(JP/Evi Mariani)

Jason Lamuda may not look like someone who has a passion for women'€™s fashion but his love for e-commerce has made him the driving force behind the growth of Berrybenka.com, one of Indonesia'€™s leading online stores for womens fashion.

He took the No. 1 job at Berrybenka, founded by his wife Claudia Widjaja and her friend Yenti Elizabeth, and has led the online store to reach their vision of becoming the largest e-commerce platform for local fashion brands, especially those falling in the small- to middle-enterprise (SME) bracket.

What sets Berrybenka apart from competitor Zalora.com is its curated fashion goods, which can make the shopping experience less daunting and more enjoyable. Its lower price range also provides a competitive edge against another curated store Goods Dept. (thegoodsdept.com), a middle- to upscale Indonesian designer store.

Before plunging into web entrepreneurship in 2010, Jason worked for two years at prestigious consultant McKinsey & Company in Jakarta after finishing his graduate studies at Columbia University in New York. But his heart told him to take a risk and become an entrepreneur. Many of his friends questioned his decision of leaving a much coveted job and entering uncertainty. But Jason thought that if he wanted to take a risk that he should take one while he was young. At that time Jason was still single. '€œIf you are 35-years-old with a family, you would think twice before leaving the security of a job.'€

Jason, now 27, contacted his friend Ferry Tenka, who was still in the US at that time. Ferry said he would return home only if Jason left his job. Jason left McKinsey in 2010 without really knowing whether he would be successful or not. In fact, their first startup, a location-based service like the now defunct Koprol, failed to take off.

Three years later, he found himself among the few of Indonesia'€™s young CEOs of the Internet entrepreneurship.  

Jason said he wanted Berrybenka to grow as big as possible and grow together with its vendors, which are select Indonesian fashion SMEs.  

As of September this year, Berrybenka carried 400 brands, mostly local. Its prices stand at mostly a range of Rp 50,000 (US$4.50) to Rp 200,000 for tops and bottoms and under Rp 300,000 for shoes and dresses.  Its transaction number has also grown in double digit in the past year to the current 400 to 500 transactions a day. '€œCustomers typically buy two items, spending Rp 300,000,'€ he said.

He said from the beginning they worked very hard to find suitable vendors to sell on Berrybenka. They looked for vendors from fashion bazaars, small stores at trade centers and brands that already had their own online shops or those selling through Facebook.

The majority of the brands are small to medium enterprises and some are already successful vendors with their own store. One of the vendors, Helen Bellina, who with her sister, run the brand Kivee (kiveeshop.com) is among the brands that sells their clothing line from the very beginning of Berrybenka, which was founded in 2011.

Helen said at the very beginning of Berrybenka, she was approached by the merchandiser to sell there. At first she made a small supply to the online store but over time, it grew steadily. She said compared to online sales, offline sales were still bigger. However, online was growing, she said, and Berrybenka was among the outlets that created steady demand for her designs, which ran along the casual, working women style.

She said she was very satisfied with the way Berrybenka advertise themselves. '€œThey have ads everywhere. And compared to other fashion online store, they are very committed to their vendors,'€ she said. Many things still have to be improved she said, but otherwise, she said the Berrybenka creative team had managed to make a good brand image which in turn benefited her business, which currently employed 17 seamstresses.

'€œIf Berrybenka grows bigger, the vendors will also become bigger. We want to be as big as Ebay.com and to do that we need a lot of funds,'€ Jason said.

Thanks to his network from his previous web enterprise with Ferry, Disdus.com, Berrybenka managed to get significant investments from two venture capitals, Gree Ventures from Japan and East Ventures from Singapore.

Jason said he could not disclose the amount of investment but it was enough for Berrybenka to hire talents, rent an office and studio space at a strategic location in Slipi, Central Jakarta, rent a warehouse in West Jakarta, and buy infrastructure for building the web.

Jason, however, wanted Berrybenka to grow even bigger and expand to men'€™s fashion and perhaps, bridal stuff.

'€œWe cannot be small thus we need a lot of funds.'€ But he said he did not have a plan to sell Berrybenka like he did Disdus. '€œOur vision is to grow Berrybenka into an enterprise that evokes inspiration, sustainable and profitable for a long time.'€

It does not mean he regretted selling Disdus, a daily deal website. In fact, he was proud to be a cofounder of a startup that managed to attract much bigger Groupon, the world'€™s biggest daily deals website.

'€œI'€™ve learned so much from Groupon,'€ he said. '€œBut later we had different vision.'€ Jason said he and partner Ferry wanted to expand into retail but Groupon Indonesia could not really go far from the vision of the parent company in the US.

He and Ferry started Disdus in 2010 with only Rp 100 million from their savings. Within months, it grew as the market leader until it was acquired by Groupon.

He said the principle of web entrepreneurship was the same with the older, offline one'€™s. Be ready to fall and rise again.

The recipe for success in the online world is also the same with any retail business, he said. '€œFocus on your products. You have to know what your customers'€™ want.'€

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