Traffic congestion and long queues in supermarkets are just some of the hassles shoppers face to get their weekly shop.

The websites alfaonline.com and pasarminggu.co relieve customers of these woes. They offer a comfortable shopping environment ' where ever you want ' and deliver the goods to the buyer.

Alfaonline.com was the brain-child of Alfamart, a minimarket chain with 21 distribution centers and 7,200 outlets across the country.

'We saw there was the opportunity to join e-commerce and Alfamart wanted to roll out this service to its loyal customers,' corporate general manager, Nur Rachman, said.

Rachman explained that currently the website provided similar products to its outlets but in the future it would be possible that the company would begin to offer furniture and electronics through the site.

Customers have the choice of having their goods delivered to an address within the delivery area; there are 207 outlets that cover the online service in Greater Jakarta, or taken to the nearest minimart from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

'There is a delivery cost of Rp 5,000 [52 US cents] for purchases below Rp 100,000 but there is no cost for transactions above Rp 100,000,' he said.

Launched on Feb. 18, 2013, the service has attracted many customers so far. Alfamart recorded 300 online transactions every day ' with customers using a variety of payment methods. For those in need of fresh and daily products there is pasarminggu.co, run by a newly established company.

'This service came from problems we experienced ourselves ' we couldn't find anywhere to buy fresh produce without disrupting our daily activities,' Elqee Ervan, co-founder of the website, said.

The website is not associated with Pasar Minggu, the traditional market in South Jakarta. The co-founders chose the name pasar minggu, which means Sunday market, because of the association of the weekends with shopping.

The website offers vegetables, meat, fruit as well as various other ingredients. The minimum purchase is Rp 50,000 and there is an additional delivery cost of Rp 10,000 for a maximum total shopping weight of 10 kilograms.

Elqee explained that the goods would be delivered the morning following the order between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. At the present time the service only covers delivery to South and East Jakarta but the team is preparing to increase their coverage areas.

'If consumers are not satisfied they can reject the goods,' she said.

The team at pasarminggu.co coordinates with relatives who work as merchants and couriers at the city's wholesale traditional market Pasar Induk Kramat Jati, Elqee said the company was interested in trying a new distribution channel.

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