Saturdays Working on "Seamless Experience" Feature, Optimizing Glasses Sales Through O2O Scheme

Last year, brand lifestyle Saturdays has yet to talk about how the advanced technology that has developed can be immediately utilized to drive the growth of its current main business, namely eyewear products.

When it was interviewed DailySocial, CEO and Co-founder Saturdays Rama Suparta admitted that he is still observing various technological developments that are still happening Happening in Indonesia, for example Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Augmented Reality (AR).

This year, Rama revealed his grand plan to strengthen the Online-to-Offline (O2O) concept that has been carried out by Saturdays since the beginning. The strategy is to present the concept seamless experience. 

Not much information can be shared regarding this plan. To be sure, the form of development of the concept is application mobile allows consumers to not have to experience a different shopping experience, either through online nor offline.

Then, this application is planned to provide an optimal experience for consumers to try glasses through the application, without having to come to the store.

"Basically, the idea is that consumers will feel experience and value the same when shopping at online or offline. I can't tell you now, but we again Development", said Rama to DailySocial.

Actually at this time, Saturdays has been doing digital marketing by utilizing channel social media and O2O sales. That is, buyers can transact online through the website or come to the store offline hers.

However, Rama admits that there are still many consumers who are more comfortable coming to the store offline, whether to buy glasses or just to try.

"Those who shop at online usually retain customers or those who have already shopped. We hope [transaction growth] online keep growing, not only from the store offline only," he said.

Technology development challenges to expansion plans

To present seamless experience At this time, Rama admitted that he was still conducting research related to the right technology. Moreover, talk O2O pengembangan development, the concept can take advantage of advanced technologies, such as AR and AI.

However, there are several things to consider. First, the device ecosystem that supports AR is still considered very minimal.

Meanwhile, according to him, smartphone which really supports the optimal AR experience of the new iPhone X and series above.

Another thing that is not less important is the people who will develop it. For now, he revealed that he is building a team that will conduct research for the right technology.

"We already get some channel to help support our technology and already there coreteam also. But not easy build technology, especially in Indonesia lack of talent also. For now, we are still looking for talent to develop this concept," said Rama.

Apart from the major developments of Saturdays above, Rama mentioned a number of other strategic plans this year that remain focused on improving customer experience.

For store expansion, he mentioned that there are additional stores, okay flagship or shop-in-shop. Saturdays currently has two stores flagship and three shop-in-shop in Jakarta.

Then, the development of a new Personal Stylist feature on the website. This feature has actually existed since the beginning of Saturdays business, consumers can get recommendations frame glasses from the user data reference.

"This feature is not running optimally. Well, we have other ideas on how to provide glasses recommendations to consumers the packaging this feature in another way later. Just wait," he said.

For information, Saturdays offers products eyewear quality at affordable prices. The production of lenses and frames is carried out in-house from design, manufacturing, to direct delivery to consumers.

O2O potential in retail market

The growth of the digital economy has become the new face of the Indonesian economy. As stated by the Deputy Assistant for Public Relations of the Ministry of State Secretariat, Eddy Cahyono Sugiarto, the digital economy is able to transform the predicted economy into a prime mover Indonesian economy.

Eddy said, citing McKinsey research, Indonesia's digital economy position is now almost the same as China's in 2010. This is based on a number of indicators, such as penetration e-retail, GDP per capita, internet penetration, and retail spending.

Regarding the O2O trend, this concept is predicted to be the future of the retail industry in Indonesia. Research 2018 statistics estimate retail sales E-commerce in Indonesia in 2020 reached $12,3 billion and will increase to $16,5 billion in 2022.

The O2O concept provides bright prospects for the industry in line with the growing digital ecosystem and shifting consumer behavior. On the other hand, innovation in the field of O2O can also boost the SME sector which has been the pillar of the economy in the country.