Tokopoket is a new pocket-sized marketplace in Indonesia

If you’re in any way familiar with the way ecommerce works in Indonesia, you’ll know that locals use social media to sell stuff. Participation on consumer-to-consumer marketplaces like Tokopedia and Bukalapak is undeniably on the rise, but according to a recent SingPost report, nearly 27 percent of all ecommerce sales in Indonesia still happen through social media like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. A 19-year-old Indonesian even published an ebook about how to become a successful Instagram merchant.

“Social commerce” in the archipelago is an opportunity that Gerry Herwanto, co-founder of the brand new startup Tokopoket wants to pursue. Essentially, Tokopoket is exactly what it sounds like: a marketplace that fits in your pocket. Herwanto says Tokopoket is a mobile-first and mobile-only product, and the startup aims to empower micro, small, and medium-sized businesses looking to sell online and reach a larger local audience.

“Think about Craigslist – or Gumtree or Kaskus – combined with Instagram but in the form of a mobile app instead of a desktop version,” explains Herwanto. “So you can say that Tokopoket is a community-based social media ecommerce marketplace – that’s a mouthful.”

See: In Indonesia, new businesses emerge out of the wave of makeshift social media ecommerce

Pocketing users from Facebook and Twitter

Tokopoket looks fairly easy to use. Herwanto came by the Tech in Asia Jakarta office to demo the product. The app has a built-in camera where users can take pictures of the stuff they want to sell, much like how some folks use Instagram already. Merchants can include descriptions and hashtag-based keywords to boost discoverability, as well as tack on a price tag. Users can follow one another to keep an eye out for what’s selling each day, and Tokopoket also has an instant message feature for buyers to contact sellers directly and start a negotiation dialogue or simply ask questions about the product.

Based on the individual’s settings, Tokopoket will display items and listings relevant to each user on the updates feed. Users can also pin listings to each other’s timelines if they think someone will be interested in a particular item. For now, Herwanto is not getting in the way of the transaction process, which might just complicate the user experience at such an early stage.

According to him, Tokopoket is meant to be compatible with Facebook and Twitter, meaning users can post their listings to social media, their hashtags will be carried over, and anyone who’s interested enough to click will be directed to the user’s Tokopoket shop. Herwanto believes this is a crucial element, as social media playgrounds like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are where all of his target users currently do business.

Pocket-sized prospecting

As Tokopoket leaves transactions up to the user’s discretion, Herwanto encourages people to be wary of the usual social media fraudsters. “Ecommerce is like the wild west in the gold rush era,” explains Herwanto. “There is gold here for sure, but because […] ecommerce is a free-for-all zone, there will be bandits lurking around trying to raid your gold […] there is no one hundred percent guarantee that ecommerce will be safe from fraud. Despite the fact that we want [everyone] to use Tokopoket, we designed the follow and reputation button that bank on a user’s accountability to reduce the risk of fraud.”

Herwanto adds that in the future Tokopoket plans to implement a freemium business model. This means it will remain free to use forever for both shoppers and sellers, but merchants would eventually have the option to pay for additional features. This could include but may not be limited to increased promotion and discoverability of listings, as well as purchasing featured spaces on Tokopoket’s search page. Herwanto says Tokopoket also has more plans for monetization, but we won’t get into them now.