#AsiaeCommerceAwards 2021 spills: Logitech lists 3 key factors needed for great marketing

Logitech is a consumer electronics comapny that features products such as mice and keyboards, headsets and speakers, streaming and video conferencing tools and smart home accessories, among others. It was also awarded gold for Best in eCommerce (Brands) – Electronics & Gadgets at MARKETING-INTERACTIVE's Asia eCommerce Awards 2021. 

In an interview, Edward Yeo (pictured), country manager (GCO), Logitech Singapore told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that the company saw an "explosive growth" following its accelerated adoption into the eCommerce space. He also shared some emerging trends among consumers in the eCommerce scene. 

This interview is done as part of MARKETING-INTERACTIVE’s winners and finalists’ interview series for Asia eCommerce Awards 2021. To find out more about the awards, click here.

What have the past two years been like for you given the sudden pivot to eCommerce?

Yeo: Bolstered by an accelerated adoption in the digital eCommerce space, the past two years have presented many positive opportunities and growth for Logitech as a brand and organisation. The tools which eCommerce has created have enabled us as a brand to reach out to a much wider audience, whilst allowing us to create niche campaigns to target specific customer segments through platforms and exclusive brand collaborations.

We have seen strong performance thanks to our category growth strategy in Singapore. The past two years of work reached a milestone, and I am proud to share that Logitech Singapore’s success in this area was showcased as a best practice showcase globally within our organisation.

What was one challenge that took you by surprise and how did you pivot?

Yeo: The biggest challenge that took me by surprise was the explosive growth that eCommerce brought to Logitech, and its continued growth into 2021. In 2020, during the start of the pandemic in Singapore, we faced many restrictions. The company then had to pivot our business model with nearly 100% of our sales distribution transitioning into the online space. It was a tough time for the business due to the uncertainty and we were worried of economic fallout. With everyone working from home then, Logitech’s products became one of the most sought-after as consumers were setting up their WFH workspaces.

We saw a volume spike over 100x against our daily average performance while having to manage our business operations due to the ongoing government restrictions. We were fortunate to have an agile working team and were able to immediately direct our resources toward the most critical part of the business. Our commercial priorities then were to ensure that our products would reach the consumer on time in a seamless manner. As we continued to see positive growth in our eCommerce channels, we scaled up our resources around a robust digital-first strategy and built up an active sales, marketing and operations ecosystem around eCommerce.

With markets opening up, what are some trends do you have your eyes on?

Yeo: We are still seeing continued growth in eCommerce into 2022, as more Generation Z are entering the workforce.

A few trends that I see materialising in 2022 are faster shipping times (same day delivery) and more O2O vice-versa initiatives developed by retailers and eCommerce market players.

Consumer buying habits have evolved with higher expectations as they are not only looking for a wide variety of product selections but also point of purchase selections. ECommerce and social media have become key marketing channels that brands must prioritise to future proof their business. On the backend, data analysis tools will be more developed, and brands can leverage data to drive lifecycle management. Brands have to continue building up long term relationships with their existing databases to reengage and at the same time, acquire new customer segments. Data analytics will be an important part of understanding your customer segments on a deeper level.

What do you think makes great marketing these days?

Yeo: Bolstered by the digital transformation wave, marketing has evolved significantly where we see a huge shift in investment from traditional media into digital media, offline to online in the last 10 years. A consumer spends an average of about 8.07 hours on the internet every day across multiple devices and platforms. How does a brand then target their consumer and deliver the right message at the appropriate time throughout the consumer buying journey? Effective marketing campaign execution, delivery of campaigns and tracking will be the key into 2022, and how we integrate them into our O2O marketing strategies will be of paramount importance.

I will say great marketing these days needs to be:

1. Consumer-centric
2. ROI driven
3. Agile.

Why consumer-centric? Our job doesn’t end until our product reaches the hands of the buyer and is satisfied with the product. Hence, everything we do has to be focused on bringing our brand and delivering the desired product value to our target audiences, such as working professionals, Gen Z, and gamers.

Monitoring and measuring the ROI on various tools and platforms with sound data analytics will be an important part of the business to identify potential shifts in consumer behaviour, new target segment, or even trending consumer buying behaviour. Speed to market will be critical as we embrace various evolving tools and platforms, such as social media, in reaching out to our consumers in the new digital era.

How do you feel about your win?

Yeo: I definitely feel happy about the win, and I am most proud of the achievements of the team. It is a recognition of their efforts and dedication in 2021. Teamwork played an important part along with creativity, agility and dynamism. The bar only gets higher for 2022 and I look forward to many successful campaigns developed by the team. Watch this space for Logitech!

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