Digital Marketing in Fashion Industries within Indonesia and Thailand as Cross-Cultural Communication to Support Start-Up Societies

One of the sectors that drive economic growth in Indonesia is the field of creative industries. There are two major components in this sector, culinary and fashion. The growth of world economy will give positive impact on garment industry.  Apparel needs will increase as the Gross domestic product (GDP) of the country. Humans’ need of clothes are becoming a good prospect that will continue to grow. Even with the rapid change of technology, yet the need of clothes cannot be removed from human life. Therefore, the competition in garment industry will always exist. All fashion industries are always challenged to make products with ever-increasing quality but at a low price. Therefore, efficiency is the key to success this business. Thailand is famous for its affordable yet qualified fashion products, while Indonesia has abundant fashion factories with hundreds of millions of people, and the collaboration of this business exchange involves cross-cultural communication. The design and quality of Indonesian Muslim fashion products is recognized as globally competitive because it contains cultural elements from batik and weaving. Several countries are competing to dominate the Muslim fashion market world widely, including United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Malaysia, United States, Italy, Thailand, Japan, Britain and France. Among those countries, Thailand is one of the interesting countries to study for its similarity with Indonesia. Chan and Wong suggested that industries produce not only the sustainable fashion but also improve and develop the communication skills to build the relationship and bonding with costumers.  The power of information dissemination in the market could support the fashion industry to maintain the development to a sustainable objective [5]. There is a suggestion that fashion stores should be able to deliver the consumer satisfaction by making it visible in the marketplace [6]. Strategy should be directed to sustainable clothes to be available to provide convenient for the consumers [7]. Cross-cultural communication is interacting and enduring of the communication codes, value orientations of people and the relationship of people through language and communication in a particular environment. The basic human behavior that is derived from the need for different people and cultures to interact with is all about cross-cultural communication. However, there was a lack of knowledge of what information about the companies should be developed and communicated to the market. There was also limited of study on how to reach out to the consumer with the stream of information. Therefore, it was important to find out how the marketer can create messages that will increase the consumer’s understanding about the fashion and clothes and how to deliver the messages to create a positive attitude of the market toward the fashion. The realistic solution is through digital marketing.

According to the data, Dr.Ulani Yunus the leader of RIG Cross Cultural Communication, Bhernadetta Pravita Wahyuningtyas, and Mario  Nugroho Willyarto (the members of RIG Cross Cultural Communication) found that In the Pandemics situation, the seller in Indonesia used digital platform for transaction, they familiar with shop owners in Bangkok, they often get the latest fashion photos, so they get the first chance to post in their digital shop. They can immediately buy the stock in the store without waiting for a visit to Bangkok. In addition, the seller in Indonesia also always pay in cash by international transfer to maintain trust with factory owners and stores. Face to face activities were also important to increase the confidence of shop owners to fashion reseller businesses in Indonesia. However, in the pandemic situation platform digital help them for the trading activities.

Indonesia is a potential Muslim fashion market for Thailand. Meanwhile, for Muslim fashion, Indonesia has a more updated designer compared to Thailand so that cooperation between Indonesia and Thailand is expected to become a synergy. With Thailand cheap raw materials, and Indonesia updated design, the domination market will be in hand around Asian region. Indonesia and Thailand can take advantage of this situation together to reach a bigger global market. All transactions are dominant with digital transaction that safe for both parties, buyer, and seller. The Suggestion for the future is the start-up company and fashion entrepreneurs must update in using technology applications that support cross cultural communication and marketing.

References

*this article has been presented in ICIMTECH Conference 2021 and published on SCOPUS.