“NocNoc” Home and Living Platform, an online hub for home products and services, has pointed out that the trend of purchasing home products and services through e-commerce continues to grow well. They have released Customer Insight data that helps brands effectively address consumer hesitations when shopping for home products and services online, especially when customers cannot physically touch the products before making a purchase. This has led customers to build, decorate, and renovate their homes entirely using home decor products from the NocNoc platform.

Mr. Anupong Thasaduak, Chief Commercial Officer of Betterbee Marketplace Co., Ltd., or NocNoc, the online hub for home products and services, revealed that online shopping has seen exponential growth recently, particularly in the furniture and home decor segment. This is evident from research data from Krungsri, which predicts that by 2025, the Thai e-commerce market will grow by another 19%, with modern retail operators likely to expand their businesses alongside the development of online sales channels.

However, despite the significant growth in online shopping, it must be acknowledged that the pain point for e-commerce businesses in the home decor segment is that customers cannot see and touch the products, which is a crucial factor in their purchasing decisions, especially for large furniture items such as sofas, cabinets, tables, and beds. Customers often worry that the products may not meet their expectations, leading to detailed consideration of this issue among consumers.

Recently, NocNoc has emerged as a Home and Living Platform, gathering furniture, home decor, flooring materials, electrical appliances, and comprehensive home services, becoming the first in Thailand to eliminate these limitations, easing concerns and reducing hesitations in purchasing home decor products more effectively. This is reflected in the data showing that 60% of customers shopping for home decor online on the NocNoc platform can build, decorate, and renovate their entire homes, covering a wide range of products and services, allowing for a Complete Journey all in one place at NocNoc.

Mr. Anupong stated that the insights from NocNoc show that the majority of NocNoc's customers are in the home building and renovation segment (Home Building and Renovator), accounting for about 60%. This group is looking for a complete journey in purchasing products and services for building, renovating, and decorating their entire homes, with a purchasing behavior that spans various categories on the NocNoc platform, returning to make repeat purchases over 74% of the time as they gradually buy home decor items to meet their needs. Meanwhile, home decor and general furniture buyers (Home Decoration and Furnishing Shoppers) make up about 40%, focusing primarily on decoration but also showing a repeat purchase behavior on the NocNoc platform of up to 26% as customers continuously seek inspiration for home decoration from various sources, including NocNoc, which offers numerous decoration ideas.

This indicates that the market strategy to meet customer needs through a Complete Journey, along with creating a good shopping experience for consumers and offering experiences beyond customer expectations, has led to an overall increase in users on the NocNoc platform, both on the website and the application, by 64% from January to April 2023 compared to the same period in 2022. Given the continuous growth trend, it is expected that sales in 2023 will achieve the target of over 170% compared to the previous year.

Additionally, one of the customer behaviors that the company emphasizes is personalization. It is evident that each individual's home decoration lifestyle is unique. NocNoc allows customers to start using the application by searching for their preferred style through a personalized AI system, enabling the app to present home decor products that match each individual's style. It was found that the most popular home decoration styles among Thais are Japandi 25%, Scandinavian 23%, Industrial 20%, Glam 15%, Transitional 10%, Shabby Chic 5%, and Mid-Century Modern 2%, in that order.

At the same time, the company also prioritizes a diverse selection of products to cater to customers who enjoy decorating their homes in different styles. Currently, NocNoc categorizes its products into four main groups: 1. Home and Living - home decor and furniture, 2. Home Appliances - electrical appliances, 3. Home Improvement - home improvement products, and 4. Home Service - all home service tasks. Each group is further divided into various product categories, resulting in NocNoc offering over 500,000 items from 3,000 stores, effectively meeting the needs of home lovers.

Moreover, NocNoc provides services that address home-related needs from expert technicians, ranging from cleaning services, housekeepers, air conditioning cleaning, washing machine cleaning, air conditioning installation, water heater installation, sanitary ware installation, renovations, flooring, painting, roof repairs, as well as design, maintenance, and home renovation services, all with a maximum usage guarantee of one year*, ensuring consumers that the technicians will not abandon their work and that budgets will not exceed expectations.

The top five product categories that consumers frequently repurchase include home entertainment, sofas and chairs, bedding sets, cabinets and shelves, and small electrical appliances. The behavior of returning for repeat purchases typically involves items within the same category, such as in the bedding category where customers buy a 6-foot mattress and later return to purchase bed linens and pillows, or in the sofas and chairs category where they buy a work chair initially and then return to buy a work desk or additional sofa.

“Although these five product categories are items that often require customers to physically touch or see the products before deciding to purchase, they are also the categories that NocNoc customers consistently return to buy, reflecting that purchasing furniture and home decor does not always require touching the actual products beforehand. Customers may have had prior experiences with the products elsewhere, especially on the NocNoc platform, where the repeat purchases indicate that consumers had a good experience with their initial purchase,” Mr. Anupong concluded.

Mr. Anupong also mentioned that Data-Driven Marketing is important, but it is essential to consider how to utilize it for maximum benefit. NocNoc places great importance on customer data, as this information can reveal customers' identities, helping brands understand their needs and diverse lifestyles. By leveraging MarTech and AdTech marketing technologies, NocNoc plans, executes, and measures campaigns to effectively reach customers and meet their needs.

Additionally, through Story-Driven Communication that reaches every customer journey from Discovery, Inspiration, Comparison, Selection to Complete Journey, customers will see consistent communication through content that helps them understand what NocNoc offers, how the products they are looking for meet their needs, making it easier to decide on home-related purchases. Furthermore, it is crucial to create an online shopping experience that transitions to offline, allowing customers to access and see the brand's visibility more closely.

However, it is believed that developing features on the application to address customer pain points will enhance the experience of using NocNoc and simplify the decision-making process for purchasing home decor. For instance, Image Search or searching by image allows customers who like a sofa in a café but do not know the model or brand to take a picture and search for it directly in the NocNoc application.

“Even though consumer behavior today offers a variety of choices, customers often visit other stores to compare products, prices, and gather ideas for home decoration. NocNoc provides more options, allowing people to seek ideas and inspiration in the Community while enjoying the convenience of shopping from anywhere, with delivery services available throughout Thailand. This effectively addresses the issue of not being able to touch the products, making it no longer a problem for purchasing home-related items online,” Mr. Anupong concluded.