T

he courier and delivery services industry in the country has recorded relatively stable growth thanks to the growing number of online shopping portals.

'€œWhile shipment demand among several industries has declined by between 5 percent and 30 percent amid the current economic downturn, e-commerce has been the savior,'€ said Rocky Pesik, the director of PT Birotika Semesta, which operates DHL Express Indonesia.

Rocky, who is also an active member of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), confirmed his company had seen an increase in shipment volume from most e-commerce players, with the biggest surging by around 20 percent.

According to Rocky, total shipment volume in the overall logistics industry was at a lower-than-expected level but was helped by growing shipment demand from online shopping.

Likewise, PT Globalindo Dua Satu Express regional manager Eko Suprihantoro said over the weekend that he was upbeat his company'€™s shipment volume could rise by 100 percent this year as demand from e-commerce grew significantly.

'€œWe'€™ve seen that shipment demand from the e-commerce sector has started picking up this year, following shipment demand from business-to-business clients,'€ he told The Jakarta Post,adding that his firm'€™s shipment volume grew by 85 percent year-on-year as of July.

21 Express, a delivery service firm run by Globalindo, says that currently 70 percent of its shipment volume comes from traditional business models with the remaining 30 percent from e-commerce players.

Eko said, however, that the proportion was likely to change to 40 percent from the traditional business sector and 60 percent from e-commerce, in line with the booming e-commerce market in the country.

E-commerce, which is still in its infancy in Indonesia, has been growing very well despite the economic headwinds facing Southeast Asia'€™s largest economy, which saw a six-year-low of 4.7 economic growth in the first half of this year.

Online marketplaces like Elevenia and Bukalapak have set targets higher than they had initially forecast as they booked better-than-expected performances during the first six months of this year.

Elevenia plans to reach Rp 1.3 trillion (US$91.2 million) in total transactions this year, up from its initial target of Rp 1.1 trillion.

Bukalapak, meanwhile, aims to see between 10 percent and 20 percent of both revenue and total transaction growth.

The growing number of transactions in many e-commerce platforms has been largely driven by greater Internet access and larger number of smartphone users in the country, which allow shopping online through mobile devices.

The country'€™s Internet penetration hit 35.7 percent as of the first half of this year and smartphone ownership has almost doubled from 14 percent in the first half of last year to 26 percent in the same period this year, according to Nielsen data.

Eko from 21 Express said most shipping demand from e-commerce had been online shopping for gadgets and electronics.

The company aimed to account for 30 percent of total shipment demand in the e-commerce market in the country, he added.

The national e-commerce market is forecast to hit a total value of Rp 295 trillion next year, a huge increase from only Rp 94.5 trillion in 2013, according to the Indonesian E-commerce Association (idEA).