Heaptalk, Jakarta — The COVID-19 pandemic has created economic turmoil in every business sector that it may not hinder. Business owners, particularly micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), have a binary choice: survive or perish. This is inevitable as business sectors must adjust to new ways of conducting daily operations—the old way of managing their business, which required direct engagement, immediate transactions, and handling operations in a conventional manner has been rapidly phased out and transformed into digitally managed.
This is a crucial point that business professionals attempted to convey during the A Cup of Moka Conference 2022, a digital conference organized by Mokapos (27/01), a cashier-focused SaaS (Point-of-Sales) company acquired by Gojek. The key points, “adaptability, creativity, and innovation are the keys to business growth,” is an intriguing insight that should be implemented by every business owner in Indonesia for them to build a solid and mature business capable of competing in today’s digital era.
Bayu Ramadhan, VP, Group Head of Merchant Marketing at Gojek, believes that the MSME sector in Indonesia has enormous potential, particularly when seeing their contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP), which, according to the Indonesian Central Bureau of Statistics, makes up for 61 percent of total national economic value.
“I am noticing that the pandemic has really boosted the competitiveness of micro and small businesses. As a result, the A cop of Moka conference 2022 is expected to serve as a hub for all merchants in Indonesia, where they can learn from practitioners and collaborate with each other,” Bayu explained.
Bayu added that Moka’s presence in enabling Indonesian MSMEs is bolstered by its product positioning, which sees MOKA partnering GoStore and GOTO financial to become an end-to-end solution that helps business owners manage their operations grow their sales digitally. Additionally, GoStore services are now integrated with online merchants across a variety of channel platforms, including Instagram Shop, Facebook Shop, and Google Shopping (soon it will be available on Tiktok Shopping).
It will become a killer value proposition for all business owners (both who have already had the business or are just starting out). By registering with GoStore and utilizing the MOKA Point of Sales, sellers can expand their consumer base. And this simultaneously dispels the myth that it takes a huge sum of money to set up a store. Even newcomer sellers have the same potential to be a leading merchant presence within the GoJek ecosystem.
At the Event of A Cup of Moka Conference 2022, it presented a number of business practitioners and professionals that shared valuable insights for Indonesian MSMEs communities, which are: Riefki Yuswandi (Director of IKM Food, Furniture & Building Materials, Ministry of Industry RI), Judha Susanto (Strategic Sales Lead, TikTok Indonesia ), Mifza Muzayan (Head of Client Solution Meta Indonesia), Kara Nisa Surya (Head of Commerce Enablement Gojek Indonesia), William .C (Founder Space Roastery), Dea Carrisa (Owner Caramica), Armelinda .R (Co-Founder Biconomery Patisserie), Hartono Moe (F&B Marketing Manager Unilever Food Solution), and Deo Cardi (Founder Iinhands Agency).
And here are the top 5 insights:
Before winning the market, begin with mastering your product
Sometimes, when someone has a strong desire to start a business, it can be difficult to know where to begin. It is better to begin by mastering the product first, which includes understanding the potential in areas where you are most passionate, whether selling apparel, food, or even in the field of beauty. The most important thing is to make yourself fall in love with what you intend to do first.
Dea Carrisa (Owner Caramica) shares tips for business owners to succeed in the market, specifically knowing what you believe is strong and then defining your market. So you know what product specifications you can offer the market and know the right strategy as well.
Meanwhile, Vania Josceline, co-founder of Bloomery Patisserie, concurs. It’s just that when you master your product, you can deliver engaging stories/campaigns to your target audience. “If I were at the patisserie, I could tell you how the bakery process worked behind the scenes until it was served to the customer. As a result, customers will find this interesting, ” said Vania.
The next step could be a push to strengthen the “go to market” strategy, specifically by leveraging the omnichannel, which is also owned by the Mokapos and GoStore digital ecosystems. Because you already have a profile of your customers (customer persona), segmenting and personalizing the right marketing strategy will be easier.
Joining the right community can help to strengthen your network.
When you already have a business, join a community where you can learn, network, and collaborate in the next right step.
According to Bayu Ramadhan during the A Cup of Moka Conference 2022, business owners will gain many interesting insights from this A Cup of Moka forum, where industry experts will discuss many interesting topics in depth.
Participants can also learn more about the benefits of being a part of the Gojek business ecosystem, such as how to run a business with POS system support, how to launch a store with GoStore and integrate it into various marketing channels, and how to apply for funding with Gojek’s capital partners.
“There is a lot of enthusiasm among SMEs in ACOM. So this is a motivation for us to do our best for the advancement of the Indonesian economy. And in this new chapter, we intend to do more on a larger scale, presenting events that are more routine, more varied, and of higher quality, ” said Bayu.
Change the cost model: begin dominating with variable costs rather than fixed costs.
Some people still believe that starting a business necessitates a heavy investment. This paradigm is currently being countered at this moment. As explained by Kara Nisa in her section at A Cup of Moka Conference 2022, If you have a lot of fixed costs in your operations, you should switch to variable costs.
For example, people do not have to create or purchase the overall system in order to have a POS system supporting their business. Just like Mokapos, you can pay as you go or subscribe. So, for other cost elements such as expedition, advertising budget, or any other operational stuff, you can think about putting it as variable costs and paying based on usage.
This also applies to the website’s requirements. You don’t have to know how to code or pay a programmer to have a website built for you. People can create a website for free using GoStore (exactly with a subdomain like yourwebsite.mygostore.com).
Implement product marketing at TikTok, an option for other growth hacking milestones
It is undeniable that TikTok’s presence adds a new dimension to the experience of digital marketing. Apart from its function as an entertainment social network, TikTok offers a unique experience for its consumers when it comes to purchasing things through the app.
“54% of TikTok users say they bought something they saw on TikTok more than on any other platform,” said Judha Susanto, Strategic Sales Lead, TikTok Indonesia, in event of A Cup of Moka Conference 2022.
If you believe that placing advertising on a digital platform with a linear mindset (creating awareness to acquisition to activation) is quite disruptive (i.e. in the funnel marketing), on TikTok that doesn’t apply. The terms “funnel marketing” and “burning money” are frequently used interchangeably since they aim to generate as much awareness as possible to improve the quality of conversion into transaction.
Advertising on TikTok can actually be rather effective. This is because TikTok utilizes a mechanism known as the “infinite loop.” This means that when you run a campaign, the TikTok community will help you amplify it.
“It is not linear, but a looping activity. It starts with discovery, consideration, and purchase decision, and is then amplified by the TikTok community.The process culminates in a new discovery. And so forth. Thus, this is an efficient method of accelerating a brand’s go to market strategy, ” Judha explained.
Make use of Meta to crack the business scalability
The next step in growing your business is to utilize Meta to reach more segmented customers. If TikTok provides better use of its community’s strength, Meta thrives at algorithmic discovery, as Meta is not about people finding products, but rather products finding people. Meta can segment their own client personas based on the behaviour they perform on their platform.
This is advantageous for a brand’s ability to run more effective promotions. Additionally, with a naturally segmented user base, marketers may enhance their promotional efforts to be more precise and targeted.
As for Meta, Mifza Muzayan, Head of Client Solution Meta Indonesia, stated that the company has adopted an engine that prioritizes personalization. It is also supported with an engaging surface in the advertisement manager, real-time advertising and convention tools, and optimization and measurement insight in the analytics. This enables users to conduct more accurate campaign performance with the use of Meta AI.
“In the era of discovery commerce, it is a moment for a product to discover its buyer. From the seller’s perspective, they can just improve the quality of their campaigns, make them more organic and more engaging to gain good conversion, “Mifza explained.
