mobile for deals, product info (I wrote about this in my last post about e-commerce trends in Singapore).
2. Consumers are used to buying deals online or via mobile (mobile is nascent, covering 4% of total e-commerce market in Singapore).
3. Personalised offers beyond SMS, EDMs are coming to the fore with location-based targeted offers, QR code call-to-action.

Indeed, the future-state will be a shift to personalised tailor-made offers that will match the shoppers' interests and purchase patterns.

Another interesting insight from the Neilsen report described that almost half of the American category shoppers rely on circulars to draft their shopping lists (think mobile shopping list apps here). As in Singapore where 84% of consumers search on their mobile for product info, a large part (three-quarters) of American buyers make purchase decisions (think mobile research here) before setting foot in the store.

It is critical that players in the retail shopping ecosystem relook the consumer journey, and start to collaborate and play a part in working with forward-looking retailers to experiment with multiple digital pathways (mobile, tablet, laptop, PC, TV, retail, OOH displays etc) that will enrich and enhance their retail circular experience, by integrating video, interactive elements and smart features that would serve up information based on loyalty or location.

What are your views about retail offers and consumer behavior in e-commerce in your market?

Look forward to hear from you.

Nelson Wee
connect with me on Twitter @nelsonwee

Introducing skoob, Singapore's 1st hyperlocal eBookstore

The ebook market in Singapore is in its early stage of growth. From my previous 2 posts "1-2-3 to the eBook market" and "Why the rise of eBooks (and opportunities to expand ancillary channels)?", the ebooks market is seen to be gathering momentum globally and having an impact to the market here in Singapore.

The US is leading the charge in the market for ebooks globally (with the introduction of the Amazon Kindle), where according to a survey by BookStats on the US publishing industry, that:

• In 2008, ebooks comprise 0.6% (or US$156M)) of the total trade books market. Publishers made net revenue of ~US$26B in 2008.
• In 2010, this number grew to 6.4% of the total trade books market, or US$1.8B (sales of 114M ebooks). Publishers made net revenue of ~US$28B in 2010.

The PWC report on "the future of ebooks" projected that share of consumer books sales by ebooks will grow to more than 22% in 2015.


From the local Singapore context, there have been also encouraging signs on ebook take-up seen from the following reading habits of Singaporeans:

(1) Sales of books in Singapore (according to Datamonitor report) in 2008 is SGD $190M and to grow to $215M in 2011, $232M in 2013 (CAGR ’08-’13 of 4.1%).

(2) From the Singapore Journal of Library & Information Management,

• 27.5% of Singaporeans placed reading as their most preferred leisure time activity.
• While average reader in Singapore reads about 5 books a year, about 10% of readers do read more than 30 books a year.

(3) From an IDA study done in 2009 on infocomm access in households, it was gathered that the primary activity for ~3% of Internet users (110k out of total number of Internet users in Singapore, more than 3.7M) were on reading online magazines and electronic books.


To augment the above in terms of market potential, in Singapore, there are 3 more reasons why the eBooks or mobile books market is set to take off here in Singapore.

1. There is more than 145% in mobile penetration in Singapore (encompassing smartphones and tablets).
2. The vast majority of consumers here have data-enabled plans.
3. Many consumers here have multiple devices (smartphones, tablets) today.
   

Now with the launch of skoob, Singapore's 1st eBookstore (disclosure: I lead the team in the launch of skoob eBookstore), the eBook market in Singapore looks set to grow from strength to strength. And the below listed benefits for consumers celebrate this moving forward.

1. Firstly, skoob aims to meet the digital lifestyle needs of Singapore's increasingly on-the-go consumers with its multiplatform, multi-device stores. You could access skoob on your PC, Mac, laptops, iPads, Android Tablets, iPhones and Android smartphones! No more having to wait for your book to arrive at your door-step!
2. Furthermore with personal space being at a premium in Singapore, going digital is not only green but also frees up space in one’s living areas for other needs. With skoob, consumers here can also access, buy and download their eBook(s), each on up to 5 devices (PCs, Mac, laptops, iPads, iPhones, Android tablets, Android smartphones).
3. Previously, consumers in Singapore had to jump over many hoops to buy ebooks. To read ebooks on a Kindle for example, consumers had to order a Kindle via post (Kindle is not shipped directly to Singapore) and get an Amazon gift card or a US credit card to pay for the eBooks. Now with skoob, consumers in Singapore can buy eBooks from their PCs, laptops, tablets (iPad, Android) or smartphones (iPhones, Android) etc and pay via their Singapore local credit cards or via their monthly operator bill if they are SingTel mobile customers.
4. Previously, there was no local e-bookstore to cater to the tastes and needs of Singaporeans. But now with skoob, Singapore consumers can now get hold of more than 50,000 e-books from international bestsellers such as “A game of thrones” by George Martin or “Aleph” by Paulo Coelho to important sought after local content such as "Giants of Asia: Conversations with Lee Kuan Yew", Mr. Midnight series of children’s stories, and of course, the essential study and assessment guides from Popular Books.

I look forward to hear from you on your feedback on the eBook market trends in the world, Asia or even in Singapore and of course, your feedback on skoob as well. Never stop reading, whenever, whereever~


Later,
Nelson Wee
find me on Twitter as well

References:
1. CNet Asia - SingTel announces "skoob" eBook store in Singapore
2. Channel NewsAsia - Flip Skoob to read and study
3. ZDNet - Singapore telco offers country's first e-book app
4. AsiaOne - Singapore's first e-book service launched
5. The Register - SingTel launches e-reader
6. TODAY online - Too cool for Skoob

Why the Rise of eBooks (and opportunities to expand ancillary channels)?

In my previous post on the "1-2-3 to the eBook market", I discussed about:

1. how eBook adoption is growing fast globally
2. how ebooks could and are being consumed via multiple screen sizes and devices (i.e. PC, laptops, tablets and smartphones)
3. how eBooks and eMagazines could provide opportunities as ancillary channels (and revenues)

It's with no surprise that with the market trends and opportunities in digital publishing that we are seeing today globally (e.g. in the US, UK) that digitization of books and mobile consumption is on the rise in Asia Pacific as well.  In China, sales of digital content ran up sales of US$1B in 2009.  Annecdotally, I have heard from a China publisher (who deals in both print and digital eBooks in China) that sales of eBooks in China (including probably mobile comics) have grown to about SGD $200-300M - now, that's HUGE!

In Singapore, the market landscape is posturing nicely for digital publishing as well:

• with 3.7M Internet users,
• accompanying market growth in the mobile internet, with the proliferation of tablets, and smartphones rapidly replacing feature phones,
• 185k consumers or ~5% of all Singaporean Internet users, 15 years old and above have purchased eBooks, eMagazines or eNewspapers (source: IDA 2009 Infocomm survey of households).
• An average reader in Singapore will read up to 5 books a year whilst a heavy reader (10% of all readers) will read about 30 books a year.

It is hence with this market momentum that I have finally achieving my life-long ambition in being part of the launch of a book store, albeit an eBookstore here in Singapore (with my current employment in SingTel).  Have a look at the introduction video below on skoob at http://www.skoob.com.sg/ , probably Singapore's 1st eBookstore!

Look forward to hear your feedback. 

Til later, Nelson Wee
Connect with me on Twitter @nelsonwee

References:
1. Why Cell Phones will Dominate the E-Book Market in China?
2. My slideshare presentation on "How Digital Publishing Can Expand Ancillary Channels"

How Digital Publishing Can Expand Ancillary Channels

View more presentations from Nelson Wee

10 Key Takeways from the Ancillary Revenue World Asia 2011 Conference in Singapore

I attended and presented recently at the Ancillary Revenue World Asia 2011 conference in Singapore.  It was an excellent 2 days where I valued meeting up and learning from a number of key management illuminaries from the airlines, hotel, travel, banking and insurance industries.


Here are 10 takeaways I put together from the conference.

1. "Treating People Right" - Tune Hotel's Mark Lankester believes in focusing on the customer's core needs, debundle the rest like insurance, transport and even air-con which could be offered as an upsell when required.
2. Mobile commerce will go Social and Local (with location-based services) and audience management of your consumers through search will go from PC-WEB to Mobile-WEB to TV-WEB (XBox-Kinect), says Manish Ladha, Microsoft.
3. Apps can expand ancillary channels to your business by driving new different ways in content consumption, and also offering new debundling and repackaging opportunities to your products - says well me, Nelson Wee, SingTel
4. Move from segments to customer-centric approach in targeting your customers - says Steve Pinchuk, Melco Crown Entertainment
5. Embed cross-selling opportunities before, during and post the booking process - best practices from Amit Saberwal, Makemytrip.com
6. Grow your partnership from a marketing partnership (value driven) to an ancillary partnership (revenue driven) - Wong Soon-Hwa, Hertz International
7. Best route to ancillary revenues is not to aim directly at revenue but at customer experience and value (case study on grabbing in-destination share of wallet through ancillaries) - says Aseem Sadana, Isango!
8. Using opt-out to good effect in booking process can give outstanding customer take-up in your ancillary services - Lim Kim Hai, Regional Express
9. Manage effective revenue management by balancing between your core and ancillary products, creating value for your customer and never over-bundle (instead review and fine-tune your current bundles) - Doug Hesley, The Four Seasons Hotel & Resorts
10. Generate revenue from cross-selling across multiple products through a centralized marketing organization, who looks to solving a need of your customer with a simple to sell, buy and service product, and follow up incremental value through life stage mapping - says Basker Rangachari, Standard Chartered

Well ok, I cannot resist providing a bonus takeaway from a good buddy of mine, Miguel Bernas, SingTel who was among the panelists during the "Social Media: Dwindling Potential" discussion.
11. Social Media could potentially replace the ice-cream parlour or the Saturday night poker game where you gather with your buddies and engage on stuff which happened over the recent week.  Perhaps brands could offer a corner of the ice-cream parlour and partake in the engagement and conversations of their customers.

Here is also my presentation deck for your viewing.  Most welcome your views!

How the use of apps can successfully expand ancillary channels & viability

View more presentations from Nelson Wee

Til later,
Nelson Wee
engage me here or in Twitter @nelsonwee

How are eShopping trends shaping the market?

These days, we see high growth with the usage of the mobile internet in SouthEast Asia. Besides your wallet and your keys, your mobile is probably the third personal item always by your side.  In fact in a global survey conducted by OnDevice Research, it described how Asian consumers, more often than other consumers, would first go to their phones to research or purchase goods and services.  To save time and get things done more efficiently in today's world, your mobile has become an ancillary channel for eShop browsing to help source, service and support your purchase decisions.

In fact, from a PayPal research done Jan-Feb 2011, there were several interesting findings:

1. Singapore online commerce market reached S$1.1 billion in 2010, and will grow to S$4.4 billion in 2015.
2. 1.2 million Singaporean online shoppers (above the age of 18 years old) had an average spend per head of S$1,492 over the past year.
3. 84% of Singaporeans used their mobile device to either research or purchase goods.
4. Mobile eShopping is in its infancy stage comprising 4% of online shopping market.
5. Over 364 thousand Singaporean online shoppers spent S$43 million ($$119/user) on their mobile devices last year, approximately 4% of the online shopping market
6. 40% (~S$420 million) of online purchases were domestic.

Stores in Singapore could well look into putting together a multi-channel approach to in their sales and marketing.  From a merchandising perspective, the I Love Deals in-app survey infographic below show that the 3 top products consumers expressed interest in online deals were clothing, shoes and consumer electronics.

With online and mobile eShopping primed to take off in Asia and Singapore,

• How will sales and marketing change with eCoupons, vouchers?  What are the ancillary revenue opportunities?
• How will apps, the Web, TV impact marketing, promotions and distribution channels for eShopping?  How will these ancillary channels evolve?
• With daily deals fatigue, what are the new models in eShopping?  Is gamification trending as an engagement tactic?  Is yield management a new model to look into?

I look forward to engage into further discussions on the above.

til later,
Nelson Wee
@nelsonwee

References:
1. The Stats and Facts of Online Shopping in Singapore
2. Mobile commerce on growth path in Asia Pacific
3. PayPal Study Shows Singaporeans Find Value in Shopping on Local Websites