Super Ambition to Become a "Social Commerce" for Users in Rural Areas

Concept social commerce which combines social and commercial activities in one platform has proven to have strong traction because it is highly correlated with culture in Indonesia, especially during a pandemic like this. This opportunity is used by various technology players, Gojek though.

Other players also jumped in, one of them was Super. This application stands under holdingArchipelago Technology, which has another digital business unit, namely media online Yukepo and Keepo.

To DailySocial, Super CEO Steven Wongsoredjo explained, after joining the Y Combinator Winter 2018 program or eight months after the company operated both media online, Nusantara Technology makes Super as its main business.

He said that his party was interested in entering the consumer technology business because they wanted to get a business model with better scalability. Social commerce estimated to have a $200 billion business pie (total addressable market/TAM), much bigger than the media business online.

“Starting Super was one of our best decisions, since then our business has grown very rapidly. We've done raising funding in December 2019 for multi-million dollar Series A funding from a number of US investors. All the time and investment of the co-founder dedicated only to Super," he explained.

Both Yukepo and Keepo are said to have grown significantly and made profits since their first day. One of the parameters is that the YouTube channel is claimed to be the largest compared to other millennial media startups in Indonesia. This achievement, made the media business online at Nusantara Technology at the end of last year made a significant profit and positive cash flow, so that it did not burden the concentration of investors founder.

“Besides, we decided to recruit a strong leader. Therefore, the business [unit] has decent autonomy to run on its own.”

He compared Super more or less like Gojek which is also integrated with the media online coil. Super with main components social commerce, will soon have the Super News feature in its application. “It will soon be in one ecosystem. All of our investors support this because our business, in general, is growing rapidly and sustainably.”

Focus on the countryside

Steven said, Super declared himself a player social commerce forefront for rural areas in Indonesia. Super has a concept hybrid such as players from China, namely Pinduoduo and Shihuituan. Therefore, Super is different from most players.

Super build supply chain social commerce for rural areas that have a positive unit economy. For example, part of supply chain development is building hubs small villages in the villages close to the Agent's house. Later the Super Agent will take the product from hub to be passed on to the community.

In the process, Super Agents collect orders around their neighborhood; can be via WhatsApp by sharing the Super link from the Super application (including the product they want to sell) or meeting in person with potential customers.

If the order is at least $70, the Super will deliver the order to the Super Agent's house, but if the order is $20-$70, the Agent must pick up the order from the nearest Super Center in the village. Payment can be made via bank transfer or COD. After that, Super Agent will arrange last mile delivery to their customer.

Then, Super also set the concept group buying with a minimum order to ensure they have an average order value. In this way, Super can print profits in every transaction that occurs.

In the distribution process, Super has its own warehouse and cooperates with logistics providers for delivery. Super built a warehouse management system to help companies decide the best route in building the best efficiency.

What's quite interesting is that during the delivery process to buyers, Steven said if they were willing to pay more, they would get the product faster from any platform. However, Super tries to optimize the supply chain, so the cost is low.

This strategy is considered appropriate because considering the Super operational area in tier two and three cities, buyers are more concerned with price than delivery time. If the user orders before 3pm, they will get the product tomorrow, but if the order is after 3pm, the item will be delivered the day after tomorrow.

“With a single approach logistics policy, we can predict better and have a better unit economy in delivering goods to our agents for profit.”

Super big ambition

With this business model, Super already has a clear way of monetization. In the short term, the company takes margin at the best prices from partner manufacturers and profit when selling these products to Agents. Then, take margin profit from private label FMCG products sold to Agents.

“In the long term, we want to be a platform for any business in Indonesia looking to enter rural areas. We will receive a commission per transaction by working with manufacturers outside of the FMCG or companies that need our network of agents to distribute their products.”

Currently Super has more than 650 SKUs in collaboration with more than 50 national brands. The new area coverage is in more than 20 second- and third-tier cities on the island of Java. Steven said the battlefield in non-Jakarta cities is unique and complex, so it becomes a barrier for everyone because solving this problem is not as easy as it seems.

According to him, social commerce is the initial stage of Super's grand ambition to build a comprehensive supply chain solution. He wants to be Indofood, but is loaded with a touch of technology and business strategies that are relevant to rural Indonesia.

If Indofood from upstream to downstream, there are Indogrosir (hub) and Indomaret (retail). So, the plan is for Super to have white labels (Supercare and Supereats), hubs (Superwarehouse and Supercenter), and retail (Superagent).

“By having this entire infrastructure, we will be a strong company that can last more than a hundred years.”