Coffeenatics: Empowering Local Coffee Farmers and Innovating for a Successful Business
Whether you’re an aspiring business owner or not, you may have noticed that running a coffee business has been quite a trend these past few years. Some are selling coffee beans, ready-to-drink coffee, coffee-making equipment, while others have opened up coffee shops, making sure the layout is cozy enough for customers to work remotely or relax. As the demand for coffee grows, how can one become the market leader?
Market competition is no easy challenge to face. Although owning a coffee business is considered a mainstream business, owners should have above-average ideas or solutions to grow their empire. Hence, for aspiring coffee entrepreneurs, let’s learn from Coffeenatics, one of Tokopedia’s coffee sellers, on what elements make the perfect blend for a successful coffee business!
Exploring online platforms to widen the reach of your business
Coffeenatics started its journey in 2015 as an offline shop located in Medan, North Sumatra. One of its founders, Harris Hartanto Tan, once traveled to Australia and was amazed by how coffee was highly appreciated and demanded by the locals. Upon returning to Indonesia, he brought the idea of owning a coffee business back home with him.
However, at that time, Arabica coffee was too expensive to gain interest and market demand in Medan. Hence, the founders decided to sell online on Tokopedia to have a wider market reach outside of Medan. Their strategy to sell online on Tokopedia did not go to waste, as Coffeenatics received an average of 300 to 500 orders each month with a revenue range between IDR 70 to 100 million. This allowed the founders to expand their team and innovate to grow their business
In terms of reach, Coffeenatics happily shared that orders generally come from as far as Papua, as people there are specifically interested in coffee machines for businesses. Fienny, Business Development Officer of Coffeenatics, also onboarded the business to join campaigns on Tokopedia.
“Joining campaigns on Tokopedia, such as Waktu Indonesia Belanja (WIB), Kumpulan Toko Pilihan (KTP), Tokopedia Nyam, and flash sales were crucial in helping us expand our each. It allowed us to get more product views and tripled our sales. Once, we even ran out of stock!”
Fienny added that campaigns on Tokopedia not only help the business to gain more exposure but also reach the target market and find an opportunity to evaluate the business.
Innovate to keep the business alive
In addition to having great strategies to grow your business, you may agree that innovation is key. Innovation means different things, such as adding more variety to your products, reinventing existing ones, creating something that’s never been done before, and even innovating on how you run your business. Whatever form it is, innovations can keep your business alive, running, and interesting.
In the beginning, Coffeenatics only sold coffee beans and ground coffee. As the market grew and more customers were exploring new ways of drinking coffee, such as making one themselves, Coffeenatics started to sell coffee machines and tools. Customers who prefer convenience were also offered the chance to purchase their own coffee pods along with the machine to prepare them with a cup of coffee with just a click of a button.
Furthermore, the business also founded Coffeenatics Academy, where coffee lovers can learn the proper way to prepare a cup of coffee, the way to distinguish between high and low-quality coffee beans, as well as the tools needed to make different types of coffees, among others.
Innovation is truly the beauty of owning a business. It allows one to go beyond the impossible and be creative. From one entrepreneur to another, Fienny also shared:
“As a business owner or someone who runs a business, you have to be realistic and consistent in your mission and vision. Don’t ever be afraid to start, no matter how much or little capital you have. If you know what you want to do, make sure to do your research to see the market demand, trends, and what consumers need at the moment.”
Empowering and collaborating with local farmers and other business players to reach success
The best kind of success is when you can bring those around you to success. More than we realize, Indonesia has millions of talented sellers, producers, creators, and business owners. Knowing this fact, growing your business and simultaneously empowering locals, such as farmers and producers, will allow you to create a bigger impact.
In 2020, Coffeenatics started a program called Coffee Field Adoption with two local farmers in Simalungun and Karo, North Sumatra. The program not only allows Coffeenatics to control the quality of their coffee beans but also takes part in improving the economy of local farmers in the area. The business is also adopting this program with dozens of local coffee farmers outside of the Sumatra area, such as Bali and Aceh.
To give some ideas, you can collaborate with local players to create your product packaging, collaborate with the local farmers to make them your coffee bean supplier, work with local manufacturers to create coffee-making tools, and engage with local carpenters to buy your furniture, and more. Collaboration in any form can result in a powerful and positive impact on you, your business, and others around you.
Putting the perfect blend for success to the test
The 3 recommendations above are only a few of the ingredients found in the grand recipe of establishing a successful business. As true entrepreneurs, we should always be brave in exploring new things, never stop innovating to bring something new to the table, and invite everyone around us to collaborate to reach success together.
At Tokopedia, we believe that our sellers have the greatest willpower and bravery to be the best they can be. As a Super Ecosystem, we hope to create the best and most seller-friendly platform as we help them grow their business and reach success
