Global brands navigate the localisation paradox as they expand across Asia

From China’s social-commerce infrastructure to the Philippines’ neighbourhood sari-sari stores, brands expanding into Asia are discovering that the big challenge is understanding how differently consumers, channels and even markets operate - and how far a brand should adapt without losing what made it successful.

That was a key theme at EXPAND 2026 in Sydney, where leaders from Envoyage, Seafolly, Sun Maison and Coca-Cola explored the tension between global consistency and local relevance.

The central question was not whether brands should localise, but where localisation should stop - and how marketers can distinguish a genuine local insight from pressure to simply do things differently.

Localisation starts first

Seafolly’s expansion into China illustrated how quickly localisation can extend beyond marketing.

Alisha Thornley, global head of marketing at Seafolly, said the Australian swimwear brand launched digitally in China, but quickly learned that assumptions about how consumers shop online did not hold.

She said Seafolly’s on-ground team highlighted that Chinese consumers were increasingly turning to platforms such as Tmall rather than traditional brand websites, underscoring the need to adapt not just marketing but the digital infrastructure supporting a market launch.

The lesson involved adapting to the local digital ecosystem as much as consumer-facing communications, with even file-sharing tools requiring a rethink.

“For us, we’ve used Dropbox with all our other partners, and suddenly we’re scrambling to find a new file-sharing solution.”

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Product-market fit can also demand localisation. Thornley pointed to cultural considerations around modesty in Asian swimwear markets, where Seafolly has developed lines featuring swim skirts and swim dresses.

She said marketing alone could not overcome a lack of product-market fit, noting that simply promoting more revealing swimwear would make it difficult for the brand to connect with consumers in these markets.

Asia is not one market

Matthias Blume, vice president of alcohol ready-to-drink for ASEAN and South Pacific at The Coca-Cola Company, offered a similar warning from Coca-Cola’s alcohol ready-to-drink business, where consumer behaviour and retail environments can vary significantly across Southeast Asia.

The challenge, he noted, is not always finding a new consumption occasion. In some markets, brands first need to establish why consumers should drink the product at all.

Global brand recognition also does not guarantee consistent meaning. Blume pointed to differences in how the product and its consumption can signal status and identity across markets.

The product is the same, but the way we activate it might be different, essentially because it needs to fit for the long term.

For marketers, the implication is that global brand equity provides a foundation, but does not guarantee that consumers will interpret a brand in the same way everywhere.

Don’t localise away your advantage

Allie Sparr, global head of brand and marketing at Envoyage, said the travel agency network once grappled with the tension between global consistency and local relevance after a global rebrand. In New Zealand, the business was warned that its global positioning could weaken its local connection, prompting it to rethink how the two could work together.

Rather than shy away from its global nature, the business looked at how to balance its global identity with local delivery.

“We decided that we’re building a global brand. That is actually a differentiator in this market that none of our competitors can touch in New Zealand.”

For Sparr, localisation meant making the global proposition meaningful locally, rather than changing the proposition itself.

Sundip Mace, founder of Sun Maison, concurred, pointing to hotel brands using local design, fragrance and storytelling to make properties feel rooted in their destinations.

Helping brands such as W Hotels, Sheraton, Gulf Air and MGallery unlock growth, she argued that global brands can provide the confidence that comes with an established international presence, while localised brand expression can help make that global story more relevant to consumers.

One country can need several playbooks

The panellists challenged the idea of building one localisation strategy per country.

Thornley said Seafolly encountered two distinct customer groups in Singapore: local consumers and tourists.

“We’ve got physical stores, and we’ve also got online in Singapore. We’ve got a really strong local customer there, but what’s really surprising is that we have an equally strong tourist customer.”

Those groups require different approaches, spanning creators, social, loyalty programmes and on-ground activation to reach local customers or visitors.

Blume took the point further, noting that even within Singapore, different consumer groups can behave very differently.

“Even within one country, we have huge variations depending on where you are. So a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work,” he said, referring to differences in ethnic communities and retail perspectives that shape purchasing behaviour.

The boundaries of localisation, therefore, may need to be drawn more narrowly than the country itself - around consumer segments, channels, cities or even specific occasions.

Expansion does not always mean moving faster

The pressure to expand quickly was another point of tension. Sparr described how Envoyage explored a potential UK expansion after identifying an opportunity among employees wanting to operate independently. Rather than immediately committing resources, the business spent six months assessing regulations, competitors, infrastructure and its offering before deciding not to proceed for now.

Blume, meanwhile, stressed that the appropriate pace depends on category and scale, noting that Coca-Cola had relaunched a brand in Vietnam multiple times before finding the right approach.

“We launched a brand called Nutriboost in Vietnam like 15 years ago. We relaunched it three times, so four market entries until we got it right.”

The lesson is not simply to move slowly, but to understand whether a market and operating model give the brand enough room to learn and adapt.

Mace argued that brands can mitigate expansion risks through thorough preparation, local market expertise and operational readiness. For hotels in particular, she said the first month of a launch is critical, with teams across PR, marketing and guest experience needing to be aligned on the brand story from day one.

The story that you’re telling is actually true from day one, and not six months down the line, because that’s going to cost you.

“The media is coming in that first month. You don’t have the luxury of changing the conception they’ve already built in their minds.”

Listen to local teams - but test their assumptions

The panel also explored how global and local teams should work together. Sparr said she challenges local recommendations by asking whether they connect back to the brand’s core.

“What is your vision for what you’re trying to localise here? Does it still tie back to those core elements? What makes our brand our brand?” She also considers the commercial rationale, asking whether a recommendation reflects a genuine insight or simply a familiar way of working.

Blume offered a counterpoint from Vietnam, where his local team told him Coca-Cola’s contour bottle had no equity.

“I went and did my own market research, and that research never came out of my drawer because the Vietnamese team was right,” he said, adding that a lack of current equity does not necessarily mean a brand asset has no future.

For Sparr, the ultimate lesson is to approach local differences with curiosity rather than defensiveness: “We have a saying that I learned in my leadership training: get curious before you get furious.”

Mace advocated listening without judgement, then using testing and customer data to determine which local insights should shape the strategy.

Ultimately, the localisation paradox is not about choosing between global and local. It is about knowing what must remain consistent and what should change - and recognising that the answer may differ not only between countries, but between consumers, channels and occasions.