Shopee Boosts Malaysian Creative Economy, Scales Celebrity-and Influencer-owned Brands with Technology

 

Shopee unveils that Malaysian celebrity-and influencer-owned brands are gaining greater visibility in an increasingly saturated e-commerce landscape, in its latest ‘Shopee Super Awards 2022 Milestones’* study. The platform drives Malaysia’s creative economy by supporting local talents to scale their businesses and grow together with technology. Reviewing the past year’s performance, the study found that celebrity-and influencer-owned brands on Shopee had a 59% year-on-year growth in revenue from October 2021 to September 2022 compared to the year before. 

Shopee Celebrity Squad was launched in 2018 creating a dedicated space with 97 brands for consumers to access celebrity-and influencer-owned products. Notable members include Dato' Sri Siti Nurhaliza, Neelofa, and Zoey Rahman, among others. These brands bring Malaysians more product choices through active livestream sessions, exclusive product launches, participation in Shopee’s Big Campaigns, and curating authentic, quality local goods for their audiences. 

Shopee Celebrity Squad sellers actively engage with their viewers on livestream by offering interactive content, bringing a more personal touch for their audience. Sellers that conduct livestream sessions had over 166,000 cumulative unique viewers joining the sessions and over 20,000 peak continuous users watching the stream at any one point of time, over the past year. Sellers create fun content, play games and quizzes, and casually chat with their audiences to foster relationships. Viewers feel closer to the celebrities and influencers that they admire when these local talents bond with them through the livestreams.

Shopee hosts weekly exclusive launches for Shopee Celebrity Squad brands every Sunday, where the celebrities and influencers have a dedicated platform to showcase their new store or latest product to new and existing audiences. Through these launches, buyers feel excited to be one of the first to know about and purchase their favourite personality’s new releases on the microsite and receive better brand experiences when tuning into their live streams. These brands also saw 55% year-on-year growth in orders as a testament to their efforts. 

Kenneth Soh, Head of Marketing Campaigns at Shopee Malaysia said, “As the retail sector opens up with the loosening of the pandemic restrictions, Shopee’s community of local celebrities and influencers have innovated their marketing tactics using technology to reach their audiences online. Shopee Celebrity Squad brands have about 80% Big Campaign participation rate throughout the year in their commitment to strengthen their online presence. It is estimated that 1 in 4 users claim vouchers with these brands during Big Campaigns. We hope to continuously empower our Shopee Celebrity Squad by connecting them to new users in Shopee’s growing and highly-engaged online community.”

Celebrity-and influencer-owned brands bring value, accessibility and convenience with authentic, quality local products on the platform. These sellers meet their audience’s lifestyle needs, from locally branded beauty essentials to affordable and specially crafted grocery items. Shopee Celebrity Squad brands, which offer proudly Malaysian-made products, saw a 54% year-on-year growth in gross merchandise value as they understand their audiences’ purchasing values. Consumers enjoy supporting their favourite local brands by making thoughtful purchases aligned with their needs.

Zoey Rahman, Shopee Celebrity Squad member and owner of MIKASERIES said, “There are many features I use to market my products on the platform, such as Shopee Live where I do daily livestreams, sometimes up to 3 times a day! When I participate in Big Campaigns, I realise that my exposure to new audiences and sales growth has also increased. Shopee’s networking events have also helped me to learn from other Shopee Celebrity Squad members and their growth strategies. In the future, MIKASERIES will be producing more high quality locally-made cosmetics that are comparable to international brands.”

The platform continuously encourages Shopee Celebrity Squad sellers to innovate and produce new brand experiences for their buyers through various in-app functions. Shopee will be recognising and celebrating the best and brightest Shopee Celebrity Squad members of 2022 at the upcoming Shopee Super Awards on 15 December.