TokoBox
Social commerce enablement
Fast Facts
Core Competencies
Startup Leadership
End-to-end venture building from concept to market, including team growth, product development, and go-to-market strategy execution.
Product Strategy
Market research, user experience design, and product-market fit validation for emerging market consumer behavior patterns.
Social Commerce Innovation
Technology platform development for social selling, leveraging social networks to enable commerce in underserved markets.
Problem Statement
Consumers in rural areas face limited access to goods due to poor e-commerce penetration
Despite being home to well-known e-commerce platforms such as Shopee, Tokopedia, Lazada, and others, most Indonesians have yet to adopt these platforms. The reasons for this lack of adoption are many and include:
- •Cultural desire for relationships between buyers and sellers as a means of preventing fraud
- •Lack of technological sophistication
- •Expensive delivery services, relative to average order value (AOV)
- •Lack of, or unfamiliarity with, one's mailing address
TokoBox's Solution
Enable selling within social networks, sourcing from e-commerce platforms
Taking inspiration from Indian social selling unicorn Meesho, TokoBox developed a simple web application that allowed users to sell goods to friends and family by sharing product information over popular social media channels such as Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp.
In so doing, the seller earned an attractive commission on all items sold, while the buyer gained greater access to goods than would otherwise be available in his or her community.
Key Insights
Trust-First Commerce
Leveraged existing social relationships to overcome trust barriers in e-commerce adoption.
Rural Market Focus
Targeted underserved rural Indonesian markets with limited traditional e-commerce access.
Commission Model
Created income opportunities for rural entrepreneurs through social selling commissions.