Indonesia even have its own national online shopping day, named Harbolnas, which is on December 12 every year. (Image credit: Galena)

Market place is safer than social media for online shopping, says ministry

On Monday, Samuel Abrijani Pangerapan, the Director-General of Information Application of the Information and Communication Ministry (Kominfo) at SCBD, South Jakarta, suggested to buy online through marketplaces instead of via social media, since the social networking site are for promotions tool and sharing stories not for commerce.

According to the director general, security issue in online transactions also became another concern. Transactions trough e-commerce is more secure because the consumers don’t directly transfer money to sellers, but to a third party - the e-shop platform.

The marketplace will responsible for any transaction within its platform, therefore if any trouble happens during transactions, buyers could report them to the platform, added Samuel.

As the number of internet usage in Indonesia is increasing, the number of e-commerce are rising as well. Tokopedia, BukaLapak, Shopee and Lazada are the major players in Indonesia’s online market industry.

Indonesia even have its own national online shopping day, named Harbolnas, which is on December 12 every year.

Indonesia broke a record in 2018 as the country with the highest online market transactions in Southeast Asia, with total sales US$2.7 billion. During Harbolnas, the sales volumes rose up to US$486.5 million (IDR 6.8 trillion), which increased IDR 2.1 trillion from 2017.

E-commerce companies also offer various of cashback to customers who pay their orders with e-wallets, to increase the usage of e-wallets as well as to promote the cashless program.

By purchasing via e-commerce, it would help sellers to increase their credibility as well as their platform. Online shopping will absolutely be simpler and safer with great credibility, closed Samuel.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1220140/ministry-online-shopping-safer-via-marketplace-than-social-media