Indonesia's lack of accessibility a plus for eCommerce growth

The Indonesia e-commerce market hits US$12 billion in 2018 and accounts for more than 50% of e-commerce spending in Southeast Asia, according to Google-Temasek "e-Conomy" report. Successful eCommerce firms such as Tokopedia and Shopee said the boom in Indonesia is driven by the demand from the less accessible parts of the country. Tokopedia's CEO Office Manager Priscilla Anais said that the company has been addressing a key problem in Indonesia - unnecessary urbanisation. She explained, "When we started Tokopedia nine years ago, we saw the disparity in opportunities across Indonesia. Small businesses in rural areas have to move to urban areas to expand their market reach, while consumers across Indonesia have limited access to goods or have to pay more for the same goods just because of where they live." Today, Tokopedia empowers millions of merchants to reach customers across the archipelago, as well as consumers with options, convenience and financial access.  The "E-commerce Rewind Southeast Asia" by iPrice shows that Tokopedia is leading the Indonesia market in 2018, hitting over 160 million searches at its prime in October. Agatha Soh, head of regional marketing at Shopee added,E-commerce is increasingly empowering the huge population beyond the big cities. In Indonesia, over 90% of the population live outside of Greater Jakarta. Unlike Tokopedia and Bukalapak which are only available in Indonesia, Shopee is in seven markets and is the highest performing regional e-commerce platform in the country according to iPrice's report. Soh said, "Alongside the growth of the mobile generation of middle class consumers and rapidly improving smartphone penetration rates, we expect to see continued growth for the eCommerce industry, especially for mobile-focused platforms." Last month, Marketing spoke to Lazada, Tokopedia, and Shopee about their recipes for success in Indonesia. Among the strategies shared include creating an interactive shopping experience through gamification, providing end-to-end solutions, marketing through hyper-localised campaigns, and putting mobile platform enhancements at the forefront.