Multiply is set to open its Jakarta office in March with about 35 employees. Daniel Tumiwa who had experience with Djarum and Universal Music will lead the Indonesian office.
U.S-based Multiply started out as a social networking site in 2004. However, facing intense competition from Facebook and MySpace had caused Multiply to change its direction. Today, it is branded as a social shopping platform. Multiply has about 12 million users and 125,000 stores under its belt. It is also hugely popular in Asia, especially in Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand.
Multiply.com is the 25th most visited site in Indonesia, according to Alexa. Despite a low Internet penetration rate, there are currently more than 30 million Internet users in the country. The Boston Consulting Groupe estimated that the number of Internet users in Indonesia would increase to 94 million by 2015. Strong presence and growth within the country are the key factors behind the decision to launch an office in Indonesia.
“We are committed to making Indonesia our anchor property. By next year, Indonesia will be our biggest office, even bigger than the one in the US,” Co-founder and CEO Peter D. Pezaris said during a visit to Jakarta last Friday.
Multiply’s move into Indonesia confirms growth potential in the country. However, it remains to be seen if Multiply is able to localize its service for Indonesians. Its huge user base in Indonesia would help but other local e-commerce sites like Tokopedia would prove to be a challenge to Multiply’s route to dominance in the country.
Via JakartaGlobe
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