Customer story
Matahari
Indonesia's largest retail platform reached 1.75 million customers on WhatsApp and achieved a 6.5% conversion rate — nearly 2.5 times the industry average.
Sector
Retail
Channels
Headline
2.5x conversion rates
The challenge
Declining engagement on channels that couldn't convert.
PT Matahari Department Store Tbk, known as Matahari, is the largest retail platform in Indonesia, with 139 stores across 77 cities and an online presence on Matahari.com. For over 60 years, it has provided Indonesia's growing middle class with fashionable, affordable, high-quality apparel, footwear, and beauty products.
Engagement rates for campaigns on traditional marketing channels were starting to decline. Matahari's marketing team wanted to increase sales and find a better way to capture the attention of their 1.75 million customers. They had been using SMS and email for campaigns and promotions, but both channels had poor delivery rates, which resulted in lower conversion rates and fewer sales. The team wanted to tap into new high-potential channels that would let users interact with Matahari in two-way conversations.
As WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app in Indonesia, with over 140 million users, Matahari saw the channel as an opportunity to boost sales and improve its marketing efforts. They were looking for a solution that could handle millions of marketing messages on WhatsApp, and a platform that would let the company implement new use cases into the future.
The solution
Millions of WhatsApp messages, at the scale only Bird could deliver.
When the retailer embarked on the extensive process of evaluating multiple messaging providers, they found that only Bird had the scale they required to send millions of messages, and the functionality to optimize delivery and engagement rates.
- Millions of customers converted with WhatsApp campaigns.Using Bird's Flow Builder and WhatsApp API, Matahari ran promotional campaigns that reached millions of customers and drove net new revenue for their stores. Customers could respond and engage with campaigns, and those who wanted additional product information could instantly chat with a sales agent before making a purchase.
- Identifying and targeting the most loyal customers. The company found new ways to use WhatsApp to expand its loyalty program. Using Bird, Matahari identified its most profitable customer segment and targeted them with exclusive offers, with recipients able to respond to initiate a conversational experience.
- Spam detection and prevention.Using Bird's machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities, the customer support team was able to detect and flag spam messages, letting Matahari focus on customers with genuine inquiries.
The results
2.5x the conversion, 98% delivery.
Matahari reached its 1.75 million customers more effectively through WhatsApp, where marketing campaigns proved to improve engagement and conversion rates at scale. So far, the retailer has sent over 15 million marketing messages with an impressive delivery rate of 98%. The team achieved a conversion rate of 6.5%, nearly 2.5 times higher than the industry average of 2.6% — and customers on WhatsApp are almost three times more likely to convert than those acquired through traditional online channels.
2.5x
Increase in conversion rates, with a 6.5% conversion rate against a 2.6% industry average.
98%
Delivery rate across WhatsApp marketing campaigns.
15M+
WhatsApp marketing messages sent to Matahari's customers.
“With Bird and WhatsApp, we can reach a large number of customers more effectively and keep them better informed about new offers. This has helped us increase our conversion rates and sales.”
Tjhai A Eng, Marketing & Loyalty, Matahari
What's next
Expanding WhatsApp and Flow Builder across the business.
Matahari's partnership with Bird has been a great success for the retailer. The team is now looking to expand their use of WhatsApp and Flow Builder to other areas of the business.
Carry-forward reference from bird.com. Metrics and named quotes reported by Matahari.
Run campaigns on the same WhatsApp network.
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