Bridestory Stories Before and After the Acquisition of Tokopedia

Bridestory admitted that currently they are still focusing on completing business integration so that merchants between the two platforms can cross selling one another. According to Bridestory Co-Founder and CEO Kevin Mintaraga, integration is the toughest challenge of all, after acquired by Tokopedia.

"Fortunately we [Bridestory and Tokopedia] have a common culture and value so it's not a big problem. Precisely in the integration of the business, this is necessary manpower and a great focus," he explained when he was a speaker at Block71 Jakarta, yesterday (30/7).

He continued this integration can bring merchants on both sides to each other cross selling on each platform. Bridestory is strong in merchants who have capabilities and services, while Tokopedia is strong in physical and digital products.

The synergy between the two can bring benefits because Bridestory users will also need the presence of Tokopedia merchants who sell wedding dresses, jewelry, shoes, accessories, and others. Even though they are companies, they are still running independently.

One of the visible realizations, we can now see Bridestory products in Tokopedia in the promotional catalog Tokopedia Wedding Week. Of course, Bridestory users can benefit from shopping with the facilities provided by Tokopedia, such as payments with Ovo or credit installments.

Kevin said, the presence of Tokopedia was a strong maneuver for Bridestory to carry out a more focused marketing strategy but with an organic approach. It will also strengthen SEO so that every keyword related to weddings, Bridestory's name can appear on the top page.

The big picture, the two companies can accelerate each other's realization to democratize trade for digital economic equality. Moreover, both of them are leading and most powerful players in their respective fields.

"Our next tourney is democratization trade Indonesia, so what we do can have an impact on the country's economy."

The strong synergy between the two was actually only discovered when Kevin and William (CEO of Tokopedia) met and discussed last year. The acquisition plan, actually didn't come to mind at all, Kevin admitted.

His party intends to invite Tokopedia to become a strategic partner to help develop Bridestory's business, considering that Tokopedia's coverage is wide and brand awarenessits quite high. He claimed that Bridestory's position at that time had already reached a profit.

However, throughout the discussion, many synergies were found which were considered to be faster, many things could happen when the position was acquired, not as a strategic partner.

"We approach last year to meet William, the goal is to invite strategic partnership, not for acquisitions. But after talking a lot, more synergies can occur and can be accelerated if you become a part of Tokopedia."

Kevin's position now also occupies the VP of Tokopedia. Bridestory's day-to-day business is completely handed over to Bridestory Co-Founder Doni Hanafi who is now COO. He also confirmed his commitment to stay at Bridestory.

This is the second time that the company Kevin founded has been acquired by a large company. Previously, the Magnivate agency he founded (now called Mirum Indonesia), was fully acquired by WPP in 2012.

Bridestory Error

Kevin also tells about Bridestory's journey since its inception until now. According to him, the biggest mistake Bridestory made was to focus too much on growth by acquiring various vendors and expanding the business after receiving the initial investment.

At that time, the company did get a fantastic growth in traction. The number of vendors taking advantage of Bridestory membership is growing rapidly. The membership period offered is up to a year. They get facilities from Bridestory.

This figure is brought to investors until it finally gets a Series A investment disbursement and then proceeds to Series B. However, because it is too focused on growth, it has forgotten to retain existing customers.

In the end, many vendors decided to unsubscribe or not renew their membership, because they felt it had no impact on the business.

"From that mistake, finally in 2016 we changed the way we do monetization and focus on sustainable."

Kevin also gives tips for startup founders who want to stay focused on their business niche. According to him, in the early stages the founders focused on strengthening the segment niche with market research to read its potential and identify potential markets.

This will provide a solid foundation in developing startups niche. Founders can look for investors who are interested in early-stage investments because usually what they are looking for is a team, marketsize, and ideas.

Next, after becoming quite dominant in the market, founder can focus on other verticals. Bridestory in this case develops Parentstory as a distinct business vertical.

"After seed round upwards, investors will definitely see economic unitsas the metric because the focus is on accelerating growth," he concluded.