eCommerce in SE Asia

Former Lazada Indonesia co-CEO Duri Granziol has launched consumer goods brand Mama's Choice in Indonesia with plans to expand across Southeast Asia. The brand seeks to appeal to expecting and new mothers by providing safe, halal and natural personal care products at an affordable price point.

In this episode, Duri shares significant ideas, thoughts, and insights on brand creation and product development. More than the experience approach of most for building a brand, he chose to embark on a data-driven perspective in conducting research and study to know the market and its demand.

There was no reason to reinvent the wheel of what big companies are doing, thus, utilizing third parties to manufacture products. He provides valuable thoughts on what sales channel mix to use where selling and marketing are concerned. And he doubles down on finding a brand's unique selling point as a differentiating factor from the rest of the market. And for the business to stay in the game for the long term. 

You'll learn: 

• A backstory of how he ended up in Southeast Asia E-commerce [01:04]
• The time he started working for Lazada and how he described the early days of Lazada [02:08]
• Sharing the story that led to establishing his own company Mama's Choice [04:31]
• How it was like building a brand in its early stages [07:29]
• Becoming the market leader online in just six months of starting the brand [10:23]
• Taking a look at the products' manufacturing process [13:03]
• Challenges and struggles the company has to face and overcome [14:05]
• Brand-building comparison in Southeast Asia, the US, and Europe [16:12]
• Sales channel mix the brand uses [18:54]
• Platforms they spend more on for brand awareness(plus how the difference between content used in FB and IG versus TikTok matter in terms of effectiveness and affordability) [22:55]
• Setting up operations in the five markets that they are present [26:11]
• Important angles to look at when doing product development [31:01]
• Banking on long-term differentiation [33:46]
• What he sees to be happening in Southeast Asia E-commerce from now on [36:37]

Mentions:

• Duri Granziol: LinkedIn
• Mama'sChoiceShop.com 
• Mama'sChoice.id
• Roshni Mahtani Cheung
• The Asian Parent
• TikTok
• Shoppee
• Lazada
• Facebook
• Instagram

Key Takeaways:

"The strategy was to go in some niches where we felt it was easier to enter and then go into more competitive categories later. We were looking at the needs of mothers that were currently unmet and trying to find a better solution for that." - Duri Granziol

"It was a given that we're going to start manufacturing locally. But then I realized Unilever, P & G, and everybody has outsourcing providers. They have factories that are owned and operated by third parties. And I just went to these guys." - Duri Granziol

"I didn't need to spend so much time on quality control because I already knew these guys were also producing for Unilever and P&G, so they were inspected, they knew what they were doing. I added another safety level by having all the products shipped to Singapore and doing extra tests in a third-party lab."- Duri Granziol