Since key cities in Indonesia have been on lockdown since March 2020, almost all brick and mortar businesses ranging from restaurants to retail shops, especially small mobile carts and stalls, have been put in a grave position of losing sales, or worse, losing business. It is the first time that the busy streets and buildings of Jakarta were emptied as if the Eidul Fitri celebration had become a three-month celebration.
Thankfully, logistics and transport businesses working alongside e-commerce companies have become a solution to keep businesses running.
For PT Yuna Asia, Primer Group of Companies’ arm in Indonesia, we’ve decided to maximize the facilities these businesses offer by launching an alternative distribution channel to reach out to consumers. We did this by launching Chat and Shop.
What is Chat and Shop? We’ve formed a team to accommodate orders from customers on a person-to-person basis through communicating via WhatsApp. Specialized catalogs and exclusive promotions are mass-blasted through all social media platforms, and messages are broadcast to loyal customers. We also use our customer loyalty program app TADA to alert loyal customers that we have now enabled them to shop in the comfort of their own homes. Products are sent via the same day or a next day delivery service.
When the lockdown protocols have been slightly loosened, we have also launched an Instagram Live shopping program, where we show our products via our Instagram account, and sell them at a special price. Through the Instagram live session, customers can chat to ask about and purchase the products.
This is the new normal of shopping, and it is definitely a new take on using the technology we have now for the better.
Contributed by Neliz Alita Samala/ PT Yuna Asia