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Digital
Why Commerce?
The Big Pull of E-Commerce
The sexiest word you’ve been hearing in the Indonesian digital space over the last 3 years: e-commerce. It’s almost as if the word is a ticket that gets you into the most interesting conversations. It’s still a hot topic in the digital community, and the conversation is heating up.
As with any concept or idea, e-commerce has its skeptics. Some have doubts about a business model that ruthlessly focuses on growth, transaction subsidies, and spending millions of dollars from investors’ pockets on advertising to acquire new users. Big e-commerce players have taken over not only online advertising but also TV and other conventional ads.
From the online advertising and digital marketing perspective, revenue is the biggest reason why everyone is gravitating towards e-commerce. Whether or not you believe in the business model, there is huge money in servicing e-commerce clients. All over the world, not excluding Indonesia, e-Commerce is single-handedly disrupting the field of digital advertising where automation, self-serving models, robust data analytics have become the new standard.
For most people, e-commerce is seen as a catalyst for the Indonesian digital economy. It is a fitting theme for the first ever Indonesia E-Commerce Summit and Expo (IESE), an event in which Definite is a strategic partner.
More than ever, Indonesian people want to buy products online. E-commerce has helped millions of Indonesian small-and-medium businesses (SMBs) grow. Demand is far outstripping supply, so we can expect to see continuous growth. It may even surpass the current 20% month-on-month growth (as reported by the media and research publications) before it slows down.
The Future of Commerce
I believe that soon, there will no longer be an “e” in e-commerce as online transactions become the new norm. Customers are always seeking convenience. They want to be able to buy from anywhere (online and offline) and get their purchases regardless of where they are. The boundaries between the ‘online world’ and the ‘real world’ will soon dissolve.
Every brick and mortar shop will need an online transaction enabler as e-commerce companies start to focus on o2o (online to offline and vice-versa) in a bid to target the 99% of the Indonesian consumers who don’t shop online. E-commerce will soon move to ‘multi-commerce’ and eventually become ‘omni-commerce’. The rise of mobile users and rapid penetration of mobile access will be the catalyst to making this happen – aside from the proliferation of the ‘single view of customers’ and real time inventory management.
And soon, there will only be ‘commerce’.
When we set out to plan a 5-year product roadmap back in 2014, we identified retail & commerce as one of the sectors that we need to set our sights on besides logistics and content. Logistics is closely related to the future of commerce; it is one of the most common pain points for e-commerce players. Content is the only way to effectively influence purchase as other online advertising methods are failing to stimulate conversions.
Our Role in Shaping the Future of Commerce
This year, we had a chance to soft-launch two of our products related to e-commerce and content during IESE. For us, Etalastic and Amplifia represents our first foray into the industry; the beginning of our commitment to our 5-year roadmap for product development.
Etalastic is a mobile Point of Sales (mPOS) platform that aims to transform the way SMBs sell their products. It is the first step of many possible services and solutions, beginning with enabling the ‘single view of customers’ and realtime inventory management that will eventually be a solution for omni-commerce.
Amplifia is a mobile-first advocacy marketing automation platform that aims to empower stakeholders of businesses (employees, customers, agents and so on) to be a part of efforts to amplify brand stories of the company’s products and services to a wide range of target audiences through social media.
As I wrote this article in the Cendana Lounge of Indonesia Convention Exhibition (ICE) in BSD during the second day of IESE, it became apparent to me that there is no better time for us to set foot in the e-commerce industry. The players are beginning to mature through better understanding of the digital economy, the government has iterated its commitment to not only protect but escalate progress, infrastructure is getting better, and the market as a whole is growing rapidly. Everyone is enthusiastic to learn, to support, to invest, and most importantly, ready to act.
We are ready too. Bismillah.
