Elevenia Ready to Compete Through Salim Group Support

2017 was full of challenges for business E-commerce, until some businesses eventually went out of business. Nevertheless the platform E-commerce Elevenia is actually preparing itself to welcome a more challenging next year with the Salim Group conglomerate as its supporter to increase competitiveness without being trapped in a price war that dominates the space. E-commerce.

In recent years, Elevenia continue to struggle in keeping up with the industry's development competition E-commerce to bring the two big telecommunication companies behind it, namely XL Axiata and SK PLAnet Global stop business which they had spent years selling Elevenia stock completely in August.

As for Elevenia, the profile and track record of its new ownership is reason enough to feel optimistic about the future.

Synergy with Salim Group

"Being in the big group [Salim], will certainly give Elevenia many competitive advantages in the long run," said Elevenia Chief and Sales Marketing Edward Killian Suwignyo in an interview with DailySocial.

The acquisition by the Salim Group is not surprising, as the leading conglomerate from Indonesia is known for owning many businesses in various sectors and is trying to explore opportunities in the digital business.

One part of the strategy to enter the world of digital business. The Salim Group recently acquired Ina Perdana, a local bank, so that the company can connect other services through digital payments and digital banking. Salim Group also recently partnered with Lotte, a Korean retail company, for business E-commerce in Indonesia.

Elevenia wants to take advantage of the new vision that the Salim Group has. According to Edward, Elevenia has designed a strategy in 2018 that includes education, training and improvement for salespeople and their supporting talents. However, Edward revealed that Elevenia's main priority is to partner with companies under the Salim Group, in order to improve business development.

"Currently, the most important thing is to synergize with other companies under the auspices of the Salim Group to build innovative, different and relevant features and services for users," he explained.

Edward added regarding the acquisition, the Salim Group had injected a touch and "new motivation" into Elevenia. Among the new owners' involvement in Elevenia is the support of Indomobil, a subsidiary of the Salim Group. Elevania has also partnered with Indofood products to get promotional offers.

With the support of the Salim Group, Elevenia hopes to face the competition E-commerce which is tighter than last year when they were left behind by competitors such as Tokopedia and Shopee who further strengthened their position in the market after receiving significant funding from investors.

Competition is tougher

Tokopedia earlier this year announced it raised $1,1 billion in funding from internet giant Alibaba, while Shopee Singapore received $500 million, most of which was allocated to Shopee Indonesia. This investment has given these platforms the opportunity to be more aggressive in their efforts to attract customers.

To DailySocial in November, XL Axiata President Director Dian Siswarini emphasized that their decision to sell Elevenia was based on the increasingly fierce competition in the industry. E-commerce in this country. "Once investors come with a large amount of money, the opportunity to compete is getting smaller," said Dian.

With money on their side, one strategy the major players use is to give customers heavy discounts. Year-end promo is the best reflection in the price war between E-commerce in Indonesia with sites like Zalora offering discounts of more than 50 percent on certain products while Lazada and Shopee offering discounts of up to 85 percent and 90 percent, respectively.

Edward expresses Elevenia's hope to be more competitive this year, with no plans to jump into the trend and join the price war E-commerce as the platform aims to implement more "healthy" and "long-term" strategies.

Elevenia's focus in 2018 is on building a competitive and long-term advantage, not just fighting a price war. Elevenia is committed to continuing to compete in a healthier way by offering attractive promotions, with the main focus continuing to develop new features and services that are innovative, different, and relevant to the needs of online buyers and sellers in Indonesia.

- Original article from English, translated by Kristin Siagian