“In 2025, the Chinese brand Cool-Vita took the top spot in the Indonesian market in just three years. From the hot product strategy to the omni-channel layout, how can cross-border e-commerce leverage the blue ocean of hundreds of billions of health products?”
In 2025, the Indonesian health care product market will reach a scale of US$5 billion with an average annual growth rate of 8%-10%. The Chinese brand Cool-Vita has firmly taken the top spot in the Indonesian market in just three years, becoming a benchmark case for cross-border e-commerce going overseas. From online hits to offline stores covering tens of thousands of stores, from TikTok short drama marketing to self-built MCN traffic pools, the rise of Cool-Vita not only verifies the potential of the Southeast Asian market, but also reveals the core code of global brand operations.
01—Indonesian market: a golden track for health products to go global
1.Demographic dividend and consumption upgrade
Indonesia has a population of 270 million, with a median age of only 29 years old, young people accounting for more than 50%, and the middle class is rising rapidly, with a strong willingness to consume. According to World Bank data, Indonesia’s GDP growth rate has exceeded 5% for many consecutive years, and consumers’ demand for health and beauty has surged, but the market supply has long been in a state of “high-end imports are expensive and low-end quality is poor”.
Cool-Vita precisely targets urban women aged 18-35 and launches innovative products such as collagen effervescent tablets, filling the market gap with “high quality + extreme cost-effectiveness”. The sales of a single product exceeded 10,000 units in the TikTok Indonesian market in 29 days, accounting for more than 30% of the category market share.
2.E-commerce dividends and traffic blue ocean
Indonesia’s e-commerce penetration rate is increasing rapidly. In 2023, the sales of health products on platforms such as Shopee and Tokopedia will exceed US$100 million, of which Indonesia will contribute 36.3%. Cool-Vita has achieved a double explosion in popularity and sales through TikTok short videos, live streaming and short drama marketing. During Ramadan, the number of views of the cooperative short drama exceeded 30 million, and GMV increased by 4 times.
02—Cool-Vita’s counterattack code: localization and hot product drive
1.Product innovation: from “Chinese experience” to “Indonesian adaptation”
- Dosage form revolution: Traditional Indonesian health products are mainly powders. Cool-Vita has introduced effervescent tablets and direct-drink dosage forms to improve convenience and taste. For example, the price of collagen effervescent tablets is less than 1 yuan per tablet, and the repurchase rate exceeds 40%.
- Functional segmentation: Develop detoxifying enzymes targeting Indonesia’s fried food culture; launch MCT capsule coffee for athletes, forming a four-product matrix of basic health care, beauty and skin care, detoxification and weight loss, and sports nutrition.
2.Traffic control: self-built MCN and omni-channel promotion
- Content matrix: Signed 650 TikTok influencers and 150 Shopee influencers, producing an average of 150 short videos per day, covering multiple platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, forming a pyramid marketing model of “top promotion + middle expansion + bottom traffic investment”.
- Offline penetration: There are more than 10,000 offline outlets, including Watsons, traditional mom-and-pop stores, etc. Orders from outlying islands account for more than 60%, solving the logistics problem of Indonesia, a “country of ten thousand islands”.
3.Localization and Deepening: The Operational Philosophy of 98% Local Teams
98% of the team members are Indonesian employees, and they are deeply integrated into the local culture, from product design (such as tropical fruit flavors) to marketing activities (sponsoring the Rainbow Run). Co-founder Ye Pingping emphasized: “Only by respecting the local culture can we build a good brand. There is no dimensionality reduction when going overseas.”
03—Challenges and breakthroughs: from certification barriers to channel risks
1.BPOM certification: a two-year “entry ticket”
Indonesia requires all health products to pass BPOM certification. The approval cycle for a single SKU is 1-2 years, and local agents are required to submit. In the early days, Cool-Vita adopted the strategy of “raising an atomic bomb with tea eggs”, supporting certification investment through cash flow from other categories, and ultimately building a competitive barrier.
2.Resilient growth under black swan events
In 2023, TikTok Shop in Indonesia was shut down, and Cool-Vita lost more than 50% of its orders in a single channel. The team quickly turned to offline expansion, and linked with Shopee and offline supermarkets to achieve a 200% rebound in GMV after the crisis.
04—Enlightenment and Prospects: The Globalization Path of Chinese Brands
From “Traffic Dependence” to “Brand Development”
1.Cool-Vita has taken the initiative in traffic by building its own MCN and omni-channel layout. Its experience shows that cross-border e-commerce needs to balance short-term hits with long-term brand value to avoid becoming a “traffic worker”.
2.Southeast Asian expansion and global ambitions
Cool-Vita plans to enter Southeast Asian markets such as Vietnam and Malaysia in 2025 and is targeting the United States. Ye Pingping said: “In the next decade, in the global wave of healthy consumption, Chinese brands have the opportunity to define industry standards.”
3.Policy dividends and industrial chain synergy
The Indonesian government promotes the development of e-commerce and optimizes the electronic registration process of BPOM. The combination of China’s supply chain advantages (such as rapid iteration and cost control) and the market demand in Southeast Asia will give rise to more “Cool-Vita-style” success cases.
Conclusion
The rise of Cool-Vita is a microcosm of Chinese brands going global: anchored by local insights and driven by product innovation, they build resilience in the face of challenges. When collagen effervescent tablets become standard office desk equipment for white-collar workers in Jakarta, and when tens of thousands of people shout the brand name at the Rainbow Run event, Chinese cross-border e-commerce is writing a new chapter of “from selling goods to building brands”.
Data source: Cool-Vita interview, Indonesian BPOM policy documents, TMO Group market report.
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