Bootstrapped Rocketindo launches its way to profitability

In The Checkout this week, we look at ecommerce enabler RocketIndo’s journey to profit and Singapore retailers’ experiment with unmanned stores. [Read from your browser]( The Checkout 🛒  --------------------------------------------------------------- Welcome to The Checkout! Delivered every fortnight, this free newsletter breaks down the biggest stories and trends in ecommerce. You can find past issues [here]( or [sign up here]( to receive future newsletters. Also, If you’re not a subscriber, get access by [registering here](. IN FOCUS In today's newsletter, we spotlight: - How ecommerce enabler Rocketindo [bootstrapped its way to profitability]( - Why retailers in Singapore are trialing cashierless tech in stores even after Amazon ditched it - How Prism+ built a [profitable business despite missteps]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Hello {NAME} “Every two weeks, 28 million rupiah (US$1,700). As a content analyst in the US.” Young employees at Indonesian startup Rocketindo are sharing their starting salaries at their first jobs in a now-viral clip that has racked up over 180,000 likes and 17,000 shares on Instagram. But perhaps it’s the ecommerce enabler’s journey from bootstrapped firm to a profitable one, recording year-on-year revenue growth of 200% in 2023, that should be catching eyeballs instead. In this week’s Big Story, my colleague Budi discusses how Rocketindo’s Taiwan origins - where its founder and CEO Daniel Liu is originally from - along with a strategy of helping Taiwanese brands expand into Indonesia and its focus on the beauty category has set the firm apart from competitors. As Taiwanese beauty brands top best-selling charts on Shopee, retailers in Singapore are busy implementing new cashierless tech in their stores. In this week’s Hot Take, I discuss why a confectionary chain and several convenience stores in Singapore are experimenting with sensors and cameras in a move that could see more unmanned stores pop up across the city-state. Love them, hate them, want to see more of them? Let us know. -- Melissa  --------------------------------------------------------------- THE BIG STORY [Ecommerce enabler Rocketindo bootstraps its way to 300% growth, profitability]( Founded in 2016, the company distributes midrange to high-end Taiwanese beauty products in Indonesia.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  THE HOT TAKE Retailers in Singapore are trialing a tech that Amazon ditched - to what end? Here’s what happened: - Brick-and-mortar retailers in Singapore are testing a concept of [unmanned stores](. - At least 18 outlets by convenience store chains Cheers and 7-Eleven as well as confectionary firm Chateraise are letting customers pick up items at branches without cashiers. - Purchases are automatically charged to their cards when they leave the stores, which are mostly located on student campuses and “high tech” retail spaces. Here’s our take: Retail stores in Singapore are replicating a cashierless retail concept that US ecommerce giant Amazon has trialed since 2018 and later [ditched]( at its grocery stores. While Amazon’s Just Walk Out system was aimed to remove what it saw as a big pain point of the offline shopping experience - queues - the experiments in Singapore appear to be tackling a [labor crunch]( that arose during the pandemic and never quite eased. These retailers are also hoping that despite the high costs, the tech will translate into lower manpower expenses in the long run. While the concept’s success could alter the hiring equation for retail firms, Amazon’s costly experiment shows that the tech has its limits. Cashierless stores rely on a large number of cameras and sensors to monitor which items have been taken off shelves, requiring a significant upfront investment. They also don’t eliminate the need for labor entirely: in Amazon’s case, it relied on [over 1,000 human staffers]( to manually double-check transactions and label video images. The larger the store and number of items on sale, the higher the complexity. Indeed, The Straits Times report noted that the unmanned stores in Singapore offered limited products, largely packaged food and bottled drinks. A limited number of patrons can enter the store at any time. But Singapore’s low crime rate and high credit card usage make it as good a starting point as any for trialing the technology, since entry to and payment at these stores also typically require a credit card. Singaporeans are also a generally well-behaved bunch, making the country suited for the tech’s tracking system, which requires a level of predictability in terms of a shopper’s movements within the store - including placing items back in their original positions and not passing them around - in order to work well. Unmanned stores are likely to raise eyebrows from skeptical older customers, long accustomed to the “human touch” afforded by retail staff. It’s no surprise, then, that it’s being tested at university campuses, exposing it to savvy Gen-Z and millennial consumers, many of whom prefer [not having to deal with service staff]( at all. Amazon’s failed experiment shouldn’t deter others from trying. Its grocery chief Tony Hoggett has [said]( that the concept makes sense in smaller shops where customers are purchasing just a handful of items. In line with that, the firm plans to maintain the tech in smaller grocery stores in the UK as well as in its convenience stores. While it’s hard to imagine cashierless tech taking over convenience stores in Singapore, such an experiment could pay off in the long term, in light of rising labor costs and a persistent talent shortage.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW Also check out Tech in Asia’s coverage of the ecommerce scene [here](. 1️⃣ [Zomato to bolster quick commerce presence with $36m Blinkit injection]( With the latest funding, Zomato has invested a total of US$275 million in Blinkit since it acquired the firm in 2022. 2️⃣ [Walmart eyes PhonePe, Flipkart IPOs in ‘next couple of years’: exec]( The exec added that PhonePe’s IPO might take precedence over Flipkart’s. 3️⃣ [Yanolja eyes $400m US IPO in July at $9b valuation]( The SoftBank-backed travel app is expanding beyond travel bookings and going into cloud services for the hospitality and leisure sectors, competing with the likes of Airbnb and Expedia Group. 4️⃣ [Shein to file for London IPO at $64b valuation]( The fast-fashion firm, which has declined to confirm the possibility of listing in London, had initially sought to IPO in New York. 5️⃣ [HK startup secures $2m to expand digital coupon platform worldwide]( Clients of Mezzofy - which helps issue, distribute, and process digital coupons for companies - include Starbucks Hong Kong and Shell. ---------------------------------------------------------------  FYI 1️⃣ [How Prism+ built a profitable business despite missteps]( The Singapore-based startup has been profitable for at least two consecutive years and is consistently paying dividends to shareholders. 2️⃣ [Mapping Singapore’s leading D2C brands]( For Singapore’s D2C brands, the next choice for expansion doesn’t seem to be other Southeast Asian countries but more developed markets like the US. ---------------------------------------------------------------  EVENTS HAPPENING You can also check out a curated list of trending tech events [over here]( and Tech in Asia’s signature events [here](. 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