Sheena Suparman (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta ●
Thu, October 20, 2022
Statista has recorded that Indonesia’s revenue in the e-commerce sector is valued at US$62.59 billion, with the presence of websites such as Tokopedia, Lazada, Blibli and more. Coupled with the acceleration of digitalization coming out of the pandemic, brands, both international and local, have all flocked to these sites in order to attract more customers.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo is an outspoken advocate for domestic businesses, urging people to buy local in order to protect the economy from international crises. The national movement, dubbed #BanggaBuatanIndonesia (BBI), has been supported by e-commerce platforms as well.
For instance, Tokopedia strives to help local business owners, including those in the fashion and beauty sector, start and build businesses that are able to compete internationally. This has been a core value in the company since its inception over 13 years ago.
“Tokopedia has overseen various local fashion and beauty brands, namely Heaven Lights, Wearing Klamby, Erigo, Jewel Rocks and BLP Beauty, to showcase their products at various world events,” said Tokopedia external communications senior lead Rizky Juanita Azuz.
The aforementioned brands have started to gain recognition worldwide, with Heaven Lights and Erigo gracing the runway at New York Fashion Week (NYFW) and Wearing Klamby achieving popularity of its own at London Fashion Week (LFW). Moreover, Jewel Rocks and BLP Beauty had the opportunity to present their collections at the Paris Fashion Week (PFW) trade show in early October 2022.
“Thanks to Tokopedia and the Indonesian Embassy in New York, Heaven Lights was able to introduce Indonesian culture to the global scene, through NYFW, with the products we offer, namely Muslim fashion and modest wear,” said Anastasia Gretti Schenderhe, Head of PR and Marketing for Heaven Lights. She added that the collection had taken inspiration from Papua.
BLP Beauty displays products at Paris Fashion Week (PFW). (./.)
The sentiment was echoed by Lizzie Parra, Founder and CMO of BLP Beauty. She said the beauty brand was the first local cosmetics brand to be chosen by the Indonesian Embassy in Paris and L’Adresse Paris Agency to display their collections together with other brands from Southeast Asia. It was one of the brands representing Indonesia at PFW this year.
“This is the second time Tokopedia has supported us in showcasing the uniqueness of Indonesian accessories at PFW. The business that we started and built in Bali – with an initial capital of Rp 500,000 [US$32.30] and 10 employees – was finally able to partner with world-class brands through PFW. Hopefully this struggle can also be an inspiration for other local brands,” added Imelda Widjaja, owner of Jewel Rocks.
Other than equipping the brands to go international, Tokopedia also supports them by making it easier for them to find a following domestically. The platform has encouraged people to find and use a variety of local fashion and beauty products to support the BBI national movement to achieve national economic recovery.
This is done through a special widget on the home page, called “Bangga Lokal”, which contains products from local businesses to invite more people to buy and use such products.
There are also various campaigns at Tokopedia that serve as a stage for other local businesses that are also engaged in the fashion and beauty sector, through events like Parade Lokal, Women in Style, Modest on Trend, Tokopedia Beauty Dealight, Tokopedia Beauty Awards and more. These initiatives helped push the fashion and beauty sector to become the most popular category in the third quarter of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021.
Tokopedia recorded that the most popular beauty items that were purchased at that time were lip palettes, cushions, lip liners, eyelash and eyebrow serums, along with lip tints and lip stains. Most transactions were done in Tual, Maluku. Furthermore, the most sought out items in the fashion section were sling bags, hijabs, rings and bracelets, blouses and sandals. Malaka in East Nusa Tenggara was the prime spot for most of those purchases.
