Wootag – Video Interactive and Insights Platform
Science of stockpiling during retail flash sales
Hitting $5 billion in transactions in less than 15 minutes on Singles Day, made this the biggest day in online sales this year. This trend is slowly becoming prominent in Asia and the reasons behind this consumer behaviour of buying products in bulk during special occasions is clear.
“It’s not that we need Singles Day,” Alibaba Group President Michael Evans said in an interview with CNBC. “It’s the opportunity for merchants and consumers to have fun and engage in something that’s really exciting. It’s the opportunity for consumers to explore and find new brands and new products.”
Consumers are set to be more diligent and prepared in stockpiling during these flash sales. They will rely on digital platforms to get the latest information on trends, product and brand reviews, exchange experiences or compare prices. At an integrated level, interactive video and social channels will be essential for brands to provide content and opportunities for valuable engagement.
In this age of ‘New Retail’ where online-offline integration is ever-changing and retail innovation is dynamic, shoppers are more savvy and e-commerce promotions will need to be swift, transparent and easy to execute to meet the increased demand during flash sales.
Here are some of the ways in which retailers could polish their pages, expand their digital offerings to attract consumers with a tendency to “stockpile” during flash sales.
- Retail pages should look at creating more interactive content be it shoppable videos, tutorial videos or educational videos. Whether it’s to engage with elements directly, unlock access to further information, and disclose their opinion on topics, shoppers will find themselves drawn to a page with interactivity and staying on the webpage for a longer time.
- Fashion and beauty websites will also need to blend online and offline user experience into a cohesive, friendly one. Through the support of platforms such as Wootag, consumers can use the store locator to direct them to nearby purchase points or for them to host practical guidance in the form of tailor-made video portals, podcasts, and slideshows.
- Featuring localised content for a flash sale for public holidays or special occasions. To attract consumers to browse more, create customised product packs and knowledge of the festivals such as Lunar New Year, Hari Raya or Thanksgiving.
- Consumer brands should also work on developing buyer persona driven content: These should suit the personas of the Convenient Shopper who buys things at times that suit them, Emotional Shopper who goes online when they are bored or the Seasonal Shopper that buys things at specific times of the year. All three buyer personas are in the practice of stockpiling and there needs to be call to actions developed to suit the personas’ respective needs. These could include interactive videos that showcase the needs of the shopper profiles.
- Tease FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) content: You will want your consumer to aspire to a greater quality and have an emotion of ‘missing out’. To capture the consumer’s attention, introduce an exclusive, niche product with a limited release not only in quantity but for a limited time.
- Engage with customers (Customer-service content): Flash sales have the added bonus of increasing traffic as well as engagement, so it’s important that you or your team are available to answer questions, thank purchasers, and keep the momentum going.
- Data-driven pages for contented consumers is the way forward. Identify using geolocation tools a data-driven and location-based audience that show the most interest in your products. By presenting customised ads to the identified group at the optimal time, it’s a wise opportunity for effective conversion.
From Amazon, GroupOn, Alibaba and others, flash sales are taking the globe by storm. Consumers will no longer be looking at discounts but product quality and range. Mobile and tablets, apparel, footwear and electronic categories will be the most popular products with home furniture and luxury items also on the increase.
By providing consumers with the right mix of interactive and engagement tools, flash sales can be a viable opportunity. With accurate expertise and content that proves valuable, it is the perfect pitch to convert consumers into loyal and repeat ones and who will recommend the site both mobile and on socially.
Understand your consumer before driving their interaction
The stakes for content that’s engaging, valuable and memorable are high – and interactive video is taking this tide by storm. As a viewer, going from passive consumer to being proactive in the driver’s seat is a bullet-proof way of remembering the content. Developing a meaningful and personalised relationship means understanding your consumer’s habits, paying attention to how they think and communicating with them so that it isn’t intrusive.
There are multiple ways you could use video storytelling to engage your consumer better be it gathering data and insights about your viewers, finding out how much your viewers know while watching or allowing brands to direct consumers to websites. With the right message framed and storytelling mapped, your video is a vessel for identifying targeted behaviours, tailoring to preferences and seeing end-to-end calls to action.
Here are some freshly minted examples of interactive storytelling driving consumers towards a more satisfying user experience and meaningful brand recall.
Personalisation the path to customer success and trust
Consumer personalisation is the way forward for retailers these days as online shoppers become more selective and sophisticated. In an exclusive interview with The Rundown, Wootag was invited to share insights on personalisation in digital commerce.
Driven by curiosity and a need for relevant content, Wootag chatted with CNBC Asia on how today’s user experience will direct users to the touchpoints and calls to action that are most suitable. Overall, the ease and functionality of the user experience is of utmost importance.
Be it directing them to a nearby retail store or giving suitable links about an item of interest, Wootag delivers an experience that is designed for and driven by consumers. When asked about how Wootag differs from other platforms that may be too “have a backlash without having someone sell something”.
Raj Sunder, CEO and founder of Wootag says, “It’s important to always show the relevance.” Mr Sunder also gave the example of Dan Murphy creating the real-time impact of the human touch.
Mr Sunder adds, “The brand campaign went live during Christmas last year and found human tabs more richer for product A as compared to product B and hence entered a partnership with an e-commerce store to give more discounts for product A, hence hiking sales in a short time. The type of personalised insight into data will allows retailers the power to decide which product to ship during flash sales for Black Friday or Christmas.”
Overall, Wootag strengthens the reach and user-friendliness of businesses by giving interactive tags throughout the video, allowing brands to sell products directly on video and yielding richer user engagement and ROI data.
Global Content Forum 2017: Product relevance and content personalisation key to engaging audiences
The demand for content personalisation intensifies as audiences grow more transparent in their choices, varied in their interests and inconsistent with their buyer behaviour. There are language and cultural differences faced when scaling globally and within each market, you can segment audiences through numerous indicators.
Regardless of the industry you work in or your interests and consumption habits, there is a wealth of content in the marketplace customised to your individual needs.
Making sure the content is identified and consumed by the right person and followed with the right call-to-action requires a careful marketing mix of product relevance and personalisation.
Wootag was recently honoured as ‘Marketing Technology Company of the Year’ by Mumbrella 360 Asia for the platform’s capability to help brands scale to market and expand to new audiences. The platform also supports brands in developing their engagement, interactivity and visibility in Asia.
At the Transperfect Global Content Forum, Wootag had the opportunity to sit in on the sessions and gleaned some takeaways on what it takes to succeed in the fast-moving global content space.
Mumbrella 360 Asia: Content with a dedicated human touch, relevance and honesty
Honouring the brightest, boldest and most innovative in advertising, digital media and beyond, the Mumbrella 360 Asia conference had a strong focus on the ever-changing world of content marketing.
Wootag was thrilled to be named ‘Marketing Technology Company of the Year’ and be placed in the league of brands that are recognised for their ability to engage audiences through a combination of content and product relevance. The platform received the accolade for allowing holistic 360-degree views of the product, creating a culturally aligned user experience that resonates with viewers and product intelligence around the brand’s touchpoints.
The speakers, including those from Reuters, VICE, Buzzfeed, Click2View, BBC Storyworks and Under Armour Sports argued for the importance of content that is culturally relevant, unique and useful to a specific target and that produces something that is actionable and authentic.
Wootag had the opportunity to sit in the sessions and here are observations that make for good food for thought.
Wootag recognised as ‘Marketing Technology Company of the Year’
The Mumbrella 360 Asia awards is the industry metric for the most innovative and most creative players in the media, marketing and advertising industries, and beyond. Wootag is deeply honoured to receive recognition as ‘Marketing Technology Company of the Year’.
Using video touchpoints and real-time insights, brands are propelling towards interactive video for develop closer ties and relevance to their user base. Brands that understand the tensions that customers are facing and regard their time and decision-making as paramount will have the highest audience engagement and succeed in market penetration.
Raj Sunder, Founder and CEO of Wootag says, “Wootag is pleased to be able to help brands create more well-synced and available touchpoints and help scale their audience engagement and data insights. Video interactivity will be the force driving their overall brand integration and technology to help them be more personalised and culturally relevant.”
Championing and shaping audience engagement with interactive technology
Audiences are becoming increasingly fragmented and detached in today’s digital space. They hold autonomy and discretion of which content they wish to consume and the content that they engage with most will be the ones that get top-of-mind and global reach.
Indeed, in this day and age of excess, quality content that is useful and unique, timely or taps on technology to project a memorable personality will be the champions of audience engagement. Hence, technology has an increasingly powerful impact on determining audience emotions or driving their curiosity. Similarly, its power sees brands strengthening their relevance and loyalty among followers.
Real-time responsive advertising in London’s Piccadilly Circus
Many of today’s heavily populated cities are conceiving new ways of engaging with audiences that are responsive to urban lifestyles and that fit to the pulse of changing consumer behaviour. Particularly, merging video with technology to activate personalisation for brands.
In London, a city whose identity is constantly evolving, and where the competition for creativity is keen, it’s a tough act to keep audiences interested, engaged, and most importantly, take action. The iconic screens of Piccadilly will soon be equipped to display targeted ads and engage with audiences based on tracking ages, genders, social sentiments and moods of the group.
According to the Verge and Wired, brands making an entrance on the rotating interactive screen include Samsung, Coca-Cola, Hyundai, and L’Oreal.
Millennial 2020: Driving human connection in digital commerce
The Millennial 2020 conference celebrates the continuous innovation of start-ups and changes taking place in the digital commerce experience.
With a flurry of change, the digital commerce revolution leaves users with much to aspire to and be excited about. It’s tough staying on top of experience-led campaigns and understanding how best to use the variety of platforms and technologies, which leaves Millennial 2020 as a prime space for learning, exchange and synergy.
Wootag is honoured to be named as one of the 30 most promising start-ups under the Unilever Foundry, a recognition of reinventing the customer experience, injecting interactivity to video and adding a human simplicity to digital commerce.
First Look Asia: Wootag on shopper interactivity
The ways in which we shop are becoming increasingly effortless and diverse. There is also pressure for online stores to think outside the box more and find newer ways to engage and retain customers.
Wootag is delighted to chat with Channel NewsAsia’s First Look Asia for our perspective on how today’s user experience will be driven by curiosity as well as a desire for relevant content.
In a mobile-hyperactive world, shoppers are looking for increased convenience, reducing time and money, and lightening their burdens. Raj Sunder, CEO and founder of Wootag, shared with CNA alongside a panel comprising EY and Adatos AI, about the way in which technology is redefining the way people shop and the new frontiers of merging both online and offline shopping.
