3.3 is the first (mega) double digit campaign of the year in Southeast Asia where major brands, online sellers and marketplaces offer the best deals to shoppers. We analyse ecommerce optimisation software Epsilo’s internal data covering over 90 stores on Shopee and Lazada across Home, Health, Beauty, Electronics, etc. in six countries.  

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The below key observations can help ecommerce teams plan and analyse their performance following this year’s 3.3 campaign and the trends a day before and the day after.

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Note: depending on the category you sell in, your results will differ as ROAS is a function of ad spend and ads GMV generated (ex. Infant formula brands tend to have 10X higher ROAS versus brands in the Home category) and your ad spend split between Shopee and Lazada will differ. The data is to show how different countries have different spending behavior and where there is opportunity to further invest to capture more digital share.

Overall observations for Southeast Asia 

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1. Ad spend directly on the marketplaces increased by 149% on 3.3 compared to the day prior, followed by a sharp decline in spend of 46% the next day. There is opportunity to maintain daily ad spend investment as traffic before and after D-day is strong as shoppers browse deals.
   
   
2. Brands invested ~80% of their ad spend on Shopee vs ~20% of Lazada on 3.3. However, before and after 3.3, the spend ratios were more on the lines of ~70% of Shopee vs ~30% on Lazada.
   
   
3. Brands observed a growth of 3.86X in ads GMV while simultaneously improving ROAS by an average +95%. However, both Ads GMV and ROAS reduced after 3.3 to BAU levels 3-4 days later.

Below we dive into the respective countries and how advertising behavior differs.

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🇮🇩 Indonesia

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1. An increase of 168% in ad spend on 3.3 led to an increase of 121% in impressions, signalling a 21% increase in CPMs on the mega sale day.
2. With increased competition, CPCs increased by 23% versus the previous day while clicks increased by 118%.
3. Both above points signal to brands that they should buffer greater campaign budgets or risk ad wallets to run out.
4. Moreover, there was a 15% improvement in ROAS on average on mega sale day across stores as Ads GMV increased by 2.07X.
5. The average ROAS from Lazada was ~213% higher than on Shopee, likely because the ad spend per store on Shopee was 6X vs Lazada. There is a big opportunity to top up investment in Lazada to even out the ROAS (note: it depends on the type of product you sell, Shopee users tend to skew younger). 

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🇵🇭 Philippines

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1. An increase of 55% on ad spend on 3.3 led to an increase of 55% in impressions, with stability (surprisingly) in the CPMs on the mega sale day. This was followed by a 53% and 51% decline in ad spend and impressions respectively the next day.
2. With improved CTRs, CPCs declined by 4% as compared to the previous day while clicks increased by 62%.
3. Ads GMV increased by 19X largely driven by Shopee.
4. Moreover, across brands we saw 12X improvement in ROAS on D-day. 
5. Comparing Marketplaces, the average ROAS from Shopee vs ~6X better than that on Lazada, while the ad spend per store on Shopee was ~2.2X of Lazada.

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🇲🇾 Malaysia

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1. An increase of 73% on ad spend on 3.3 led to an increase of 46% in impressions, and a 19% increase in the CPMs on the mega sale day.
2. With increased competition, CPCs increased by 8% as compared to the previous day while clicks increased by 60%.
3. There was also a spike in CTRs on both Shopee and Lazada by 10% and 11%, respectively, before dropping sharply the next day.
4. Ads GMV increased by 6.8X on D-day and across brands we saw 3.5X improvement in ROAS on average on mega sale day. 
5. The average ROAS on D-day on Shopee and Lazada was on par even though ad spend per store on Shopee was ~9X of Lazada.

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🇸🇬 Singapore

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1. An increase of 36% on ad spend on 3.3 led to an increase of 16% in impressions, signalling a 17% increase in the CPMs on the mega sale day.
2. There was also a clear spike in the CTRs on both Shopee and Lazada by 17% and 14%, respectively, before dropping the next day after the sale by 18% and 27%, respectively.
3. Healthy CTRs kept the CPCs in check as they only increased by 1% as compared to the previous day while clicks increased by 35%.
4. Ads GMV increased significantly by 3.3X on the mega sale day and across brands there was a 2.1X improvement in ROAS on average on D-day. 
5. The average ROAS on Shopee was 10% higher than on Lazada on D-day, while the ad spend per store on Shopee was 4X of Lazada.

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🇹🇭 Thailand

1. An increase of 90% on ad spend on 3.3 led to an increase of 45% in impressions, and a 30% increase in the CPMs on the mega sale day.
2. There was also an increase in the CTRs on both Shopee and Lazada by 17% and 10%, respectively, before dropping sharply on the next day after the sale by 25% and 21% respectively.
3. Despite higher CTRs, the CPCs increased by 10% as compared to the previous day while the clicks increased by 73%.
4. Ads GMV increased significantly by 4.5X on the mega sale day. Moreover, across brands we saw 1.76X improvement in RoAS on an average on mega sale day
5. The average ROAS on Shopee spiked significantly and was 150% higher than that on Lazada on D-day, while the ad spend per store on Shopee was ~2X of Lazada.

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🇻🇳 Vietnam

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1. An increase of 346% on ad spend on 3.3 led to an increase of 192% in impressions, signalling a 53% increase in the CPMs on the mega sale day.
2. Despite it being a mega-sale, there was a decline in the CTRs on both Shopee and Lazada by 11% and 10%, respectively. CTR is influenced by a few factors including product thumbnail and price. 
3. Higher CPMs and lower CTRs caused CPCs to increase by 71% as compared to the previous day.
4. Higher conversion rates drove significant growth of 6.5X in ads GMV on the mega sale day. Moreover, across brands we saw 69% improvement in ROAS on average on D-day. 
5. The average ROAS on Lazada spiked significantly on D-day and the teasing day before, almost 130% higher than that on Shopee.

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Stay tuned for our results this year - we'll also release category level insights. Want more insights? Subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of the page.

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Interested in how you can improve your Shopee or Lazada in-platform ads performance? Contact us or sign up for a free trial.

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Image credit: Claudio Schwarz