Carousell sings its best customer reviews to spotlight home services category

Online new and used goods marketplace Carousell is singing its best reviews from customers to raise awareness about its home services category. Done together with UltraSuperNew (USN) Singapore, the campaign takes on a light-hearted theatrical approach. Carousell's home services category allows customers to speak directly to a network of service providers instead of going through intermediary companies. 

The two spots feature Andrew Marko and Zulfiqar Izzudin, members of the Millennial theatre company Patch & Punnet, who act and sing the reviews. The films run across Carousell’s YouTube, Facebook and Instagram platforms. At the time of writing, both the spots have over 500,000 views on YouTube, and over 600 and 3500 views each on Instagram. Meanwhile, the spots on Facebook have over 140 and 470 views each. have MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out for more information.

Heng Xiao Qi, Singapore country marketing manager at Carousell explained that when producing the films, the problem they faced was making a functional yet generally perceived as unexciting category such as home services fun and to stand out from its competitors. "When USN suggested using reviews as a creative concept, we were instantly sold as it really doesn't get more authentic than to hear straight from the users' mouths," Heng added.

Meanwhile, Haziq Hussain, senior account manager at USN added: “The task at hand was to tell Singaporeans about how Carousell, other than being an online marketplace, had this amazing Home Services offering that not many people knew about.” He said that the solution was surprisingly right in front of them, in the form of the actual reviews. “And of course, we just had to turn them into full-blown song and dance performances in true USN fashion,” he said.

Reviews and ratings are crucial in ensuring a positive online shopping experience, especially for shoppers in Singapore (61%), Thailand (66%), and Malaysia (57%), according to a study done by Lazada and Milieu Insight. One in two shoppers (54%) said reviews make the shopping experience positive. Based on this, Carousell would certainly do well in leveraging and highlighting positive reviews to push its home services category.

Separately on the sustainability front, Carousell partnered with IKEA to launch a Secondhand Showroom at IKEA Tampines in celebration of Earth Day earlier this year. The physical showroom in IKEA Tampines featured preloved IKEA items from influencers such as singer-songwriter Nathan Hartono, Tiong Jia En, Munah Bagharib and even Carousell co-founder Marcus Tan. At the same time, to beef up its presence in the fashion space, Carousell acquired omnichannel fashion recommerce retailer Refash in May. Refash continues to operate as its own brand, retaining its name, platform, and team. The acquisition drove a synergistic partnership between the marketplaces and accelerated the pace of recommerce in Singapore, said Carousell in a press statement. 

Related articles:
Study: Reviews (good and bad) crucial to eCommerce experience for SEA buyers
IKEA and Carousell unveil showroom using second hand goods from SG influencers
Carousell acquires fashion thrift store brand Refash