Indonesian Entrepreneurs Take Advantage of the Trade Fever on TikTok

live by TikTokfrom a room full of clothes In Jakarta, Christine Febriyanti promotes clothes of all colors to the hundreds of Indonesians who follow her on the platform.

“For vitamin C type girls, these orange pants will fill all your needs”, says the 25-year-old saleswoman in the short video app.

Online selling on TikTok is booming in Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, where users spent more on the platform than any other country in the region last year.

A subsidiary of the Chinese giant ByteDance, TikTok is very committed to the region, after months of controversy in the United States and Europe over alleged links with the Chinese authorities and the protection of user data.

The group’s chief executive, Shou Zi Chew, announced last week that he would invest “billions of dollars” in Southeast Asia, where TikTok has 325 million users, 125 of them in Indonesia.

With the success of the “TikTok Shop” In Indonesia, entrepreneurs are rushing to propose their technological, fashion or handicraft products on this platform.

Monomolly, the brand that employs Christine Febriyanti and which has around twenty sellers, has recorded a 30% increase in revenue since it began selling in livestream on TikTok last year, according to her spokesperson Nadya Paramitha.

The platform’s algorithm has multiplied sales tenfold, employees say.

Allow sellers to arrive “to new markets by chance”instead of relying on user keyword searches like other rival apps, says Chelvyana Onggo Winata, head of sales for TikTok.

humor and cookies

Independent entrepreneurs are also launching into online commerce on TikTok.

Before, Panji Made Agung and his wife Astari Gita needed financial support from their family. They now sell up to 1,000 boxes of cookies a month on the app, earning about 25 million rupees ($1,700).

Her following and sales have skyrocketed thanks to her personality, says Gita. “We have discovered that selling products is not enough, people have to generate emotions. It has to be fun”insists.

“They like the everyday humor of our couple and the fact that Agung is a bit clumsy”Add.

The “TikTokShop”, Created in 2021, it currently has more than two million sellers in Indonesia.

The platform, which has seen its e-commerce market share grow rapidly, keeps a 1% commission and retains Rs 20,000 ($1.3) for each product sold.

Indonesia accounts for 42% of TikTok’s revenue in the region, which was $4.4 billion last year, according to Singapore-based consultancy Momentum Works.

“virtual conversation”

Aldi Alfarabi says that he is not thinking about buying when he watches TikTok live streams, but he often sees items that he likes, such as a recently purchased backpack.

“There is an interesting interaction through a virtual conversation”, says this 29-year-old Indonesian.

“You can see exactly what you are buying”, Add.

Experts point out that TikTok’s strategy in Indonesia responds to the new way of consuming by young people, who are looking for interactive experiences to spend their money.

“Online sales in Indonesia are dominated by the generation Z”born between 1997 and 2012, says Bhima Yudhistira, an analyst at the Center for Economic and Legal Studies in Jakarta.

A trend that sellers like Agung and Gita have taken advantage of.

“We have told our family that we no longer need help. Now we can buy food and diapers for our son with our money.”says Gita. “And we can also have a little fun.”

Source: AFP