Can iPhones put Blibli in the black?

A month before going public, ecommerce platform Blibli announced a new milestone: Apple Authorized Reseller status.

This refers to retailers that have an official relationship with Apple to sell Macs and iPhones – the next best thing to having an actual Apple Store, which Indonesia doesn’t. A plan to launch a Blibli-run Apple retailer is reportedly in the works.

Most notably, this is one advantage that Blibli has over its substantially larger rivals. None of Bukalapak, Tokopedia, and Shopee are Apple Authorized Resellers, though perhaps for good reason: the Authorized Reseller status is elusive and requires aspiring retailers to satisfy Apple’s infamously strict criteria.

Photo credit: Blibli

Aside from Blibli, there are just five retailers with this status in Indonesia, and all of them operate primarily offline. For ecommerce giants grappling with scrutiny from the public markets, getting this status is probably not a high priority.

But Blibli is no ordinary marketplace, as evidenced by its Djarum Group backing – the conglomerate, which began as a cigarette juggernaut, is also the owner of Bank BCA (Indonesia’s largest privately owned bank), among other businesses. In fact, the Authorized Reseller status is likely another step toward Blibli’s ultimate goal, which is to become an omnichannel heavyweight with 300 offline stores by 2024.

A different way of going offline

For Indonesia’s ecommerce giants, the online-to-offline model has primarily been in the form of a Mitra service, where the platform sells wholesale items and digital goods to roadside kiosks (known locally as warungs) through a dedicated app. So does Blibli, through a service called Blibli Mitra, but third-party estimates show that its number of monthly active users is significantly lower than Mitra Bukalapak’s.

But a big reason why Blibli has survived as a niche player in Indonesia’s cutthroat ecommerce space is its focus on affluent consumers. But it’s also a segment that doesn’t necessarily shop at warungs.

In addition, “lots of people are doing Mitra already, and the reality is that it’s a segment that’s hard to serve and monetize,” says David Yin, partner at GSR Ventures. While Mitra Bukalapak has had improving numbers, Bukalapak as a whole is still unprofitable. The same can be said for companies like GudangAda, whose business is similar to the Mitra service.

See also: How Indonesia’s Blibli stood up to giants via a niche strategy

Instead of pursuing the Mitra model, Blibli has doubled down on catering to affluent consumers with its acquisition of Ranch Market, an Indonesian chain of premium supermarkets. But with e-grocery falling out of favor, smartphones appear to be the next frontier.

Apple is not the only electronics giant that Blibli has inked a deal with. It also has a partnership with Samsung, through which Blibli runs 12 Samsung Experience Stores, among other things.

Blibli has also begun rolling out Blibli Stores, a chain of offline retail spaces offering multiple Android smartphone brands. There are seven such stores so far, with three of them located outside Greater Jakarta.

A rival with a head start

Indonesia is the world’s fourth-largest smartphone market. And as one established player shows, smartphones are a big business in the country.

Where does Blibli go from here?