Lazada and Tokopedia dominated Indonesian e-commerce, but Shopee found significant growth and success

According to the recent Google Temasek research, in 2017 e-commerce sales of first-hand goods will reach US$10.9B in gross merchandise value in 2017, up from US$5.5B in 2015, a 41 per cent compound annual growth rate.

Google also mentioned that consumer interest for e-commerce has grown quickly across Southeast Asia, with Google Search interest for e-commerce brands growing more than two-fold in two years.

In 2017, we also saw many other interesting things happened in Indonesia’s e-commerce. Some examples:

We saw new players coming, new funding, acquisitions, and many other good things happened in Indonesia’s e-commerce.

With these major updates, we wanted to look back at 2017 and see how it affects the competition in Indonesian e-commerce.

In this e-commerce rewind, we will share some interesting data and findings abo Indonesian e-commerce, such as:

  1. The most searched e-commerce in Indonesia
  2. Top 10 most visited e-commerce sites
  3. Top 5 most popular mobile shopping app
  4. The most popular e-commerce in social media
  5. Popular online shopping events in 2017

The most searched e-commerce terms in Indonesia 2017

As been mentioned before, based on Google Temasek research the “search interest” of the e-commerce brands in Southeast Asia is increasing.

We are maximizing data from Google Trends to see the top 5 e-commerce in Indonesia that have the highest search interest in 2017. We will also look at the search interest jump in each e-commerce.

Based on the search interest growth overtime data, here is what we found:

Lazada and Tokopedia in the top position

Lazada and Tokopedia are the first and second most searched e-commerce companies in 2017.

This could have happened due to the following factors: Their anniversary promotions, Alibaba increasing its stake in Lazada from 51 per cent to 83 per cent, Singles’ Day and Online Shopping Revolution.

On the other hand, Tokopedia also has some major momentum after the new US$1.1 Billion investment from Alibaba.

Consistent growth from Shopee

In January 2017, the search interest gap between Shopee and Bukalapak was huge, in favor of Bukalapak. But in early December 2017, the duo switched, with Shopee search interest being slightly higher than Bukalapak.

As one of the youngest player, we saw a lot of effort from Shopee to close the mind-share gap with other players. They initiated their mobile shopping event, strengthened their seller’s community and pursued other initiatives.

Other than search interest growth, we also found that every event such as announcement or promotion will affect an e-commerce company’s search interest.

Here is what we found:

  1. Jump in Lazada during 19-25 March, because of their fifth-anniversary
  2. Jump in all e-commerce during 28 May – 17 June, because of the Ramadan period. People were looking for gifts they want to give their family
  3. Bigger jump in Lazada during 11-17 June, because of Alibaba increase its stake
  4. Jump in Tokopedia during 1-7 October, because Alibaba invested in them
  5. Jump in Shopee during 8-14 October, because of their mobile shopping event 10.10
  6. Jump in all e-commerce during 5-11 November during Single’s Day
  7. Jump in all e-commerce during 10-16 December during 12.12 sale

Top 10 most Visited E-Commerce sites 

After seeing the most searched e-commerce, we also want to analyse the most visited companies in 2017. At the end of the day, the goal every e-commerce is to get as many visitors as possible to their websites and turn that visitors into buyers.

To analyze this, we are compiling Similarweb’s data from January – November 2017. We rank the top 10 e-commerce based on their average monthly visits in every quarter.

Here is what we found:

Lazada and Tokopedia are on top

In the table, we can see that both Lazada and Tokopedia are always in the first and second position. The data from Similarweb also show the same results as the Google Trends data.

For Lazada we saw that they did a lot of huge online promotions, such as during their anniversary in March (Q1), Ramadan in June (Q2), 11.11 and 12.12 (Q4).

For Tokopedia we also saw an aggressive move from Tokopedia. For example, in January they launched train ticket booking system, in February they also collaborated with Unilever. As their response to the huge number of Muslim people in Indonesia, in June they launched a new feature called “Online Zakat”.

Bukalapak in the top 3

Bukalapak stayed in the 4th position Q1 and Q2 but by Q3 and Q4 (Oct-Nov) they had climbed into the top 3.

One interesting strategy was a new features called “Buka Emas” where you can buy gold from their platform.

They also got their new funding and claimed to be a unicorn.

Shopee joins the Big 5

In Q2 Shopee was in the 7th position. But with all the promotions, programs, and campaigns they did, they manage to be in the top 5 of e-commerce by the end of the year. 

Up one for Blibli

Blibli was in the 5th position for Q1 and Q2, but in Q3 and Q4 (Oct-Nov) they moved into the 4th spot.

In 2017, Blibli also made an interesting move by acquiring another online travel startup Indonesia flight. In the same year, Blibli also acquired one of the biggest online travel companies in Indonesia, Tiket.com.

Blibli also collaborate with one of the biggest FMCG companies in Unilever to provide more product options to their users.

Jump in Zalora

In the Q1 and Q2, Zalora was not in the top 10 list but in Q3 cracked the 10th position and early in Q4 had risen to 8th.

We saw Zalora made a lot of big promotions during Singles’ Day and also 12.12. All these activities might impact their monthly visitors.

Top 5 Most popular mobile shopping apps

Shoppe dominates Mobile Shopping Apps

On average, both in Android and iOS, Shopee is in the first position.

This could happen because from launch in Indonesia, they branded themselves early as a “mobile C2C market place”.

We also saw their special program called “Mobile Shopping Day” that they initiated in 10.10 this year.

Tight competition between Lazada and Tokopedia

Lazada has higher rank compared to Tokopedia on Android with an average rank in 2017 at second; Tokopedia is third.

By contrast, Tokopedia’s rank in iOS is higher than Lazada. Their average rank in 2017 is 1.75, and Lazada 2.5.

Stable Rank for Bukalapak

Based on the data we collected, both in Android and iOS on average Bukalapak is in the 4th position.

The Most Popular E-Commerce in Social Media

On average, everyday Indonesian spends 3 hours and 16 minutes on social media. With this number, it’s a must for e-commerce to optimise social media as their marketing channel.

In this part, with the help of our partner Socialbakers, we are collecting data on top 5 most popular e-commerce in social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter).

Based on the data, here is what we found:

Blibli is still the king of Twitter and Facebook

In our previous Map of E-Commerce, we also notice that Blibli’s Facebook and Twitter have the biggest number of followers.

Based on our analysis it was because of their unique type of content, not only selling products but also educating users. And also, their response in Facebook is super-fast, “within minutes”.

Hijup the Queen of Instagram

Since our first map of e-commerce, Hijup remains in the first position on Instagram.

As they are a fashion-type e-commerce so it is crucial for them to create a social media post that focuses on the visual and Instagram is the best place for that.

Popular online shopping events in 2017

In 2017, we also saw a lot of different online shopping events from different merchants. In here we are collecting and analyze 3 main online shopping events in Indonesia. Here are our findings:

Ramadan

As one of the biggest Muslim countries in the world, Ramadan is one of the big shopping periods for Indonesia.

During this month, iPrice made a research and found some interesting shopping behavior:

  • People in Indonesia use the sahur time (early breakfast) to shop online. There was 400 per cent jump in this period at 5am in the morning.
  • They also use lunch time to shop online. Sites saw a 50 per cent jump during lunch time

Single’s Day

During Singles’s Day, we also compare the search interest of e-commerce in Indonesia and analyzing users online shopping behavior.

Here are our findings:

  • Lazada, Shopee, and Bukalapak are the most popular online stores in most of the provinces in Indonesia
  • There was a huge jump in Lazada at 1am in the morning and 1pm
  • Tokopedia’s search interest was still high even they didn’t do any special promotions during the Singles Day
  • After 11.11 the search interest of all online shops dropped

Year End Sale 12.12
After 11.11, we also see how the behavior of the users in 12.12 by using Google Trends Data.

Here is what we found:

  • Top 5 e-commerce store based on Google Trends were Lazada, Tokopedia, Shopee, Bukalapak, and Zalora
  • There was a big jump in Lazada on 11 Dec 2017 at 9 pm. This was due tue their special concert on national television
  • Huge jump in all top 5 e-commerce on 12 Dec 2017 at 10 am – 1 pm

So there you have it! Key takeaways from Indonesia’s e-commerce industry in 2017. It will be interesting to see which trends carry forward to to 2018.

—

Copyright: bugphai / 123RF Stock Photo

The post A wrap of the Indonesian e-commerce industry in 2017 appeared first on e27.