K-product Marketing to Survive Indonesia

The Author is Yewon Kim, Student of President University, Bekasi, Indonesia.

This article was written on September 23, 2023. This article was created as part of Strategic Marketing’s assignment in the 2023 Master of Management Technology.

Title : K-product’s Marketing to Survive Indonesia

1. Young and Dynamic Indonesian Market

I participated as an exhibitor in the ‘2023 Jakarta International Premium Products Fair held’ over the past 14-17 days. Most of the products on display were Korean brands, and Korean companies of various sizes participated in the fair, from large companies such as YG Entertainment to startups looking for new buyers in Indonesia.

In particular, competition for innovative K-beauty-related products was fierce, and their brand marketing to survive in Indonesia stood out. Most of them were actively using ‘digital marketing’ or marketing using ‘Hangul (Korean alphabet)’.

I was able to feel the status of Korea spreading K-Lifestyle beyond K-food and K-
Beauty. It is clear that purchasing products with interest just because they are “Made in Korea” is a huge opportunity for marketers to strategically use Korea’s good image and culture.

Indonesia has a large, dynamic market with the world’s fourth-largest population of 280 million and an average age of 29.8 years. In addition, according to the National Statistical Office (BPS), 53.8% of the population is MZ generation as of 2020, so activities on digital platforms through smartphones are active. In particular, social networks such as Instagram and TikTok are important channels that connect potential customers and products among them.

2. Review of ‘2023 Jakarta International Premium Products Fair held’

Indeed, TikTok challenges with brand names or Instagram hashtag events with photos of products were very active. In addition, customers who certified these events were provided with product samples or masks from brands modeled by BTS, a famous K-pop artist. Some marketers offered free products to influencers who participated as buyers to ask for reviews or receive feedback immediately on the spot. There were also many customers who wanted to buy products by visiting the booth directly through influencers’ SNS reviews.

This is a photo of the K-cometic brand ‘Jeju Suguk’, which I participated as an exhibitor. It shows a meeting with local customers participating in Instagram events and @bungkorea, which has 166K Followers. In addition, it drew the attention of locals through brand naming using untranslated Korean(Hangul) pronunciation, product design using literal notation, and event posters. There were many customers who came to see at a glance that it was a Korean product from a distance.

In other words, in the past, most Korean products made local customized designs and product descriptions to export to Indonesia, but now they are actively using the originality of the brand for global marketing, emphasizing that it is the same as the product actually sold in Korea. Rather than a lengthy explanation in local language, a single Korean(Hangul) word raises consumers’ desire to buy.

3. Key Success Factors in Indonesia
According to Indonesian marketing expert Iwan Setiawan(CEO of MarkPlus, editor-in-chief of marketing magazine [Marketers]), the success factors of marketing in Indonesia, that is, factors that can increase consumers’ WTP (Willingness To Pay), are analyzed as “Personal”, “Social”, and “Experimental”.

The first factor, ‘Personal’, means service just for me (Indonesian: Gue Banget). The second ‘Social’ refers to the consumer’s community culture. Lastly, Indonesians like to ‘experience’. Korean companies can participate in events that can provide Consumer Experience (CX), such as the 2023 Jakarta International Premium Product Fair, which I participated in, to increase marketing effects.

However, digital marketing is also an understanding of “people” after all, so it is important for marketers to recognize that Indonesians have clear differences from other Southeast Asian countries. In the future, I hope that Korean brands that want to enter Indonesia will try to understand Indonesian people better and converge the mentioned “Personal”, “Social”, and “Experimental” factors in digital marketing. (*)