How Tokopedia Empowers Indonesia’s Fashion Industry
From the lens of Aldhy Darmayo, Tokopedia Head of Category Development
Imagine you’re visiting a mall. As you enter, you’re greeted by multiple rows of shops. You walk down the marble-floored corridor and stop in front of a shop whose display caught your eye — you decide to go in. After checking out and trying on several products, you finally come to the decision to buy two shirts and one skirt.
Needless to say, this is the traditional way of shopping. After reading the above situation, you might be wondering: How can consumers shop online without actually seeing the products? How can brands convince shoppers to buy their products without face-to-face interaction? How can shops create online displays that catch people’s attention?
These are the questions and concerns Aldhy Darmayo addresses at Tokopedia. As the Head of Category Development who has been working at Tokopedia for more than three years, he’s in charge of developing our platform’s fashion category and making sure local brands have the support and stage they need to reach a broader audience. One of the ways we help them is through Tokopedia Fashion Week.
From engineering to retail
By the time he was an industrial engineering major at university, Aldhy was already interested in the fashion industry. He had even opened a small business selling fashion items with limited capital.
“Fashion has always been something that I love. However, back then, I needed to learn more about fashion, which is why I decided to focus on my career in the fashion industry. I started my journey as a merchandiser in one of Indonesia’s biggest fashion retail companies and tried to thrive with the Kaizen Mindset as my guide,” Aldhy recalled.
The Kaizen Mindset, or the approach to driving continuous improvement, has guided Aldhy throughout his career, including when he decided to enter the online retail industry. While it was challenging, he believes that stepping into a new professional setting gives him the opportunity to learn something new from everyone he encounters.
The moment he started, he was welcomed and embraced by a fast-paced environment. With unlimited possibilities, online platforms enable sellers to have their own shops and allow thousands of new fashion products to be uploaded and curated into campaigns to attract more users every day.
Propelling the local fashion industry to a larger stage
At Tokopedia, Aldhy has helped countless local brands expand their market online. He has also encountered many local brands that he personally found thrilling and invigorating.
“Every year, we see how the significant growth of local fashion brands is welcomed with great enthusiasm across the country. Their dedication, quality, and technique are exquisite and comparable to globally renowned brands,” Aldhy said with optimism.
To further develop the national fashion industry, Aldhy and his team came up with several initiatives. One of these is Tokopedia Fashion Week, an annual campaign that showcases diverse products from local fashion brands. This year, Tokopedia Fashion Week is highlighting up-and-coming favorites such as Jolie Clothing, SARE studio, KAMI, INPACA, Callie Cotton, and SAVA Shoes, and facilitating their collaborating with influencers to produce exclusive collections available on Tokopedia.
Besides providing a larger stage for local fashion brands, Tokopedia Fashion Week also seeks to bolster the online shopping trend for fashion products. Tokopedia’s internal data revealed that fashion was one of the most popular product categories on our platform among Indonesian shoppers during the first half of 2023.
“In the first semester of 2023, shoes, tops, and accessories were some of the best-selling products in the Women’s Fashion category. For modest fashion, men’s Muslim clothing, women’s Muslim dresses, and prayer items were some of the most purchased products. In men’s fashion, shoes, blazers, jackets, and batik were some of the most sought-after products,” Aldhy explained.
Exciting projects in the pipeline for Tokopedia’s Fashion category
Indonesia is the largest archipelagic country in the world, and the challenge of democratizing commerce from Sabang to Merauke is something that Tokopedia continues to tackle — and this also applies to the fashion industry. A part of its ongoing effort to promote local fashion brands, Tokopedia utilizes the Hyperlocal initiative to bring sellers and buyers closer together with its geotagging feature.
“For instance, if you live in the Medan area and you type ‘shirt’ in Tokopedia’s search bar, the products that appear would be from sellers based around Medan. The initiative is also supported by Dilayani Tokopedia, a smart fulfillment service from Tokopedia. This service helps sellers manage and store their products in our fulfillment centers outside Java, making it faster, cheaper, and easier for people across Indonesia to access these products,” Aldhy said.
Aldhy and his team are planning to strengthen their support of local brands by creating more campaigns that will boost people’s awareness and willingness to buy local fashion products.
Check out the results of Aldhy’s and his team’s hard work by visiting these fashion categories on Tokopedia:
