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Foreign firms dominate Indonesian e-commerce following TikTok’s reentry
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The logo of e-commerce site Tokopedia is pictured during the launch of Tokopedia and Chinese social media app TikTok's Buy Local Campaign in Jakarta on Dec. 12, 2023. Foreign-majority-owned e-commerce companies dominate the Indonesian e-commerce market with 86 percent market share. (AFP/Yasuyoshi Chiba)
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hinese social media app TikTok’s reentry into the Indonesian e-commerce market, through its purchase of a 75 percent stake in homegrown e-commerce platform Tokopedia, means entities with majority foreign ownership now command about 86 percent of the local e-commerce market.
In a report released in June, market research firm Momentum Works estimated Indonesia’s gross e-commerce merchandise value (GMV) to be some US$51.9 billion. Of this figure, Singapore-based firms Shopee and Lazada accounted for $18.7 billion and $5.19 billion, respectively. Lazada is owned by Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group.
Meanwhile, TikTok and Tokopedia account for a combined 40 percent of the market, or $20.7 billion.
TikTok’s new stake in Tokopedia brings the e-commerce market share of firms majority owned by foreign entities to about 86 percent.
In the Southeast Asia as a whole, Shopee has the largest market share with 45.9 percent of GMV. Lazada, Tokopedia and TikTok follow with 17.5, 14.2 and 13.9 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, the e-Conomy SEA 2023 report by Google, Temasek and Bain and Company predicts Southeast Asian e-commerce GMV will increase 6 percent from $130 billion last year to $139 billion this year.
The report predicts that the GMV of Shopee, Lazada, Tokopedia and Tiktok Shop will be $63.8 billion, $24.3 billion, $19.7 billion and $19.3 billion, respectively.
