The pandemic has drastically shifted customer traffic to digital channels. For instance, a two-week period in March 2020 saw an increase of 25 percent in online sales, which have grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14 percent over the past four years. As a result, retailers need to expand their digital presence in light of the profound impact the pandemic has had on consumer shopping habits.
While being at the forefront of the industry, how are e-commerce platforms doubling down on their digital assets in response to the shift? And what should be the measures taken by retailers in preparation for the post-pandemic era?
Retail in Asia had the opportunity to speak with Ms. Juliette Gimenez, Co-founder & CEO at Goxip, together we discussed the differences in e-commerce environment between SEA and the rest of Asia, the importance in content creation to e-commerce platforms, and the future plans for Goxip.
RiA: To follow up on our interview from 2 years ago, can you please give us an update on where Goxip is at today, i.e. number of users, markets and brands?
Gimenez: Goxip has launched over 250+ local country sites this year as we saw massive organic traffic and sales coming from all over the world. Some localized websites include JP, FR, ES, etc. with local languages to cater for our global shoppers. Also, many fashion & beauty brands from large fashion groups such as LVMH Group, Kering Group, Estee Lauder Group, etc. have finally launched their official .com websites over the past 2 years by leveraging the “COVID down time” and we are very proud to be able to partner with them and include them in our discovery platform – “fashion & beauty Google”.
RiA: Being one of the first social media platforms in identifying a marketing gap – key opinion leaders (KOL), how is Goxip evolving in response to China’s answer to this – live streaming?
Gimenez: Mainland China’s live stream success over the past years still continues to stay strong despite certain individuals’ tax scandals but it’s still only proven to be massively effective in the Mainland China market and hasn’t extended to the wider Asian market yet. In fact, the success of live streaming in Mainland China also comes with a high marketing price tag, leading to limited ROI growth.
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RiA: Apart from its social commerce feature, Goxip also provides a price comparison service, how did you land on this among other e-commerce tools?
Gimenez: We have always primarily focused on being a discovery platform for fashion & beauty trends and style through quality content and our amazing AI search engine. It was actually very much naturally market driven as we never marketed this function as our key offering but consumers seem to naturally enjoy comparing. We do provide the perfect platform for shoppers to easily compare instead of searching on Google and opening 10+ tabs to compare colors/ sizes/ pricing/ style varieties, etc.
RiA: How does the Southeast Asian e-commerce environment differ from the whole of Asia?
Gimenez: SEA e-commerce environment is very direct on finding the best deals and in-your-eyes type of sales promotion and also very tech-savvy, hence you see the boom of Shoppee, Lazada, and many other e-commerce marketplaces. Other parts of Asia enjoy quality media content and are highly driven by trends set by celebrities and influencers. That’s why we strategically have Goxip producing frequent high-quality media content and rewardSnap to develop influencers.
Source: Goxip
RiA: Why did Goxip choose to operate in Hong Kong and Thailand in the early stage of brand development?
Gimenez: I have deep love for these two markets with my previous work experiences and both are extremely receptive to new tech platforms and can have wide audiences covering all key demographics – ranging from fast fashion lovers to luxury brand shoppers. Especially Hong Kong is the best market to test the waters/ run a proof-of-concept with high-spending power shoppers. Also Thailand has been up-and-coming from all fronts, especially retail and tech. Even Louis Vuitton’s men’s fashion show chose Bangkok to be THE only Asian city for the FW22 show earlier this year.
RiA: How important do you think is content creation to an e-commerce site?
Gimenez: Extremely, quality content is key to increase stickiness to an e-commerce site and remain visible and gain more loyal audiences & shoppers. Hence we have Goxip Magazine editorials and Goxip Girl short articles to keep our audiences revisiting our site and really have that discovery feeling. This week might be discovering what Blackpink’s Jennie is wearing and next day could be where you can shop for the boots that Dua Lipa wore for an event!
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RiA: Is GoxipGirl a way to interact with the readers? Do you see the chance of it being a complete individual entity in the future?
Gimenez: It absolutely could individually become a pure media platform generating frequent media content but we pride ourselves with having the e-commerce element and expertise hence we never miss a chance on promoting products and brands within each editorial content article and including convenience to shop for the exact same/ similar products featured on one of our Goxip merchant partners, ranging from Farfetch, Net-A-Porter, Matchesfashion, ASOS, Lululemon etc.
RiA: Where do you see Goxip in 5 years? Should we expect its presence outside of Asia in the near future?
Gimenez: We’d definitely be talking in the US/ UK/ UAE in 5 years time, there’s just been so much organic traction that we’ve seen during the pandemic and huge potential to penetrate into key markets such as the US & UK. The beauty of Goxip is that we are a discovery platform and can operate anywhere in the world without the need to operate logistics/ store inventory, etc. so we can focus on generating high-quality content and driving quality top-funnel traffic and sales conversion to our merchant partners such as Gucci.com, Valentino.com, LVMH’s 24S.com, etc.