Social Network + E-commerce Hybrid Site Wishkoo Launches

Early March, several media reported the appearance of a new service called Wishkoo.com, a service which combines social network with e-commerce. With this service, someone can ask their relatives to buy gift collectively for certain friend. After the release of its beta version earlier, today Wishkoo is officially opening its service for public.

At Wishkoo, you can ‘lock’ your desired item so your friends can buy it for you or you can ask your friends to buy a gift as they want. The invitation to buy collectively can be shared via Facebook, Twitter and email.

You can be friends with other user, sending message and see what other user wants. Item purchasing can be done through bank transfer (BCA and Mandiri) as well as using Piggy Coins, a facility on Wishkoo in the form of saving from the unused money – from excessive donation, expired wish or an unpaid item.

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DimensiData Enlivens E-Commerce Segment for Gadget

Although realizing that the competition in e-commerce is already pretty strict, PT Global Pratama Persada is sure to launch an e-commerce website, DimensiData. DimensiData is an e-commerce website specializing in gadget and technology. In that market, DimensiData will compete with old players like Bhinneka and Jakarta Notebook, as well as other e-commerce which not specifically sell gadget.

Anton Ng, Director of DimensiData, said in a press release that the competition will turn the price to be competitive as well. DimensiData will continue to innovate and spoil it customer to be able to remain existing in e-commerce field.

As a promotion, DimensiData will take no shipping fee for Jakarta region except Kepulauan Seribu. Order will be sent using JNE Reguler to customer’s address. DimensiData does not explain the due time of this promotion.

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FinPay Released, Changing the Payment Platform Competition Map

The development of e-commerce in Indonesia is now followed by the development of online payment platform. Various players, from various parties with various scales from domestic and overseas are competing to grab a slice of the market. Today, the market will be even more crowded by the presence of one major local player, FinPay.

I called Finpay as a big player because FinPay is a product of PT. Finnet Indonesia, a subsidiary of Telkom. PT. Finnet Indonesia is a joint venture between Nusantara (METRA) and PT Mekar Prana Indah (MPI) which stocks are owned by Yayasan Kesejahteraan Karyawan Bank Indonesia (YKBI).

FinPay promised a more simple and efficient financial transaction. Cooperating with many banks in Indonesia as well as with Visa and MasterCard, FinPay clearly will make it easy for the customer to do online transaction. A customer can pay with credit card, internet banking, or from the ATM when transacting through FinPay. Because FinPay is a part of Telkom, FinPay’s payment using the ATM and Internet banking will be under the Telkom telephone bill module.

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Government : E-commerce Companies Must Obtain Certificate

As cited from Kontan, in a Government Regulation Draft – Rancangan Peraturan Pemerintah (RPP) on the administration system and electronic transaction that will be approved, one of its article mentioned that e-commerce owner must have a certificate of security of electronic transactions. This is done to ensure the security of transaction conducted via the internet.

In the same article, Ashwin Sasongko, Director General of Telematics Applications of Ministry of Communication and Information Technology that the Ministry wants to ensure that the land (internet) used as a place for e-commerce transaction is secure.

The growing of e-commerce makes the government feels the need to make special rule about this business. During this time, e-commerce activity is only regulated by the Law of Information and Electronic Transaction – Undang-undang Informasi and Transaksi Elektronik (UU ITE).

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Official Launch of Tiket and the Lifestyle Revolution

There were sixty six million passengers flying domestic during 2011, a record high in the history of Indonesian aviation history. The figure, revealed by Anthonius Thedy, Managing Director of TX Travel, at the grand launch of Tiket.com implied something bigger. Indonesian people have a higher purchasing power and have a lifestyle that is more colorful. For many people, this is a lifestyle revolution and this wave is captured well by Tiket.com and similar startups.

Twenty years ago, it would be difficult to imagine this kind of condition. Flight is a favorite mode of transport which can be cheaper than train tickets with much shorter travel time. Development of technology (Internet) coupled with the rise of the middle class in Indonesia creates the kind of consumers that crave for entertainment and stress relieve from urban hustle.

Bali, of course, is a favorite tourist destination, but who would have thought that Raja Ampat in Papua would be a remarkable phenomenon? Lombok, Derawan, Karimun Jawa, Mentawai and many more places in Indonesia also offer fantastic natural beauties that attract tourists (including foreign) to visit them in droves. Not to mention cities like Bandung or Yogyakarta which offer a range of unforgettable cultural attraction.

If we’re on our way to the office and want to make travel arrangements for some time in the near future, how can the conventional travel agent help us choose an appropriate hotel and flights in such a short time? Conversation over the phone may be one way but it’s pretty hard to imagine choosing a hotel based on mere suggestions from a travel agent.

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Rocket Internet set to launch price comparison site PricePanda all over SEA

We just received information that Rocket Internet is planning to launch another e-commerce site aiming at South East Asian market. This time is an online price comparison site called PricePanda.

We learned that the website is ready to be launched once they have enough local e-commerce partners to go on even though they already have their own e-commerce companies Zalora and Lazada; which is hardly enough. Right now, Rocket Internet is approaching retailers and local e-commerce companies in the region and ask them to join as partner with the price comparison site hoping to get more inventory for their comparison engine.

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Indonesian E-commerce Companies Unite, Form Indonesian E-commerce Association

E-commerce in Indonesia is really hot, we’ve been talking about it for a long, long time, waiting for it to grow. Nobody could argue that the industry is still in its infancy, and looking for that room to grow into a full scale industry with significant impact to our economy.

Another thing nobody could argue is the government involvement in nurturing the ecosystem surrounding the e-commerce. The banking system, logistics, consumer protection, merchant protection, etc. Apparently it’s been incredibly hard to deal with when each e-commerce company goes up against the government. So, rather than fighting alone, better fight in groups. I’m trying my best to not make this a satire post, btw.

idEA is founded by plasa, dealgoing, berniaga, multiply, blibli, bhinneka, tokobagus, tokopedia, gramedia online and kaskus. The association is led by Tokopedia CEO William Tanuwidjaja as Chief of Advisory Board and Multiply Indonesia CEO Daniel Tumiwa as Chief of Executive Committee.

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Why Educating the Market Might No Longer Be Relevant

As the e-commerce industry grow, we often see a lot of e-commerce companies trying to bring the e-commerce behavior to a new audience in the country. An emerging country like Indonesia, with all its growing economy and immature internet population is often seen as a target to market conversion.

We’ve seen the signs where big e-commerce players in the country pouring their best efforts to “educate” the market about the benefit of e-commerce, to browse for products, how to pay for stuff online, etc. Millions and millions of dollars are thrown via TV commercials, live TV shows, offline campaigns, etc. again to “educate” the market for the past 3 years but the results are yet to be seen.

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Ipsos Survey Result and Opportunities for Online Trading Players

Recently, Ipsos released the result of its survey that shows some things about the behavior of internet user in Indonesia in shopping online. Ipsos is an independent market research company run by professional researchers. Founded in France, it now has offices in 84 countries.

The survey says that 69% of internet users in Indonesia do a web search to find the product that they want to buy, and 48% from total count of respondents purchase goods online, the count is 44% for Indonesia.

Trust

Looking for information includes comparing prices as a common process done by prospective buyers in online shopping. Even though the survey says that respondents gather information on the product they want to buy, it is not mentioned in details about what kind of information gathering done by these buyers. Are they using search engine or looking directly and comparing from online stores, marketplace or forum; or do they ask their friends or considering other people’s opinion or find things by themselves in the web.

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[Dailyssimo] E-commerce in Indonesia, What We Need Is a Service That We Can Trust

Opening an online shop is much easier than opening a regular shop; at least it can be measured from cost factor. However, inviting buyer to come and be a customer of a store is much more complex than just opening it. Let me invite you to examine from various point of views.

For a buyer, money is something sensitive. A buyer would never want to give their money in exchange for an item if they do not want the item or if there is something that makes it hard to get the goods after they made the payment.

Just imagine, if you want to buy a music CD, the options are to purchase it at nearest CD store or at on online shop. What do you think will be the consideration?

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