Indonesian D2C beauty brands set sights on regional expansion

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Hello reader,

Happy holidays!

It’s always interesting how at this time of the year, many of us aren’t just looking back on what we’ve accomplished. Sure, it’s nice to think about how we got here, but many of us would also be wondering about what we’ll do and what our goals are next year.

Humans never seem to just sit still. We’re always looking forward to something, how we can progress further and to the “ne plus ultra,” as it were. There’s beauty in that aspect of the human experience.

Speaking of beauty and progress, many Indonesian direct-to-consumer beauty brands are aiming to expand regionally. Today’s premium story analyzes how those plans are working out and, of course, what we can expect as we move into 2023.

Today we look at:

• Indonesian D2C beauty brands taking a stab at regional expansion
• A US$200 million fundraise for an Indian online grocery firm
• Other newsy highlights such as VinFast’s getting approval to sell electric vehicles in the US and Singlife with Aviva’s new insurtech accelerator program

Premium summary

Big on beauty

Image credit: Timmy Loen

Sociolla is an Indonesian beauty marketplace that’s already made its first foray into Vietnam – a sign of how the country’s cosmetics firms are interested in overseas opportunities. Expansion can be a herculean task, and here’s how they are tackling it.

• Strategizing for Sociolla: As part of its omnichannel strategy, the company has opened 13 physical stores in four Vietnamese cities. Apart from that, the firm is exploring specific market niches to boost sales. Sustainable natural products is one segment: In the third quarter of 2021, organic beauty products, along with Japanese and Korean beauty brands, grew by 18% on a yearly basis.
• New environments, new rules: One of the toughest challenges that come with expanding abroad is dealing with new regulations. While some processes might be similar, they can still be a hassle. For skincare brand Avoskin, the certification process took more than a year as some products contain active ingredients that had to be adjusted to meet Vietnam’s regulations.
• Eye on Singapore: Indonesian brands like Avoskin and Blunies have already entered the Singapore market through ecommerce platforms such as Shopee. Blunies co-founder Catherine Halim acknowledges that it’s “extremely hard” for cosmetics brands to enter other markets due to product-market and marketing fit. But firms can’t shy away from it if they want to achieve regional market dominance.

Read more: Indonesian D2C beauty brands build foundation for regional expansion

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