Revolt Industry’s Art of War to Reach Business Success with Tokopedia
In many war stories, we would often wonder how our great soldiers can endure such prolonged warfare. For months or even years, they would have to continuously strive to win small battles to gain ultimate victory, strategize each move in great detail, and maintain consistency to stay firm and unstoppable.
What our generation can learn and implement from our heroes’ past is to never surrender without a fight. This is exactly what Revolt Industry, one of Tokopedia’s sellers based in Surabaya, did to strive and pave its way to reach success, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Revolt Industry started its journey back in 2014 inside of a small garage. The business is comprised of a group of Indonesian young artisans who joined together to create one of the nation’s best handcrafted and distinctively designed leather goods.
Back then, Agung Dwi Kurnianto, one of five Revolt Industry leaders, and the rest of the team didn’t exactly know what they’re doing. However, the fun is in the exploration. They taught themselves through the internet how to manufacture leather goods, such as sewing, and how to manage a business and its finances. Now, customers can find an authentic selection of products spanning from wallets, bags, belts, watch straps, to key holders.
The name Revolt Industry means more than just a brand name to the team. Agung explained that the word ‘Revolt’ means resistance or rebellion to rise, and the word ‘Industry’ symbolizes evolution and movement. When combining the two, Revolt Industry is hope in disguise.
“Our business is a relentless struggle to raise local products so that we can rise together, because local MSMEs are the driving force of the national economy,” Agung explained.
Quite similar to our past heroes and soldiers, Revolt Industry encountered its own version of warfare. After experiencing small victories in 2014 when their sales peaked due to an event in Surabaya, Revolt Industry had to lose a battle when their home base burned down in just 15 short minutes. In the process of recovery, they even experienced more obstacles, such as floods, robberies, and more. The pandemic also added an extra challenge to the business, causing an 80% decline in employee turnover.
“We racked our brains so that the minimum operational costs can be covered and there is no need to reduce employees. The best defense is to attack,” said Agung.
‘The best defense is to attack’ is a quote popularized by Carl von Clausewitz, a Prussian general and military theorist. Through this quote and Revolt Industry’s story, we can learn that when we’re faced with a point of no return, the best way to react is to respond head-on. Revolt Industry deploys its first strategy of attack by opening its first gallery after 7 years, followed by reinnovating its designs and reshaping its team’s mentality to win the war.
Survival and a strong long-term strategy are also two of the most important components of winning a war against future obstacles. Agung explained that the utilization of technology or digital platforms like Tokopedia enables Revolt Industry founders as the war strategist to plan their next move, predict the situation or trends, and more. The business also initiated a campaign called Play Role Campaign that invites people to help accelerate the economic recovery due to the pandemic by using local products and not taking any profit from sales they make.
“The most important thing is how we respond, to not only blame the situation, and to think of what we can do for ourselves and those around us. We donated 10% of the sales to foundations and participated in actions in Surabaya and its surroundings to help starving people,” added Agung.
To wrap up, everyone has their own battles, either big or small ones. Running a business and striving to win a war is more similar than we might expect. Both aims for success, requires ammunition, strategy, and tactics to win battles, as well as the same mentality to strive and persevere.
When looking at our seller’s battles to be successful, it has become the heart of Tokopedia’s Super Ecosystem to continuously support them to become winners of this tough competition. We believe that battles can’t be won alone. Hence, with the spirit of #AlwaysAvailableAlwaysPossible, Tokopedia hopes its innovation and technology become one of our sellers’ most trusted ammunition.
