10 of the most useful mobile shopping apps in Indonesia

Experts with skin in Indonesia’s ecommerce game will tell you to ignore mobile at your own risk, which is sound advice. Asian countries account for nearly half of all mobile online shopping, worth more than US$230 billion annually. With Indonesia’s mobile phone penetration rate beating home internet penetration by a factor of six, and all three of its major local telcos having recently launched their own 4G networks, the archipelago is poised to play an important role for any company hoping to enter Asia’s mobile commerce space.

Several local ecommerce sites have already launched mobile apps. The big boys that most people already know in Indonesia are of course Kaskus, Tokopedia, Lazada, Zalora, OLX, BukaLapak, and Elevenia. We often write about these guys. But truth be told, Indonesia also has a variety of awesome ecommerce players who are looking toward the future by focusing on mobile. In no particular order, here are ten ecommerce sites in Indonesia that let you shop on your phone.

1. Shoop

Tech in Asia has given honorable mention to Shoop on more than one occasion; and deservedly so. Essentially, Shoop is a mobile app that lets users sell their products on several local marketplaces – like Tokopedia, Bukalapak, and Elevenia – simultaneously. One of the app’s unique value propositions is that it saves time and money by providing a social element in which the shopper can follow their favorite merchants and receive alerts from that seller when deals or promos arise.

Shoop is one of the only straight-to-mobile eshopping tools in Indonesia, but Tech in Asia predicts there will be many more in the coming years.

2. Yes24

Yes24 is a books and office-related product etailer based in South Korea. It also sells items like cosmetics, consumer electronics, albums, movies, and gift cards. According to the site, the company has been active in Indonesia since April 2011, but its localized mobile app launched as recently as April 2014.

Yes24 also has apps for the Vietnamese and South Korean markets.

3. Bhinneka