UM on winning Bukalapak's media account and competition in eCommerce

Indonesian eCommerce unicorn Bukalapak has picked UM Indonesia as its media agency, the company has confirmed to Marketing Interactive. The pitch, which concluded early this year, saw 10 local and multinational agencies participating.

Dentsu Matrix, who was the media agency on record (AOR) for Bukalapak in 2018, also participated. It handled all above-the-line platforms, including TVC, radio and out-of-home media placement. Bukalapak has also worked with PHD Indonesia for offline media earlier this year.

The current appointment is for a period of one year. In a statement to Marketing Interactive, a Bukalapak spokesperson said UM Indonesia was chosen after the company took into account several key factors, but most importantly, the alignment of the agencies’ proposals with Bukalapak’s objectives.

Speaking to Marketing Interactive, UM Indonesia MD Atiek Sudirman said being the AOR for one of the largest eCommerce players in Indonesia comes with a lot of "positive challenges".

ECommerce, according to him, has expanded rapidly in the past four years, and a "very dynamic and breakthrough-demand" category. He explained: "Despite being a ‘young category’, the biggest challenge lies in the competitive nature of the eCommerce category, where conversions and transactions are the norm in the industry."

As such, the agency is not only challenged to be innovative and responsive to the dynamic nature of the business, but also forecast the upcoming trend, or set the trend itself. To do so, the agency has been applying its "better art and better science" philosophy to the media strategy, with an aim to deliver "better outcomes" for Bukalapak.

According to Bukalapak, the company's priority ahead is to reinforce its stronghold in Indonesian mass market through Marketplace and its wholesale platform, Mitra Bukalapak.

Last week, Bukalapak partnered Google to drive digitalisation among Indonesian micro SMEs (MSMEs) or more commonly known as warungs in the country. The collaboration will help warungs on Mitra Bukalapak onboard to Google My Business, and appear in Google search results to gain more traction and exposure. To date, some 95,000 warungs have created their Google My Business profiles in the Mitra Bukalapak App.

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