Indonesian E-commerce Association (idEA) said that the country’s 2019 national shopping festival has recorded a total transaction value of IDR 9 trillion (USD 651.2 million), according to data compiled by Nielsen Indonesia during the discount festival on December 11 and 12. This figure exceeded the association’s target of IDR 8 trillion (USD 572.7 million).
The number shows a 32% increase from the previous year’s transactions amounting to IDR 6.8 trillion (USD 486.8 million), showing the high confidence and trust of Indonesian consumers in online shopping. The association believes that this positive trend further shows that the digital economy significantly contributes to Indonesia’s economic growth.
Nielsen’s data also saw an increase in local product sales that reached IDR 4.6 trillion (USD 392.2 million) this year, up 48% from last year’s sales which were IDR 3.1 trillion (USD 221.8 million). Moreover, the shoppers’ enthusiasm was not directed at physical products only but also at digital products as well. During the shopping festival, bill payments and top-up transactions rose to 7% compared to last year thanks to the big discounts.
The most popular categories for this year’s festival were fashion, sportswear, and beauty products. On average, sales of these types of products increased by 6% compared to 2018.
Nielsen and idEA didn’t reveal which platforms led the sales during the shopping festival, but e-commerce giant Shopee claimed that its gross merchandise value reached IDR 1.3 trillion (USD 93 million) on 12.12. Shopee said that there were at least 80 million products sold on the platform and the company saw 80 million visits on its app in seven markets. In Indonesia, West Java, South Sumatra, and Yogyakarta had the highest increase in shopping volumes, and the top-selling local products were hijab, lipsticks, and organic facial masks.
Bukalapak said that its transactions increased by 60% from December 1st to 15th compared to the same period last year, although it did not reveal transaction figures. On December 12, the platform saw a 30% surge in transactions and visits compared to the same day in 2018, making it the highest number of daily transactions ever. The gold investment transactions under its BukaEmas feature also increased four times higher compared to the average number of transactions per day since August.
Meanwhile, Lazada recorded 18 times increase in GMV from December 10 to 12, compared to the other days. Fashion, beauty, mother and child products, as well as electronics, were the top selling products during that period.
Furthermore, local e-commerce platform Blibli’s gross merchandise value grew by 1.7 times compared to last year, with daily staples such as food, baby milk, and toiletries dominating its sales.
However, the country’s largest e-commerce platform Tokopedia took an anti-mainstream approach buy not participating in this year’s shopping festival. According to the company’s spokesperson, Tokopedia’s biggest sale festival occurs during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan instead, where Indonesia’s shopping volume generally swells significantly during this period.
The aforementioned platforms are the five biggest e-commerce players in Indonesia. According to a recent iPrice ranking, Tokopedia had the highest monthly web visits in the third quarter of 2019, followed by Shopee, Bukalapak, Lazada, and Blibli. Nonetheless, based on Sea Limited’s quarterly report, Shopee is ranked first by average monthly active users and downloads in the shopping category across the Google Play and iOS App Stores combined in the third quarter of 2019, according to App Annie.