National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia is seeking to tap into the e-commerce market by bringing the airline’s traditional in-flight shop online for anyone to access and buy goods from.

The carrier recently struck a deal with China-based e-commerce platform JD.id for a two-year cooperation venture in which the latter will assist Garuda in developing the website garudashop.id, and gradually build merchant and logistics systems.

Garuda Indonesia president director Pahala N. Mansury said during the launch of the website that the cooperation agreement was part of Garuda’s attempt to develop its ancillary, or non-ticket, businesses, which the company sees as having high potential.

“This is also our attempt to benefit from Indonesia’s fast-growing e-commerce industry,” Pahala said at the launch event on Monday at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, in Tangerang, Banten.

Garuda director of marketing and information technology Nina Sulistyowati said at the event that the new website would also further diversify Garuda’s businesses.

“This [cooperation agreement] is in accordance with our vision to create a diversified Garuda Indonesia Group, and boosting ancillary revenue is one way to do that,” Nina said on the sidelines of the event.

Garuda aimed to earn US$54 million this year from ancillary revenue, up 42 percent from last year’s earnings in that category of $38 million, she added. The goal is part of the carrier’s overall 2018 revenue target of $4.9 billion.

The new website is expected to garner $1 million in revenue this year. “We will see how it [garudashop.id] develops as we will continue perfecting the business,” said Nina. “We expect the revenue to double by the second year of the website’s operation.”

Garuda VP of loyalty and ancillary Selfie Dewiyanti said the decision to partner with JD.id was made after a very selective process.

“There were several e-commerce companies that applied for the partnership but in the end JD.id won out because their distribution hubs are in the same locations as Garuda’s,” Selfie said at the launch. “They are also already committed to promoting the [garudashop.id] website during the course of the contract.”

The decision to partner with an external party was also made because Garuda lacked experience in the e-commerce industry, she added.

“For us, to be able to fully develop an e-commerce business is something quite challenging. We cannot be half-hearted when we jump into a new business,” she said.

Like any other e-commerce website, garudashop.id also offers a door-to-door delivery service, in addition to options for customers to pick up their orders at Garuda Indonesia’s airport lounges or during any of Garuda’s flights.

“We will use Garuda’s logistics division, Garuda Express, to handle shipments, so for now there will be no third parties involved [in the business],” Selfie said.

JD.id CEO Zheng Li said he welcomed the cooperation and hoped it would be continued after the two-year contract ended.

“This is actually a win-win deal and does not bring any extra costs for either party [JD.id and Garuda]. So, it is just going to be normal daily operations [of the website],” Li told The Jakarta Post during the launch, adding that both companies had not disbursed any money for the joint venture.

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