Too shy to buy condoms and lube at the store? This new site wants to make it less awkward for Indonesians

Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world and its population has a median age of 28. According to Grace Natalia, co-founder and CEO of AsmaraKu – an ecommerce site for intimate goods – Indonesian Muslims value a strong outward conservative appearance. This is a huge obstacle for businesses like Natalia’s that want to sell stuff like condoms, lubricants, and sexy lingerie to Indonesians.

(Update 3/2/15: One of our avid readers pointed out that despite Indonesia having the biggest Muslim population, it is in fact not a “Muslim country,” but rather a republic with the largest Muslim population. This was a mistake in wording on our part.)

The AsmaraKu team hopes to bypass the archipelago’s conservative culture altogether by providing privacy, education, and discreet packages.

AsmaraKu (which translates to “My Love”) has been live since the middle of last year. The portal sells a variety of items related to romance and personal health including sexy underwear for both men and women, vibrating condoms, an assortment of lubricants, and pregnancy testing kits. However, it also sells less taboo items like skincare treatments, slimming pills, stamina supplements, flowers, and candles.

“AsmaraKu came about because of a personal experience purchasing condoms and lubricants for bachelorette party favors in an offline store,” explains Natalia, former head of marketplace for Lazada Indonesia. “I experienced first-hand the stares from sales promotion girls and other customers as I stood browsing the sexual wellness aisles, not to mention the lack of information I had when purchasing these items. It didn’t take long before I put two and two together – Indonesia’s conservative culture and its booming online industry.”

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A sexy community

Natalia can’t seem to emphasize enough the importance of AsmaraKu’s three key pillars: privacy, education, and logistics. The firm delivers its products to the user’s doorstep with a double layer of packaging in a plain box with no labelling whatsoever. All payments to AsmaraKu are made to the firm’s legal entity with a seemingly unrelated name to maintain the customer’s payment privacy, she explains.

The estore offers shipping options to its customers depending on their level of urgency. Delivery times range from same-day shipping (available only in Jakarta) to regular shipping times. AsmaraKu claims to be able to reach all the cities in Indonesia with no minimum purchase amount. Natalia hopes her site can also help suppliers who face limitations in their distribution and marketing. “Due to the taboo nature of these items, suppliers find it harder to market via regular marketing channels that are accessible by the mass market,” explains Natalia.

Additionally, Natalia hopes her startup can educate the Indonesian market about things like family planning, something she believes is severely lacking in the archipelago. AsmaraKu also wants to create a blog and forum community for people to learn about sex and wellness from one another.