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Hello,
Call me old school, but when it comes to big-ticket items, I’m most definitely purchasing it at a store, where I can touch and feel them with my hands.
I’m probably not alone in this, which is why the relatively new status of Indonesian ecommerce player Blibli as an Apple Authorized Reseller (AAR) could be a game-changer, as my colleague Putra discusses in this week’s Big Story.
In a country with no official Apple Stores, that’s a big deal. That elusive status allows Blibli to sell MacBook and iPhones in an offline store, alongside just five other offline retailers.
Apart from giving the recently listed firm a leg up on rival platforms including Bukalapak, Tokopedia, and Shopee, which sell Apple products via their online marketplaces but not offline, being an AAR paves the way for Blibli to be an omnichannel heavyweight with 300 offline stores by 2024.
Beyond dealing with competition in a cutthroat sector, scams are another issue that ecommerce marketplaces have to handle as phishing gets more prevalent and fraudulent schemes become more sophisticated.
In this week’s Hot Take, I discuss Carousell’s commitment to tackling phishing scams on its platform and why it will be vital for the online classifieds giant to do so, particularly as it forays deeper into the luxury goods category.
— Melissa
THE BIG STORIES
1️⃣ Can iPhones put Blibli in the black?
Image credit: Timmy Loen
The Djarum-backed marketplace is making a play for the potentially lucrative smartphone space, but established rivals await.
2️⃣ Vietnam’s Tiki reports widening FY 2022 loss as revenue drops
THE HOT TAKE
NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW
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