Rakuten Indonesia Grand Launching June 1, 2011: A Merchant’s Opinion

Rakuten Belanja Online - RBO (official name of Rakuten Indonesia) is a joint venture between Rakuten Japan and MNC Group which will officially (ceremonial wise) operate in Indonesia by having Grand Launching this June 1, 2011. Since its soft launching on March 1, 2011 RBO has managed to attract a lot of merchants in different sectors despite the fact that they have monthly fee (with the first year commitment) to be listed. I happened to have small store there and will try to share my experience during my 3 months membership.

I listed my store to RBO the moment the launching in Indonesia was announced. There was no information whatsoever on the registration requirement. One thing I am certain is that RBO has the best experience in e-commerce in Japan and they have expanded to other countries. I think RBO will have competitive offer to compete with existing e-commerce portal like Juale, Tokopedia, TokoBagus or Plasa.

A few days after registration I was contacted by RBO and they explained the benefits of using RBO. Generally speaking it is not much different than similar service providers. The first difference is that you can customize your store appearance, the second one is because RBO is an international company you have the opportunity to sell your product abroad. The third and the most essential difference is Rakuten’s adopted from Japan backend system. This integrated system enables us to customize looks, goods list, order list, payment, and shipment tracking.

The only thing that can be felt burdening is the advance monthly fee with certain scheme plus the first year commitment. Other than that RBO applies a percentage (a small amount) for every goods sold. The next thing I just found out, that by using Doku payment system (RBO’s partner for escrow account), especially for credit card, another fee will be applied to the merchants. After further consideration we decided to try our luck and get enlisted in RBO. Not only small medium enterprises enlisted in RBO, but several other big stores can be seen there also.

For me, RBO’s staffs are very helpful and informative. Every difficulties we experienced are met with serious attention. The first time creating my online store in RBO, their systems were quite complicated and I had difficulties customizing my store’s looks. And what do you know, RBO’s staffs were really helpful because when I went out of town and got back by the weekend, my store was all set and ready. Although I have to admit that their homepage doesn’t look as sophisticated as other more dynamic e-commerce portals, RBO provides opportunity for every merchant to give their store their own personal touch and treat it like their won main website.

My customer once failed to pay through Mandiri debit card, after I reported this case RBO immediately closed down the payment system until they figured out the solution. Not only problems, RBO’s Customer Service always remind us if there’s any order come to our store so that customers can receive their orders in timely manner.

What I find as their downside is shipping method. JNE as partner is supposed to collect the goods, but so far merchant still need to do the work. Financially, I still haven’t reach my revenue target, but seeing and experiencing RBO’s effort, I am optimist that there will be more to come. I hope RBO can become healthy partner and competitor for similar business doers to develop and aspire e-commerce business in Indonesia.