Charting Indonesia’s mobile commerce landscape: mobile shopping apps use & top m-commerce purchases

In mid-June, video sharing platform TikTok announced plans to scale up its e-commerce business – TikTok Shop – as it looks to invest billions of dollars into markets across Southeast Asia over the next few years.

The growth of TikTok Shop is likely to be closely watched by established e-commerce players, such as Shopee, Tokopedia, Lazada, Blibli and Bukalapak as a potential challenger in the mobile commerce / m-commerce space.

But how popular is online shopping via mobile in Indonesia currently? How does usage of different mobile shopping channels: e-commerce platform apps, retail brands own mobile apps, social media e-shops and mobile web browsers vary? And what products are Indonesia’s mobile shoppers most likely to purchase across different age groups?

How popular is mobile commerce in Indonesia?

Latest research from YouGov Surveys – using an online representative sample of >1000 Indonesian residents – show that 96% of consumers say they use their smartphone to shop online.

Significantly, over two-thirds (67%) of consumers use e-commerce platform apps for online shopping – the most popular mobile commerce channel. Meanwhile, social media e-shops are used by half (50%) of consumers in Indonesia – significantly higher than in other APAC markets like Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia.

Additionally, a quarter (25%) use mobile browsers for online shopping, while only a fifth (20%) turn to mobile apps from specific retail brands.

How popular are mobile shopping apps in Indonesia?

E-commerce platform apps are used by the majority of consumers across all major age groups, but usage is presently highest among those aged between 34-44 and 55+ years.

Retail brand shopping apps are relatively more popular among older consumers aged 45 years and above, and least popular among the youngest consumers aged 18-24.

Among consumers who use dedicated mobile shopping apps, 68% have between one to three of such apps installed on their phone, while only around an eighth have more than five such apps.

How often do consumers in Indonesia shop online via their smartphone?

Latest data from YouGov Surveys also shows that, among consumers who shop online using their smartphone, most do so either monthly or at least a couple of times a year

Close to two in five (38%) say they don’t shop online via their mobile every week, but do so at least once a month, while over a quarter (29%) go mobile shopping at least a couple of times a year.

Additionally, a fifth (21%) go mobile shopping at least once a week, while 9% do so on a daily basis.

What products do consumers in Indonesia buy using their smartphone?

Clothes, shoes and fashion apparel are the #1 most common mobile shopping purchase – more than half of Indonesia’s mobile shoppers, across different ages, say they buy such products online via their smartphone.

Personal electronics are #2 among mobile shoppers aged 18-54 (where half indicate a purchase), but rank #4 among those aged 55 years or older.

Travel bookings for hotels and flights are #2 among mobile shoppers aged 55 years and up, but rank #3 among 35-54 years and #4 among 18-34 years.

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Methodology: YouGov Surveys: Serviced provides quick survey results from nationally representative or targeted audiences in multiple markets. The data is based on surveys of adults aged 18+ years in 18 markets with sample sizes varying between 510 and 2,044 for each market. All surveys were conducted online during April 2023. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples. Learn more about YouGov Surveys: Serviced.

YouGov Profiles is based on continuously collected data and rolling surveys, rather than from a single limited questionnaire. Profiles data for Indonesia is representative of the adult online population (18 years or older), weighted by gender, age, socioeconomic class, city tier, and reflect the latest Indonesian Bureau of Statistics (BPS) population estimates. Learn more about Profiles.

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