This Indonesian online camera store doesn’t actually sell cameras

Ironically, the Indonesian ecommerce site PlazaKamera features everything related to cameras, including studio flashes, tripods, selfie sticks, and GoPros, but not the cameras themselves. According to the site’s founder and CEO Rico Satria Chandra, the logic is that camera accessories are faster-moving goods than actual cameras and lenses. This means that photo and film fanatics are more likely to replace these items several times over the course of their lives, whereas the decision to buy an expensive SLR or video camera generally only comes once or twice. In short, he describes PlazaKamera as one of Indonesia’s online superstores for photo and video accessories.

“Indonesia is a pretty untapped market. There’s basically nobody else doing this particular concept,” explains Chandra. “Originally, when I started this business, I was running it as an online shop on [the online forum] Kaskus and I sold all kinds of things. But I found that I really liked the price elasticity of the camera market, so I decided to specialize.”

Today, Chandra runs PlazaKamera’s 14-person team out of Surabaya, and is bold enough to say that PlazaKamera is the fastest growing camera-related ecommerce site in Indonesia. Rosari Soendjoto, PlazaKamera’s chief marketing officer, says the startup’s mission is to bring itself into the archipelago’s mainstream ecommerce market. Soendjoto believes that Indonesians have a strong photo and video infatuation, and as such, the local market for camera accessories is seeing an upward consumption trend.

With a range of products that includes body attachments, batteries, light diffusers, light tents, microphones, remotes, dollies, LCD monitors, and every kind of bag a director or photographer could think of, Chandra says PlazaKamera occupies an extremely specialized niche where dedicated hobbyists are brand-loyal and willing to spend on a regular basis.

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Soendjoto claims that the only form of marketing expense PlazaKamera takes on each month is US$100 on Google AdWords. Chandra says that from this minimal marketing effort, PlazaKamera is now seeing between 50,000 and 60,000 visitors on average per month. 40 percent of them are return visitors while 60 percent are newcomers, says Chandra, and the average purchase amount on the site is roughly Rp 600,000 (US$49). Soendjoto and Chandra claim that PlazaKamera is currently profitable, and has been pulling in Rp 1 billion (US$81,000) on average per month since late 2012.

Soendjoto and Chandra refer to PlazaKamera as a true ecommerce company; one which holds the physical inventory of the goods it sells. Chandra started the business out of his friend’s garage in Surabaya with a mere US$700 in 2011, and in 2012, he launched PlazaKamera.com. Currently, he classifies PlazaKamera as strictly a business-to-business and business-to-consumer website, but with the right partners he thinks he can diversify PlazaKamera’s business model.

Chandra and Soendjoto agree that their closest competitors are brick-and-mortar shops like Oktagon, Sinar Bahagia and Toko Camzone, all of which also have their own online presences for selling their products. Depending on how one looks at the market, PlazaKamera’s indirect competitors could also include more mainstream names like Bhinneka or Lazada Indonesia.

“We don’t believe in competition. Instead, we believe in collaboration,” says Soendjoto. “We see many potential partnerships with these guys and opportunities to equip them. We want to create mutual benefits for everyone in our space.”

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