BALI BYA plans to change millions of lives!

We are excited to introduce BALI BYA, a platform with the potential to change the lives of millions. BALI BYA has partnered with PayPal to create the world’s first online marketplace dedicated to connecting sellers in Bali and Indonesia with shoppers from around the globe.

BALI BYA worldwide debut is on the 14th October 2022 at 12pm AEST

Website: https://balibya.com

Apple app store: https://apps.apple.com/au/app/bali-bya/id1634404187

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.balibya.user

Background

When traveling across Bali we found thousands of sellers and manufacturers of the most beautiful and unique products who did not have an online shopping capability which we believe to be a huge missed opportunity not only for the local Indonesian people but also the millions of people around the world that enjoy the wonderful products this region has to offer.

We drove through villages where their main source of income is the manufacture and sale of the most beautiful handcrafted items we have ever seen but not a single person in the village sells their products online. The village relies on a business model that simply involves tourist driving past admiring their wares and stopping to make a purchase. They also have a somewhat religious faith that someone will visit the village who will want to make a large wholesale order that will keep the whole village busy for months, so you could imagine what happened to sales when tourism stopped following events like the Bali bombings, volcanos and again during coronavirus, there were zero sales and no way for these villages to make money to feed themselves until the planes brought tourists back.

We wanted to know why none of these sellers sold their products online, we knew it was not due to access to the internet because we had seen that everyone in Bali across all walks of life seem to have a smartphone in their hands, but our investigations identified it was due to the following key reasons:

1. The community has low IT skills and basic eCommerce training is not readily accessible.
2. Most of the population deals in cash and not accustomed to online banking.
3. Building a website is very expensive in Bali.

These issues seem quite simple to overcome in the western world, particularly with the seemingly endless platforms we have such as eBay, Etsy, Amazon, Shopify, drop shipping, etc however Indonesia is certainly behind the times and while these platforms are accessible online to the Bali population, the platforms aren’t actively working to directly support the locals in the region.

Further investigation found that there are several local platforms but they are mainly designed to service trade amongst the local population rather than connect Indonesia with the world like Alibaba did for China supporting its boom supplying products around the world.

We then took to social media to see if we could see any signs of a need for a platform of this kind and found that there was thousands of requests everyday from shoppers around the world wanting to buy products from Bali but the interest never converted to sales as there was no safe and convenient platform to complete the transaction which left both the buyer and seller dissatisfied and unable to adequately trade.

Before we embarked on creating BALI BYA we asked ourselves the following questions:

1. Would an online platform help to connect buyers with the manufacturers of the unique products from Bali?
2. Would retailers around the world buy from Indonesian manufacturers as an alternative to products from other countries such as China?
3. Would existing trade agreements like Australia and Indonesia Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA) benefit from the technology?
4. Would the platform positively affect the lives millions of people around the world?

We did not have any doubts that the answer was Yes to these questions and we started talking with sellers in Bali to see if they would be open to using a platform dedicated specifically for Bali sellers that incorporated a free online shop, integration with safe payment processing, and also a free training academy with a focus on providing the necessary skills of eCommerce.

The response from sellers in Bali was overwhelmingly positive so BALI BYA was formed and significant investment was made into building the technology platform plus months of compliance work with PayPal was undertaken. While the tech work was being done a Facebook community was set up to share the vision of BALI BYA and begin the process of connecting buyers and sellers. In just eight weeks, the group has grown exponentially to over 1,800+ members of buyers and sellers that are eager to commence trading on the platform which has told us that we are onto something special we are certain will be adopted broadly very quickly.

About us

BALI BYA was founded by Brennan Hill in role of CEO and Hallie Hill in the role of Head of marketing who are both Australian travelers that love the Bali culture, people, and unique products of the region and wanted to create a platform to support the millions of people wanting to use the internet to connect and trade.

Learn more about CEO Brennan Hill: https://www.localpropertyteam.com.au/consultant/7/brennan-hill