Taobao doubles OOH spend in SG as it looks beyond 11.11 sales

Taobao has doubled its physical advertising spend in Singapore for this year's 11.11 shopping season, as the Chinese eCommerce platform looks to broaden its appeal beyond price-led promotions and position itself as a destination for product discovery.

The platform is investing more than 100 million yuan (US$14.9 million) in its Singapore campaign, covering consumer subsidies, shipping incentives and advertising. The increased physical advertising spend forms part of a wider push to communicate Taobao's refreshed brand proposition to local consumers.

Cora Cai, Singapore country head at Taobao, told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that the investment is driven by two priorities: communicating the platform's expanded shopping proposition and connecting its brand messaging across physical and digital channels.

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This year, Taobao introduced six refreshed shopping experiences spanning quality, taste, lifestyle, smart, trend and surprise. Each represents a range of products and shopping occasions, from original Chinese designer brands and smart home technology to sports equipment, outdoor gear and pet supplies.

"Through OOH, we want to communicate to more Singapore consumers that Taobao is a platform that helps you discover products for every kind of lifestyle," Cai said.

The campaign also features Chinese actor Zhang Linghe, whose image appears on themed train cabins across Singapore's MRT network and large-format advertisements at locations islandwide. The offline placements connect with Zhang-themed content in the app and a daily treasure hunt campaign.

Cai said the collaboration was selected partly because Zhang's personal qualities align with Taobao's brand values.

"He has a strong following in Southeast Asia, and his personal qualities — warmth, authenticity, and curiosity about life — align closely with Taobao's brand values," she said.

Beyond campaign sales 

While the 11.11 investment is a significant seasonal push, Taobao is also looking at how its services can encourage consumers to use the platform beyond major shopping festivals.

Cai said gross merchandise value (GMV) remains an important measure of campaign performance, but it is not the only consideration in Singapore. As Cai explaned: 

Success is better reflected in how much we have made cross-border shopping more convenient for local consumers.

She identified service satisfaction, convenience and brand perception as three additional dimensions Taobao tracks.

Post-purchase satisfaction helps the company assess whether consumers are developing a longer-term relationship with the platform, while convenience encompasses local payment options, logistics, an English-language interface and tools that help shoppers find products more easily.

The platform has made several service changes in Singapore. In August, it removed minimum spending requirements for free shipping, extending eligibility to more categories, including fashion, sports and outdoor products, and maternity and baby items.

It has also introduced PayNow as a payment option, air express delivery for eligible parcels from an additional SG$1, and local returns through a Singapore warehouse for eligible purchases.

According to Taobao, the free-shipping changes have contributed to growth in active app users and double-digit growth in average order value. The company did not disclose the specific figures or measurement period.

Alongside these service improvements, Taobao is refining how consumers navigate its catalogue. Earlier this month, it introduced an updated cross-border shopping experience featuring more than 4,000 original-brand stores and six million curated products from a wider catalogue of over three billion items available for cross-border purchase.

Its DISCOVER channel groups stores and products into up to 15 themed categories based on shoppers' interests, supported by an upgraded personalisation algorithm. The platform is also refining AI-powered shopping tools, including virtual try-on, virtual makeup, furniture placement and voice search.

These features support Taobao's wider ambition to make product discovery a more prominent part of the shopping experience, rather than relying solely on consumers searching for specific items.

For Cai, brand perception remains another measure of whether Taobao is achieving its longer-term objective in Singapore.

We want Singapore consumers to see Taobao as a platform for discovery, a place where you can find anything and everything.

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