Vela Asia Plans to Seriously Manage Consumers in Bandung, Surabaya, and Medan

Asian Vela, an e-commerce enabler, has just marked its second anniversary with funding from advanced Venture Capital which reached US$ 1,5 million (around Rp 18 billion). Prior to the funding, Vela Asia's Managing Director Susie Sugden told DailySocial that she and her team plan to expand their omni-channel service along with prominent fashion brands to Surabaya, Medan, and Bandung.

“Areas outside Jakarta need more attention from e-commerce (service) in 2015,” she said. Sugden then further added, “In 2015, we would keep focusing on working with the right partnering brands, prominent fashion brands who find that the digital world is captivating enough to be entered.”

Recently, Vela Asia facilitated England-based Lee Cooper to go online in Indonesia.

Vela Asia is aiming to take a leap this year. While completing partnership with more fashion brands, the team also looks to expand their business. “In 2015, we aim to be the leader of the fashion e-retailer sector in Indonesia. We're about to launch more premium stores along with our brand partners as well as expand our omni-channel marketing to cities like Surabaya, Medan, and Bandung,” Sugden revealed.

While focusing on popular fashion brands, Vela Asia also plans to upgrade its technology infrastructure, admits Sugden. According to her, the omni-channel marketing approach, which always attempts to provide users with a convenient online shopping experience, is normal for global standards. Unfortunately, he commented that the implementation of omni-channel services in facilitating brands is still missing.

“Vela Asia will keep innovating in providing brands with the best quality services so that they can give their customers a better online shopping experience, or at least as good as they get from offline shopping,” she promised.

Vela Asia has partnered with a number of famous international fashion brands, such as Lee Cooper, Havaianas, and G2000, in which the startup facilitated those brands in establishing and operating their e-commerce in Indonesia. Vela Asia is also the exclusive online partner of more than ten fashion brands with its founders claim that there would be more to come this year.

Sugden claimed that so far, brands gave them positive responses. "They can see how fast this segment grows and they intend to profit from the growth," she suggested. She founded Vela Asia with her partner, Bede Moore, after both deciding to leave Rocket Internet.

Although having a grand ambition, Sugden admitted that challenges are always there. We face similar challenges as other e-commerce players in Indonesia have, like logistics and payment method. However, there are also specific barriers, such as the complexity of partnering with high profiles.”

“We both had worked in the retail industry for years before founding Vela Asia. We are recognized that fashion brands in Indonesia have problems in establishing e-commerce. Local distributors don't possess the skill or budget to run online shops. It's a shame that the number of brands which aren't facilitated with online shop is quite high, while Indonesia is the fourth biggest country in the world,” Moore ended.