On January 3, Deloitte released its report on the consumer industry’s journey towards digital maturity. The report seeks to explore the evolution of data analytics and digital commerce strategies among consumer companies in three of Southeast Asia’s largest digital economies, namely Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Investments in data analytics have resulted in cost savings and revenue growth, with the majority of survey respondents expecting their organisation’s spending to increase. A third of them reported having experienced a 10-30 per cent saving in their operational costs, as well as an equivalent increase in revenue growth.

This proven value creation potential of data analytics could be one contributory factor to the optimistic outlook on future spending. Nearly two-thirds of survey respondents expect their organisation’s spending on data analytics tools to increase over the next three years, of which 60 per cent expect to see an increase of 10-20 per cent, and another 20 per cent envisage a rise of 20-50 per cent.

Digital marketing capabilities are perceived to be the principal advantage of utilising digital commerce channels. Nearly three-quarters of respondents considered the ability to obtain more effective digital marketing capabilities as the main advantage of digital commerce channels, followed by operational cost reductions (60 per cent) and better customer service (50 per cent).

However, their efforts to utilise digital commerce channels are hindered by several pain points – in particular, those relating to channel conflicts, fears of cannibalisation, and gaps in IT support capabilities.

The report unveils three major trends shaping the consumer industry’s journey towards digital maturity.

The first is building a digital enterprise. By embedding data analytics in their digital commerce strategies, consumer companies across Southeast Asia are looking to capitalise on opportunities to better meet customer expectations and improve business performance. Achieving this, however, will require a doubling down on commercial analytics tools, such as dynamic pricing and digital marketing analytics.

The second is embracing a digital culture. To truly achieve digital maturity, companies will need to focus on making intentional changes to their organisational culture. This, in turn, necessitates the development of a digital mindset, as well as a clear leadership direction.

The last involves adopting a seamless omnichannel approach. Post-pandemic, there has been a noticeable resurfacing of the consumer preference for traditional sales channels. For consumer companies, this underscores the importance of developing and adopting an omnichannel approach – one that seamlessly integrates customer experiences across both online and offline stores.