Shoplinks Shopping Coupon Personalization Drive FMCG Brand Marketing Activities

Based on her 17 years of experience working in FMCG companies, Teresa Condicion and Co-founder JD Lee founded Shoplinks.

Namely in the form of a digital marketing platform that provides tools to build relationships between brands, retailers, and consumers using shopping coupons. Shoplinks also wants to highlight the uniqueness of traditional warungs that are only available in Southeast Asia.

Shoplinks CEO Teresa Condicion revealed, so far digital promotional activities only apply to wholesale companies to large retailers.

There are still many traditional stalls in Indonesia, which receive less attention to provide options for building more personal relationships with customers.

“Shoplinks wants to provide the right and relevant tools to create promotional activities in the form of relevant coupons to buyers at traditional stalls. Thus, brands and retailers can achieve a higher return on investment.”

Currently, Shoplinks has collaborated with major FMCG brands such as P&G, Unilever, and Johnson and Johnson, processing thousands of shopping coupon usage per month. In particular, Shoplinks earn commissions from brands that want to issue coupons.

“We work with warungs to provide a selection of shopping coupons for their shoppers, while with retailers we provide relevant data,” said Teresa.

Founded in 2020 this October, Shoplinks has received initial funding of $900 thousand or around 12.8 billion Rupiah. The funding was led by venture capital firm Cocoon Capital and participation from the Indonesian Women Empowerment Fund (IWEF).

These fresh funds will then be used by the company to strengthen its position in Indonesia before expanding to other markets in the Southeast Asia region.

His party also plans to increase the number of teams and expand the network of partners, both retail companies and stalls, which currently account for 70% of total retail spending in Indonesia.

Pandemic Drives Digital Adoption

So far, FMCG companies have had considerable interest in adopting digital for promotional activities and better engagement with retailers and stalls.

During a pandemic when all small to medium-sized companies are forced to use technology and shift their business digitally, this is the right moment for Shoplinks to cater to FMCG companies, retailers, and stalls.

“We are ready to provide the right tools to welcome retailers’ current readiness to go digital. Currently, most of them only focus on selling and not personalization. We are trying to leverage and create a platform for engagement to offline stores,” said Teresa.

Utilizing a simple technology that is very familiar to the Indonesian people, namely WhatsApp Bot, all promotional coupons to cashback can be distributed by shop and stall owners to their respective members. This service can also be created by the membership that offers information to relevant promotions.

In addition, through its data analysis platform, Shoplinks is also able to provide relevant and more personalized promotions and coupons, adjusting the preferences and previous purchases of these customers.

“We create smart coupons that FMCG companies can take advantage of. We make all processes easier with familiar technology, so there is no need to build complex technology and become irrelevant to shoppers and shop owners,” said Teresa.

Only Focus on Tier 1 and 2 Cities

Currently, Shoplinks only focuses on tier 1 and 2 cities. According to Teresa, the area is considered very familiar with online shopping activities and is used to shopping at outlets such as Indomaret and Alfamart. This makes it easier for the Shoplinks team to implement their technology.

“As a retail software platform, we provide technology for promotion and engagement. Utilizing machine learning algorithms and providing a more personalized experience for shoppers,” said Teresa.

At first glance, the services offered by Shoplinks are similar to loyalty programs, but Teresa emphasized that Shoplinks is not a platform or technology that offers loyalty programs.

But more on a platform that allows personalization, by building end-to-end software, retailers can connect with loyalty programs developed by themselves, not by Shoplinks.

“We see Shoplinks as mom and pop stores, enabling major e-commerce or retailers across Southeast Asia with the ability to personalize discounts and offers to shoppers,” concluded Teresa.