Social Commerce, The Next Big Thing in Indonesia?

Social commerce has come a long way, and Indonesia is starting to jump on board as well. We’re seeing start-ups like idBlogNetwork and AdaDiskon empowering product promotion/e-commerce through social media. Social network turned social commerce platform, Multiply, also recently entered Indonesia hoping to socialize e-commerce in the country.

As the term ‘social commerce’ suggests, this brand of commerce requires that a social layer be established before actual selling can take place.

Indonesia is undoubtedly one of the largest social media nations in the world, but its social layer – when compared to its total population of 240 million – is far from established. Penetration rate is still considered low. But for now, its current user base is large enough for social commerce to still take place in the country, as you can see from this infographic designed by Singapore Management University:

Indonesia has:

• 35 million Facebook users
• 5 million Twitter users
• 600,000 Foursquare users

This presents a golden opportunity for entrepreneurs to ride on the social commerce wave. This market is only going to get bigger as the adoption rate grows. With a good-enough social layer foundation and more players coming into the market (which in turn, educates the market), social commerce could be the next big thing in Indonesia.

A related discussion was held during the Global Mobile Internet Conference in Beijing earlier this month. When asked which start-up would people build if they were given $5 million, most replied they would want to start a social commerce start-up.