Tag: Tokopedia

Amidst a growing competition amongst regional and local e-commerce players in Indonesia, Tokopedia managed to rise from other players during the 12.12 sale period. How did they do it? The Indonesian e-commerce giant tapped Kobo Kanaeru, a virtual YouTuber (VTuber) under the Hololive agency, and Internet personality/music producer Heiakim to produce a one-minute jingle ahead of the sale period.

What resulted was a significant success for Tokopedia, who not only put more focus on the platform in contrast to other players but also caught the attention of both local and international VTuber fans who showed interest in the collaboration through fan engagement endeavours such as fan arts and even meme edits.

For MARKETECH APAC’s first Top Story of the year, we spoke exclusively once again with Jonathan Locanawan, senior lead for social media at Tokopedia to learn more about the brand’s insights on creating authentic campaigns that not only resonated with niche fan groups but also speaking to the diverse Indonesian community.

Always appealing to specific audiences

Setting aside this specific 12.12 campaign featuring Kobo Kanaeru and Heiakim, Tokopedia has long been known to appeal to a wide range of audiences, whether it is Tokopedia posting online of their mascot ‘Toped’ jokingly making a prayer circle to summon their favourite Genshin Impact character or ‘Toped’ attending a popular Indonesian pop culture convention cosplaying as the character Gojo Satoru of the Jujutsu Kaisen series.

When asked how they can juggle many communities to appeal to, Locanawan points directly to better understanding the behaviour of various demographics, researching about the group, and strategising on how to approach them best.

The 12.12 campaign jingle from Tokopedia, co-created by popular Indonesian VTuber Kobo Kanaeru from Hololive and popular music producer Heiakim

“Tokopedia always tries to provide new ways to cater the ever-evolving preferences of Indonesian consumers, one of them is by doing research and understanding the persona of each target audience that we would like to engage with many of our campaigns,” he said.

He added, “After doing enough research, we then tailor and introduce various campaigns, aside from WAR Diskon (the local name of the campaign), to appeal to more specific communities.”

Locanawan then listed a wide array of special campaigns for very specific audiences, ranging from beauty products to fashion, and automotive parts, and even allowing local sellers to sell directly their food and beverage products on the platform.

“There are many other campaigns on Tokopedia that we continuously fine-tune to ensure that the products curated are always aligned with the needs,” he said.

Locanawan also notes the importance of relevancy across platforms but specifies that despite always keeping up to date with their diverse demographic, what is most important for them is to always stay true to their brand ethos: consumer centricity as the guiding star.

“Appealing to the various audiences is how Tokopedia tries to stay relevant. However, we also try to keep our distinctiveness. Amongst the sea of heavy promotions from the entire industry, we always try to come up with something special to really stand out from the crowd yet still maintain the local authenticity, sensibility and voice of ‘Tokopedia’,” he added.

Upholding the ‘focus on consumer’ value

When MARKETECH APAC previously spoke with Locanawan exclusively on the launch of their 12.12 campaign, he said, “Regardless of whatever strategy is used, consumer centricity has always been our guiding star—how we can ensure our consumers can benefit from the products, services and partnerships provided. That is what Tokopedia will always do to keep winning the hearts of Indonesians.”

In this instance, he added, “For example, whatever we do, we always try to put ourselves in the shoes of our user and understand their perspective—what pain points they face, what can help solve those challenges, what they like and don’t like. At Tokopedia, we always ask, is what we are doing relevant to our consumers?”

One of the many fan arts created following the collaboration between Tokopedia and Kobo Kanaeru

Locanawan is right: the Tokopedia 12.12 campaign proved to be a huge success, as it resonated well with its target audiences. Within a week of the jingle’s release, the brand garnered more than 7.5 million impressions across social media platforms (Twitter, TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube). It also achieved over 780k engagements, generated more than 5k fan video edits and fan art, and even attracted 1.7k viewers eagerly awaiting the premiere of our one-hour loop video.

“By upholding our ‘Focus on Consumer’ value, this is how we were able to come up with various campaigns that cater to different audiences, from Tokopedia Beauty, Tokopedia Tekno to Tokopedia NYAM! and many more,” he said, about the multiple campaigns they do for various demographics.

Lastly, when asked how Tokopedia can be ‘all over the place’ in launching demographic-specific campaigns without sounding forced, Locanawan had this to say.

“We also never want to stick to only one idea, even if the idea itself sounds comfortable. We always try to see that the only thing constant is change. We see gaps in a problem as opportunities or interesting challenges to overcome, with helping Indonesian consumers as Tokopedia’s end-goal,” he concluded.

Indonesia – The latest YouGov Profiles has noted that Tokopedia holds a 39% share among Indonesian consumers, securing its position as the second most popular e-commerce platform, trailing only Shopee, where a staggering 73% of customers have recently made purchases.

For context, Bytedance’s TikTok plans to return to the Indonesian e-commerce market by purchasing a majority share in GoTo’s Tokopedia for around $840 million. Following the Indonesian government’s prohibition of online purchasing on social media platforms, the firm was forced to close its social commerce service, TikTok Shop, in October. 

Analysing the broader market, Lazada captures the attention with a substantial 22% share among all consumers, ranking third in popularity. Other players, such as Bukalapak (6%), Blibli (5%), and Zalora (2%), follow suit.

For regular online buyers, Shopee emerges as the leading e-commerce platform with 77% popularity. In this category, Tokopedia (43%) and Lazada (24%) secure the second and third positions, while Bukalapak (7%), Blibli (6%), and Zalora (3%) also make notable appearances.

Zooming in on TikTok Shop users, the data indicates that 32% of them engage in shopping on Tokopedia. Although surpassing Lazada (23%), this percentage is notably lower than the overwhelming preference for Shopee, where a substantial 71% of TikTok Shop users make their purchases. As the e-commerce narrative unfolds, the data showcases a dynamic interplay of market forces and consumer behaviours, paving the way for potential shifts in Indonesia’s e-commerce landscape.

Two months later, the Indonesian ministry of trade announced that TikTok and Tokopedia will be launching a pilot program for e-commerce together. The project will take effect in the next months after extensive engagement with regulatory authorities. 

Jakarta, Indonesia – As part of the hype during the popular 12.12 sale period across online e-commerce players, popular Indonesian e-commerce player Tokopedia has engaged with Kobo Kanaeru, the biggest Indonesian virtual YouTuber (VTuber) in terms of subscriber count; and popular online music creator Harry Citradi, also known as Heiakim, to create the platform’s latest 12.12 campaign jingle. First uploaded on Tokopedia’s Instagram and X (Twitter) accounts, the jingle proved to be a viral success, prompting the company as well to upload a 1-hour version on its YouTube channel.

While campaign jingles are pretty common, this was the first time Tokopedia tapped a VTuber for its own campaign. Despite the fact that the jingle borrows cues from popular Japanese pop culture trends like anime and VTubers, it is also worth noting that the company took into consideration its roots of local culture relevance to create the new jingle. In turn, this made the campaign more popular especially to the younger consumer demographic while still rooted to be relevant across Indonesians.

MARKETECH APAC caught up exclusively with Jonathan Locanawan, senior lead for social media at Tokopedia, to learn more about the campaign’s creative process, as well as hear his insights on how brands can be authentic in tapping the younger demographic.

Understanding the roots of Tokopedia’s “Waktu Indonesia Belanja (WIB)” campaign

To fully understand how Tokopedia came up with the new Jingle, Locanawan notes that it is worth noting to understand how its yearly 12.12 campaign came to life.

In 2020, the company introduced the monthly shopping festival, “Waktu Indonesia Belanja” (WIB) or Indonesian Shopping Time. Since Waktu Indonesia Belanja was launched to be an inclusive shopping campaign for all Indonesians across the country, they created the WIB campaign jingle with tunes that took major inspiration from ‘Ampar Ampar Pisang’, a South Kalimantan traditional song that would resonate with most Indonesian people.

“The Waktu Indonesia Belanja campaign and its campaign jingle itself were met with high enthusiasm. This became the impetus for Tokopedia’s continued innovation into providing new ways that cater to the ever-evolving preferences of Indonesian consumers. For example, we continuously try to develop a more ‘personal’ approach between Tokopedia and the audience through social media,” he explained.

And while they believe that the monthly campaign was a success, they believed they need to penetrate the much younger audiences, especially those who are active online in social media. This is where the Tokopedia team found out how fans of Japanese pop culture are one of the most active demographics in Indonesia, and yet remains untapped by the market.

“We saw that Japanese popular culture represents a big yet untapped market in Indonesia, especially in the social media sphere. We also learned that Kobo Kanaeru—a female Indonesian
VTuber or virtual content creator who uses an animated avatar—and Harry Citradi or popularly known as Heiakim, are one of the biggest and well-known content creators in Japanese pop culture in Indonesia, especially amongst younger generations including millennials and Gen Z,” he added.

Why collaborating with Kobo Kanaeru and Heiakim is the correct step for the brand’s authenticity

When asked how the jingle came to life, they said that this was done in-house, alongside active participation with Kobo Kanaeru and Heiakim. It is worth noting as well that while they were the ones that provided that initial ideas, the co-creation of the jingle was mostly done by the duo. For Locanawan, this speaks on their mission of always tapping into these collaborations, providing trust to its consumer base.

“Tokopedia always believes that collaboration with partners, including content creators, always goes beyond the numbers of likes and followers. Tokopedia is a business of trust, so to maintain business continuity, maintaining the trust of Indonesians is the most important thing,” he said.

The new 12.12 campaign jingle from Tokopedia, co-created by popular Indonesian VTuber Kobo Kanaeru from Hololive and popular music producer Heiakim

Moreover, it is also worth noting that Tokopedia wanted a fresher take on its campaigns, hence the brand is willing to explore more niche cultural trends to bring colour and life to its campaigns.

“Appealing to the younger audience is definitely one of the main drivers for this collaboration as we continuously try to stay relevant with the Indonesian consumers. However, we were also aiming for distinctiveness. Amongst the sea of heavy promotions from the entire industry, we knew we needed to come up with something special to really stand out from the crowd yet still maintain the local authenticity, sensibility and voice of ‘Tokopedia’, he explained.

Advice on brands on how to ride niche cultural brands to stay authentic

Tokopedia believes that tapping creators that share the same brand value to the company and creative positive influence to the Indonesian society help them create authentic campaigns while also at the same time being at the top of mind of the younger demographic.

According to Locanawan, with Tokopedia willing to explore unique yet relevant niches, the brand has seen greater increase on positive brand mentions, higher views on its social media
accounts, like TikTok; and even noted an increase in better engagement with their audience through Tokopedia’s social media accounts.

“As brand marketers, we need to always be sensitive with the ever changing trends in pop culture to remain relevant. By fully immersing ourselves in the culture and by having the campaign co-created together with the creators, we were able to launch content that effectively rides the wave while maintaining the authenticity and voice of ‘Tokopedia’,” he explained.

Lastly, when asked what should brands do in terms of exuding authenticity to its consumers, Locanawan had this to say: “Regardless of whatever strategy is used, consumer centricity has always been our guiding star—how we can ensure our consumers can benefit from the products, services and partnerships provided. That is what Tokopedia will always do to keep winning the hearts of Indonesians.”

Jakarta, Indonesia – After multiple reports suggesting business talks between TikTok and GoTo in Indonesia, TikTok has announced that is investing a total of US$1.5b investment into GoTo. In it, Tokopedia and TikTok Shop Indonesia’s businesses will be combined under the existing PT Tokopedia entity.

In an official statement, both entities have said that this arrangement will allow both TikTok and GoTo to each serve Indonesian consumers and MSMEs more comprehensively.

Moreover, GoTo will benefit from the growth of the enlarged entity and will remain an ecosystem partner to Tokopedia, through its digital financial services via GoTo Financial and on-demand services via Gojek.

Going forward, TikTok, Tokopedia and GoTo will transform Indonesia’s e-commerce sector, creating millions of new job opportunities over the next five years. 

Some of those planned joint ventures include promotion of Indonesian products on Tokopedia and TikTok’s platforms, building the capacity of Indonesia’s MSMEs through a holistic program focusing on skills development, supporting merchants to sell products online, helping local brands to promote their products in international markets, amongst others.

The transaction, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2024, is in line with the GoTo Group’s strategy to strengthen its financial and strategic position by growing its total addressable market.

Moreover, a committee under the enlarged entity will be established to facilitate transition and integration, chaired by GoTo Group CEO Patrick Walujo, with support from members of both businesses.

These talks come after TikTok Shop announced the shutdown of its local operations in Indonesia in October 2023 following local orders. The company was forced to close down after the country’s government passed a regulation prohibiting the use of social media for e-commerce transactions.

West Java, Indonesia – Indonesia-based e-commerce platform Tokopedia, Unilever Indonesia, and the West Java Provincial Government have partnered to hold a Digital Advanced Women’s Class entitled ‘MSMEs Women Empowered and Forward Digital: Inspiration for Women Dare to Bring Change’, which was attended by hundreds of local MSMEs in West Java, a province in Indonesia, and surrounding areas.

The event is a continuation of the signing of the cooperation between Tokopedia and Unilever Indonesia in the series of B20 Indonesia Women in Business Action Council programmes dedicated to empowering women entrepreneurs. Present as a result of the B20 Indonesia presidency, this program also presents the One Global Women Empowerment (OGWE) platform initiative that focuses on expanding access to information, business assistance in the digital era, and technical entrepreneurship training as a preparation to face the challenges ahead.

Emmiryzan, head of the public policy and regional government division of Tokopedia, said, “This is the fourth time that Tokopedia has held a KPMD after being successfully held in Bali and Surabaya. We hope that through KPMD, Tokopedia can help improve the competitiveness of local MSME players, especially female MSMEs so that they are able to become hosts in their own country and become the main choice of Indonesian people.”

Meanwhile, Marini Fabiano, Unilever Indonesia Foundation’s diversity and inclusion lead, noted that in line with the ‘The Unilever Compass’ strategy, Unilever is committed to continuing to contribute to creating a more just and inclusive society which is manifested through their efforts to develop entrepreneurial skills and provide access to mentoring and mentoring for women and MSMEs. 

“Through collaboration with Tokopedia, we hope that women’s MSMEs, especially in West Java, can continue to grow and be competitive,” said Fabiano.

Atalia Praratya, the chairperson of Sekoper Cinta, commented, “We welcome the collaboration of Tokopedia and Unilever Indonesia in presenting KPMD activities in the West Java region. This is also in line with one of our programmes at Sekoper Cinta which provides training in opening up business opportunities so that women can be independent and contribute to the family economy. We hope that through this activity there will be more and more qualified MSMEs from West Java.”

Jakarta, Indonesia – Tokopedia has launched the ‘Cash Waqf’ feature, a charitable endowment digital feature to give Muslims in Indonesia more ways to carry out their worship. The feature is part of its Tokopedia Salam ecosystem – a channel for halal-certified and Muslim-friendly products and services.

The new feature enables users to donate money helping accelerate halal economic development. This is created in collaboration with several institutions, including the Indonesian Waqf Board (BWI), Dompet Dhuafa, and Rumah Zakat. 

Director of public policy and government relations at Tokopedia, Astri Wahyuni, said that the role of technology is becoming increasingly crucial in facilitating various aspects of people’s lives, including carrying out worship. 

“Starting from Rp.10,000, now anyone can help improve the welfare of others through the Cash Waqf feature on Tokopedia,” Wahyuni said.

“We hope that this feature can make it easier for people to share their kindness, especially during Ramadan, as well as to encourage digital equalization of the sharia economy in Indonesia,” added Wahyuni. 

Meanwhile, Chairperson of the BWI Implementing Body, Prof. Dr. Ir. H. Mohammad Nuh, DEA, shared, “Apart from being a form of worship, cash waqf has a socio-economic function and role, especially in building the country’s economic independence. This has become easier through collaboration between BWI and digital platforms such as Tokopedia. It is also in line with the direction of digital transformation that we are promoting. “

“Digital platforms such as Tokopedia play an important role in socializing the halal industry as well as encouraging waqf literacy in Indonesia. Hopefully, this initiative can accelerate the development of the sharia economy in order to strengthen national resilience,” said Ventje Rahardjo, the executive director of the National Committee for Sharia Economics and Finance (KNEKS).

The presence of the Cash Waqf feature is also a form of the platform’s support for the National Movement for Cash Waqf (GNWU) initiated by Indonesia’s government.

Besides ‘Cash Waqf’, the platform also has other charity features in Tokopedia Salam, such as Donation, Zakat, and Fidyah, as well as Charity Box, and Qurban.

Indonesia – Indonesia’s e-commerce platform Tokopedia has launched anew its loyalty program ‘TokoPoints’, which can be earned by users through every purchase of physical products on the platform using any payment method.

‘TokoPoints’ can be exchanged for all transactions of physical products and various digital products, without a minimum or maximum point redemption limit. The use of ‘TokoPoints’ for physical product transactions can also be combined with other promos, like free shipping.

Gabriella Kawilarang, the senior lead product manager of Tokopedia, said that along with the evolution of TokoPoints, the platform hopes to enhance the shopping experience of users and provide them more advantages in Tokopedia.

Kawilarang further shared that online shopping is increasingly becoming a mainstay for people in the midst of the pandemic, saying that this is evident from the increase in the number of monthly active users of Tokopedia, which has now exceeded 100 million, prompting Tokopedia to relaunch TokoPoints. She said that the relaunch will offer more added value to users, as this is part of their commitment to their brand mission ‘#SelaluAdaSelaluBisa’, which means that Tokopedia can accommodate whatever the user is looking for and wants to do.

“Tokopedia will also continue to collaborate with strategic partners to provide a more inclusive, attractive, and efficient shopping experience for the public through various special offers and transparent prices all at hand. This joint effort is hoped to be able to encourage more people to adopt digital platforms, both in fulfilling their daily needs and achieving more, for the sake of simultaneously helping the recovery of the national economy through technology,” added Kawilarang.

Tokopedia has also noted that the highest increase in transactions during the first quarter of 2021 are the following categories: Food and Beverage, Animal Care, and Health, as well as Party Supplies and Craft, and Books.

Jakarta, Indonesia – Indonesia’s e-commerce company Tokopedia has launched a campaign called ‘Bersebelas #MelangkahBareng’, which aims to support local shoe products from SMEs during these trying times.

In line with this initiative, Tokopedia has collaborated with Never Too Lavish (NTL), a business activist in the local fashion industry, together with 10 other local shoe brands, such as Nokha, Fuse Concept, Exodos, and Ortuseight, as well as Rafheoo, and Brodo, among others.

According to Tokopedia, it has recorded a high-appreciation of the community for local shoes, which can be seen from the increase in transactions of one local shoe business, Nokha, reaching almost 2.5 times. As well as local shoe brand Brodo, which recorded almost a 5.5 times increase in transactions.

Aldhy Darmayo, senior fashion lead of Tokopedia, commented that this joint effort seeks to help local shoe SMEs in maintaining their business in the middle of the pandemic, saying that the movement also encourages people to use local products.

“This collaboration is also motivated by the enthusiasm of the community in meeting fashion needs online. There was an increase in transactions in the Fashion category at Tokopedia, which almost doubled during December 2020 when compared to the initial pandemic period in 2020. Transactions for shoe products also increased almost twice,” added Darmayo.

Meanwhile, Bernhard Suryaningrat, the founder of Never Too Lavish, said that the ‘Bersebelas #MelangkahBareng’ movement is a form of support for fellow artists and local industry players to rise together. 

“By utilizing digital platforms such as Tokopedia, it is hoped that the local shoe industry can be more advanced even in the middle of a pandemic. Every month, we will release a collaborative product entitled ‘Eleven Series’ which the public can get exclusively on Tokopedia,” said Suryaningrat.

Jakarta, Indonesia – Indonesia’s e-commerce company Tokopedia has recently launched Tokopedia Parents, a special ecosystem in the platform where parents can browse essential products and obtain relevant content relating to households.

The new feature was inspired by the increase in transactions in the Mom & Baby and Kids’ Fashion (MBKF) category on Tokopedia, which reached almost double throughout 2020 compared to 2019 transactions. The Home & Living category likewise jumped more than twofold during 2020, according to the platform. 

For the new Tokopedia Parents, the platform has collaborated with Indonesian actress and pop singer Chelsea Olivia to be its brand ambassador and help bridge parents and communities.

Commenting on her ambassadorship, Olivia said that Tokopedia Parents helped her as a parent to find various inspirational activities as well as daily necessities that can support family activities during the pandemic.

“My partner and I need to build effective communication patterns to keep a positive environment at home. In doing activities with our two children, my partner and I also have to be more creative so that they don’t get bored,” said Olivia.

Indra Yonathan, the vice president of Tokopedia, shared that Tokopedia Parents is a form of Tokopedia’s commitment to ‘#SelaluAdaSelaluBisa’ in providing the widest possible stage for business activists in related industries, especially local MSMEs, in order to adapt in the midst of a pandemic.

“On the other hand, parents can get a number of other added values ​​through Tokopedia Parents that can make shopping for family needs safer and more economical. There are also webinars, talk shows, and discussion forums for the parent community to share information and experiences with a number of inspiring speakers,” said Yonathan.

Meanwhile, Ir. Prijadi Santoso, M.Si, the assistant deputy for Improving Family Participation, Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection (Kemen PPPA), also commented, “We appreciate Tokopedia’s initiative in presenting Tokopedia Parents. This is in line with KPPPA’s commitment to supporting the resilience of Indonesian families, especially in the midst of a pandemic. The hope is that every parent can get easier access to various information and education, from parenting to maintaining health.”

To celebrate the launch of Tokopedia Parents, the platform recently held a ‘Tokopedia Parents Online Fair’ campaign, last 10 March 2021, where it gave shoppers a number of offers, including discounts of up to 90% from various business activists such as local MSMEs.

Manila, Philippines – Expertise is the name of the game in the workplace, but even that carries a challenge – often you are thought to be limited to your specialization and miss the chance for your voice to be heard in other valuable areas of the company. 

In the field of user experience, designers aren’t an exception who are often left from the business decision-making process, but a principal product designer from Indonesia e-commerce Tokopedia might just have the perfect answer. 

In the recently held UXPH Conference for experience designers last November 14 to 15 in the Philippines, Tokopedia’s Sonya Seddarasan presented a framework that can help UX specialists gain ample background of a product’s marketability, and therefore, get their foot in the “business” door.

Seddarasan has been with Indonesia e-commerce since 2019 where she works with multidisciplinary teams of business, data analytics, engineering, and experience designing.

“[There’s] a lot of culture [where] [UX] designers are being [passed down] requirements, and our job is basically just to empathize with it, and then give [back the result] to [the] product [team]. So you are actually missing a lot of the background work that has to done,” she said.  

In her talk Using Customer Value Proposition as Revenue Model, she explained the structure of how designers can identify a product’s best revenue model with customer value proposition as the entry point.   

Also called a viability assessment, the framework consists of three building blocks: identifying a product or service’s top customer value proposition, coming up with user personas, and then matching the latter to the best revenue model for the business.

With four to six key people in the team, the assessment simply involves asking the right trigger questions, brainstorming a list of the answers, and rearranging them based on priority. 

With the existing product or solution as the baseline, Seddarasan said to ask three key trigger questions to name the top values it offers the user: what value does the solution offer, why should customers use the solution, and what problem is being solved for them. 

With three priority values named, the target users are then identified. Seddarasan said to differentiate them based on four different tiers: their job, their age, their needs, and their behavior.

Similarly with a number of three user groups to focus on, the best revenue model – from pey per use, bundling, or subscription, among others – is matched to each persona. For the final step, Seddarasan said such questions must be asked: how much is the customer in a certain group willing to pay, in what medium are they likely to pay, and where can they find such medium.

In the UXPH session, Seddarasan said by applying such framework, designers won’t need to clamor for validation from stakeholders, whereas an intelligently informed business suggestion would naturally emerge via following the steps.

Seddarasan, having been in the design industry – with experience ranging from graphic and product design to UX – for more than ten years, is no stranger to receiving prejudice from other functional teams in the workplace.

“At the end of the day, you’ll meet different people anywhere, whether they’re accommodating or [not], but everyone has got the same basic behavior. If they know that you actually add up to [the company], no matter how small it is, as long as you know how to speak to them and how to negotiate your way around it, I think everything is workable.”

But despite workplace differences, Seddarasan said pushing for the immersion in business strategy is well worth the effort, for business knowledge could make or break designers’ longevity in the industry.

“UX strategy will be something that is an [asset] for us designers to be able to have a chair, to have a seat in the middle of business environment.” 

MARKETECH APAC is an official media partner at the UXPH Conference 2020: Designers as Navigators of Change, which was held from November 14 to 15, 2020.