Leaders from ASEAN member countries have vowed to tackle human trafficking and identity theft during the ASEAN Summit in Indonesia, with Laos and Cambodia called out as hotspots for such crimes.
ASEAN Leaders Commit to Tackling Online Human Trafficking

The rise of conflicted consumerism: Cost-of-living prompts Hong Kong shoppers to weight up price versus principles in buying decisions
- 44% of shoppers in Hong Kong place price as top spending consideration
- Yet, despite cost-of-livings pressures, 76% remain ‘sustainably-minded’
- Next day delivery or fast format fulfilment tops ‘sustainable’ shoppers’ eco vices
- 42% would pay more for fast fulfilment, but 26% would pay more for carbon-neutral deliveries
HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 15 May 2023 – A price versus principles paradox is creating a new cohort of ‘conflicted’ shoppers in Hong Kong, who are simultaneously demanding value for money as well as products and services from retailers that tap into their sustainable values, the latest research from Asendia, the leader in international e-commerce and mail delivery solutions, reveals.
Original research of over 8,000 global shoppers in Asendia’s ‘How To Sell Direct In The Age Of The Conflicted Shopper’ Report, including research of over 1,000 shoppers in Hong Kong, showed that price now tops consumers’ key considerations for 44% in their buying decisions, followed by value for money (41%). Yet, despite cost-of-living pressures, over three quarters (76%) of Hong Kong shoppers considered themselves to be sustainably-minded in their consumption habits.
Reduced consumption is both price and environmentally motivated
While 56% of shoppers in Hong Kong said they planned to cut back on spending in 2023 due to economic uncertainty, consumers are also re-evaluating how and what they buy to minimise their environmental impact.
Almost a third (32%) plan to consume less but more sustainably by purchasing pre-loved or second-hand items in 2023, rising to 37% of Gen Z, while a further 40% intend to buy less by extending the life of the products they own by using retailers’ repair or upcycling and circular retail initiatives.
Renaud Marlière, Global Chief of Business Development of Asendia, commented: “There’s little doubt that cost-of-living pressures are forcing consumers to weigh up what values, such as sustainability and greener consumption, they can afford to maintain. But while household budgets remain squeezed, shoppers aren’t prepared to put price entirely before principals in their consumption habits.”
“This is creating what we’ve coined the conflicted shopper; consumers who seek value for money – acting with price-sensitivity and spending-caution – on one hand, but want to consume in line with their values on the other, opting for eco-conscious decisions across their buying journey, from product choice to fulfilment methods. Despite this seeming paradox, it means retailers now need to cater for both polar ends of the conflicted shoppers’ value spectrum if they are going to win custom, loyalty and lifetime value,” Renaud Marlière continued.
The value paradox
While 76% of shoppers in Hong Kong consider themselves to be sustainably-minded, the same consumers who are consciously shopping ‘green’ – with 44% buying eco-friendly products, 40% buying organically and 35% choosing low-carbon goods – are also displaying sustainability ‘vices’ within their consumption habits.
A quarter (24%) were still choosing next day deliveries or fast fulfilment options, while a further 24% who identified as sustainably-minded shoppers admitted to still buying fast fashion, despite being renowned for its damaging impact on the planet. 21% of ‘green’ consumers in Hong Kong were also choosing to buy denim, widely considered to be an environmentally-poor fashion choice.
Delivering on sustainability demands
And this value paradox is being exhibited not just in what consumers buy, but also in how they want their orders to be delivered. Hong Kong shoppers’ top consideration around international fulfilment was knowing whether grouped deliveries which saved on fuel across multiple orders were available (36%), followed by 31% who wanted to know the air miles associated with their delivery to try and reduce carbon emissions.
While 42% would pay more for faster fulfilment, 26% would pay more for 100% carbon neutral deliveries, while 23% would pay more for greener fulfilment options, even if the item took longer to arrive.
In 2022 Asendia announced it had reached 100% carbon neutrality through its carbon offsetting projects. It now offers carbon neutrality across all shipments carried out for international retail customers via its e-PAQ solution, a specialist range of international packet and parcel services designed for online retailers.
For further information on how brands can address demands around value and build international consumer relationships that better meet the needs of today’s conflicted shoppers, download the full report: ‘How To Sell Direct In The Age Of The Conflicted Shopper’.
Asendia is committed to putting the customer at the centre of everything it does, which is why it stands for trust, friendliness and ease of use as the key pillars representing its core values.
Research methodology
Original research of over 8,000 global shoppers in the UK, U.S., Canada, Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland and Hong Kong. Each individual market polled had a sample size of over 1,000 shoppers. The research was conducted via online polling by Savanta on behalf of Asendia in February 2023.
Hashtag: #Asendia
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
About Asendia
Asendia is one of the world’s leaders in international e-commerce and mail, delivering packages, parcels and documents to more than 200 destinations across the globe.
Combining the experience and expertise of our founding companies, La Poste and Swiss Post, Asendia brings together a wealth of international and local know-how. Asendia’s expertise is broad reaching encompassing different aspects of e-commerce, from webshop software and marketplace management to international logistics. Asendia is committed to sustainability, offsetting all carbon emissions including first-mile collection, last-mile delivery, returns, and building emissions, machinery, and business travel.
Asendia employs over 1,500 people in Europe, UK, Asia Pacific and the USA – a global network blended with a local presence.
Bank of Laos Warns of Counterfeit Banknotes
The Bank of the Lao PDR (BOL) has issued a warning to citizens about counterfeit banknotes of LAK 100,000 and LAK 50,000 denominations.
Asia-Pacific Leaders Gather to Tackle Climate Change at UN Forum

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) opened its 79th session in Bangkok today, with global and regional leaders calling for urgent action to combat climate change and its dire impacts.
Appier exceeds first quarter projection, reports robust earnings growth
Increasing business momentum lays a solid foundation for second quarter onwards
Highlights and achievements of Q1 FY23
- Revenue increased by 32% YoY to reach JPY 5.6 billion
- Gross profit reached JPY 2.8 billion with a 32% YoY growth rate
- EBITDA profit increased by 60% YoY with 8% margin on a FX-neutral basis
- Achieved 24.4% YoY growth in customer numbers with last twelve months net revenue retention of 133.8% on FX neutral basis, and a customer churn rate of 0.608%
First quarter exceeds projections to establish a solid foundation for FY23
TAIPEI, TAIWAN – Media OutReach – 15 May 2023 – Appier Group Inc (TSE: 4180), henceforth referred to as Appier, today announced its earnings results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2023. Appier’s growth in the first quarter exceeded full-year guidance amidst a traditionally low season[1], while its business momentum increased since the beginning of the year. The company’s successful penetration into key accounts and verticals, as well as its continued development into new markets, delivered concrete results and has laid out a solid foundation for the second quarter onwards.
Appier achieved steady growth in its financial performance with a 32% year-on-year (YoY) increase in revenue, reaching JPY 5.6 billion. Gross profit also showed significant growth, reaching JPY 2.8 billion with a 32% YoY growth rate, while EBITDA increased by 60% YoY to reach JPY 418 million with a 8% margin on a FX-neutral basis. Appier continues to accelerate its product innovation via various generative AI (GenAI) integrations to strengthen its core competence, as brands look to the next generation of technologies to further enhance their marketing strategies.
Continuing the momentum from the previous quarters, Appier performed well in the US and EMEA, reporting a 77% YoY revenue growth, and representing 14% of total revenue from 10% a year ago, underscoring its success in cultivating new markets and in meeting market demand for innovative technologies that drive change.
Expansion to accelerate on the back of dual growth engines via Digital Content and Ecommerce sectors
Appier achieved a 24% YoY growth in its overall customer base, with the majority of new customers coming from the Digital Content and Ecommerce sectors. In addition, the company reported a last twelve months net revenue retention (LTM NRR) of 133.8% on FX neutral basis, while its overall customer churn rate remained low at 0.608%. Appier’s annual recurring revenue currently constitutes over 95% of total revenues, highlighting the company’s stable growth and overall momentum.
Appier’s continuous growth trajectory this quarter was attributed to better upselling, product synergy enhancement, and continuous expansion in existing customers, while its overall strategic focus remained on the acquisition of large enterprise customers. Despite the first quarter being a generally low season with clients’ limited marketing activities, the company’s performance has exceeded the full year guidance. Appier also expects further growth momentum in the upcoming quarters.
Northeast Asia’s vertical growth and continuous US and EMEA market development serve as dual growth drivers
Appier also expects increased momentum from this quarter onwards, due to the addition of key accounts in Digital Content, particularly in South Korea. The company’s breakdown of markets showed that Northeast Asia (66%) remained stable, with deeper penetration across verticals such as Digital Content and consistent growth from existing customers in ECommerce. The US and EMEA (14%) markets continued to deliver significant product value to customers, with a focus on acquiring new customers, scalability, ROI-driven upsell, and strength in the Digital Content sector.
“Our combined growth engine market strategy, consisting of both the Digital Content and ECommerce sectors, allows us to balance revenue streams and cope with macro economic uncertainties. This position allows us to keep pace well with the rapidly evolving business trends and sustain long-term robust growth,” said Dr. Chih-Han Yu, CEO and Co-Founder of Appier. “By combining Appier’s sophisticated GenAI algorithms with OpenAI’s ChatGPT language models, our customers can embrace cutting-edge solutions and harness the value of AI easily.”
Empowering marketing with a full suite of GenAI technology enhancements
Appier is consistently driving product innovation through the integration of industry-leading technology into its entire suite of products. Through the combination of Appier’s in-house GenAI technology with ChatGPT features, enterprises can significantly enhance their productivity through advertising tools, conversational marketing, and automated content generation.
- CrossX – AIXPERT: Limited or ineffective interest segments is one of marketers’ painpoints, making it hard to create various versions for multiple paid channels. With GenAI powered interest segment and parameter expansions, along with ChatGPT’s domain knowledge, marketers can efficiently identify the most appealing interest clusters to acquire high-value users. Based on AI predicted performance metrics and audience overlap rate, marketers can also optimize ads content across channels to achieve better campaign Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).
- AIQUA: Generating marketing copy and creating multiple versions for campaign A/B testing can be time-consuming and challenging for marketers. With the support of GenAI technology, marketers can use basic text input to create multiple language versions[2], custom lengths, and tones (formal, friendly, uplifting, playful, humorous) in a few seconds.
- BotBonnie: In the past, it was difficult for customer service professionals to provide a quick and detailed response to each customer. After integrating ChatGPT, the reply generation process can now be automated. AI assistant for live chat can also provide rewrite suggestions and adjust the response languages[3], length or tones (professional, friendly, empathetic, confident) for different situations, enabling better results from conversational commerce and customer satisfaction.
With the integration of GenAI into its product lines, Appier believes that they will provide strong practical value to enterprises and improve marketing performance and efficiency for brands. The enhanced solutions with an intuitive interface also empower brands to support the entire buyer journey, creating greater value and memorable customer experiences.
Hashtag: #Appier #ArtificialIntelligence #GenerativeAI #MarTech
https://www.linkedin.com/company/appier/
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
About Appier
Appier (TSE: 4180) is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company that uses artificial intelligence to power business decision-making. Founded in 2012 with a vision of democratizing AI, Appier now has 17 offices across APAC, Europe and US, and is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Visit
www.appier.com for more company information and visit
ir.appier.com/en/ for more IR information.
Thai Military May Intervene if Political Situation Is Not Under Control
Thailand’s military chief, General Narongpan Jitkaewthae, has said he cannot guarantee that the military would not intervene again if the country faces political upheaval in the next five months.
Cambodian PM Rewards Spirited Runner after Rainy Race Performance
Cambodian runner Bou Samnang, who finished last in the women’s 5,000-meter race at the SEA Games in Phnom Penh on Monday, was rewarded by Prime Minister Hun Sen for her perseverance.
Protect Children’s Vision: Join the Movement for Universal Eye Screening
Launch of board book will enable parents and teachers to detect vision problems in children
To address this issue, optometrist and preschool owner Andy Teo has launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo for the “Children Eye Screening Book for Teachers & Parents.” The book is a children’s board book that allows teachers and parents to perform a basic eye screening for children from three years old, featuring easy-to-recognize shapes. The project’s goal is to raise awareness about the importance of early detection of eye problems in children and to encourage more schools in the region to perform universal eye screenings.

Several schools, including AppleTree Preschool (Indonesia), Stella Gracia School (Indonesia), and Avenue Early Years Center (Philippines) in the region have already joined the movement to bring basic eye screening to every child.
“We believe that early detection of eye problems in children is crucial for their learning and development. With this book, we aim to start a movement to provide basic eye screenings for young children through schools and teachers. We hope that this project will help raise awareness about the importance of eye screening and encourage more people to take action to protect their children’s vision.” Says Andy Teo.
The project is seeking funding on Indiegogo, and backers can receive rewards such as a digital eye screener or an eye screening board book. Supporters can also donate eye screening books to schools in disadvantaged communities.
Join the movement to protect children’s vision. Visit the Indiegogo campaign page at https://igg.me/at/eyebook to support the “Children Eye Screening Book for Teachers & Parents” and help ensure that all children have access to basic eye screenings. For more information, please email andy@visionandperception.com.sg.
Hashtag: #visionandperceptionpractice #childrendevelopment #EyeScreeningBook
https://www.facebook.com/visionandperceptionsg/
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.