AZKO Relies on Customer Insight to Compete in Retail

JAKARTA — PT Aspirasi Hidup Indonesia Tbk (AZKO) is relying on an understanding of customers’ needs to compete in the retail industry. The company is expanding its product range by tracking changes in consumer behaviour and identifying needs that have yet to be met.

Teresa Wibowo, chief executive of ruparupa and a director of AZKO, said business decisions should be based on customer behaviour and data, rather than intuition alone.

“You need to understand customer behaviour,” Teresa said at the Indonesia Knowledge Forum (IKF) XV 2026 in Jakarta on Wednesday (14 October 2026).

She cited AZKO’s addition of baby products and sports equipment to meet consumers’ changing needs. The baby range was developed in response to opportunities identified among families, while the sports equipment reflects growing public interest in a healthy lifestyle.

Companies, she said, must keep looking for unmet consumer needs if they are to remain relevant amid competition.

“What do customers want? What problems are we solving for them?” she said.

Teresa said understanding customers requires more than analysing sales data. Companies also need to observe conditions in stores firsthand, speak to consumers, and watch how staff serve shoppers and arrange products.

“Retail business is all about the details,” she said.

As well as understanding customers, Teresa said companies need to be willing to try new approaches. Each experiment, however, should have clearly defined measures of success so that its results can be assessed and improvements made.

She said companies that do not give employees room to experiment risk making their teams reluctant to innovate. Leaders should therefore allow staff to try new things while ensuring performance remains measurable.

Teresa made the remarks at IKF XV 2026, organised by PT Bank Central Asia Tbk (BCA) in Jakarta on 13–14 October 2026. This year’s forum carries the theme “The Next Playbook: Create Clarity, Think Precisely, Act Decisively”.