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Tag: live commerce

  • AnyMind and Meta Partner to Bring Live Commerce Ads to Asia Pacific

    AnyMind and Meta Partner to Bring Live Commerce Ads to Asia Pacific

    Tokyo commerce technology firm AnyMind Group has teamed up with Meta to funnel social network users from video ads directly into live selling broadcasts across the Asia-Pacific region.

    The integration routes traffic away from social feeds into checkouts hosted on brand websites, proprietary mobile apps, and direct business messaging channels.

    Activations start on Facebook Live video ads in the fourth quarter of 2026, AnyMind said. Instagram rollouts follow in early 2027.

    External Checkouts Replace Native Tools

    Participating merchants will simulcast broadcasts across multiple owned channels simultaneously. Broadcast infrastructure supports human presenters, artificial intelligence avatars, or hybrid presentations featuring both.

    Crucially, the partnership routes consumers out of the social application to finish transactions. Rather than processing payments inside Meta’s walls, the ad format relies on off-platform conversion points.

    Instagram removed its native live shopping features in 2023. By sending shoppers to independent web stores and chat apps, Meta secures advertising spend without taking on inventory management, merchant support, or local payment settlement.

    Rival Pressures in Asian Livestreaming

    For brands and e-commerce merchants across Southeast Asia and East Asia, the partnership offers a direct alternative to closed marketplaces.

    AnyMind gives enterprise brands a way to tap Meta’s massive audience data while retaining ownership of buyer records, customer contact information, and final cart margins. The commercial risk rests squarely on merchant web conversion. Redirecting a mobile user to an external browser or chat app introduces friction that native in-app shops avoid, leaving sellers vulnerable to drop-offs before payment completes.

    Automating Digital Broadcasters

    The push also accelerates AnyMind’s investment in automated retail software across Asia. The company previously moved to integrate Alibaba’s Qwen artificial intelligence models into its live selling tools, giving merchants the ability to run automated multilingual broadcasts without hiring live presenters around the clock.

    Pairing algorithmic hosts with paid Meta ad delivery lets regional retailers test product demand across multiple Asian markets quickly. It lowers the production overhead typically required for live studio broadcasts in regional hubs like Tokyo.

  • Pakistan Ad Market Shifts to Influencers as Social Media Reaches 80 Million Users

    Pakistan Ad Market Shifts to Influencers as Social Media Reaches 80 Million Users

    Pakistan’s advertising market is shifting toward content creators as of October 2026, with the country recording around 80 million adult social-media user identities.

    TikTok alone has an advertising reach approaching 80 million adults, while YouTube reaches around 54 million and Instagram reaches approximately 22 million.

    Individual creators are amassing major audiences, including Jannat Mirza with over 25 million TikTok followers, Hania Aamir with over 20 million Instagram followers, Ducky Bhai with over 10 million YouTube subscribers, and Rajab Butt with around 9 million.

    Performance Models Replace Flat Sponsorship Fees

    Commercial deals are shifting from flat fees to direct affiliate commissions. Smaller creators take free merchandise or modest cash retainers, while top celebrities still charge premium rates. Retail brands now deploy trackable discount codes and custom referral links.

    A merchant offering unique promo codes across 100 creator accounts can measure exact conversions within days. That turns endorsements into direct sales channels. For consumer startups and domestic cosmetic lines, performance deals offer instant distribution without the steep upfront costs of television runs.

    Niche Conversion Challenges Follower Scale

    Relevance now matters more than raw follower totals in campaign planning. A specialised account with 50,000 motorcycle enthusiasts regularly delivers higher conversion rates for vehicle parts suppliers than a general entertainment channel with five million subscribers.

    This mirrors digital commerce across Southeast Asia and China, where live-stream selling ties demonstrations straight to payment and fulfilment. Pakistan holds the same ingredients: expanding smartphone adoption, digital payment rails and a young urban population accustomed to mobile buying.

    Metrics Move Toward Acquisition and Retention

    Rapid growth has brought friction over audience authenticity and transparency. Brands face risks from synthetic engagement, bought follower counts and unclear commercial disclosures. These hazards run highest in regulated sectors like consumer health and financial services.

    Marketing teams now evaluate creator deals against customer acquisition costs, basket sizes and repeat order rates instead of vanity impressions. That demand is fueling dedicated talent management agencies, affiliate platforms and analytics firms across Karachi and Lahore.

    Traditional Media Monopolies Recede

    Billboards, print ads and television commercials still draw institutional budgets, but legacy networks no longer control consumer reach. Independent creators now build audiences larger than broadcast stations from home setups.

    Budgets will track verified checkouts as consumer brands watch whether creator live streams deliver steady sales through upcoming festive shopping cycles.

  • TikTok Shop Singapore Seller Base Reaches 80,000 as Video Sales Double

    TikTok Shop Singapore Seller Base Reaches 80,000 as Video Sales Double

    TikTok Shop nearly doubled its short video gross merchandise value in Singapore as its merchant roster expanded over 125 percent year on year to approximately 80,000 sellers.

    Live commerce sales on the platform climbed more than 70 percent year on year, supported by a 150 percent surge in live stream viewership, a 60 percent rise in monthly buyers, and a 30 percent increase in overall transaction volumes.

    Shifting from Search to Feed Purchases

    Speaking at the Retail Asia Summit 2026 in Singapore, Leon Koh, Fashion Lead and Seller Management Lead at TikTok Shop Singapore, said consumers are shifting from search-driven shopping to discovery-led purchases inside content feeds.

    Koh outlined how discovery commerce has taken root across retail verticals, bringing content and commerce together so shoppers discover, explore, and purchase products within the same experience.

    Sales gains spanned fashion and accessories, beauty and personal care, phones and electronics, everyday supplies, and food and beverage categories. The platform positions video feeds as an additional touchpoint to complement, rather than displace, brands’ established distribution channels.

    Live Commerce Gains Ground Across Categories

    Live broadcasting has emerged as the main vehicle for larger sales conversions on the app. Real-time product demonstrations let sellers answer questions instantly and verify sizes. Hosts can also offer short-lived pricing incentives during broadcasts.

    For merchant support, TikTok Shop introduced the Go Live Academy for businesses without broadcasting experience, alongside the Merchant Self Live programme for retailers running internal studios. The platform advocates a three-pillar framework of exposure, experience, and enablement to turn viewers into regular buyers.

    Discovery feeds create fresh operational hurdles for established multi-brand retailers. Marketplaces like Shopee and Lazada rely on catalog depth and search bidding. Feed-driven platforms demand continuous video output, live presenters, and creator partnerships to maintain sales volume.

    Merchant Training Targets for 2026 and 2027

    This shift requires physical retailers and consumer brands to allocate capital to hosting teams and video production. Brands that treat social commerce as an occasional stunt lose ground quickly to digital native merchants who broadcast daily.

    Maintaining buyer momentum requires steady production schedules and rigorous post-broadcast tracking. Inventory management also becomes volatile when creator broadcasts trigger abrupt order spikes that strain warehouse packing and parcel delivery networks.

    “Content commerce is an ongoing cycle, not a one-off campaign,”

    Koh said.

    Singapore E-Commerce Growth Trajectory

    Singapore’s broader digital economy provides an expanding baseline for video shopping. The country’s total e-commerce market value grew from $8 billion in 2023 to $9 billion in 2025, according to the e-Conomy SEA 2025: Singapore Country Report. Projections indicate the domestic online market will reach $15 billion by 2030.

    Competition across the island is intensifying. International e-commerce platforms are investing heavily in creator tools and local logistics infrastructure to lock in shopper loyalty.

    TikTok Shop is tracking seller adoption benchmarks over the next two years. The platform has committed to training more than 3,000 local creators by the end of 2026 and at least 1,000 local sellers through formal merchant programmes by the end of 2027.

  • Video Commerce Captures 20 per Cent of Southeast Asia E-Commerce GMV

    Video Commerce Captures 20 per Cent of Southeast Asia E-Commerce GMV

    Video commerce now accounts for roughly a fifth of Southeast Asian e-commerce gross merchandise value, forcing consumer brands across the region to overhaul their distribution models. Data compiled by Google, Temasek and Bain shows creator-led sales shifting from experimental promotional spending into core retail infrastructure across key markets including Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.

    That expansion brings operational friction. Sellers running live broadcasts face steep drops between top-line gross merchandise value and realized revenue once cash-on-delivery refusals, return windows, creator fees and platform commissions clear. Promotional subsidies, including platform-funded vouchers and discounted freight, have masked true channel margins during market-share acquisition phases. When platforms pull back subsidies, merchant unit economics drop quickly.

    Platform control and merchant margin pressure

    Selling through creator streams leaves transaction infrastructure in third-party hands. Platforms control storefronts, checkout systems, payment rails, customer records, delivery terms and dispute resolution, leaving brands to supply inventory and absorb product returns.

    Multi-market operators managing sales across Jakarta, Bangkok and Manila face diverging compliance environments. Content licensing, creator contracts, disclosure mandates and withholding taxes vary by jurisdiction, preventing companies from running uniform regional campaigns without local adaptation.

    The pattern follows China’s live commerce cycle. Brands in that market initially concentrated volume through top independent hosts before margins deteriorated. Chinese consumer labels responded by building internal broadcast studios and running scheduled daily programming to retain customer data and protect gross margins.

    Regulatory scrutiny reshapes regional operations

    Governments across Southeast Asia have moved to regulate social commerce platforms as critical retail infrastructure rather than digital advertising channels. Indonesia enacted Ministry of Trade Regulation 31 in September 2023, banning direct e-commerce transactions inside social media applications. The rule halted TikTok Shop until parent company ByteDance completed a 1.5 billion dollar investment to secure a controlling stake in GoTo’s Tokopedia platform.

    Vietnam enacted Decree 147 in late December 2024, enforcing strict account verification requirements before individuals can post or host livestreams. Merchant operators are now building direct customer channels, internal studio facilities and formal data-rights clauses into creator agreements across tier-two Vietnamese cities and eastern Indonesia, where production overhead remains competitive.

    Retailers across the region now track net settlement data and return rates per stream as platforms adjust commercial take rates and enforcement rules throughout 2026.