The Awin and Commission Factory teams attended their first major event at Affiliate Summit APAC in Singapore after the two companies formally announced that Awin had taken a recent financial stake in the company as the next evolution of their successful strategic alliance.
Representatives from the commercial, client services, and executive team flew from Sydney with the aim to establish new connections, meet existing partners and represent Awin and Commission Factory united.
Meeting with publishers and advertisers alike at the Awin + Commission Factory Coffee Lounge, the team shared their knowledge with new and existing contacts, as well as further expanded their knowledge around the major differences and some of the changes that in the next few months could impact the affiliate channel in the APAC region.
Additionally, Commission Factory CEO Zane McIntyre and Awin Business Development Director Sophie Metcalfe gave a presentation on the affiliate, e-commerce and digital landscape in Australia and how the adoption of technology is changing the behaviors of consumers. This theme of change and evolution was further carried through to our three-course VIP lunch hosted by Commission Factory’s CEO. Some of our key takeaways at the event included:
- The Southeast Asian (SEA) region is incredibly fragmented, and most of our affiliate partners have different local contacts for each country.
- It is an expectation that brands are localized (not just shipping to the region, but also localized currencies, domains, and languages).
- Singapore will be introducing a new online shopping tax effective from January 2020. It is a Goods and Services Tax (GST) imposed on imported digital services such as movie and music streaming services and mobile apps come 2020. (Source: Gartner - Singapore Will Start e-Tax on Digital Services in 2020)
- Indonesia and Thailand are the biggest markets for many publishers. Consumers in these regions generally prefer local brands as opposed to large global brands, with a requirement they offer websites and creatives in local languages.
- Vietnam has a strong focus on fin-tech.
- Singapore and Malaysia are more welcoming of global brands with an international offering; however, a large portion of transactions are still completed in-store.
- The market is mobile-first when it comes to consumer purchasing online.
Reflecting on the event, Amanda Calkins, publisher development team lead at Commission Factory said, “It’s fantastic to get some face time with our overseas partners. We had so many quality conversations and learned a lot from our publishers based in various countries within SEA! I’m really looking forward to coming back next year and seeing how the affiliate space continues to evolve in APAC.”
Additionally, Sophie Metcalfe reiterated, “It was great to again share and absorb lots of learnings from our colleagues, friends, publishers, and advertisers at ASAPAC19. It's always fascinating to understand other markets and understand the cultural, social and economic factors that contribute to their make-up.”
Affiliate Summit APAC was another fantastic event for the Awin Group. We are excited to see what will happen in the next twelve months in the APAC region, as well as how the Commission Factory and Awin partnership will continue to strengthen.
Looking forward to seeing all of our clients, partners and friends at Affiliate Summit West 2020!
