Understanding the Strategy of Building a "Healthy Lifestyle" Ecosystem Through Products and Technology

Advances in technology have made it easier for people to get a variety of information about a healthy lifestyle with a very broad spectrum. This has been used by startups as an opportunity to present health solutions in recent years.

In Indonesia, one of the startups that play in the area of ​​a healthy lifestyle is Lemonilo. This startup positions itself as a qrated marketplace which provides natural products to support the healthy lifestyle ecosystem of the Indonesian people.

In this #TuesdayStartup session, Lemonilo Co-founder & CEO Shinta Nurfauzia shared several important points regarding efforts to build a healthy lifestyle ecosystem through products and technology.

Aiming at the target market gradually

According to Shinta, the desire to live a healthy life can be reached by anyone. However, this is not supported due to the many problems in the health sector in Indonesia. This situation can be solved by utilizing technological products.

In the case of Lemonilo, this startup wants to contribute to a healthy lifestyle ecosystem by producing and distribute natural products to society. Shinta mentioned the importance of determining the hypothesis in determining the target market.

He gave an example of how Lemonilo implemented strategy product-market-fit with the hypothesis that Lemonilo products are suitable for consumption by 80 million people. Why is that?

"The calculation is that the income class of IDR 4 million and above is a market segment that can already think about it purchasing decisions, such as what quality of food can be reached by consumers," he said.

As business grows, Lemonilo start entering the segment mass market, where the target market is getting wider. This is also triggered by the presence of Lemonilo Instant Noodles as a natural product which is now considered to be entering the healthy lifestyle ecosystem of the Indonesian people.

Understanding consumers through products and technology

Another note is to educate the people of Indonesia to live a healthy lifestyle. Shinta assessed that this educational effort cannot be done only a few times. There needs to be a special strategy that makes it easier for the target market to better understand a healthy lifestyle.

"We know that the average literacy rate in Indonesia is still very low. So, we always educate on a healthy lifestyle in a language that is easily digested by the market," said Shinta.

In addition, we leverage technology to recognize and understand consumers and what they want. In this case, we always launch new products through online channels, then send surveys to consumers to get feedback on the product.

"On the other hand, we accelerated R&D and product cycling. We develop products that have cycle faster than products from FMCG companies. We do this to make it more cost efficient, and to be able to analyze the results and impact on consumers using data," he said.

Take advantage of the path online and offline

Shinta says always there entry barriers for consumers who are interested in trying a healthy lifestyle when buying products online, ie postage. According to him, consumers tend to reluctant when buying without any postage subsidies, especially if product sizeit's not much.

In overcoming this issue, he assessed the importance of using shops offline (minimarkets and supermarkets) with the same selling price as shops online. This of course can accommodate market segments that cannot reach products directly online.

"We also set a new strategy by focusing on platforms for products from our own brands. FMCG used to only have 1-2 successful products because production, launch, and distribution to supermarkets cost a lot of money," said Shinta.

Unlike FMCG companies, a business model like Lemonilo allows them to be able to develop multiple products and launch them via online. Meanwhile, distribution offline only applies to products that are successful in the market.