Discussion: E-Commerce in Indonesia – The Challenges Ahead

For the last panel of our two-day Startup Asia Jakarta conference, we’ve aggregated an expert panel discussing on the e-commerce landscape in Indonesia. The panel was moderated by Andi S. Boediman, director at Idesosource along with the panelists listed below:

• William Tanuwijaya, Co-founder of Tokopedia
• Tesong Kim, Director of PT. Rakuten-MNC
• Remco Lupker, Co-founder at PT Tokobagus
• Daniel Tumiwa, Country Manager at Multiply Indonesia

#16:30: Andi: Is e-commerce a hype in Indonesia? Daniel to introduce Multiply Indonesia

Daniel: Currently we provide to payment and logistics, and protection for users who buy online, so we can build trust in the market.

#16:32: Andi: How is tokopedia different from other marketplace?

William: It is a C2C marketplace. We launched in 2009. I don’t believe e-commerce is a hype. Since day one in Indonesia where we adopt e-mail and friendster to promote services. Then Facebook came along, where they could tag people. It was a natural process to buy and sell things online. It is about the internet users becoming more educated, given that there are more choices, they can choose.

#16:34: Andi: How is the user traction, and is it up to expectations?

Tesong Kim: I am here already two years to expand to Indonesia. Business prospects is pretty good. It is much better than we expected. Combining expertise from Rakuten and MNC, we are close to being the number one in Indonesia.

Andi: How big is your transaction on your site?

Tesong Kim: Tough question. Compared to last year, the transaction has increased 20 folds, and for traffic growth, it grew 8 folds.

#16:36: Remco: We’re bringing buyers and sellers together. The market is pretty much premature yet. It is still difficult for people to click the button, and make that transaction.

Andi: Are you making money from media or?

Remco: No from the investors