Started as a single e-commerce site that focuses on community, BukaLapak is now a holding company that holds 3 e-commerce sites: BukaLapak.com, HijUp.com and Scallope.com. Today, their group CEO Ahmad Zaky announces the online payment platform they finally launched after a long while.
Launched in mid 2010, BukaLapak acquired popularity among cyclist that uses their e-commerce platform to buy and sell stuff with monetary transactions done offline (Cash on delivery). With 35.000 merchants on its platform, BukaLapak is taking serious measures and investment into something they call “transaction-based e-commerce”. When asked about the reason they decided to go with online payment, Zaky emphasise on minimising risk and maximising visitors’ experience in doing transaction through their platform.
Besides launching online payment and escrow feature, BukaLapak also launch a feature that allows potential buyer to bargain with the seller, they call this feature “Nego” short for “negotiate”. This bargaining feature is essential for Indonesian users, most Indonesian users are accustomed with the habit of bargaining for things they want to buy.
Currently the e-commerce group receives over more than 60.000 visitors per day on their network of e-commerce sites, although Zaky feels it’s too early to share the number of transactions made on the site network. BukaLapak started as a subsidiary of SuitMedia, a Jakarta-based digital agency. One year after launched, the e-commerce company got funded and incubated by Batavia Incubator as their first Indonesian portfolio company.
