Alfamart is going to utilize its 10,000 store network as pickup points for its new online shopping platform Alfacart. Alfacart, the new e-commerce platform will carry one million products from sellers, and is expected to generation IDR1tn (US$70m) transaction. The existing shopping website Alfaonline will be replaced. The advantage of Alfacart over the other e-commerce players lies with its large store network of more than 10,000 throughout Indonesia. The retailer is also expected to be opening another 1,200 stores this year.
“We understand there are some players in the market but the high cost of last mile is still a concern,” said Sumber Alfaria president Hans Prawira, “We have presence in the market very close to shoppers.”
With the growth in investment and acceptance of internet and mobile shopping, Indonesia is seen as the next frontier after China and India in Asia. The government wants e-commerce to become the backbone of its growing digital economy and leading players like Alibaba are also accelerating their expansion into Indonesia.
Even though logistics is still a challenge due to underdeveloped infrastructure and the sheer size of the country, it is only a matter of time before we see the boom of e-commerce.
