Publicly listed retail giant PT Sumber Alfaria Trijaya, also known as Alfa Group, is stepping up efforts to intensify its presence in the e-commerce industry with the relaunch of its e-commerce platform on Monday.
Alfacart.com, an online platform that serves as a complementary feature to physical Alfa outlets, was introduced Monday as the new name for the group’s Alfaonline.com, which was established in 2013.
“This rebranding strategy is necessary as we want to create a full-fledged e-commerce business,” Alfacart CEO Catherine Hindra Sutjahyo told reporters.
As a subsidiary of Alfa Group, which also owns minimarket chain Alfamart, grocery store Alfamidi and drugstore Dan+Dan, Alfacart aims to see its sales increase six-fold this year, from its 2015 figures, resting its optimism on untapped e-commerce potential in Indonesia.
Catherine, however, refused to disclose a specific 2016 sales target.
Alfacart plans to offer four lines of products, namely fashion, gadgets and electronics, daily necessities and lifestyle items.
The company is targeting middle-class females and males aged 25 to 35 years old in big cities who are concerned with practicality and time efficiency and prefer to make purchases online.
As one of its strategies to expand its business, Alfacart, Catherine said, would apply the online-to-offline ( O2O ) strategy to cater to Indonesia’s unbanked: those do not have access to bank accounts, savings and credit cards.
The feature will enable Alfacart customers to order goods online through an application or website and pick up their purchases at one of the 7,000 Alfamart stores nationwide that have been integrated with Alfacart.
“Alfamart has about 11,750 outlets nationwide, 7,000 of which are already integrated with Alfacart,” Alfacart chief operating officer and chief marketing officer Haryo Suryo Putro said, adding that the company will concentrate on providing services in the country’s major cities before expanding to smaller ones.
In addition, Alfacart also allows small and medium enterprises to partner with the company.
“Although we are selective in choosing our partners, our requirements are simple,” Ernest Tjahjana, the company’s chief commercial officer said, explaining that applicants only need to attach a copy of their tax registration numbers ( NPWP ) and identity card ( KTP ) to apply as a partner.
In recent years, a growing number of e-commerce fashion, retail, and other businesses have been racing to provide the best online services to Indonesian customers.
Some of them include an affiliate company of Djarum Group, Blibli, online marketplace Lazada and grocery delivery app HappyFresh.
Based on data from idEA, the number of online shoppers in Indonesia hit 7.4 million last year, out of a total 250 million people in the country. This shows that the opportunity for e-commerce businesses to grow is still huge.
Despite the growing number of e-commerce businesses in Indonesia, some have struggled to turn a profit here.
Many foreign giants, such as Japan’s Rakuten and Germany’s Lamido — who both sell consumer products — exited the market. Clothing site Paraplou, travel booking site Valadoo and financial technology firm Inapay did the same.
Alfacart’s Catherine, which was also a former director of Zalora Indonesia, acknowledged this was one of the main challenges in the e-commerce industry.
“One of the biggest challenges in sustaining an e-commerce business is how to make it profitable in the long run,” she said.