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Hello reader,
If you’ve ever been in the throes of a Football Manager addiction, you know how easy it is to get lost in the digital world.
When I was a student, it was easy to lose entire days and nights to the video game as I obsessed over dragging Crusaders FC from part-time status to the pinnacle of European football. Perhaps my grades would have been a little better had I been just as obsessed with handing my essays in on time.
Luckily, these bouts of addiction only lasted a few weeks at a time at most before I would remember the importance of the real world.
Similarly, amid all the hype about TikTok Shop in Indonesia, it would have been easy to forget how important real-world, offline retail still is for direct-to-consumer brands. Today’s premium story looks at how these brands still need a physical foothold to achieve the growth they want.
Today we look at:
- Why offline sales still matter for D2C brands
- Korea Investment Partners preparing a $60 million war chest for Southeast Asian startups
- Other newsy highlights such as looming layoffs at TikTok and Tata Group securing a deal to manufacture iPhones in India.
Premium summary
Run, D2C
Image credit: Timmy Loen
With TikTok Shop gone, Indonesia’s D2C brands may have lost one growing sales channel, but old-school ways of selling are still important.
Cindy Angelina, founder of cosmetics firm Esqa, and Andrew Kandolha, founder of eyewear retailer Saturdays, spoke at the recent Tech in Asia Conference in Jakarta on the future of Southeast Asia’s D2C space.
- We’ll do it live: Angelina noted that the advent of live commerce had made a significant impact on the industry, but the TikTok Shop ban wasn’t a massive blow to her business. While she did say that Esqa’s sales from TikTok Shop were growing rapidly, the overall contribution was smaller than from other channels.
- Let’s get physical: As brands like Esqa target the premium mass market, distribution through physical retailers is still crucial, according to Angelina. She said it’s easier for D2C brands in mature markets to scale fast given their more established physical sales infrastructure.
- AI on the horizon: D2C brands are exploring the use of generative AI to boost sales and while those efforts are at a nascent stage, founders are bullish on the tech’s future application. Kandolha said Saturdays has started using AI to provide recommendations of eyeglass frames, for instance, to customers in its app.
Read more: D2C in Indonesia: life after TikTok Shop ban and why offline retail still matters
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