Xin Ou
Research expert covering Greater China
Social commerce in Indonesia - statistics & facts
After massive growth in the e-commerce sector during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, social commerce became the next commercial phenomenon to take the Indonesian market by storm. From finding inspiration to purchasing the desired products directly on social media platforms, social commerce offers a convenient, seamless, and one-stop shopping experience to Indonesian consumers. This emerging way of shopping, although still relatively small in Indonesia, is poised to grow rapidly in the next few years and reach a gross merchandise value (GMV) of around 22 billion U.S. dollars by 2028.
Why social commerce is on the rise in Indonesia
The success of influencer marketing in Indonesia proves that Indonesian consumers generally base their purchasing decisions on recommendations and inspirations found on social media. With the average daily time spent on social media now amounting to more than three hours, coupled with the increasing number of new influencers, social media will continue playing an important role in the buying journey of most Indonesian consumers. While this marketing strategy is key to targeting and engaging potential customers, brands cannot rely on it to generate conversions. Driven by this, a growing number of brands and retailers started offering an integrated shopping experience for their customers through shoppable content on social media feeds, which also act as their virtual storefronts. It was not long before this business model created a buzz among Indonesian online shoppers who wanted to move from inspiration to purchase as quickly as possible. This has resulted in social commerce gaining traction in Indonesia, with a growing portion of consumers embracing social media as their main purchasing channel. According to a recent survey on social commerce, forty percent of Indonesian consumers regularly shopped on social media.TikTok: the title holder
Despite being ranked below other social media platforms in terms of penetration rate in Indonesia, TikTok is quite popular among social commerce users. A recent survey showed that TikTok was the most used social media platform for social commerce in the country, while Instagram and Facebook came in second and third place. Competitive price points, discounts, and live shopping hosts who can sell the products in a fun and interactive manner are cited as the leading reasons why many Indonesians enjoy shopping on the platform. The popularity of this video-sharing app among Indonesian social shoppers does not seem to fade anytime soon as they intend to continue using TikTok Shop for making future purchases.
