MatahariMall, which is planned to be launched next September, is eyeing 20 per cent of the e-commerce market in Indonesia by 2020. That year, the total market volume is projected to reach US$20-30 billion, compared to US$1.3 billion currently.
It was told by MatahariMall’s Chairman Emirsyah Satar to Berita Satu. He stated that the team uses Alibaba as their role model. As we know, MatahariMall is the first marketplace to use O2O (Online to Offline) concept since the very beginning.
Satar said, “Currently, the e-commerce market in Indonesia is worth around $1.3 billion. It’s so low, not even one percent of the total national retail sales. In other countries, e-commerce could cover 5-8 per cent of total retail sales. So, we estimate that out market volume would reach around US$20-30 billion by 2020.”
“Our network footprint is quite strong and well-distributed all over Indonesia. We also have the experience of doing offline retail. Users may inspect their desired products before purchasing them, thanks to the support by Matahari and Hypermart. So, they may touch, feel, and even return the product should they feel that the it doesn’t meet their expectation,” he continued.
MatahariMall has been accessible at the moment, although it’s still in form of a teaser page. Satar claimed that the number of buyers is already quite significant.
Challenges of the e-commerce industry
Satar pointed out two main challenges of the e-commerce industry in Indonesia, which are infrastructure and regulation. Infrastructure refers to the poor distribution of the Internet network, while regulation refers to the government’s law.
“For instance, the regulation that requires merchants to fill out their TIN or ID number before posting at marketplace. I don’t think it’s urgent, as the industry is still infant. It should be enforced once the right time comes,” he said.
The government, led by the Minister of Communication and Information Rudiantara, is currently formulating the roadmap for e-commerce in Indonesia, as President Joko Widodo stated in the opening of Indonesia Convention Exhibition (ICE) last Tuesday.