Statista 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 many more. Coupled with the acceleration of digitalization resulting from the pandemic, brands, both international and local, have all flocked to these sites in order to attract more customers.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo is a strong 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 also been supported by e-commerce platforms.

For example, Tokopedia strives to help local business owners, including those in the fashion and beauty industry, start and build businesses that can compete internationally. It has been a core value of the company since its inception over 13 years ago.

“Tokopedia oversaw various local fashion and beauty brands, namely Heaven Lights, Wearing Klamby, Erigo, Jewel Rocks and BLP Beauty, to showcase their products at various global events,” said Rizky Juanita Azuz, External Communications Manager at Tokopedia.

The aforementioned brands began to gain worldwide recognition, with Heaven Lights and Erigo gracing the runway at New York Fashion Week (NYFW) and Wearing Klamby achieving its own popularity at London Fashion Week (LFW). In addition, Jewel Rocks and BLP Beauty had the opportunity to present their collections at the Paris Fashion Week (PFW) 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 world stage, via NYFW, with the products we offer, namely Muslim fashion and modest clothing”, said Anastasia Gretti Schenderhe, public relations manager. and marketing for Heaven Lights. She added that the collection was inspired by Papua.

BLP Beauty presents its products at Paris Fashion Week (PFW). (./.)

The sentiment was shared 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 the agency L’Adresse Paris to exhibit their collections along with other Southeast Asian brands. East. It was one of the brands representing Indonesia at PFW this year.

“This is the second time that Tokopedia has helped us showcase the uniqueness of Indonesian accessories at PFW. The business 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 a source of inspiration for other local brands,” added Imelda Widjaja, owner of Jewel Rocks.

In addition to equipping brands to go international, Tokopedia also supports them by making it easier for them to find subscribers domestically. The platform encouraged people to find and use a variety of local fashion and beauty products to support the national BBI movement to achieve national economic recovery.

This is done through a special widget on the homepage, called “Bangga Lokal”, which contains products from local businesses to invite more people to buy and use these products.

Heavenly Lights presents designs at New York Fashion Week (NYFW). (./.)

There are also various campaigns on Tokopedia that serve as a stage for other local businesses also engaged in the fashion and beauty industry, through events such as local parade, Women in Style, Modeste 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 purchased during this era were lip palettes, pads, lip liners, eyelash and eyebrow serums, and lip tints and stains. Most transactions were made in Tual, Maluku. Additionally, the most searched items in the fashion section were shoulder bags, hijabs, rings and bracelets, blouses and sandals. Malaka in East Nusa Tenggara was the preferred location for most of these purchases.