The "HaluApp" Platform Wants to Become the Axis of the Indonesian Anime-Comics-Games Ecosystem

"Everything will be Weebs in its time" is carried HaluApp to position its platform as the heart of the Anime, Comics, Cosplay, and Gaming (ACG) ecosystem in Indonesia.

Based in Surabaya, HaluApp was developed by Andree Wijaya, Marcel T, Yoshi Gondokusumo, at the end of 2022. The three of them are close friends who have a strong interest in the world of ACG and work experience in the creative industry.

Marketplace the weeaboos

In his interview with DailySocial.id, Andree Wijaya told how he and his friends came up with the idea of ​​exploiting the wibu ecosystem. The market is considered potential, especially since Indonesia is one of the countries in the world with the largest base of wibu fans.

Apart from that, he sees that there are not many platforms in Indonesia that have comprehensive features to support/facilitate ACG content creators and fans. Most creator platforms here monetize with pay-for-content schemes or tipping, For example, Sociabuzz, Saweria, Trakteer, and KaryaKarsa.

"So far, wibu creators have been promoting their work on social media. If anyone wants to buy content or give it away tipping, the payment process is still manual. "We finally finalized the HaluApp idea in December 2022 and released the platform in January 2023," said Andree.

The HaluApp Marketplace brings together ACG creators and fans. At the start, the HaluApp platform only facilitated photo buying and selling transactions. HaluApp then went back to exploring what creators needed during the first three months. Some features recommended by the creator, starting from voice notes until the video.

"We build slowly until now. Our main focus is cosplayer creators because emotional spending—that's how we call it—from the fans is high. Now the content that can be purchased is varied, including commission, gacha, to mabar (playing together)," he explained.

According to his notes, said Andree, users mostly buy photos or photo packages from creators and give them away tipping. Meanwhile, the tips given can vary starting from IDR 2000. The majority of creators on HaluApp are cosplayers, but there are also photographers, fan artist, youtuber, to gamer

"Lots brand who sees cosplayers as SPGs. However, the way we approach it is different because for us, this is a new category influencers—especially full team cosplayer. It becomes more interesting and interactive for them."

There are no claims yet marketplace a type that targets the weeaboo segment in Indonesia. However, Andree admitted that he experienced aggressive and organic growth in the first few months of HaluApp's launch, without spending any marketing or digital advertising costs.

HaluApp sets 10% take rate for each transaction. This percentage is said to be ideal for HaluApp if it wants scale up and achieve profits. Currently, HaluApp has around 3.900 creators and 15.000 users. The retention rate is also claimed to be good at 30% returning users.

Expand the market

The figure of 10.000 creators is the next milestone for HaluApp which is targeted to be realized by the end of 2023. "If this target is achieved, we will have positive. this platform easily scalable, opex is low, and our team is not large," he added.

They intend to expand the scope of their services to various cities considering that most of the creators (cosplayers) still live on the island of Java. According to him, there are many creators outside Java who are interested in using the HaluApp application.

HaluApp

also considering regional expansion to the Philippines next year. "Why do we believe in expanding outward? Because operational costs we are very low, our team is not even 20, we keep it very lean. Expansion only requires representatives as community management. "For now, the closest [expansion] is."

HaluApp has just held Haluween, an event for the Anime, Comics, Cosplay and Gaming (ACG) community in Indonesia by inviting 900 creators and 100 super fans. They believe this event can encourage an increase in Monthly Active Creators on their platform by up to 50%.