Client name withheld under NDA.
Lifestyle retail in Singapore competes with marketplaces, overseas online stores and big chains, often on the same products. Shoppers discover new homeware and gift ideas on Instagram and Facebook, save posts for later and buy when an occasion comes up. A retailer that posts occasionally and only shows products on a plain background gives them little reason to follow, save or come back.
This retailer ran two stores and an online shop selling homeware and gifts. The owner posted about eight times a month between running the stores, mostly product photos with prices. Instagram had 6,200 followers, engagement was 1.2% and direct messages went unanswered for days. Social media brought around 22 online orders a month, and nobody knew which posts drove them.
| Metric | Month 0 |
|---|---|
| Instagram followers | 6,200 |
| Engagement rate | 1.2% |
| Monthly reach | 38,000 |
| Website visits from social per month | 410 |
| Online orders from social per month | 22 |
| Posts per month | 8 |
We audited the last six months of posts, set four content pillars (styled homes, gift ideas by occasion, new arrivals and behind the scenes in store) and built a monthly calendar around Singapore gifting occasions.
Gifting peaks around Chinese New Year, Mother's Day, Christmas and housewarming season. Planning content around those moments put the right products in front of people when they were ready to buy. It also gave the owner a clear view of what was going out each week, so stock could be ready for featured products.
We set up a monthly in-store shoot for styled flat lays and short reels, plus quick behind-the-scenes clips filmed by store staff, and wrote captions that answered questions about size, materials and use.
Styled shots show how a product fits into a real home. Captions that answer common questions reduce the back-and-forth before a purchase. Store staff enjoyed filming, and their short clips often outperformed the styled shots because they felt personal.
We took over replies to comments and direct messages within business hours, created saved replies for common questions, and passed stock and order questions to the store team the same day.
Quick replies turn interest into sales. A message answered within an hour is far more likely to become an order than one answered three days later. Saved replies kept answers consistent, while still sounding like a person rather than a bot.
We connected the product catalogue to Instagram and Facebook shopping, tagged products in posts and added tracked links so orders from social could be counted.
Tags let a follower go from post to product in two taps. Tracked links showed which content actually sold, not just which got likes. It also showed that gift guides and styled home shots drove most orders, while plain product photos drove very few.
Monthly reports compared reach, saves, website visits and orders by pillar. We posted more of what sold, such as gift guides by occasion, and dropped formats that did not.
Saves and shares were the best early signs of a post that would sell. Following them shaped the calendar month by month. The owner also used the monthly reports to decide which new products to stock, based on what followers saved and asked about most.
Six months in, social media brought in 58 online orders a month instead of 22. Instagram followers almost doubled to 12,100, engagement rose from 1.2% to 3.6% and monthly reach nearly tripled. Website visits from social grew from 410 to 1,280 a month, and messages were answered the same day. The owner got back the hours spent posting between customers, and the stores reported more shoppers coming in to see products they had saved on Instagram.
| Metric | Baseline | Month 6 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Instagram followers | 6,200 | 12,100 | +95% |
| Engagement rate | 1.2% | 3.6% | +2.4 pts |
| Monthly reach | 38,000 | 112,000 | +195% |
| Website visits from social per month | 410 | 1,280 | +212% |
| Online orders from social per month | 22 | 58 | +164% |
| Posts per month | 8 | 20 | +150% |
Pillars, calendar and regular shoots set up, with posting up to 20 a month.
Product tags and fast replies took orders from social to around 40 a month.
58 orders a month and a 3.6% engagement rate.
Homeware and gift shoppers buy for moments: festive seasons, housewarmings and birthdays. A calendar built around those moments put the right products in front of people when they were ready to buy.
A direct message is often the last step before a purchase. Answering within hours instead of days turned more of those conversations into orders.
Tracked links and product tags showed which posts actually sold. That made it easy to post more of what worked and stop guessing.
Content, posting and community management for Singapore brands.
Results across SEO, paid media, content, web and more.
How a skincare brand went from 1.4× to 3.8× ROAS.
We will show you what is holding your accounts back.
Get a free social media review. We will look at your content, replies and tracking and show you how to turn followers into orders.