Online shopping in Indonesia

Online shopping has been around for some while but the take up has been very slow for several reasons, mostly the majority of the population is still quite poor and there is only about a 50% take up of the internet at the moment.
That's starting to change.
The cities all have online shopping ranging from the weekly shop, through clothes and other essentials, right to tech of whatever sort you want.
The change is coming about because of several factors:
Greater internet usage
The massive and crazy increase in shop rents
The general downturn in consumer spending power forcing downwards pressure on prices.
Consumer trust in online stores increasing

Shop rental costs have gone stupid, seeing a shop that would cost Rp20 million/year about 3 or 4 years ago rise to above Rp100 million today so the shops go bust very quickly.  Online just doesn't need an expensive central address so they're moving into quiet and cheaper places and operated from there.

A trip to any of the tech malls a few years ago would see windows packed with display stock but that's no longer the case, most windows having a little stock and a lot of POS material, mostly little signs about products the shop can sell but stock levels are far lower now so many items have to be ordered, that meaning a wait.

The last is guarantee claims in the event of a problem. Most shops, online or physical don;t offer a guarantee, meaning you have to return it to a service centre wherever you buy from so there's little advantage in buying from a shop as far as that goes.

We use several, Carrefour and a couple of others for grocery shopping and I like one called jakartanotebook.com for small electrical products.
Lazada and a lot of others are competing for market share in what is still a fairly new thing in this country.

Three payment methods are usually accepted:
Credit cards online
Payment via ATM or Indomaret/Alfamart
COD.
These vary place to place and often depend on the product - stuff from abroad (Read 'China') tend to be pay first as they can't send it back and there is no serious guarantee on the products - you buy assuming you're likely to waste the money or don't buy.
Mt reversing camera was bought that way at a crazy low price but works perfectly - it could easily have broken down after 24 hours and I would have had no hope of getting my money back.

My personal favourite remains jakartanotebook.com because they have a lot of small items that are very hard to find but at crazy cheap prices. The floating handle for my Gopro was over Rp300,000 in the shops but their Chinese copy cost Rp30,000.
The wrist strap for the same cost Rp25,000, so cheap it's impossible to refuse the buy.

A thought comes to mind.
Many of the larger places have their own transport but some use local delivery services and not all have any care about the thing they're delivering.
I refused one package after seeing them literally throw it out of their van onto the floor, something that's a very bad idea with electronics.
I have accepted other packages similarly mishandled but they were all soft items that are unlikely to be damaged bu their horrible version of service.

Online fast food shopping is generally easy with all the big players and many smaller places having online stores or apps.
Pizza hut's is very good but Dominos' fails a lot, as it did this evening by failing to confirm the order so I had to call them to confirm.

Yer, wow that's a detailed response.

I think in general as an expat, you kind of start seeing the same things around all the malls and online shops and feel the shopping universe and variety isn't as big as it really can. There are a ton of reasons for this but ultimately as a customer, you normally hear it is very common for people with a bit of money to save and fly to Singapore to be able to shop for something a bit different.

Also you'll notice that international items come to Indonesia very slowly. After the official release, it takes longer to be available at the shops.

I found Kufed was a good way to get more access to international products but it just requires more wait time depending where the items are sourced from.

As stated above, the delivery services, even international ones (in my opinion) are neither well organised or take any care with packages once in Indonesia, Cost also is a factor, in general Indonesia is competitive, but for certain things it's unbelievably over priced,  I go to Singapore on occasions for certain things one example recently was I needed a certain battery for my bike (Sunday ride) jakarta $336 plus p+p, singapore $108, $42 ferry and the shop assistant met me at the other side,
We have shopped quite a lot with well known companies based from Jakarta online and had no real issues returning thins either, with lower end priced merchandise many retailers are over charging the consumer, hence I don't think it will take of for a while

Online shopping is a nightmare avoid it if you can cause there is more cunning sly sellers online than honest once.  The controlling companies don't care to eliminate them even if you complain. I feel pity for those few honest sellers that work hard and want to build a good reputation getting destroyed by the other scumbags.

1ernest wrote:

Online shopping is a nightmare avoid it if you can cause there is more cunning sly sellers online than honest once.

It's a sad fact scams are everywhere but there are a lot of reputable online shops you can use without worry.
I always pay COD when possible but that isn't always available so stick to the places you know to be safe and there won't be a problem.
The big supermarkets and a lot of smaller companies have built up a well deserved good reputation for honesty and reliability, one example being jakartanotebook.com, a company I have used many times without the slightest problem.
Plenty of other very good online stores but I know that one to be very good (and have a fantastic collection of electronic goodies).

Online shops tend to be very cheap so many a good deal is to be had.

1ernest makes a valid point so a little care is in order when using online shops here.

Another point - many items here (online or offline) don't come with any sort of guarantee more than a few days or return if dead on arrival.
Always check the things are as advertised and in working condition the moment the package arrives.

Items from outside Indonesia are commonly considered special orders and can't be cancelled if you change your mind as well as having DOA warranty only, if that.

I use Tokopedia a lot for toys for my son but not much else but my wife buys batik off Instagram stores and sells them on. She pays through bank transfer and has had no issues.
I don't really venture much further except plane and rail tickets when needed.
However I am considering using Tokopedia more for pulsa and pln pulsa as the cashback adds up and soon you can get large amounts for free.

In my opinion. Choosing the right online shop somehow tricky. No matter how hard the platform trying to manage anything so everybody happy...still there is one or two bad seller.  I myself as seller got the negative impact. Sometimes need to do the extra work to make my prospect or costumer trust me.

My best online shopping experience is atFasmocis. The products are original in the country, with good quality, and low price. In Fasmocis you can order in large quantity for you resell (reseller). Payment through bank transfer, the service is also fun. For delivery using delivery service (POS / TIKI / JNE / WAHANA / DHL).

The most important of these online stores can be trusted.

I use Fasmocis Store a long time ago, and the result is very satisfactory. I can shop a lot there, and feel safe.

Brian Prime wrote:

I use Fasmocis Store a long time ago, and the result is very satisfactory. I can shop a lot there, and feel safe.

I took a look at that shop's tokopedia but it shows no products. Are you sure it's safe?

Exactly,, It's used tokopedia, and bukalapak, and now it is no longer using the marketplace because Fasmocis already has its own website that visitors look more efficient.

Now it's using marketplace SHOPE.

I've proved that shopping there is never disappointed. On the official web there are also testimonials from customers Fasmocis.

One thing that's common to online all over the world is you have no idea who you're dealing with when you order from smaller places. That doesn't mean the seller is dishonest but it often means they buy from a local wholesale place and sell the stuff at a small profit, commonly at similar prices to the traditional retailers that buy from the same wholesaler as % profits are usually limited.
Many operate from residential areas such as this randomly picked street.

One of my colleagues was discussing online shopping just the other day and they had nothing but trouble with Fasmosis for some reason and it took time to get their issue out right.

All online sites offer good and bad. Testimonials can't be trusted either as they may be false.

Yaa, but I think a lot of testimonials, and the track record will be my benchmark in online shopping,,

it is also provides an alternative for the prospect who is hesitant in online shopping, that is by ordering through the marketplace SHOPE..

Watch out for testimonials - places have been known to write their own.

Sounds a lot like SHOPE is being advertised which is weird as Brian was promoting Fasmosis a while ago so perhaps he is spamming.