Kailoka, a Local Wood Craft Brand That Continues to Innovate Amidst the Competition

Even though there's a lot of attacks right now brand abroad to the country, however brand local people still maintain their existence and continue to try to steal the hearts of the people. One of brand local The one that is increasingly existent, especially in the digital era like now, is Kailoka.

Kailoka is brand local wood crafts that have been helped a lot by digitization. Harizal, as Founder Kailoka, shared his valuable experience in building Kailoka as one of the brand local communities that survive and thrive in the internet era.

A Solution for Utilizing Waste Wood Furniture

Harizal is an interior designer at the same time founder Kailoka. In his daily life as an interior designer, Harizal tells that he often finds leftover wood furniture which is just wasted.

From there the idea to create a business that uses wood emerged and Kailoka was formed whose name is a combination of Sundanese and Sanskrit, Kai and Loka.

“Kailoka is brand which consists of two words, Sundanese and Sanskrit, where Kai is Kayu and Loka is place. This illustrates that Kailoka is an idea that emerged because of my profession as an interior designer who often finds processed wood leftovers furniture wasted,” said Harizal.

Getting Started with Overseas Market Segment

2018 was the year that started Kailoka's journey with carved wooden watches. Although it was difficult to attract the interest of the domestic market, with these products, Kailoka managed to enter the exhibition at the Manila Fame.

"Kailoka started in 2018, and started with carved watch products, although the market segment in Indonesia is still lacking, these products have brought the Kailoka exhibition in Manila Fame," said Harizal.

Then, in 2019, Kailoka began to innovate by releasing new models that were adapted to the domestic target market.

Succeeding in Surviving Economic Pressure during a Pandemic

When discussing business travel in recent years, the pandemic phenomenon cannot be ignored. Many businesses have stalled in terms of sales during the pandemic. However, for Kailoka, Harizal admitted that he did not experience any obstacles in his work sales during the pandemic, but the process Produksi disturbed.

"The pandemic has not disrupted sales, but has disrupted our production where the workers who produce are experiencing strong economic pressure, so that the payment mechanism that was used before the pandemic cannot be used anymore. As a result, production stalled.”

Although finally had a vacuum in 2020 due to the pandemic, Kailoka is now able to get back up and survive until now. In 2021, Kailoka's production process is active again and sales are starting to run smoothly again due to the many exhibition facilities from the government.

Never Give Up in Presenting Unique Products

In addition to the pandemic, another challenge faced by Kailoka according to Harizal is presenting products that are not only liked, but also unique with an easy production process.

However, although this is a challenge for Kailoka, Kailoka always succeeds in continuously innovating to create unique products and fulfill market demands. So, Kailoka still exists today in the midst of digital era competition with brand outside and brand other local.

"We are still there today in the midst of the existing competition because Kailoka instills the spirit to not give up and continues to innovate to be unique and meet market needs or desires," said Harizal. 

Internet Plays a Big Role in Every Process

Talking about the role of the internet for Kailoka, Harizal said that the internet has a very big role for Kailoka. Not only in terms of marketing, The internet also plays a role in the process of finding ideas and the production process.

With the rapid development of the internet lately, it's no wonder that the internet plays a big role in every process of Kailoka's development. The advancement of the internet has also resulted in more and more platform digital technology that helps businesses of all sizes grow.

However, that doesn't mean a business has to use all of them platform available digital. Its use of course still pays attention to business needs or business needs brand itself to be effective.

For Kailoka, platform The most important digital role is Kailoka website own. Website store online is a platform digital chosen by Kailoka using the system checkout through WhatsApp instead of going throughwebsiteE-commerce.

Plans to Explore the Market Online and Offline

The existence of digitalization allows many businesses to reach a wider market easily. This is also Kailoka's plan in the future. With easier public access due to digitalization, it will be easier for Kailoka to reach a wider target market.

"Definitely (want to reach a wider market). In fact, not only in the marketing process, Kailoka is preparing wooden clock products combined with digital technology, "explained Harizal.

Apart from penetrating the market online, Kailoka is now also starting to develop the shop independently offline. Currently, kailoka has obtained the facility to products at the Patrakomala Dekranasda Gallery in Bandung, precisely at Jalan Jakarta number 34, Bandung.

Not only that, Kailoka also opens opportunities for colleagues and families who want to participate in project production with a profit-sharing mechanism as a way to develop Kailoka.

With the strategies and plans that have been prepared, Harizal hopes that he can bring Kailoka to be brand widely known Indonesian wood crafts.

The Biggest Barrier Is Not Technology, It's Will

For some businesses, generally the previous business offline based, technology is sometimes a bottleneck. But, for Harizal, technology is not really a barrier. According to him, the biggest obstacles are will and courage.

“Technology is not an obstacle, because the biggest obstacle is will and courage. Whatever technology we use, our mastery of that technology will determine whether we succeed or not," Harizal said.

Without a great will and courage, not only technology, anything can become an obstacle. On the other hand, if everything starts with a firm determination, then there will be no significant obstacles, including technology.

There is a lot that can be learned from the experiences shared by Harizal in building Kailoka.

Starting from the emergence of business ideas from the surrounding environment, optimal use of technology but still according to needs, tips go digital, to the story of Kailoka who continues to survive in the midst of increasingly fierce business competition.

Because in fact, building and maintaining a business in the digital era as it is now is not difficult as long as it starts with great will and courage, and is accompanied by a passion to continue to innovate.