T

he country will see high growth in e-commerce in the coming years, particularly with the upgrade in a security system, which will eventually boost consumers'€™ trust in online shopping.

MasterCard Indonesia'€™s country manager, Irni Palar, emphasized that the security system upgrade was being made to quell people'€™s concerns about becoming victims of online crime.

'€œPeople do not need to worry because the security system has been improved,'€ Irni said on Wednesday.

According to Irni, online transactions would be secured with the adoption of a system called '€œvirtual credit card number'€, which enables credit card holders to avoid being spied on or hacked by criminals after completing an online payment.

The virtual number is intended for one-time use only, so that people who have finished their online shopping can directly delete the number, Irni explained.

According to a survey conducted by MasterCard, 92 percent of respondents said they were satisfied with e-commerce. Customer satisfaction was primarily due to the enhanced security systems provided by payment card companies.

Citing Communications and Information Ministry data, Irni added that total e-commerce transactions increased by 54 percent in 2013 to Rp 130 trillion (US$11,18 billion), up from Rp 69 trillion in 2012.

MasterCard is confident that total transaction value in e-commerce will grow by a further 71 percent to
Rp 223 trillion this year.

'€œBased on last year'€™s e-commerce transaction growth, I believe it will continue to rise this year,'€ Irni said.

Meanwhile, operations vice president at innovative online company PT Midtrans, Budi Gandasoebrata, said e-commerce was growing so quickly in the country because of the advantages it offered online shoppers, citing the convenience of being able to shop from home, view and compare various items a the click of a button and having purchases home-delivered as being just a few.

In terms of the leading sectors, he added, e-commerce was dominated by travel, followed by fashion and baby products.

Deputy Trade Minister Bayu Krisnamurthi said e-commerce had great potential, adding that all parties should support it as it could make a major contribution to the country'€™s economic growth.

Eighty million people nationwide have Internet access. Of those 80 million, 70 percent had conducted e-commerce transactions, he said.

'€œAround 56 million people have some experience of e-commerce. That is an amazing figure; it is higher than Malaysia'€™s entire population,'€ Bayu added.

Regarding reports of criminal activity surrounding e-commerce, Bayu admitted that the government faced difficulties in punishing hackers.

'€œE-commerce is a borderless sector. It is very hard to track down and punish hackers,'€ he said.

Despite the potential risks, however, Daniel Tumiwa, chairman of the Indonesian E-Commerce Association (idEA), said that the number of crimes was tiny compared to the volume of transactions.

'€œFraud accounts for less that 1 percent of all e-commerce transactions,'€ Daniel said, adding that a number of security services had been established by payment companies to allay people'€™s fears. (alz)