idEA: 25% Increase in E-commerce Sales during the Pandemic

Chairman of the Indonesian E-Commerce Association (IdEA) Bima Laga said the appeal for limiting face-to-face activities greatly affected the increase in online shopping transactions. Although purchasing power has decreased due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Bima said transactions of basic goods, even products related to hobbies have increased.

Earlier, IdEA recorded a 25 percent increase in sales on e-commerce platforms during the pandemic. “Performance is basically improving. Indeed, it takes a greater effort to maintain good performance in the current economic condition,” Bima told Tempo, Wednesday, November 11, 2020.

Tokopedia Ekhel Chandra Wijaya’s External Communications Senior Lead noted that in the third quarter, sales of the food and beverage category nearly tripled during the pandemic. People who are more active at home also encourage an increase in the household category which has more than doubled and the health category increases almost 2.5 times compared to the pre-pandemic period.

“We will continue to focus on helping local business activists adopt digital platforms to sustain business and contribute to economic recovery affected by the pandemic,” Ekhel said.

Based on research from Google and Temasek 2020, e-Commerce remains the main growth driver for Indonesia’s digital economy. The research noted an increase in Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) or the total value of e-commerce transactions by 54 percent annually to US $ 32 billion from US $ 21 billion previously. GMV e-commerce is also predicted to increase to US $ 83 billion in 2025.