Assessing the Asia opportunity

Kyle Wiltshire, CEO at TESTA, says Asian markets such as Japan offer tremendous potential, but operators first need to benchmark against their rivals and ensure they offer a flawless player experience across core areas from payments to customer support.

Asia is a market the industry often shies away from talking about, but it offers great potential. Where do you see the biggest opportunities?

“You’re right on both counts. When it comes to the opportunities on the table in Asia, it really comes down to the operator’s licence strategy and risk appetite. But in terms of the markets with the greatest potential, it’s hard not to look at Indonesia based on its sheer size. This is a market not without its challenges, especially when it comes to lower player values, slower devices and archaic infrastructure, but it is the fourth largest country in the world by population.

“Then there’s Japan, a market that has enjoyed significant growth over the past 12 months with plenty of established European and international operators getting in on the action – estimates put GGR at around $6bn per year right now with that number set to rise further. This is attracting more brands to the market, which is why we’ve seen a wave of white-label operators launch to players, so the competition is very much hotting up.”

How can operators maximise the opportunity in markets like Japan?

“To unlock the opportunity in Japan and other Asian markets, operators must offer a deeply localised experience, especially when it comes to content, payments and customer support. Japan, for example, is different to most jurisdictions in Southeast Asia in that Apple has a 60% share of the smartphone market and with desktop usage relatively high still. It’s a much more developed country and one where consumers value their culture – they are mostly unwilling to accept something that feels “global” so operators must provide a truly authentic experience to really engage players.”

For operators entering Asian markets, is it important to benchmark the opportunity being offered by rival brands? And how can they do this if they are located on the other side of the world?

“Absolutely. Operators need to do their homework on who the market leaders are and who they are fighting to win share against. Once they understand the competition, it’s vital to use people on the ground in each market to provide real-world feedback as to player experience offered by each from the eyes of a player. This includes things like the payment methods available, and the transaction journey players are taken on. It should also consider the bonuses being offered and the content in the lobby. Mapping all of this out for three or more existing operators will provide valuable context on consumer expectations and the areas where improvements can be found.

“This is one of the most common uses for TESTA – our crowdtesting platform is highly effective at gathering on-the-ground information from real players to help the operator paint a picture of the competitive landscape and use this to benchmark their offering.”

Established operators need to ensure the experience they offer to players in Asia is localised but also consistent with that in other markets. How can they do this?

“They need to undertake UX testing and quality assurance, and this needs to cover the actual betting products on offer as well as the key functions the operator controls. These products are ultimately why consumers jump through hoops – sign up, deposit, etc. They want to bet, and they want to play.

“It’s important to point out that simple things can really make or break the player experience, especially when operating a brand in “distant” markets like Asia. For example, the latency of a slot spin is going to be a lot lower on a game served in Asia compared to Europe and that 100-200ms compounds with each spin – this affects turnover and ultimately GGR for the operator. The same applies to sports betting and having the right markets present and displayed in a way that makes sense to the punter.

“Ultimately, a betting brand wants to offer the same values to players regardless of the market they operate in, but the experience they need to provide to do that will differ. This is why it’s so important to benchmark, test and undertake QA in each jurisdiction where the brand is active.”

How can TESTA help with this?

 “The key is to get as many insights, data and feedback from the market as possible. A crowdtesting company like TESTA is the easiest solution – other options include using friends and colleagues or even flying people into the market to try things out. With TESTA, we combine our technical tools with real people to help our customers establish a baseline of what the leaders are doing so they can compare it to what they are doing. This really helps to understand if there are any gaps or indeed any USPs they can take advantage of. When it comes down to it, many betting and casino products are similar so getting the basics right across UX, payments, games and customer support can really help a brand differentiate, especially if it is new to the market.”