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This year's National Online Shopping Day rakes in Rp 18 trillion
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his year's National Online Shopping Day (Harbolnas) saw a massive increase in sales from last year’s event, suggesting that the online shopping boom is far from over.
A NielsenIQ survey found that transactions from the annual shopping fiesta, staged by various e-commerce platforms, amounted to Rp 18.1 trillion (US$1.27 billion) this year, up 56 percent from last year’s Rp 11.6 trillion.
NielsenIQ Indonesia director Rusdy Sumantri attributed the rise to a rapid increase in the number of online shoppers to around 32 million this year from 17 million in 2020.
Indonesia also counted 11 million new internet users this year.
“The large-scale social restrictions [PSBB] this year also pushed people to do more of their shopping online,” he said on Wednesday, adding that as the government eased social restrictions, people would still shop online going forward.
National Online Shopping Day (also known as 12.12) has been held on Dec. 12 since 2012. E-commerce platforms roll out incentives like free delivery, cashbacks or vouchers to spur the sales of their merchants.
Harbolnas, Rusdy said, saw merchants sell around 7.4 times as much as on a regular day.
Discounts and promotions have also become commonplace on Dec. 10 (10.10) and on so-called Single’s Day (11.11).
Read also: E-commerce firms bank on ‘Double Day’ shopping campaign as consumers go online
Rusdy went on to say that almost all of the people participating in the year-end shopping event this year were regular Harbolnas and online shoppers, while only 3 percent said it was their first Harbolnas shopping experience.
Furthermore, he added, 86 percent of Harbolnas shoppers had planned their purchases in advance, while only 14 percent were impulse shoppers.
“Some of the shoppers were diverting their check-out time to wait for Harbolnas, while others just happened to shop during the event,” Rusdy said. “I think because most of our shoppers are regular e-commerce users, they tend to plan ahead.”
Flash deals during busy hours, such as around 6 p.m., could be a way for merchants to attract more impulse buyers, he added.
Read also: E-commerce to grow moderately in 2021 onward: Report
Rusdy noted that this year’s Harbolnas boosted sales of locally sourced products by Rp 2.9 trillion to Rp 8.5 trillion, with locally made clothes, cosmetics and personal care items being the top sellers.
“From the industry point of view, we are happy that local product sales went up. Hopefully, it will become a lifestyle for people to use locally made products,” said Indonesian E-commerce Association (IdEA) executive director Arshi Adini.
