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Column[Indonesia] Leading company launches direct sales to manufacturers using Whats App
- Release date: Jun 08, 2020
- 3937 Views
A WhatsApp-based delivery service that does not rely on existing e-commerce systems
Against the backdrop of the request to refrain from going out, the use of electronic commerce (EC) is rapidly increasing in the metropolitan area, especially in Jakarta. Now a lot of supermarkets offer online stores, and it seems that for consumers visiting actual "places" and buy products is no longer necessary. In other words, for manufactures there is no need to have "spaces" to sell their products any more. Recently, many manufacturers in Indonesia have started the “directly-managed online stores”. What's unique about it is that they utilize offline and instant messenger application WhatsApp (WA) instead of using the existing e-commerce system.One of the reasons behind this is the popularity of WhatsApp in Indonesia: according to a self-studied survey conducted by INTAGE in 2020 among 20-49 year olds in Jakarta, approximately 94.5% of the respondents used WhatsApp, which is the highest usage rate among various SNS applications.
Usage rate of smartphone apps_Indonesia
Report from: https://bit.ly/2GCL4XC
Respondent criteria:
• Males and females 20~49 years old living in major cities of each countries
• People with a certain level of purchasing power or above (with footnote conditions set by household income and monthly income
Usage rate of smartphone apps_Indonesia
WINGS, a conglomerate that deals in everything from home care products to food products, has launched a WA delivery service, although it is limited to Surabaya City. Customers can browse through the catalog and contact a representative in WA to complete their shopping without going to the store. Enesis, one of the leading hygiene products companies, has also launched a WA online delivery service, and in the case of buying and selling through WA, the payment method is often a bank transfer, as it allows the customer to communicate in real time. After the bank transfer, the payment is usually made by sending the payment screen to the customer via WA.Strategies for attracting age groups that do not normally use e-commerce
In Jakarta and several other cities in Indonesia, large-scale social restrictions have been imposed, prohibiting store operations and office work except for designated industries. In addition, requests to stay at home and fear of COVID-19 have strengthened the tendency for people to avoid going out and purchase necessities via delivery.
If shopping can be completed without visiting a store, some manufacturers have begun to strengthen direct-to-consumer sales, reasoning that there is no longer a need to place products in physical retail locations. While manufacturer-direct sales are not new, what is distinctive this time is that they take a form closer to “supported commerce” via WhatsApp (WA)—a person-to-person interaction rather than a conventional EC system.
Although e-commerce has spread in Indonesia, it cannot yet be said that all age groups actively use it. By contrast, WhatsApp is used by about 90% of smartphone users, making it possible to reach nearly all age segments. Since existing supermarkets target consumers of all ages, they appear to be adopting WhatsApp-based delivery strategies in order to capture customer groups that cannot be fully reached through e-commerce alone.
This article is co-authored by TNC Lifestyle Researcher (http://lifestyle.tenace.co.jp/) and Intage's Global Researcher.-
Author profile
TNC ASIA Trend Lab
TNC ASIA Trend Lab is an information organization run by TNC Inc. that researches and shares trends in Asia. It supports corporate marketing activities by finding insights from trends rooted in the lifestyles and habits of local consumers. http://tnc-trend.jp/
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Editor profile
Mr. Yang Yan
A Chinese researcher living in Japan, sharing the life styles of consumers overseas, mainly in China.