The Synergy of Coffee and Technology, Not Just the Embodiment of the "New Retail" Concept

Industry coffee chain started to grow in Indonesia. Not only international brands are flooding big cities in Indonesia, local names are also starting to grow. Some offer coffee with a wide variety of choices, while others are starting to add technology to provide a deeper experience in interacting with coffee shops.

Signs of technology starting to be embedded have already begun to be seen in 2018 the two names of players coffee chain managed to secure funding from venture capital with the breath of technology. Fore Coffee received an injection from East Ventures and Kopi Kenangan received an injection from Alpha JWC Ventures.

There is also Anomali Coffee which has started to implement an ordering system using an application. The bright road to the coffee shop breathes technology that is starting to be known as a concept new retail.

"Since our investment in Kopi Kenangan, many F&B businesses, including coffee, have approached VC [Venture Capital] for venture capital, it seems that we have opened up new trends and opportunities to develop for similar businesses," said Co-Founder and Manager. Alpha JWC Ventures Jeffrey Joe.

Alpha JWC Ventures last October inject funds of no less than Rp121 billion for Kopi Kenangan. Not only helping the venture capital company's finances, it also promises technology support and business acceleration to be able to meet the needs of the community and of course improve the user experience.

The conditions are not much different from East Ventures. They invest to Fore Coffee, coffee chain which is supported by Otten Coffee, promises a better coffee purchasing service, of course with a technological approach. Newest, Fore Coffee just now pocket funding worth 118 billion Rupiah from a number of investors, including East Ventures and SMDV. After this funding, Fore Coffee is also trying to implement a number of technological innovations in its business.

"We chose artisan coffee because of the importance of growing demand and educating the market for the consumption of Arabica coffee, rather than Robusta coffee. Because by doing so, Indonesia will be able to increase the welfare of local coffee farmers many times over. Yago's defensive effort same thing," said East Ventures Partner Melisa Irene.

He continued, "The main aim of the approach new retail is to make it easier customer to get the product or service they want. Over the years, digital platform-based companies have built a solid foundation, so we think Indonesia's digital infrastructure is solid enough for us to start compiling the main categories on it. The coffee category, we think is strategic, because this is a product with high value that has the potential to be consumed every day by people middleclass."

New retail not only about technology

Concept new retail not only related to technology. New retail is a concept that balances service and customer experience. It is not only a matter of ordering or paying through the application, but also providing for the needs of users.

This is agreed by the founder of Kopi Kenangan, Edward Tirtanata. He said that the new retail concept must at least have an appropriate distribution scale. Because it will be very difficult to create a new retail ecosystem in Jakarta without proper distribution.

Jeffrey to DailySocial further explained that applying the system new retail not as easy as creating a buying and selling system. There are other aspects that must also be met, such as public acceptance and the availability of qualified outlets.

"Unlike most people think, to realize the concept of 'new retail' It's not as easy as creating a buying and selling application, there are many things that must be considered, such as an adequate number of stores, products that can be accepted by various levels of society, as well as an adequate system and team to serve tens of thousands of customers every day. Can all F&B (including coffee) do it? Not. This is why we decided to support Kopi Kenangan: their big vision is supported by adequate capabilities," added Jefrey.

Kopi Kenangan and Fore Coffee are planning to modernize for coffee chain are trying to increase their availability. Until now, Kopi Kenangan already has 29 outlets from the targeted 100 outlets this year. Likewise Fore Coffee which currently has 12 outlets and is trying to keep adding them.

"Fore Coffee's innovation focus is to provide online to offline customer experience high quality and seamless pattern– great coffee, easy to find, fast service and friendly prices. Drink innovation will continue, outlet expansion has reached more than 12 outlets and continues to grow," said Melisa.

This year can at least be a new start for the industry coffee chain. With what Anomali Coffee has done and the innovative plans of Fore Coffee and Kopi Kenangan presented by their investors.

Alpha JWC Ventures has even publicly stated that they are trying to support Kopi Kenangan from all aspects, for a better expansion. Edward said that currently adding outlets was the main focus. When all these are fulfilled, it is likely that the new retail concept will be optimally applied by Kopi Kenangan.

"For next year, we will continue to support Kopi Kenangan in their expansion. As with the rest of our portfolio, Alpha JWC is always ready to provide support in terms of business strategy and operation, human resource management, and of course, financial support," explained Jeffrey.

Meanwhile, East Ventures explained that Fore Coffee will combine the application with the availability of outlets or outlets to make it easier for them to reach consumers.

"Key enablers Fore is a blend of technology in the form of applications and retail presence. Fore opens special outlets delivered, so that customers from various places who order via the Fore application or other delivery platforms can get their drinks faster. With the application, customer will be able to get offer in accordance with the preference each," said Melisa.

Anomali Coffee app inspired by the queue

Anomali Coffee is one of the brands coffee chain which already provides applications for its users. They start from feeling uncomfortable seeing their customers waiting in line long enough to get a few cups of coffee.

As stated by the Head of Sales and Marketing of Anomali Coffee, Ryo Limijaya, his party observed that from the ordering process to the completion of the payment process for one customer, it took them an average of 3 to five minutes.

From there they developed an application to make it easier for their customers to order coffee, and come only to get the coffee they ordered.

"We see this as a way out or something we can do to make customer we feel comfortable and safe to make transactions at Anomali Coffee because all transaction data has been recorded in the system. For example, if a complaint arises from customer, from our point of view it is easier to find out the chronology and what steps we should take," said Ryo commenting on the concept new retail on business coffee chain.

So far, Anomali Coffee has 12 outlets spread across Jakarta, Bali, Makassar and Surabaya. This year, apart from adding several new outlets, Anomali Coffee also plans to improve quality while exploring what technology can be applied to improve service quality.

"According to our, trends buying coffee through the app will probably increase even more. However, it all goes back to the company's focus on positioning the application function based on the needs of its consumers. Because each company, even though they are in the same business field, does not necessarily mean that the needs of consumers will also be the same to be realized in application features."

"Perhaps this is the main challenge in the trend itself, so that applications designed by companies do not answer customer needs so that in the end it becomes a failed application," concluded Ryo.