When the Covid pandemic was at its height in 2020, much of the world was in lockdown and more turned to online shopping.
But Chrisanti Indiana did the unexpected: he expanded his e-commerce business offline.
His beauty and personal care e-commerce startup, Sociolla, had just two brick-and-mortar stores in Indonesia in 2019. By the end of 2021, that number grew “10 times” more, he said.
“A lot of people told us that opening an offline presence is a very bold move, while everyone was closing their offline stores. [during the pandemic],” she added.
But that was a “well calculated” move for Social Bella, which operates Sociolla.
We know that this is the time for us to really prepare… to make sure that, after the pandemic, we can serve more and more consumers.
indiana chrysanthemum
Co-founder and CMO, Sociolla
“We know that this is the time for us to really prepare … to make sure that after the pandemic we can serve more and more consumers,” he added.
Looking to the future turned out to be the right move for the 31-year-old. His online and offline focus transformed his e-commerce startup into a multi-million dollar beauty conglomerate.
Since 2018, it has raised around $225 million and has built an impressive list of investors including East Ventures, Jungle Ventures, Temasek, and Pavilion Capital.
Indiana, co-founder and CMO of Social Bella, tells CNBC Make It how she took her Jakarta-based startup to the next level.
Fight against counterfeits
The idea for Sociolla came about in 2015, when Indiana returned to Jakarta, after studying in Australia.
The makeup addict realized that in Australia she had easy access to a wide range of beauty products from international brands. That was a stark contrast to Indonesia.
“There were a lot of options for me, but then I came back and there were basically none,” Indiana said.
“There wasn’t one platform that had it all. I had to find specific sellers on social media, ask friends who can help buy the product for you. [when they are] Exterior.”
What made things worse for her was the online proliferation of counterfeit makeup products that were sometimes sold for “a fraction” of the original price.
I still vividly remember in my mind that there are many sellers online, especially on social media, who claim that their products are 99% authentic. What does that mean, 99% authentic?
indiana chrysanthemum
Co-founder and CMO, Sociolla
“I still vividly remember in my mind that there are many sellers online, especially on social media, who claim that their products are 99% authentic. What does that mean, 99% authentic?”
In fact, locally made fakes in Indonesia abound, thanks to cheap labor and material costs. According to a local report, Indonesian authorities seized $9 million worth of illegal cosmetic products in 2018, double the amount from the previous year.
Seeing friends buying these products left Indiana perplexed.
“It’s skincare, it’s makeup. It’s something you put on your skin. It’s just weird to me,” she said.
Sociolla has expanded to physical stores. It now has 47 stores in Indonesia and 16 in Vietnam.
beautiful social
Determined to build a space where consumers can get safe and authentic products, Indiana teamed up with her brother and friend to launch Social Bella, with an initial capital of $13,000.
“Since we started, we’ve made sure to only work with authorized dealers or brand owners,” Indiana said.
Building an ‘ecosystem’
Sociolla may have started out as an e-commerce platform, but the trio had bigger dreams.
Since then, Social Bella has gone beyond offline stores: it is also a distributor for manufacturers of beauty and personal care products around the world.
“We became associate partners of many global brands in Indonesia. We help them not only distribute their products in Indonesia, but also help them understand the market,” said Indiana.
In addition to that, the company also operates Soco, which according to Social Bella is Indonesia’s largest online review service for beauty products. Soco has accumulated more than 2.5 million reviews of around 36,000 products, the company added.
Social Bella was founded in 2015 by Chrisanti Indiana, his brother and Chairman Christopher Madiam (left), and CEO John Rasjid (right).
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The “beauty journey” for customers goes beyond putting something in their shopping carts and paying, Indiana said.
“We realized there are a lot of touchpoints that are really important…finding the right products for you isn’t just about going to the store and picking them up. You’ll be sure to read reviews, talk to your friends or Google first.” “, he added.
“Soco makes sure they can access tons of product reviews before they buy products.”
In addition to that, Social Bella also runs Beauty Journal, a lifestyle website, and Lilla, a online retailer for mothers and babies.
That’s all part of building the business “ecosystem,” as Indiana calls it.
We want to make sure that we are expanding and reaching more and more consumers. If Social Bella becomes a unicorn, that’s a bonus.
“We want to… serve more and more women, not only in beauty and personal care, but also in other industries.”
The startup appears to be on the right track: It now has more than 30 million users across its business units, Social Bella said, selling an inventory of 12,000 products from 400 brands worldwide.
Indonesia’s next unicorn?
Over the past two years, Social Bella has expanded aggressively, growing from just three Sociolla stores in Indonesia in 2020 to 47 stores there and 16 stores in Vietnam today.
While much of the expansion has taken place during the pandemic, Indiana said that had always been part of the plan for the e-commerce platform, lockdowns or not.
“It’s really about creating a seamless omnichannel experience…because we believe we’re serving the same customer, whether they’re shopping offline or online,” said Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Asia honoree.
“They can choose to click and collect or … she can also deliver the purchases to her house. It’s making sure she can shop the way she likes.”
Social Bella aims to serve more female customers.
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Source: news.google.com