Understanding Indonesian Consumers: Gadget Study Case

Well because I am in marketing department, I feel an obligation to make a little writing about my conclusion so far about my job. Please be noted that this writing is only my hypothesis with no proven data, and in the perspective of 3 months old new employee, so any disagreement is always welcome. I interested to write this issue because of simple talk during my first qualitative research (see below), a simple talk between me, my MT friend, my brand portfolio manager, Keith, and one English gentleman that I forgot his name (damn! very ungentle of me!) . Well we were discussing about anything about Obama, Jakarta, Indonesia etc, and one thing leads to another than suddenly the gentleman (I am referring the gentleman whom the name I forgot) discussing about his iphone, and Keith also shows his gadget, an ordinary hand phone, just like mine! well not as cheap as mine but its not something hi tech like blackberry or iphone. She believes that hand phone should be just for telephone and sms texting, if she wants to internet, chatting, or internet then she will use her laptop. Again suddenly I’m feeling not to lonely in this world . And by the end of her statement, she noted that she don’t know till how long she can hold up to her idealism! Aha now I feel not to alone in this world, well not to lonely because my dearest one also follow this outliner pattern. Well looking at them, I realize something, they are the perfect model for consumer model in western world, one is emotional driven (Apple’s lover) and the others is functional driven, and btw I am functional driven guy . And now lets discussing about Indonesian consumers profile that should be understand not just by any company which runs business in Indonesia but also any person who dealing with Indonesian consumers.

First hypothesis is Indonesian Consumers is very creative. Well if you think that Indonesia is composed by hundreds of ethnics and tribes, and each one of them have their own uniqueness, own culture, own food, own music instrument, own dance, etc you will see that these facts is not very surprising. But one thing should be noted that Indonesian creativity is not in the form of making something sophisticated, but rather to making something more useful.  We are not like Western who often creates something great or Japanese who do Kaizen (little sustainable improvement), we don’t have that technical skill (yet) but we can maximize how products is used. I am not saying that Indonesian people is the most creative people in world (but one of the best I believe, just ask for Malaysia who love to copy our culture product if you doubt this statement ), but creative in our own way, we shape technology usage in our own way.

Second hypothesis is Indonesian Consumers is very consumptive. Yes, we are that damn consumptive, this second hypothesis is better asked for Singaporean. Indonesian is well known for the main buyer of their property products mostly apartments. Indonesian tourists is also known for the generous spending in that country. Well consumptive or not you must compare it with the income, but still Singapore is just like the place to spend your money. Not a very good profile. Second example can you imagine that the one of the world most expensive gadget biggest market is Indonesia. Yes for Nokia Communicator, Indonesia is their main market. Its not like at that time Indonesian people utilized all its feature but for some reason (the last hypothesis) Indonesian loves Nokia Communicator at that time.

Third hypothesis is Indonesian Consumers is very communal. Indonesian like any other Asian is very communal. Indonesian seems like to communicate with almost everybody. A sight that you maybe will not see in western world or even Asia itself. There is no wonder that Indonesian is known as the most smiling country because we love to interact, we love to help even for a stranger of course in certain security level. A heartwarming welcome you don’t ordinary see even in our neighbor country. A lesson is true smile comes from heart not from money  . There is an important mores in Indoensian lives that these days slowly forgotten, the mores is called Gotong Royong in Bahasa or in doing something together. We build our mosque, home, and other infrastructure together with all the community element, a tradition that very hard to met in these days, hopefully it still practice in rural area. Same reason why Indonesian filled almost all social network website such as: facebook, twitter, and etc.

Fourth hypothesis is Indonesia Consumers is very status oriented. Maybe it have to do with Indonesian background with hundreds of separated kingdom. King is the highest position for a long time, but when Indonesia is converse into republic, well you can see that old habit dies hard. Now in republic era, money is the status symbol. People with a lot of money tends to be more honored. But please be noted that many leader in spiritual and others category is honored not just by their money, but mostly they also tends to be very wealthy.

So back to our study case, simple question needs to be answered, why does Indonesian loves Blackberry instead of IPhone, Nokian, and etc? Simple, because by far Blackberry is the gadget that fulfill most of these hypothesis. For the first hypothesis, do you know that Blackberry business model in Indonesia is different from any other country? Blackberry always targeted corporate users. That is why they needed dedicated bandwidth from the operator to RIM server to fulfill their QoS. Indonesian consumers change their business model upside down, instead of selling for corporate, Indonesian people used Blackberry for handphone and treat it like retail products. Suddenly Blackberry growth reach for 500% growth just by convert their business model. This is an example of how creative is Indonesian people really are. So first insight from this hypothesis is when you do business in Indonesia, try to be flexible, and don’t ever think your proven concept in other countries can be implemented in Indonesia.  Second hypothesis is an opportunity for premium products almost in all aspects. This is the main reason why this middle income country has tremendous demand on some products, hi tech product is not an exception. Can you imagine what is the impact for the world if let say that purchasing power of Indonesian is double? Double market for Blackberry, Mercedes, BMW, and for Singapore apartment . Third hypothesis is proven in application level. Killer application for IPhone is itunes while killer application for Blackberry are BBM (Blackberry Messenger). BBM is a communal application, while itunes is very self centered (if you declined egoist ) application. And if you doing a research about why the Blackberry users buys their Blackberry, I bet there is a significant evidence that they used BBM to chat with their friends. Not a very surprising facts if you notice how Indonesian love to interact with their surroundings . Fourth hypothesis is mainly an effect on second hypothesis, carrying Blackberry is like carrying an ID to show you that you’re A segment in SEC segmentation. Blackberry is beating IPhone, because Blackberry is perceive as social status more than IPhone.

To resume this writing, this is my advice for you all who have business in Indonesia. Be flexible, sell in premium price, use western name, give communal touch, and make your products a symbol of wealth. If you targeted the medium segment, try to make products that imitate premium products with the same functionality, this is also the reason why China QWERTY phone cell is also quite popular in Indonesia. Win llike Blackberry win against Nokia, IPhone, and etc. But again this is just my opinion, and for now I don’t have interest in Blackberry or IPhone, and like Keith said, “I just don’t know how long can I reject this social change”

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