By women, for women

A corporate planner with a financial background, entrepreneur Shannon Kalayanamitr has taken great strides since founding the e-commerce business known as Moxy. Today, less than three years after its launch, Moxy has been re-branded Orami and the woman-focused site is aiming to become the number one online shopping destination for women in Southeast Asia in 2017 with dedicated client bases in Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia as well as Thailand and Indonesia.
Shannon started Moxy back in 2013 with a focus on online shoppers in general rather than just women. A year later, she merged Moxy with WhatsNew Group, a specialist in e-commerce owed by Ardent Capital, the Southeast Asia-based venture capitalist. She swapped her chief executive hat for that of chief marketing officer and got to work developing the business. In January 2016, Moxy merged once again, this time with Bilna, the largest female-focused online shopping website in Indonesia.
“Our growth strategy is built around merger and acquisition,” Shannon explains. “Moxy wasn’t initially focused on women but after we merged with WhatsNew Group, we discovered that some 75 per cent of our customers were women. And as there are 320 million women in Southeast Asia with a total purchasing power of US$2.4 trillion (Bt84.5 trillion), a change in our marketing strategy made a lot of sense.”
Shannon, who has retained her CMO title in the rebranding, is determined to expand Orami from its present bases in Indonesia and Thailand to include three more countries by next year while simultaneously turning the business into a sustainable online shopping destination for women. To achieve that, she says, Orami has to differentiate itself from the other e-commerce players and with a target age range of 15 to 45, is looking to social commerce.
Social commerce is a form of community-based marketing with an e-magazine that provides a range of information and knowledge for women as well as sets of products that could one day also help them earn a living.
“Our concept is to get women to ‘have it all’ not only in terms of products via shopping but also through access to advice on a range of life subjects. It doesn’t who they are or how they live, we offer everything that women need. We understand women well and we can attract women to stick with us. It’s not just about fashion and beauty; we help women have it all and achieve a healthy balance between work and life,” Shannon explains.
As CMO, Shannon’s job is to develop vision and strategy to keep Orami competitive and ensure it remains a sustainable leader. This is where branding comes in.
“We build a community and offer that community value so that they stay with us and are loyal to us. Social commerce is the key tool in this regard and it allows and encourages them to create their own collections of Orami’s products,” she says.
Currently, Orami has more than 500 staff running its e-commerce service in Thailand and Indonesia and provides retail-based and marketplace-based services at a ratio of 90:10. It currently draws 2.5 million visitors a month and has 100,000 stock-keeping units. More impressively, Orami grew by 350 per cent from last year.
“We plan to empower women with our new products and service, which will be launched soon. We are not only a shopping website where women spend their money, but soon women will be able to earn while engaging with us,” said Shannon.
Shannon started her career at with the multinational professional services network PriceWaterhouseCooper (PwC) while studying international finance and marketing as minor subject. After graduating, she became an associate at the global financial services firm Lehman Brothers where she stayed for almost five years, leaving in 2004 well ahead of its collapse. During her tenure with Lehman Brothers, Shannon was based in Philippines and oversaw the whole Asia region except Japan and Hong Kong.
“At Lehman Brothers, I learnt a lot about the problem solving and management required to turn non-performing loans into potential businesses. It was enjoyable but the job wasn’t itself fulfilling. When the Boxing Day tsunami hit, I left and worked as a volunteer helping the victims of the giant wave,” she explains.
Her stint as a volunteer over, she joined Boon Rawd Brewery and for three years was responsible for Singha Beer International’s corporate planning. Here, she learnt think as an entrepreneur, setting up businesses in 44 countries.
“That was much more fulfilling,” she says with a smile. “ I love problem solving, I love business development. And though I loved my job, I knew I needed to have my own business. And so I left Boon Rawd in 2007 and became an entrepreneur.”
Shannon first set up a business development consultancy mainly targetting the media industry. Her reputation grew and in 2012 she was invited to help e-commerce giant Lazada settle into the Thai market. Nine months later, she was again on the move and Moxy hit the ground running shortly afterwards.
“Now I am totally fulfilled. I am not only doing a job I love but feel good about my work too as Orami helps women earn from their engagement with the site,” she says.
And Orami is also making international waves, recently receiving $15 million in a round of investment led by Indonesia’s Sinar Mas Digital Ventures (SMDV) as well as Gobi Partners, Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, Ardent Capital, and Velos Partners.
“My mission is not yet complete,” she says. “I have achieved only about a quarter of what I intend to do. We should be in three more countries by next year and are planning a lot of campaigns and new products and services to attract women and help them live better.
“I also have a secret weapon – and, no I am not telling you what it is – that will ensure women stick with Orami.”