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  • BookMeds invited to move into Malaysia

    BookMeds invited to move into Malaysia

    Hyderabad-based startup BookMeds, which allows customers across India to order medicines online and have them delivered from their nearest pharmacy, may move into Malaysia.

    Launched in December 2013, BookMeds is now the third-largest online pharmacy chain after Apollo and Medplus. With a presence across 18 cities, it serves more than 15,000 customers and 400-plus pharmacies.

    Now BookMeds has been chosen by the Malaysian government’s Magic Accelerator program to explore entry into Malaysia.

    “The pharma-retail model in Malaysia is similar to that of India, offering BookMeds a great opportunity,” says BookMeds founder/CEO Mohammed Abubakr.

    Apart from finding workspace and accommodation, Magic provides advice on setting up a working model for Malaysia. “Initially, we will be targeting the urban population of Kuala Lumpur, then expand across Malaysia,” says Abubakr.

    Meanwhile, BookMeds is in discussions with venture firms to raise $2 million for its continuing expansion across India, with more than 50 cities as targets. Previously, the company raised seed funding from Flipkart VP Ravi Krishnaswamy and Xtream IT CEO Javed Sikander, along with angel funding from Back Office Associates CEO Krish Datta.

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  • Hong Kong consumers favour saving over fun

    Hong Kong consumers favour saving over fun

    Hong Kong consumers lead the world for their saving and investment mindset, while savers outnumber fun-lovers overall in Asia Pacific.

    Market research company GFK has found that 54 per cent of online consumers in Hong Kong “disagree completely” or “disagree somewhat” with the notion of enjoying life today and worrying about savings and investments later.

    At the other end of the scale, China has the highest proportion of consumers of the APAC countries surveyed (38 per cent) who favour having fun now, followed by Australians at 32 per cent.

    GFK polled more than 27,000 internet users across 22 countries, including Australia, China, Hong Kong, Korea and Japan, to find how strongly they agree or disagree with the statement “I want to enjoy life today and will worry about savings and investments later”.

    Internationally, people in favour of saving slightly outnumber the “have fun now” respondents – but the numbers are very close. Hong Kong stands out as the only state where more than half of the online population puts up its hand for saving.

    Though 33 per cent of women internationally are happy to worry about financial security later, 40 per cent disagree. Men, however, are more evenly split with 36 per cent agreeing and 35 per cent disagreeing.

    Respondents in their 20s are the highest percentage of fun-lovers of any age group, with 41 per cent happy to worry about saving later. Teenagers (15 to 19 years old) and those in their 30s come next, almost equal at 37 and 36 per cent respectively. Of respondents in their 50s and older, 26 per cent also agree with living for today.

    Meanwhile, the numbers with a “save now” attitude increase fairly steadily with each age group, starting at 34 per cent for both teenagers and those in their 20s, and peaks at 43 per cent of those in their 50s, and 42 per cent of those older.

    “These findings give financial service brands a useful, top-level picture of the differences in attitude toward the concept of savings and investments across countries, age groups and genders,” says GFK APAC chief commercial officer Frans Janssen.

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  • Is Growth For Luxury Brands in China Over?

    Is Growth For Luxury Brands in China Over?

    China and the Chinese played a primary role in the growth of the luxury sector in the past decade. But what was once a boon for luxury goods brands is now turning around.

    Chinese consumers account for the largest portion (31 percent) of global luxury spending, up from only 1 percent in 2000, according to a study by consulting firm Bain & Company. And in the past decade, thanks to China and Chinese shoppers abroad, the luxury goods market worldwide grew by 72 percent in size.

    luxury goods

    (Statista)

    “The relentless expansion of the domestic economy that fueled China’s voracious appetite for the finer things in life has slowed,” Exane BNP Paribas analyst Luca Solca.

    “This only compounds the chilling effect that the government’s anti-corruption campaign has had on demand for luxury fashion and fine jewelry.”

    Many luxury goods brands opened up store after store to tap the Chinese market. The experts are now debating whether they are too exposed to China.

    In his analysis, Solca looked at whether each brand is over- or underexposed to the Chinese market based on the number of stores they have. Accordingly, Versace is the most over-exposed brand with 22 percent of its stores based in China. Moncler, Tod’s, and Dolce&Gabbana are among the overexposed brands as well.

    The only large brands underexposed to China are Hermes, Tiffany, and Michael Kors. And these brands still have some retail expansion opportunity in China, according to Solca.

    (Source: Exane BNP Paribas analysis, RE-Analystics, Business of Fashion)

    (Exane BNP Paribas analysis, RE-Analytics, Business of Fashion)

    Sales of luxury products in the mainland have started to slow down after Chinese regime leader Xi Jinping launched his political anti-corruption campaign in 2013. Many of the Chinese officials and their numerous cronies and associates notorious for using luxury items for bribes stopped shopping for those items.

    A slowdown in the Chinese economy since mid-2015 was the second blow for luxury brands. Some brands have already started closing stores in China.

    “A corollary to the drop in domestic sales is a reduction of the store footprint by most brands, with a greater focus on fewer, larger, and better-located stores” Bain & Company stated in its report on China’s luxury market in 2015.

    Louis Vuitton, which is the most valuable luxury brand in the world, closed six stores and opened two new stores in China in 2015. And the company recently announced the closure of two additional stores located in Shanghai and Shanxi.

    Meanwhile, Gucci closed five stores in China, Burberry closed two stores, and Prada closed four stores in 2015, according to the Bain report. Due to collapsing demand in China, brands are expected to shut more stores across the country in coming months.

    Adding to the industry’s woes, publicly traded luxury goods companies announced weaker than expected results in April 2016, caused by slowing Chinese tourism in Europe. Burberry Group Plc, Prada SpA,Kering SA, and LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE all reported disappointing results following terror attacks in Europe.

    According to Bruno Lannes, a Bain partner based in Shanghai, luxury brands should place greater emphasis on exclusive and fashionable collections, digital platform engagement and digital content, as well as pricing, in order to remain competitive in rough times.

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  • Tesla Opens 17th Experience Store In China

    Tesla Opens 17th Experience Store In China

    U.S.-based electric car maker Tesla has opened a new experience center, which is the company’s largest experience center in North China and its fifth owned sales site in Beijing.

    Tesla will reportedly build ten new stores in China in 2016. At the same time, the company will stick to a direct sales model, which is the core model of Tesla. At present, Tesla’s new cars need to be booked via its official website and the cars will be delivered to physical stores.

    So far, Tesla has opened 17 experience centers in China, covering North China, East China, and South China. Those experience centers are mainly located in first-tier cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, and some are in Hangzhou, Chengdu, and Xi’an.

    Zhu Xiaotong, head of Tesla China, said that the company will continue to develop within the market of first-tier cities in the future. On one hand, the potential of those super cities has not been fully explored and they can still digest Tesla’s capacity; on the other hand, it is complicated to expand into a new city. Therefore, Tesla will seek stable development based on existing sites.

    During the opening ceremony of this new store, Tesla’s new Model S also made its debut in China.

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  • Awakening giant: E-commerce in China

    Awakening giant: E-commerce in China

    With the largest population and the most Internet users of any country in the world and the rise of its middle class, it is not surprising that China is also the world’s largest and fastest-growing e-commerce market. However, capitalizing on this huge market is becoming increasingly difficult for a variety of reasons.

    Recently, McKinsey, the consulting giant, released a new report on this burgeoning market that holds “enormous potential”.

    A growing market

    Two years ago, China’s online retail market overtook the United States’ online retail market. In 2015, China’s online retail market was approximately USD $630 billion of sales, the world’s largest and nearly 80 percent bigger than the US’.

    E-commerce in China accounts for 13.5 percent of all of its retail spending.  Although in the near term Chinese e-commerce is forecast to increase significantly, McKinsey’s survey shows that companies need to prepare for major changes in the Chinese market.

    Major changes coming

    From new customer segments to new product categories and sales channels, China’s online market is set for huge future growth. Representing 30 percent of total retail sales, the categories of consumer electronics and small appliances are well-established online categories, as is apparel.

    On the other hand, Food (including packaged and fresh food), is a category that faces more challenges and opportunities. Though 50 percent of respondents have purchased some food online, online spending represents only five percent of the total food spending.

    The category of food holds promise for companies that can attract consumers to do their regular grocery shopping online stand to capture a lot of business.

    Online-to-Offline (O2O)

    Consumers in China are accustomed to buying through O2O services companies—they are attracted to the website or app, then buy offline. The top sectors for O2O seem to be travel, dining, and mobility, where respondents who use O2O vendors report spending much more than they did before.

    Huge Opportunities

    McKinsey’s survey of China’s digital consumers tells us that growth in e-commerce and O2O is shifting to new areas. “Succeeding in this market is a matter of keeping pace with changes that are playing out across geographies, product categories, and channels.”

    The opportunities are huge for companies willing to look closely into these aspects of the market to find them, then move quickly to take advantage of them before their competitors can.

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  • Pokemon cafe to open in Singapore next month

    Pokemon cafe to open in Singapore next month

    Singapore will be the first country in South-east Asia to have its own Pokemon cafe, albeit only for some two months.

    The cafe, which will run from May 27 to July 31, will be located on the fourth floor of Bugis Junction. During this time, the Pokemon cafe will be temporarily taking over the retail space of Everything With Fries at #04-05, said Parco in a press statement on Monday (April 25).

    Besides Pokemon-themed food, the cafe will also be selling some limited edition merchandise, the retailer said. Photo sessions with Pikachu will also be available.

    Parco said the cafe will be a reproduction of the one that ran in Shibuya, Tokyo from January to March last year.

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  • Samsung Gear 360 Camera Goes On Sale In South Korea

    Samsung Gear 360 Camera Goes On Sale In South Korea

    The new Samsung Gear 360 VR camera is now available to buy in South Korea an we finally have some confirmation on how much it will cost.

    The Gear 360 is now available in KRW 399,300 which is around $350 at the current exchange rate, Samsung has not announced an international pricing for the device as yet, although it is expected to be around the $350 mark in the US when it launches.

    Samsung are now selling the device online in South Korea from today, it will, also be made available in more than 450 retail stores in the country on the 1st of May.

    The Samsung Gear 360 is designed to record 360 degree videos and also snap 360 degree photos, it has two cameras on on the front and one on the back and it can snap 25.9 megapixel photos and record video at a 3840 x 1920 resolution.

    The video below is a 360 degree video that was shot using the camera and it shows what the device is capable of.

    As yet Samsung have not given an exact launch date for the device in the US and Europe, as soon as we get some more information on when it will be made available, we will let you guys know.

  • LF Logistics opens giant Singapore e-commerce facility

    LF Logistics opens giant Singapore e-commerce facility

    LF Logistics has opened a 1-million-square-foot logistics facility in Singapore, the largest automated and customs bonded distribution warehouse in the city state that will target surging e-commerce growth in Asia.

    The nine-story center is located in West Jurong and is the company’s largest distribution facility in Southeast Asia, able to store up to 130,000 pallets with a throughput of 550 pallets per hour, aimed at meeting the fast-changing needs of brands and retailers in the region.

    “Our logistics business has been a bright spot with double-digit growth,” said Spencer Fung, the CEO of Li & Fung group. He did not provide an investment amount.

    According to the recent Asia Pacific Online Retail Forecast, 2015 To 2020, total online retail revenue will nearly double in Asia Pacific from $733 billion in 2015 to $1.4 trillion in 2020, a compound annual growth rate of 14.3 percent over the next five years.

    The total online retail revenues in just five markets of Asia Pacific — China, India, Japan, South Korea and Australia — surpass the combined figure for online retail in the U.S. and Western Europe combined.

    Joseph Phi, president of LF Logistics, said cross-border trade was expected to rise even faster with the establishment of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Economic Community and the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership.

    “Our new logistics facility is well positioned to serve Singapore, as well as the broader Asia region and beyond. We see this facility as a gateway to the world,” he said.

    Although China dominates the e-commerce headlines, Southeast Asia is one of the markets of the future, said Steven Li, director of strategic partnerships for Cainiao, the logistics platform of Chinese online giant Alibaba Group.

    “Alibaba merged with Lazada recently, the largest online marketplace in Southeast Asia, and we believe the e-commerce market in the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand will explode in two or three years,” he said at the Cargo Facts Asia conference in Hong Kong.

    Following the opening of the LF Logistics facility, Beh Swan Gin, chairman of the Singapore Economic Development Board, also highlighted the potential of the region.

    “The burgeoning middle class in Southeast Asia will drive consumer demand for more sophisticated products and services,” he said. “This new LF Logistics facility in Singapore is well-placed to address this opportunity. It will also enable the company to harness Singapore’s strong base of supply chain expertise to build differentiating competencies in e-commerce and omni-channel logistics.”

    Singapore Post has been quick to jump on the e-commerce train, and over the past two years, the group has been ramping up its regional logistics capabilities with new or expanded facilities, including the development of a $145 million fully integrated regional e-commerce logistics hub in Singapore that is expected to start operating in mid-2016. SingPost currently has more than 20 warehousing and fulfilment centers in the region.

    Alibaba Group has invested more than $200 million in a partnership with SingPost through a series of initiatives aimed at expanding its e-commerce logistics platform across Asia-Pacific. Alibaba increased its equity stake in the group to 14.51 percent.

    In a second initiative, Alibaba last year acquired a 34 percent stake in SingPost subsidiary Quantium Solutions International for $68 million, with SingPost holding the majority 66 percent share. QSI is a provider of end-to-end e-commerce logistics, warehouse and fulfilment services in Asia Pacific with a network spanning 10 countries.

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  • Indonesian ride-hailing firm Go-Jek needs more funds in market fight-CEO

    Indonesian ride-hailing firm Go-Jek needs more funds in market fight-CEO

    Indonesian online ride-hailing service Go-Jek is in talks with potential investors to raise fresh funds to expand the business, as the heavy subsidies it gives to drivers to keep rates competitive are unsustainable in the long run, its chief executive said on Friday.

    Go-Jek, a play on the local word for motorbike taxis, has become popular among commuters on the traffic-clogged streets of Jakarta as its phone app removes much of the hassle of finding a driver and negotiating fares.

    Go-Jek, which has a network of more than 200,000 motorbike taxi drivers, is battling aggressively with other ride-hailing apps such as Grab and Uber [UBER.UL], driving rates lower to gain market share in the country of 250 million people.

    But Go-Jek cannot afford to continue relying on subsidies as “you end up where you run out of money”, Go-Jek founder Nadiem Makarim told on the sidelines of an e-commerce industry conference in Jakarta.

    Raising funds from investors to expand the business is part of the solution, the Harvard Business School graduate said, adding that several venture capital and private equity firms have expressed an interest in Go-Jek because of its size and potential.

    Founded in 2010, Go-Jek has since increased its services to food deliveries, cleaning and even massages. The company, which already operates in big Indonesian cities like Bandung and Surabaya, also plans to broaden its reach and add more drivers.

    Its ambition, however, has been met with regulatory obstacles and strong resistance from established taxi operators such as PT Blue Bird Tbk and PT Express Transindo Utama Tbk.

    Taxi drivers’ protests turned violent in the Indonesian capital last month, when they called for ride-hailing apps to be banned. Government ministers had also said the tech firms should be subject to the same regulatory and tax requirements as conventional public transportation companies.

    Yet Go-Jek’s Makarim told a packed conference that regulations and demonstrations were not his “biggest headaches”.

    “For me, the number-one challenge is building something to scale,” he said. “It’s the technology part that I think is the hardest, it’s what keeps me up at night.”

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  • Indonesia AirAsia to Go Public

    Indonesia AirAsia to Go Public

    Budget airliner PT Indonesia AirAsia—the subsidiary of Malaysian AirAsia Berhad—is preparing to hold an initial public offering on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in late 2017 or early 2018. Before going public, the airline will seek to improve its finances.

    “We are improving our financial performance. We cannot say yet what the improvements are,” president director Sunu Widyatmoko told yesterday.

    He did say that the IPO proceeds will be used to increase AirAsia’s number of fleet and flights.

    Based on the financial statements of AirAsia Berhad, which owns 49 percent stake in Indonesia AirAsia, the subsidiary posted negative performances last year with revenues dropping 37 percent to Rp5.02 trillion.

    The main reason for the income decline was a decrease in passengers’ volume by 22 percent.

    In December 2015, Indonesia AirAsia recorded a loss of Rp885.2 billion and a net loss of Rp2.33 trillion. It was an even bigger loss compared to 2014, when the company noted a loss of Rp635.8 billion and a net loss of Rp883.5 billion.

    The airliner also recorded a foreign exchange loss of Rp1.27 trillion last year, which prompted its Malaysian parent company to inject an additional capital of Rp2.05 trillion in quarter three, in the form of perpetual capital securities.

    Sunu said that another cause for last year’s major loss was the Flight QZ8501 disaster. The plane crashed while en route from Surabaya to Singapore, claiming the lives of 155 passengers and seven crew members.

    AirAsia Berhad CEO Tony Fernandes said the two main reasons why Indonesia AirAsia needs to become a listed company is to improve transparency and corporate management, and to allow Indonesian investors to own the airliner’s shares.

    Fernandes also said in Jakarta earlier this week that Indonesia AirAsia had gone through rough times last year, but the company now aims to leave that past behind and focus on business expansion.

    In mid-2015, Indonesia AirAsia is one of 13 airlines ordered by the Transportation Ministry to raise capital due to its negative equity. At that time, Indonesia AirAsia’s equity was minus Rp1.32 trillion, with liabilities amounting to Rp6.15 trillion and an assets value total of Rp4.83 trillion.

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  • Citi Indonesia posts Rp 633 billion profit

    Citi Indonesia posts Rp 633 billion profit

    Citi Indonesia recorded Rp633 billion ( US$48 million ) in net profits in the first quarter this year, a 12 percent rise from Rp 567 billion in the same period last year.

    The profit growth was driven by a 10 percent increase in net interest income, as also reflected in the bank’s total assets as of March this year that reached Rp76.5 trillion, a 6 percent year-on-year ( yoy ) surge from the corresponding period last year.

    Citi Indonesia chief executive officer Batara Sianturi said,”We enjoyed higher quality of assets in the first quarter this year with our net non-performing loan [NPL] ratio staying as low as 1.15 percent,” adding that the bank’s loan loss provision ( CKPN ) had also improved by 25 percent to Rp 131 billion.

    Citi Indonesia also fared well, as seen in the third-party funds that reached Rp 51.2 trillion, a 4 percent increase yoy with the current account and savings account ( CASA ) taking the lion’s share of 71 percent and therefore contributing to the sustained net interest income.

    The bank also set aside a minimum capital requirement of 28.86 percent as of March, the company said in a statement.

    The bank’s financing ratio for small and medium enterprises account for 9 percent of the total credit as of March this year.

    “We will continue supporting Indonesia’s economic growth by implementing fund disbursements in accordance with the government’s priority programs, including in the infrastructure sector and other industries that bolster exports and loans being channeled to small and medium enterprises.”

    Last year, Citi Indonesia garnered Rp 1.5 trillion in net profits with an asset increase of 14.6 percent yoy.

    In the digital arena, the bank also developed innovations and services by launching four smart branches focusing on digital banking solutions.

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  • Use Data To Show Customers They’re More Than Just A Number

    Use Data To Show Customers They’re More Than Just A Number

    Companies claim that customers aren’t “just a number to us,” but that’s more than a catchphrase for number-crunching analytics firm 84.51°.

    The company is the recent spinoff of former Kroger-Tesco analytics joint venture dunnhumby, now wholly owned by US supermarket giant The Kroger Co. Renamed for the longitude of its Cincinnati headquarters and rebuilt from the ground up in 2015, 84.51° now focuses much of its activities on Kroger customers and partners, such as global consumer packaged goods companies. It believes that its core competitive differentiator is not technology, but rather its focus on helping customers build long-term relationships with their consumers and other customers.  (The company says its new name also represents the “longitudinal view” it takes on understanding customer behavior.)

    Most retailers rely on segmentation analysis to determine which promotions to send consumers, creating blocks of homogenous groups of people (such as single-parent households in middle-class neighborhoods). But 84.51° uses analytics differently, eschewing what CIO Yael Cosset calls an “archaic” approach in favor of a much more relevant, personalized one.

    “We think of it as a snowflake, because we believe no two individuals are the same, and hence we should not engage them the same way, send them the same promotions,” he says.

    So, for example, you might send a promotion for a particular kind of bottled water to consumers who have already demonstrated an affinity for that kind of product, but you wouldn’t send them a promotion for a cola drink just because the supplier is offering one. This is the kind of commitment necessary to develop long-term relationships with consumers, Cosset says.

    The company goes beyond knowing which consumers like to buy bottled water or condiments; it tries to identify which ones prefer sparkling water to flat, or Dijon mustard to steak sauce. “You can’t do that with segmentation,” Cosset says.

    That approach requires investing in the development of sophisticated algorithms that enables 84.51° to analyze millions of data points about each individual consumer, including their reactions to previous promotions.

    Using Oracle Exadata and Oracle Big Data Appliance, teams of analysts and data scientists at 84.51° leverage a combination of conventional statistical packages and more advanced machine learning algorithms to generate the analytics foundation required to deliver personalization at scale.

    A single campaign uses dozens of targeting models in combination with complex optimization algorithms to send the right offers to the right people. Often, offers are based on contextual cues gathered in real time and are specifically targeted for each customer.

    “We spend a huge amount of time, money, and resources to really get solid sustainable data assets,” Cosset says. “Our data asset is a competitive advantage.”

    Retailers cannot expect to build long-term, sustainable relationships with customers if they base the terms of those relationships on financial incentives alone, Cosset says. “They’re transactional, not relationship-based,” he says. “The real differentiator is what you do with the data—how do you provide real and relevant value to every single customer, how do you engage them the way that matters most to them, how do you create this personal relationship.”

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  • Garuda Indonesia Urged to Strengthen Domestic Market

    Garuda Indonesia Urged to Strengthen Domestic Market

    Indonesian Tourism Minister Arief Yahya has told national carrier PT Garuda Indonesia to continue strengthening domestic market due to its huge potentials.

    “Our domestic market is very strong. Last year, there were 255 million visits by domestic tourists. This year, the target is 260 million visits. If that amount is multiplied by Rp. 1 million, it means Rp260 trillion circulated,” Arief said in Jakarta on Friday (29/4).

    Arief added that once the domestic market is strengthened, it would be easy to develop international market.

    In comparison with domestic market of neighboring countries, Aried added, Indonesia is much bigger. He cited Singapore, which does not have domestic market or domestic market in Malaysia that is not too big.

    The Minister added that that the Government is gearing up to meet the target of 20 million tourists visiting Indonesia in 2019.

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  • The 1872 Clipper Tea Company brings the world’s most luxurious teas to Singapore

    The 1872 Clipper Tea Company brings the world’s most luxurious teas to Singapore

    Check out its new flagship store at ION Orchard.

    The 1872 Clipper Tea Company is bringing the artisan tea experience to Singapore with the opening of its 743-square feet flagship store at ION Orchard.

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    Founded by Sri Lankan entrepreneur Balage Porolis de Silva, The 1872 Clipper Tea serves an array of teas from different ranges, namely Essentials, Herbals and Blossoms, Tropics, Luxuries, Travel and Heritage.

    “We aim to kindle curiosity for tea by providing rich, exploratory experiences that bring people together. We want to trigger and engage the different senses of our customers to provide that experience,” said Rehan Amarasuriya, Director of The 1872 Clipper Tea Company.

    De Silva first established a jewellery boutique in Singapore in 1872. Apart from selling gems, the boutique also served the best Ceylon tea to customer, as having tea is a daily ritual for relaxation and enjoyment in Sri Lanka.

    The 1872 Clipper Tea’s name pays tribute to the historic Clipper ships that raced to carry chests of the freshest teas to all corners of the world, at the same time acknowledging the year the company planted our roots in Singapore.

    Besides serving a variety of hot teas, this takeaway retail concept would also include a range of specialty teas and tea-infused pastries and desserts.

    “We want to break the traditional mindset that tea should be consumed hot. There are endless possibilities as to how tea can be enjoyed,” Rehan says.

     

  • Indonesian online retailer Bhinneka plans IPO to fund expansion

    Indonesian online retailer Bhinneka plans IPO to fund expansion

    Indonesian online retailer PT Bhinneka Mentari Dimensi is planning an initial public offering (IPO) in 2018 to widen its reach, one of its directors said on Thursday, as the e-commerce battleground heats up in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy.

    The e-commerce market in the country of 250 million people is ripe with potential but it is fragmented and comes with complex regulatory and logistical barriers.

    “Our objective to go public is for scaling,” director Andi Boediman said, adding that the company plans to expand its store network and strengthen its supply chain while investing in technology and marketing.

    The company operates online through Bhinneka.com, with customers able to have purchases delivered to their homes or its physical stores, which also serve as retail outlets for the electronic goods specialist.

    Bhinneka is in a good position to attract investors, Boediman told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Jakarta.

    “We are an online retailer that is focused and reasonably sizeable,” Boediman said, adding that revenue “at least doubled” last year and that he expects a strong performance in 2016.

    Bhinneka decided to pursue an IPO in Indonesia because it can be a dominant player on its home ground, Boediman added. He declined to disclose how much the IPO is expected to raise or the company’s financial figures.

    The company’s domestic rivals include SoftBank-backed Tokopedia, Blibli and Indonesian conglomerate Lippo Group’s MatahariMall.com. Lippo is also considering an IPO for its e-commerce business, a director said in February

    The Indonesian market is still growing while being supported by a large consumer base, said David Rimbo, managing partner for transaction advisory services at Ernst & Young in Indonesia.

    “I think the timing is right for Indonesian players to actually realize basically decent valuations,” he said.

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