Multiply, the social network turned social shopping platform site was reported back in February that it had set up an office and a team to bring a different e-commerce approach to Indonesia.
To understand how Multiply is approaching the e-commerce game in Indonesia, we took time to speak to Daniel Tumiwa, head of Multiply Indonesia who shared some thoughts with us in this interview.
1. Multiply has been around for quite a long time now, what made it changed its focus to e-commerce?
We are responding to the demands made by users. Although we have a strong base of users that continue to conventionally use the site to share thoughts and connect (and make friends) in Indonesia , more and more people are using the site to establish their business. Multiply Inc then decided to enhance and equip the site with better tools and features to support users’ endeavor to do so (business-wise). Plus, left to grow on its own, Indonesia now has 35,000 online sellers (which grows by 2,000 on a monthly basis) supported by 7 million unique users every month. We’re really looking forward to developing the social commerce aspect of Multiply, whilst also maintaining the support system that’s already there, which includes the bloggers.
2. There are a lot of e-commerce sites that were launched before Multiply in Indonesia. How is Multiply going to differentiate from the crowd? What is the advantage of using Multiply in Indonesia?
First and foremost, Multiply is a social network. Hence, Multiply is already equipped with the tools which enable interaction between users (they can share blogs , notes, photos, links, videos and even chat). People who do business in Multiply already have loyal followers, they have a strong network. With the new features that Multiply provides (the improved Marketplace, Stock Room, Payment Gateway and other programs including Multiply Promote and Multiply Trust), we aim to multiply the benefits of selling and buying. Although a few have surfaced, we enter the market with good payment options. Integration to KlikBCA, Mandiri, Virtual Accounts, ATM, PayPal , and soon mobile payments. Unlike others that have one or two.
3. Indonesian Internet users are still “immature,” as in they don’t really buy things online, instead they are more used to Cash on Delivery (COD) way of transaction. How do you see this?
It may be completely immature, but it’s heading there. People nowadays prefer convenience, but they’d also like to maintain the human touch. Multiply provides convenience (in setting up shop, managing shops for sellers, and in shopping for buyers), yet it also encourages interaction between sellers and buyers by utilizing the social network aspect of the site (buyers can befriend sellers, vice versa, from friendship, trust is born. Trust goes a long way for both sellers and buyers. Sellers benefit from having loyal buyers, buyers need not fret since they’re buying from friends). People do COD mostly because it’s deemed as perhaps a safer option. With Multiply’s payment gateway, buyers get more options, all safe plus convenient.
4. One of the unsolved problems in Indonesia is the payment system, what will Multiply do about it?
We’ll continue to socialize the payment system, what is labeled as problem is just a matter of unfamiliarity. When it comes to payment, we put forward the important characteristics: safe, convenient, user-friendliness. We will continue to offer the most payment solutions. The banks have a huge need to socialize their new solutions, and we fit in as perfect partners, so there will be many activities together.
5. What is your target for Multiply in Indonesia this year?
A fair target will be to be within top 3 unaided recollection for Online Shopping. The other one would be 100,000 merchants and for all our merchants to have tried to transact at least once through our payment solution.
With e-commerce sites/startups such as Rakuten, Telkom’s Plasa, BliBli, or even Tokopedia who received Series B funding back in April, it will be a hot and tough battle to earn the market share here in Indonesia, but we do have a huge pie to share! What do you think?
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