Halal Industry

Former Lazada Indonesia co-CEO starts selling halal personal care products for mothers online


The former Indonesia co-CEO of Alibaba-owned Lazada has himself become a seller on e-commerce platforms.

Duri Granziol left Lazada Indonesia in the first half of last year and just launched a line of personal care products for mothers.

“We realised that in Southeast Asia there was no brand that provided safe, halal, and natural personal care products at a price point that is affordable to the average young family,” the co-founder and CEO of Mama’s Choice told Salaam Gateway.

Mama’s Choice products and factories are halal-certified by Indonesia’s LPPOM-MUI, said Duri, adding that “it was always clear” they had to be halal launching in Muslim-majority Indonesia.  

The company has started with three products – stretch mark cream, mouthwash, and toothpaste.

The CEO said Mama’s Choice uses only “safe and tested” natural ingredients and is investing in educating the population about the use of personal care products and avoiding potentially harmful chemicals.

“We believe the terms ‘halal’ and ‘safe’ go hand in hand, as many rules that define halal products also ensure hygiene and safety of products,” said Duri.

The first batch of Mama’s Choice products for the Indonesian market is manufactured in cooperation with a factory in the greater Jakarta area, according to the CEO.

The start-up has around 20 employees and five experts that act as advisers.

Duri declined to reveal the company’s investors, saying they'd prefer to focus on the brand and products.

SELLING ONLINE TO YOUNG MOTHERS

The former Lazada exec is selling Mama’s Choice products in Indonesia on e-commerce sites such as Shopee, JD, Lazada, Tokopedia and Blibli, adding to the booming e-commerce sector in Southeast Asia.

A survey by market researcher ecommerce IQ released in October last year found that 66 per cent of 1,144 Indonesian mothers had tried to buy mother and baby products online.

Shopee was the most popular choice, followed by Lazada and Tokopedia.

The study found that young mothers went online to search for and read product information and customer reviews, before deciding on their purchase.

Shopee is owned by Singapore-based internet giant Sea Group that’s backed by Alibaba rival Tencent.

Sea went public in October 2017, raising around $1 billion on the New York Stock Exchange.

Its second quarter results, released on Thursday, showed a 69 per cent surge for Shopee’s marketplace revenue to $37.3 million, and gross merchandise value rose 14 per cent to $2.2 billion.

Alibaba reported its Q2 earnings on August 15, saying that Lazada “achieved over 100 per cent year-over-year order growth”. The Group reports Lazada numbers as part of its “core commerce” business that also includes Alibaba.com and AliExpress.

Its marketplace-based core commerce earned a gross $6.8 billion in Q2 2019.

© SalaamGateway.com 2019 All Rights Reserved


tags:

E-commerce
Personal care
Toiletries