The market for stylish and unique products (yeah, okay, hipster) seems to be an attractive one in Indonesia as numerous local and international independent brands are making themselves known through various stores around the country, while The Goods Dept. and Aksara are among the major stores carrying a curated selection of these products, online stores of this nature are far and few in between. Shopdeca, which was launched in June of this year is looking to be leading online curated store in the country.
Backed by East Ventures and partnering with e-commerce consultancy company Kolibrii, Andreas Thamrin and Julie de Cuyper partnered together to create Shopdeca earlier this year. The products that Shopdeca carries are certainly an eclectic mix with a particular feel to them. From shoes to lunch boxes to home and personal accessories as well as clothing apparel, the store has a range of more than 1500 products across over 50 brands which cost anywhere between Rp 200,000 (USD 18) to Rp 2 million.
“With many sites trying to sell everything to everyone, we wanted to take a fresh approach and be the first curated e-commerce site in Indonesia. Our curators and merchandisers travel everywhere to meet with suppliers, designers, and brand owners to handpick the best selection of products online”, Thamrin said in a statement.
Thamrin himself came from a retail background having worked with local mobile phone retailer Global Teleshop and ran an online game store in Australia for several years prior to founding Shopdeca. His experience in retail and logistics certainly plays a major part in the company’s operations. His partner, Julie de Cuyper, who hails from Belgium, has had experience in the fashion industry as well as online stores over the last ten years working in New York, Hong Kong, and South Africa before landing in Jakarta in 2012. While de Cuyper may have the eyes for fashion and design, she credits her team of buyers who go around the country and the world to select the products they make available online.
“Currently our products are split 70-30 with the majority being international products but we aim to have a 50-50 split with local products”, de Cuyper said at the media event in Jakarta today. “We do aim to go International by the end of the year, so we can also introduce the local brands to the International market”.
“Our products are carefully selected and we don’t compete with online stores like BerryBenka or Bilna which are also East Venture portfolios, nor do we aim to compete with Zalora, they’re way too big and have a much broader segment. Ours are curated and very specific”, Thamrin told DailySocial.
With brands such as Joseph Joseph, What about Yves, Cut & Paste, Benten, and the likes, the selection of products are certainly different from the typical online stores. The company is aiming at the Indonesian middle class and affluent consumers which are projected to double in seven years.