Kotoko Bridges the Need for Independent Retail "Brands" to Own an Offline Store

Founded in Singapore in 2019, Kotoko is a retail and technology startup that provides an online and offline ecosystem for independent brands / Direct to consumer in Indonesia to market their products to more consumers. The company gets initial funding from Antler.

To DailySocialKotoko's Co-Founder & COO Kanta Nandana, who was previously the Country Manager of Luno Indonesia, said that Kotoko's business idea was based on the personal experience of Co-Founder & CEO Cynthia Krisanti who had difficulty finding offline stores in strategic locations at affordable prices.

"This problem was also discovered by our other friends who have online businesses in the Fashion & Accessories field. The currently available solutions to have an offline store are still very expensive with inflexible rental periods."

With that reason, Kotoko provided a solution for brand independent in Indonesia to have offline stores in strategic locations in Indonesia with affordable prices and flexible rental terms through Kotoko multi brand store.

Kotoko will rent space in strategic commercial areas, such as shopping centers, malls, and shop houses, divide this place into several smaller areas, then lease it back to several brands, so they can sharing a place with other well-known brands to market their products.

"Our monetization strategy is to charge fees membership per month and discounted sales commission for brand who want to join," Kanta said.

Brand Store first at Plaza Indonesia

Supported by the experience of its founders in the financial, retail, and technology fields, Kotoko has several services that brand partners can use to improve their business, including the Kotoko Multi-Brand store, Kotoko Chapter, Kotoko Block, and the e-commerce site Kotoko.

"Ecommerce website This Kotoko can be used by consumers as long as they are inside the store offline Kotoko to check detailed product information, prices, sizes, and materials by using the features Scan & Shop on the phone," Kanta said.

They can also access Kotoko. shop via mobile phones to purchase products and complete online payments (mobile payment). The product will be sent directly to the consumer's address.

"Nowadays Kotoko has embraced brand independent in Indonesia in the categories of Fashion & Accessories and Food & Beverage. In the future, Kotoko is targeting other categories such as Health & Beauty, Household Goods and Furniture, said Nanta.

In particular, the solutions provided by the company for brand independent claimed to be able to increase revenue through the program marketing collaboration, promotion and partnerships. Kotoko is also trying to add channel distribution and marketing for products brand incorporated through retail partners.

Currently Kotoko has around 60 brand well-known independent with a cumulative number of 1 million followers on Instagram. The company has opened multi brand store first at Plaza Indonesia and is currently preparing for expansion to major cities outside Jabodetabek, such as Bandung, Surabaya, Makassar, and Bali.

"We have a target fundraising This year, we plan to use it to expand our business and increase the number of brands that join," said Nanta.