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mid rapid increase in the country'€™s e-commerce business, one of the country'€™s largest online retailers, Blibli, expects a fivefold increase in daily transactions.

Blibli'€™s CEO, Kusumo Martanto, said in Jakarta on Tuesday that he hoped Blibli'€™s average daily transactions would reach 10,000 transactions this year, a fivefold increase from 2,000 last year.

To reach this target, Blibli has implemented several business strategies, such as establishing a partnership with major credit card issuers, which often offer 0 percent interest for the online shop'€™s customers, Kusomo said, adding that Blibli would also offer a free delivery service to its customers across the archipelago.

He declined, however, to unveil the value of the expected transactions.

Blibli, which was established five years ago by PT Global Digital Naiaga (GDN), an affiliate company of Djarum Group, sells products ranging from baby diapers, mobile phones and fashion items to motorcycles and expensive cars.

Baby and children'€™s goods still dominate transactions, followed by gadgets and fashion products, he said.

 '€œDespite the market slump, as reported by media, motorcycle sales at Blibli'€™s online shop are doing reasonably well,'€ he said, adding that Blibli currently partnered with several automotive distributors to sell Toyota and BMW cars and Honda, Piaggio and Yamaha motorcycles.

Blibli acknowledged that 40 percent of customer transactions were made through the use of credit cards.

Customers who purchase Blibli'€™s products are 52 percent male and 48 percent female, with an age range between 25 and 35 years old.

In order to reduce costs, Blibli has opened three warehouses in Jakarta and plans to build more outside of Jakarta in the future, Kusumo told reporters following the signing of a partnership agreement with Standard Chartered Bank.

Under the agreement, the bank will offer attractive programs such as a 7 percent discount to all customers who purchase items from Blibli using a Standard Chartered credit card, as well as flash sale programs every fifth, 15th and 25th day of each month and special benefits like discounts or cashbacks for special holidays including school holidays, Christmas and Idul Fitri.   

Standard Chartered chose Blibli as its partner because the firm is a major e-commerce company that specializes in selling basic necessities, Standard Chartered Bank CEO Shee Tse Koon said after the signing of the cooperation agreement.

He explained that the strategic partnership with Blibli was part of Standard Chartered'€™s strategy to expand aggressively in Indonesia.

Unlike online shop Bhinneka, which plans to launch an initial public offering (IPO) in the next two years, Blibli said it wanted to focus on expanding its market in Indonesia for now.

'€œThere is still a lot of potential in Indonesia. [Bhinneka] has been in the market for a long time, whereas we have been established for only five years,'€ Kusumo said. (win)