shopping online, Chrisanti Indiana did the unexpected.

We grew from I think two stores before the pandemic in 2019, and now we have 47 stores.

I think we grow 10 times until the end of 2021.

A lot of people actually told us that it's kind of like a very bold move right to actually

open offline presence, while everybody's like closing their offline stores.

But it's always well-calculated that we know that this is the time for us to actually prepare

our platform to make sure that after the pandemic, it can serve more and more consumers.

Looking far ahead turned out to be the right move for this 31-year-old entrepreneur.

Chrisanti's online and offline approach transformed her e-commerce start-up into a

multi-million beauty conglomerate.

Chrisanti is the co-founder and CMO of Social Bella, a multimillion-dollar Indonesian beauty

products retailer.

She launched the business with her brother and friend back in 2015.

It started off as an e-commerce platform, called Sociolla.

But the trio had bigger dreams.

Social Bella has since expanded to brick-and-mortar shops, while operating as a distributor for

beauty and personal care manufacturers worldwide.

We become an associate partner for a lot of global brands in Indonesia.

So we help them not only like distribute their products to Indonesia, but also understanding

the market and become their end-to-end partner that can help them build the business in Indonesia.

A lot of brands from Korea, Japan, can be found in finding Socialla but some of them

you can also find it in other retailers as well.

In 2018, they launched SOCO, Indonesia's largest consumer review online platform for

beauty products.

The beauty journey for our customer, it's not just about shopping.

But we realized that there's a lot of like, touch point that really important, for example,

you know, finding the right products for you, it's not just about going to the store and

pick it up, right, you will make sure that you read the reviews.

Maybe you talk to your friends, maybe you know you Google first and so on.

That's why we have SOCO to make sure that they can access like these tons of product

review before they purchase the products.

The start-up now boasts more than 30 million users across all its business units, offering

an inventory of 12,000 products from 400 brands.

The idea for Social Bella came about in 2015, when Chrisanti returned home to Jakarta, after

studying in Australia.

The brands that I knew and I have been using, those were not available in Indonesia.

Especially online, because it's hard to get it in offline retail as well.

You need to find specific sellers in social media, or from friends, they can purchase

the product for you, either overseas, or, they say they have a source and some kind

of black market.

The proliferation of beauty products in the country has led to a thriving black market.

Locally made counterfeits in Indonesia are rife due to cheap labor costs and materials.

In 2018, local authorities seized illegal cosmetic products worth $9 million, more than

twice the amount from the previous year.

I still remember vividly in my mind that there's a lot of like sellers online, especially in

social media that sells product, like it's international brand that they proudly claim

that it's actually not an authentic product, but it has a quality of authentic products,

it's cheaper.

The sellers are claiming that the product is like actually maybe like 99% of them authentic.

What does that mean?

Like 99% authentic?

Armed with a starting capital of $13,000, Chrisanti was determined to build a space

where consumers can access curated products that are safe and authentic.

How does Social Bella tackle the problem of counterfeit products?

Since we started, we ensure that we only work with authorized distributors or only the brand

owners.

We also work closely with the BPOM, which is the Indonesian National drugs and Food

control body to make sure that we follow all of the rules.

It was not always easy breezy.

At the time, the awareness about authentic beauty products, it's not as high as today.

And it's a challenge for us as a business owner.

So when you have a business, and then you want it to be successful, but at the same

time, you also want to, you know, make sure that you're following like everything, following

all the rules, and making sure that you're doing the right thing, when all the other

people are doing the other way, right.

So it was a challenge to educate the consumer, like cheap doesn't always mean better.

The global beauty industry, comprising cosmetics, skin care, hair care, fragrances, and personal

care generates $500 billion in sales per year.

With rising inflation and costs of living, consumers are cutting back on expenses like

food and travelling.

But the beauty category, which is often seen as an affordable luxury, has remained resilient.

For example, a report published by Allied Market Research predicts that Indonesia's

skincare market is expected to register a compound annual growth rate of 7.8% from 2021

to 2030, and be worth $18 billion by then.

That is driven by a rising affluent population, and the growth of local brands in recent years,

offering consumers more diverse and affordable options.

When we started, the amount of local brands was quite little, it was less than 10 maybe.

Throughout our journey, we can see that the local brands are growing really rapidly.

We also see that the quality has been improving, it's very competitive with a lot of international

and global brands.

The start-up says it now carries more than 200 local beauty brands, an increase of 20x

within 4 years.

Over the last two years, Social Bella went through aggressive store expansion, growing

from just 3 stores in 2020, to 47 stores in Indonesia and 16 stores spread across Vietnam.

Why did Social Bella go through a rapid store expansion during the pandemic?

The plan of expansion is not because of COVID actually, and we know the pandemic will end

sometime.

When we build the offline stores it's actually to create an omnichannel experience.

So now if you go to our stores, or if you go to our e-commerce, everything will feel

like seamless, because we believe that we are serving the same customer.

They can do click-and-collect, she also can deliver the purchases to her home or like

somewhere else.

So it's more like making sure that she can shop the way she likes.

Social Bella's savvy approach has caught the eye of investors.

Since 2018, the Jakarta-based company has raised around $225 million.

Its investors include Indonesia-based East Ventures, Singapore state investment firm

Temasek and U.S.-headquartered private equity firm L Catterton.

While its latest funding round of $60 million in October 2022 fell short of expectations,

the company is in no hurry to be Indonesia's next unicorn.

Being a unicorn was never our objective right?

Like we want to make sure that we are you know, we are scaling up we're like reaching

more and more consumer.

If that's the case then it's a bonus but yeah, it's never become one of our goals.

Is the business profitable?

We are very happy with the current standing in that area I think we can say that we are

on track with our plan.

Since day one, we always believe in building a sustainable business, not just scale.

For now, Social Bella is focusing on dominating the SHEconomy in Indonesia, which refers to

a new economy driven by an increase in consumer spending by females.

In 2020, the company launched another business unit called Lilla, an e-commerce platform

targeting moms and babies.

We want to serve the entire SHE market to serve more and more women not only in beauty,

personal care, but also in other industries.

Other than growing Social Bella, Chrisanti is also determined to take on the mandate

of reducing its carbon footprint.

According to the World Bank, Indonesia generates approximately 7.8 million tons of plastic

waste annually.

This is a commitment from us.

We are the first e-commerce in Indonesia, that commits to zero bubble wrap.

And we also provide recycling stations across all social stores.

I feel proud because I know it's a long journey and it's not always easy but I'm happy like

I'm really proud that we choose to do the right things since day one.