Bringing the department store experience closer to the customer
For almost six decades, Matahari Department Store has served Indonesia’s growing middle class with apparel, accessories, beauty products, and homeware. The brand built its reputation by helping fashion-conscious, value-minded consumers discover products and follow changing trends through its physical stores.
By 2012, customer behavior was beginning to shift. People who traditionally visited department stores were increasingly looking for information through digital channels before deciding where to shop and what to buy.
Matahari needed a stronger online presence that could reflect its retail identity while giving customers quick access to fashion, beauty, and lifestyle inspiration. Suitmedia developed Matahari.co.id as a digital catalog and content platform, helping customers discover products, trends, promotions, events, and practical style guidance in one place.
Store familiarity was not enough in a changing retail environment
1. Customers were beginning their shopping journey online
Matahari already had strong physical visibility and a trusted position in Indonesian retail. But customers were no longer relying only on department store visits to decide what to wear, what products to consider, or which promotions to follow.
Digital channels were becoming part of the discovery process. Customers wanted to browse before visiting a store, understand what was new, and stay aware of changing fashion and beauty trends.
This created a gap between Matahari’s physical strength and its digital presence. The brand had a broad product offering, but customers needed a more convenient way to discover that offering before entering a store.
2. The website needed to do more than list products
A basic online catalog could display products, but it would not fully express Matahari’s role in customers’ lives.
Matahari wanted to show more than what was available for purchase. It also wanted to communicate fashion and beauty trends, offer style tips, and keep audiences informed about promotions and events.
This meant the website needed to combine commerce-oriented information with editorial value. Customers should be able to discover products, but they should also receive context that makes those products more relevant and appealing.
3. Digital discovery had to reflect the character of the brand
Matahari’s appeal was connected to its casual, fashionable, and accessible retail personality. A website that felt too formal, static, or purely transactional could weaken that relationship.
The digital experience needed to feel current and approachable. It had to help customers browse visually, absorb trend information quickly, and move naturally between inspiration and retail updates.
The design challenge was therefore closely tied to brand expression. Matahari needed a website that looked and felt like a digital extension of the store experience, while taking advantage of the flexibility of online content.
4. Customers needed a reason to return regularly
Fashion and beauty are categories that change continuously. New products, promotions, events, and trends create recurring reasons for customers to revisit a platform.
If the website only contained fixed corporate or product information, its value would decline after the initial visit. Matahari needed a more active digital presence that could be updated regularly.
The website had to support an ongoing relationship. Customers should be able to return for new inspiration, discover the latest announcements, and keep track of what was happening across the brand.
5. Visual communication was central to the experience
Fashion, beauty, and lifestyle products are highly visual. Customers often respond to how products are presented, combined, and placed within a broader style context.
A text-heavy or poorly organized website would make it difficult to communicate the appeal of the product range. The digital catalog needed to use imagery, layout, and editorial presentation to help users explore.
This was not visual design for decoration alone. Strong visual communication could shorten the distance between a customer seeing an item and imagining how it might fit into their own life.
6. The website had to support both information and action
Matahari’s digital presence needed to serve users at different stages. Some visitors might be looking for fashion inspiration, while others might want to find promotions, learn about an event, or explore the latest product offerings.
The platform needed to accommodate these different intentions without becoming confusing. Users should be able to move from broad discovery to more specific information in a straightforward way.
This required an experience that was organized enough to support quick browsing but rich enough to make the website worth revisiting.
Designing a digital catalog that behaves like an editorial storefront
1. Define the website as a destination for discovery
Suitmedia approached Matahari.co.id as more than a corporate website. It was designed to become a destination where customers could discover fashion, beauty, lifestyle ideas, promotions, and events.
This positioning influenced both content and structure. The site needed to provide immediate value to people who were not yet looking for a specific product.
By giving the website a discovery role, Matahari could engage customers earlier in the shopping journey. The brand could influence consideration before the customer reached a physical store or made a purchase decision.
2. Combine catalog functionality with current content
The website included digital catalog functionality alongside regularly updated news, promotions, and event information.
This combination allowed Matahari to connect product discovery with timely reasons to engage. A customer could learn about a current promotion, explore a related category, or discover an event through the same digital environment.
The catalog provided structure, while ongoing content gave the platform freshness. Together, they helped the website remain relevant beyond a single browsing session.
3. Use fashion and beauty content to create context
Matahari’s website provided insight into daily fashion and beauty trends.
Trend content helped customers understand how products connected to broader styles and routines. Instead of presenting products as isolated items, the platform could place them within a lifestyle context.
This was especially valuable for customers who wanted guidance rather than a simple inventory list. Tips and trend information could help them decide what was relevant, how to combine products, or what to explore next.
4. Use visual storytelling to hold attention
The experience was built around visual and engaging messages. Fashion and beauty content needed to be easy to scan while still giving customers enough inspiration to continue exploring.
Visual storytelling helped the website communicate quickly. Customers could understand the mood, relevance, or appeal of a trend without reading lengthy explanations first.
This approach also supported Matahari’s casual and fashionable attitude. The website could feel energetic and accessible, rather than like a formal archive of product information.
5. Translate the physical store’s breadth into digital structure
A department store contains many categories, brands, products, and customer needs. Without organization, that breadth can become overwhelming online.
The digital catalog needed to provide a manageable way into the range. Content and navigation had to help customers move from broad interests—such as fashion or beauty—to more specific information.
The objective was not to reproduce every physical store section literally. It was to create a digital structure that helped users explore the breadth of Matahari’s offer without feeling lost.
6. Make promotions easier to discover
Promotions were included as part of the website’s regularly updated content.
This gave customers a practical reason to visit the site and helped connect digital browsing with store visits. Customers could become aware of current offers before deciding when or where to shop.
Promotions also supported Matahari’s value proposition. The brand served value-minded consumers, so making relevant offers visible was important to both customer usefulness and commercial communication.
7. Use events to create timely engagement
The website also communicated Matahari events.
Events gave the brand another way to bring customers into the broader retail experience. They created moments that went beyond product browsing and gave users a reason to pay attention to what Matahari was doing.
Event information also made the website feel more active. The platform was not only showing what the brand sold; it was communicating what was happening around the brand.
8. Add practical fashion tips and tricks
The website included convenient fashion tips and tricks to help users make better use of the information they found.
This content gave the platform a useful role in customers’ everyday decisions. People could come to Matahari not only to see products, but also to learn how to approach clothing, beauty, and personal style.
Practical guidance also lowered the effort required to act on inspiration. A customer who understands how to apply a trend is more likely to move from passive interest toward exploration or purchase.
9. Keep the experience aligned with Matahari’s attitude
The site was designed to reflect Matahari’s casual and fashionable character.
This alignment was important because digital platforms shape how customers interpret a retail brand. If the website felt disconnected from the store experience, it could weaken recognition and trust.
By expressing the brand through visual presentation, content tone, and the balance between inspiration and practical information, the website became a more credible digital extension of Matahari.
10. Create a platform that could be updated over time
The website’s structure supported regular communication about new content, promotions, and events.
This made the platform suitable for continued use rather than a one-time digital refresh. Matahari could add new information and maintain an active relationship with visitors as the retail calendar changed.
The ability to update content also supported operational responsiveness. The brand could communicate current priorities through its own digital channel instead of relying only on external media or physical store messaging.
11. Support customers before they reach the store
A digital catalog can influence the physical shopping journey even when it does not complete the transaction online.
Customers could browse trends, learn about products, and check promotions before visiting a Matahari location. This helped them arrive with greater awareness and a clearer sense of what they wanted to explore.
The website therefore complemented the store network rather than competing with it. Digital discovery prepared customers for physical engagement.
12. Build a bridge between inspiration and retail action
The strongest value of the platform came from connecting editorial inspiration with Matahari’s retail offer.
A customer might encounter a fashion trend, read a tip, discover a promotion, and then consider visiting a store. Each step brought the customer closer to a commercial relationship without making the experience feel like a constant sales message.
This created a more natural path from content to consideration. The website earned attention by being useful, then supported the customer’s next decision.
A digital catalog gave Matahari a stronger role in customer discovery
1. Matahari gained a clearer online presence
The launch of Matahari.co.id gave the department store a dedicated digital platform for communicating with customers.
The website created a place where users could explore fashion, beauty, lifestyle trends, promotions, and events through one recognizable brand environment.
This helped Matahari respond to changing customer behavior. The company could now participate in digital discovery rather than relying only on customers entering a physical store first.
2. The website made trend information easier to access
Customers could gain insight into current fashion and beauty trends through visual content and practical guidance.
This expanded Matahari’s role from retailer to source of inspiration. The brand could help customers understand what was relevant and how they might apply it.
The value was particularly important for customers who wanted a curated starting point. Instead of searching broadly across many sources, they could use Matahari’s platform to discover selected ideas.
3. Product discovery became more connected to context
The digital catalog helped place products alongside information about trends, tips, promotions, and events.
This made the retail offering easier to understand in context. Customers could see not only what was available, but why a category or product might matter to them at a particular moment.
Context supports better consideration. It helps customers move from “What is this?” to “How could this fit my needs or style?”
4. Regular updates created reasons to revisit
News, promotions, and events gave the site content that could change over time.
This allowed Matahari to maintain a more active relationship with its audience. Customers had reasons to return beyond a single visit, especially when they wanted to stay current with offers or seasonal trends.
The second-order effect was greater digital familiarity. Each return visit created another opportunity for customers to associate Matahari with fashion discovery and lifestyle guidance.
5. The platform supported the physical retail network
The website helped customers prepare for visits to Matahari stores by making trends, offers, and relevant information easier to discover beforehand.
This could improve the quality of the in-store interaction. Customers who arrive with greater awareness may be more confident in exploring products and making decisions.
The digital channel therefore strengthened the wider retail system. It supported the store experience rather than treating digital and physical retail as separate worlds.
6. Matahari created a stronger foundation for customer communication
The website gave the brand greater control over how it presented its identity, content, promotions, and events.
This reduced dependence on third-party channels for basic customer communication. Matahari could tell its own story and update that story as products and priorities changed.
Control was particularly valuable for a long-established retailer adapting to new behavior. The platform provided a direct way to remain visible and relevant as customers spent more time online.
7. The website made digital retail more approachable
The combination of visual content, fashion guidance, and straightforward catalog access created an inviting digital experience.
Customers did not need to arrive with a precise product search. They could browse, explore, and discover ideas through the platform.
This broadened the ways people could engage with Matahari. The website could serve both intentional shoppers and customers looking for inspiration.
8. The platform created room for future digital development
The 2012 website established a foundation for Matahari’s future digital communication.
As customer expectations continued to change, the brand had a starting point from which to develop richer content, stronger personalization, commerce features, and more connected digital journeys.
The initial platform’s strategic value therefore extended beyond its first set of features. It helped Matahari begin building the capabilities required for a more digitally informed retail relationship.
The deeper lesson: digital retail begins before the transaction
1. Customers often need inspiration before they need a product
Retail websites can create value even when users are not ready to buy immediately. Fashion and beauty customers may begin with a question, a trend, or a desire for ideas.
Matahari’s platform addressed this earlier stage of the journey. By helping customers discover and understand trends, it created a reason to engage before a specific purchase decision existed.
2. A catalog is stronger when it includes context
Products become more meaningful when customers can see how they relate to current trends, practical tips, and lifestyle choices.
A catalog without context can feel like an inventory list. A catalog with context can help customers imagine use, compare options, and make more confident decisions.
3. Content and commerce should reinforce one another
Editorial content should not be disconnected from the products and services the brand provides. At the same time, commercial communication should not overwhelm the content experience.
Matahari connected the two by using inspiration to lead customers toward product and retail consideration. This created a more natural relationship between usefulness and business value.
4. Digital channels can strengthen physical retail
A website does not need to replace stores to improve retail performance. It can help customers discover products, prepare for visits, and arrive with greater confidence.
This is particularly important for established retailers with significant physical networks. Digital and physical channels can work together when each is designed around the customer’s wider journey.
5. Retail relevance depends on regular renewal
Fashion, beauty, and promotions change frequently. A retail website must therefore be treated as an active communication platform rather than a finished brochure.
Regular updates create reasons to return and help the brand remain connected to current customer interests. Digital relevance requires ongoing attention after launch.
6. Strong digital foundations create future options
Matahari’s first digital catalog created a base for future development. Once the brand had a structured online presence, it could consider deeper product discovery, online transactions, personalized recommendations, and stronger links between digital and physical stores.
The lesson is strategic: early digital investments should create capabilities, not only immediate outputs.
Strategic Insights for the C-Suite
- Enter the customer journey before the purchase decision. Inspiration, trend guidance, and practical advice can create value before customers know exactly what they want to buy. Earlier relevance increases the opportunity for later consideration.
- Give product catalogs context. Customers make better decisions when they understand how products fit into current trends, routines, and personal needs. Context turns inventory into guidance.
- Use digital channels to strengthen physical retail. A website can prepare customers for store visits, improve awareness of promotions, and create continuity between online discovery and offline experience.
- Treat retail content as a living operating capability. Fashion and customer interests change continuously. Regular updates keep the platform useful and protect the brand’s relevance over time.
- Build digital foundations that create future choices. A strong first platform should make it easier to add richer content, commerce, personalization, and connected customer journeys later. Early investment should expand strategic options.
