For several years now, marketers have pursued the estimated $1.9 trillion global Muslim consumer market, not least the growing cohort of young, female hijabsters in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Now marketers are waking up to another rising cohort of young, tech-savvy Muslimah in Southeast Asia.
Young Muslim women in Southeast Asia are coming of age at a time of societal flux. They are more devout than their parents’ generation—as seen by the spread of the hijab, or Muslim headscarf—while at the same time more professionally ambitious and more cosmopolitan in outlook.
The New MUSLIMAH: Southeast Asia Focus
According to Pew Research, over a quarter of the world’s population will be Muslim by the year 2050 and Muslim population is set to rise from 1.6 billion to 2.8 billion. This is the world’s youngest and fastest growing consumer group. The current Muslim lifestyle spend is at around $2.6 trillion, and the marketplace for halal products is expected to grow by 6 per cent in the next three years. Research into Muslim attitudes around the world conducted by Ogilvy Noor found the emergence of a segment they call ‘Muslim Futurists’. Defined as people who choose to live a life they feel is both faithful and modern, these ‘futurists’ want the best brands, products and services, but only when it meets the requirements of their faith.
This is especially true in southeast Asia, where a cohort of young, tech-savvy Muslim women is on the rise in countries like Indonesia and Malaysia. A JWT Intelligence trend report called The New Muslimah: Southeast Asia focus, takes a deep dive into this emerging sector. The report finds, “these young women are more cosmopolitan as consumers than older generations of female Muslims and are also more religiously observant. These two trends—more Islamic and more global—are playing out across sectors from food to beauty and fashion to banking to technology to travel, presenting opportunities and challenges to brands.”
The Big Brands Finally Noticed an Untapped Market
Some brands are seeing more opportunity, even if their actions have been met with a backlash. Here’s a few examples from fashion/apparel categories:
Nike released a Pro Hijab after working with female athletes who highlighted difficulties of competing wearing a traditional hijab.
Dolce & Gabbana announced a line of high-end abayas (long cloaks) and shaylas (scarves) for Muslim women in the Middle East.
H&M’s corporate social responsibility campaign is about sustainability featuring 60 “rule-breakers”, including a fashionable Muslim woman.
Uniqlo announced it was releasing a ‘Lifewear’ range in Malaysia aimed at Muslim women who choose to dress modestly.
How We Can Help
Muslim's market has a tremendous potential. That being said, just because there is a lot of untapped potential, doesn’t mean its easy to get into.
We often receive emails from Muslim online store owners who want to know how to generate more traffic and sales. Another challenge is how to get returning customers to justify a high acquisition cost.
Our offerings are designed to support your organization whether it to offer initial understanding of this audience all the way through to bespoke consultancy and communications plans. This includes:
Introducing the opportunity of the Muslim audiences to your organization, focusing on key insights and understanding in order to build engagement
Whether it is your brand’s chosen sector that you wish to explore, or learn more about a key territory, we can immerse you into the world of Muslim audiences and their Muslim Key Point Leader.
Today's online influencer business model has been adopted for many brands, but most people are still referring to the number of fans as the only indication whether an opinion leader is good or not. The industry lacks cross-Facebook, Instagram, YouTube three platforms, Cross-domain, cross-country influencer impact evaluation mechanism which is why AsiaKOL launched our AIE (Asia Influencer Evaluation). Not only do AIE solve the above problems, but it is also able to provide follow up services like exclusive Instagram image identification technology, artificial intelligence to automatically distinguish IG pictures and classification analysis. Furthermore, we are able to guide KOLs on business opportunities and brand marketing which can immediately generate sales. AsiaKOL has worked with the Taiwan government's tourism Bureau to implement several promotional activities. AsiaKOL is a company that has been affirmed by the Taiwan government.
As well as the use of publicity to create sales of KOL to guide business opportunities, so that the brand in marketing at the same time, can immediately create sales performance.
Here’s some choices and tools to help you rethink your business strategy:
Plan a Marketing Campaign at Least 6 Weeks Ahead of Holidays and Festivals
Think about when people make purchases and why.
For example, many Muslims start making purchases a month before the Hari Raya celebration.
Take Exclusive Product Pictures
Sure, you might want to cut back on the work by taking images from Google, but that’s of no benefit to you.
You need to establish your own reputation and STAND OUT above the other competitors.
Therefore, you need to take your own exclusive product pictures, even if you are offering a product manufactured by someone else. That's why you going to influencer marketing, could be ensure get exclusive pictures and high-definition. Of course, AsiaKOL will check it out for you.
Outsource Time Consuming and Complicated Tasks
Outsourcing has become popular in the ecommerce industry.
Not only is outsourcing menial tasks more cost efficient, but it frees up the time you need to do what matters most.
The best thing about outsourcing several tasks is that you are receiving specialist help.
For example, you might know little about influencer marketing, so you decide to hire a AsiaKOL to create promotional plan for you and help you communicate with influencers, you can save time can do more high value thing.
Or, if you can’t write content that connects your audience, influencers also can to do the job.
Personalized Communication
The best product descriptions out there sound human instead of robotic.
Yes, product features and specifications are important, but they’re not the selling point.
Features are not the true reason people make a purchase.
People make a purchase because there is something about the product that benefits them and fulfils a specific desire.
For instance making their grandchild smile for their birthday, and compliments from friends after losing weight.
To persuade them to buy, you need to trigger their emotions about how the product can provide a solution for something in their lives.
Conclusion
We probably wouldn’t have imagined this just few years ago in Southeast of Asia, but influencer marketing is making a big impact, and Muslim/Muslimah e-commerce & social media are a force to be reckoned with on an international mainstream arena and influencers are closer to consumers compared to celebrities. In conclusion, influencer marketing is a trend, safe, enjoyable and readily available form of marketing.
More influencer knowledge contacts us.
Source:https://www.marieclaire.com/fashion/news/g3060/muslim-women-style-fashion, https://goo.gl/b8m59M, https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/inayahc, https://www.jwtintelligence.com/trend-reports/the-new-muslimah-southeast-asia-focus, https://goo.gl/afhPGk
