Eight Indonesian Giants Start Entering E-Commerce Industry

Regardless on existing issues and debates over the Indonesian e-commerce industry that emerge nowadays, the industry is actually in a positive stream and shows bright potential. ICS predicts that the e-commerce market in Indonesia will grow up to 42% by the end of this 2015. This makes at least eight companies, focusing on industry of retail, consumption product, telecommunication, technology, heavy equipment, and tourism, starting their expansion to the e-commerce area.   

It’s not a secret that Indonesia holds a huge potential for the current e-commerce industry, particularly because Indonesia has more than 80 million citizens getting connected to the internet. Based on ICD’s research, the growth of e-commerce in Indonesia may reach up to 42% during 2012-2015. It’s definitely higher than that of other countries like Malaysia (14%), Thailand (22%), and The Philippines (28%).

Meanwhile, a research by idEA, Google Indonesia, and Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) predicted that the total e-transaction in Indonesia will reach 25 billion Dollar (around 300 trillion Rupiah) by 2016. It will triple the figure in 2013, which was “only” 8 billion Dollar.

Now, there are at least eight Indonesian companies entering e-commerce industry, namely PT Mitra Adiperkasa Tbk (MAP), PT Sumber Alfaria Trijaya Tbk (AMR), PT Erajaya Swasembada Tbk (ERAA), PT United Tractors Tbk (UNTR), PT Elang Mahkota Teknologi Tbk (EMTEK), PT Trikomsel Oke Tbk (TRIO), PT Panorama Sentrawisata Tbk (PANR), and PT Surya Semesta Internusa Tbk (SSIA).

As cited from BeritaSatu, Pefindo Konsultan’s Analyst Guntur Hariyanto stated, “Researches from various domestic and global institutions show that the growth of online shopping’s value is quite vast, along with its broadened penetration. This occurs not only in big cities.”

Hariyanto warned that they must keep their eye on challenges in the industry like the quality of goods and services, reliable logistic and storage capabilities, and payment facilitation. Those three, he believed, are the main problems often faced by e-commerce players.

FYI, PT Mitra Adiperkasa Tbk (MAP) indeed plans on focusing more on its e-commerce capability, especially on its mapemall service which is set to be launched in this year’s second semester. The platform will be supported by three MAP’s running e-commerce portals, which are planetsports, lineshoes, and LiverpoolFC Indonesia Official Store.

Meanwhile Sumber Alfaria launched its retail website called alfaonline by injecting Rp 12,5 billion through its subsidiary, PT Sumber Trijaya Lestari. Panorama, on the other hand, builds its brand in digital world through the help of a number of ticket reservation portals, including BookPanorama, Panorama-Tours, MyHotelFinder, Travelisious, and PHM.

In property sector, there is Surya Semesta which diversified its business to tourism through PT. Horizon Internusa Persada (Travelio) whose vision is to be the best online hotel platform in Asia Pacific, including in Indonesia. There’s also Elang Mahkota Teknologi (Emtek), TPG capital, and SquarePeg Capital which took part in PropertyGuru’s investment worth 175 million Singaporean Dollar. Emtek has invested at two e-commerce players, which are BukaLapak and Bobobobo.

In telecommunication distributor sector, there are Erajaya and Trikomsel. Erajaya targets the market through its Erafone, while Trikomsel established a special division called Trikomsel Internet Media Incorporated (TIMI). Moreover, the company also plans on forming a joint venture with SingPost E-Commerce, Singapore Post’s subsidiary, to develop an e-commerce service in Indonesia.