Bukalapak says it has posted 3X increase in gross profits for 2019

Note: Tech in Asia sincerely apologizes for an erroneous article about Bukalapak that we published earlier today. The article has since been taken down.

In that article, we misinterpreted revenue and cost of revenue amounts that were found in the financial statements of Emtek Group, which owns a 35.18% stake in Bukalapak through a subsidiary. These numbers were in fact not indicative of Bukalapak’s overall numbers, but instead only represented transactions between Bukalapak and Emtek Group.

We regret any distress and inconvenience this may have caused the Bukalapak team, investors, as well as our readers.

Bukalapak, the Indonesian ecommerce unicorn, claims that it has posted a 3x increase in gross profits in the first half of 2019, compared to the same period last year. Furthermore, gross profits in the first five months of 2019 have equaled the total gross profits for 2018.

The company has also recently announced that it’s on track for US$5 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) in 2019.

As a venture-funded business in pursuit of growth, Bukalapak recently set its sights beyond ecommerce in Indonesia, which represented just 3% of total retail in 2017. The company claims to have more than 2 million small business partners through its key offline strategy, the Mitra Bukalapak program.

Mitra Bukalapak, which translates to “Bukalapak partner,” lets offline businesses like small roadside kiosks sell Bukalapak-powered digital goods (e.g., phone credits or electricity tokens). They can also purchase inventory from distributors on the Bukalapak platform.

Most recently, the company unveiled a new feature called BukaGlobal, which lets consumers outside of Indonesia shop on the Bukalapak platform.