New face of sales: Monica Amadea (centre), owner of a TikTok sales channel called Monomolly, and her employees offering merchandise through a TikTok livestream in Jakarta. — AFP
Livestreamer Christine Febriyanti stood in a room crammed with clothes in Jakarta, hawking colourful garments to hundreds of viewers on a TikTok livestream for a local fashion brand.
“For the Vitamin C kind of girls, you’ll fulfil all of your nutrient needs with these orange pants,” the 25-year-old told the sales session.
Her pitch is part of a clamour for TikTok shopping in Indonesia, where users spent more money on the app than anywhere else in South-East Asia over the past year.
The region is a bright spot for TikTok, owned by Chinese tech firm ByteDance, following months of intense scrutiny in the United States and other nations over users’ data security and the company’s alleged ties to Beijing.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew announced plans last week to invest billions of dollars in South-East Asia, where it counts 325 million users, of whom 125 million are in Indonesia.
As TikTok Shop grows in popularity, with Indonesians buying more than a third of goods sold in South-East Asia over the past year, entrepreneurs are flocking to the platform to promote a range of tech, fashion and homemade products.
They are drawn to TikTok’s e-commerce features that allow them to sell through livestreams or open online stores.
Febriyanti’s 20-strong online retail employer Monomolly reported a 30% increase in revenue since kicking off a TikTok livestream drive last year, according to spokesperson Nadya Paramitha.
The platform’s algorithm has jumpstarted the company’s business, according to employees.
It has allowed sellers to “reach new markets randomly” instead of relying on interest-based search results on rival apps, said TikTok sales manager Chelvyana Onggo Winata.
It isn’t just companies that are using the platform.
DIY home streamers Panji Made Agung and his wife Astari Gita used to rely on their families to survive.
But they now sell as many as 1,000 cookie jars a month through TikTok livestreams, making 25 million rupiah (RM7,700).
Their viewers and sales ramped up because of their personalities, said Gita, who often flirts with her husband and makes him feel uncomfortable on camera.
“We discovered selling products alone would not work. It has to touch people’s emotions, be entertaining,” Gita said. — AFP
