With less than a few days until 2015 comes to an end, ZALORA, Asia’s Online Fashion Destination, is proud to unveil its significant milestones achieved this year that changed the online fashion retail landscape in Southeast Asia. Initiated in 2012 with a mission to redefine high-street fashion accessibility in this part of the world, ZALORA has managed to run faster, play smarter and grow bigger in less than four years. Having fostered a strong presence in eight markets, and with more than 6 million followers on social media, ZALORA will continue to grow in its product offering, brand proposition, and customer experience.
2015 was a remarkable year for ZALORA. As a leading fashion e-commerce player in the region, innovations in mobile engagement were introduced to keep up with changing fashion consumer behaviour towards mobile shopping. In recognition of this shift, ZALORA will sustain its dedication to an ever-improving and meaningful mobile shopping experience in the markets we cover.
The Year of Mobile for ZALORA
In an effort to boost online retail consumption expenditure while providing reassurances about the e- commerce sector and building trust with customers in Asia, ZALORA launched the region’s version of Cyber Monday, 12.12 Online Fever, in 2014. Together with more than 300 partners across the region covering different industries from food, home, entertainment, travel, to beauty, 12.12 Online Fever grew bigger on its second run in 2015.
On 12 December this year, ZALORA enjoyed over six times the volume of any previous day, also sparking a rise in mobile shoppers. With 78.5% of 12.12 Online Fever customers shopping on their
mobile devices, the number of mobile customers saw a 250% increase from last year. This is in line with the growing trend of consumers within the region shopping heavily on their mobile devices.
As a retailer, it is important that ZALORA provides a seamless mobile experience for its partners. With utmost convenience in mind, the Marketplace Seller App was launched, allowing independent sellers to run their ZALORA shop while on the move. Developed to expedite transactions and the evaluation of business performance, the app is available in five languages, catering to the culturally- diverse Southeast Asian markets.
Winning prestigious regionally-recognised awards is a testament to ZALORA’s continued success in mobile innovation. This year, ZALORA clinched the Silver award for the MBEA Best M-commerce Mobile Application of the Year and came out on top as finalist for Mob-Ex (Mobile Excellence) Awards in the categories Best Brand Awareness Campaign, Best use of QR Code and Best Integration of Mobile.
Fashion Consumer Insights
ZALORA understands that consumers today are seeking more options and a wide assortment of quality products. To meet this demand, ZALORA carries over 6,000 global and local fashion brands on one single site, carefully curated to provide the best fashion offering for its customers.
Over the year, we have noticed certain significant purchasing trends. The top three most-purchased fashion items for 2015 are: Quilted wallets, flip-flops and V-neck tees. Aside from apparel, ZALORA also offers beauty products to its customers. Lipsticks topped the list as the most purchased beauty item, followed by mascara and foundation. Aligned with the goal of filling the online fashion gap in Southeast Asia, ZALORA remains a dominant player in enabling accessibility to high-street fashion for consumers in the region,
ZALORA Milestones
As the company grew in the last three years, ZALORA has achieved several milestones in 2015, including entering the Taiwan’s fashion e-commerce market. Growing at a significantly rapid pace, the Taiwanese consumers are driven by high internet penetration and widespread smartphone use. With close to 100 brands initially offered, ZALORA gives fashion consumers in Taiwan the best high-street fashion brands, such as Burton Menswear, Finery London, New Look, River Island, and Miss Selfridge, in addition to ZALORA’s eponymous label, exclusively distributed in Taiwan by ZALORA on one website.
To further strengthen its position as the fashion authority in this part of the world, ZALORA is committed to continually coming up with innovative large-scale events by pioneering omni-channel consumer engagement, through working with top partners across channels (from TV to media).
ZALORA supports Asia’s diverse forms of beauty and talent, seeking to empower men and women through fashion. By giving them the confidence to own every moment they find themselves in, they are encouraged to be the best version of themselves. ZALORA also plays a critical role in discovering and celebrating the next fashion talent in Asia through partnerships with highly anticipated television series, namely Asia’s Next Top Model, How Do I Look? Asia, and Fit for Fashion, which will air on January 7, 2016.
Where fashion meets e-commerce, the inaugural ZALORA Scholarship was also debuted this year to attract and nurture young talent in the tertiary student crowd, providing them with valuable industry experience and a partial grant for tuition fees.
Furthermore, designed to increase awareness of the brand among consumers in Southeast Asia, ZALORA launched The ZALORA Shop, the first click-and-mortar shop in Asia that gives consumers a physical ZALORA experience. Following the success of the first pop-up store in Singapore launched in 2014, ZALORA launched more pop-up stores around the region this year in Hong Kong and the
Philippines. Due to popular demand, ZALORA Hong Kong opened a second pop-up store, while ZALORA Singapore is now on its third store
ZALORA prides itself on its commitment to provide relevant fashion choices to consumers in Asia. This is channelled through the ‘Lunar New Year’ collection and ZALIA – an exclusive label created specially for women seeking trendy, conservative styles. Designed for the fashion-conscious consumer, ZALORA launched the Lunar New Year and ZALIA collections for the third year running in 2015. Both collections successfully enable fashion fans to transform their festive wardrobe into something contemporary and fashion-forward without forgetting their local roots and Asian authenticity.
ZALORA Looks Forward to 2016
ZALORA celebrates a successful 2015 and its incredible achievements. Entering its fourth year, the young online fashion company aims to maintain its dominant position as market leader in the online fashion sphere. ZALORA will continue to dream big and explore new opportunities and possibilities for the future to build an e-commerce friendly environment in the region.
