Indonesia's regeneration variables? Where is TikTok Shop going?

Not long ago, in order to promote the development of its domestic market, the Indonesian government issued a ban on social e-commerce, comprehensively restricting Tuke Shop’s activities in Indonesia, forcing all Tuke e-commerce stores in the country to shut down.

This created a huge market gap in Indonesia’s e-commerce sector for a time.

It was precisely this gap that allowed the Indian platform Roposo, also a short video entertainment app, to see an opportunity.

On November 1, after a five-month test in Indonesia, Roposo officially launched, less than a month after Tuke Shop was shut down in Indonesia.

Judging from this timing, although it cannot be said that the Indian platform Roposo had long received word and was preparing to enter and reap the benefits, it does show that Roposo is clearly aiming to compete with Tuke for the Indonesian market.

For a time, the Indonesian market was full of turbulence and uncertainty.

And this scenario is strikingly similar to the Indian market in the second half of 2020.

In July 2020, due to geopolitical conflicts, the Indian government ordered a ban on 59 Chinese apps, including Tuke and WeChat. At the time, Tuke was developing rapidly in India, with 200 million registered users. However, after being banned, it could only watch as the huge market gap it left was quickly divided up by numerous competitors. Among these competitors, Roposo was undoubtedly the most successful.

What is the background of the Indian platform Roposo?

Roposo, known as the “Tuke of India,” was founded in India in 2012 and quickly made a name for itself in the local market. This short video sharing app is very popular among Indian users, and after Tuke was banned, it attracted a large number of former Tuke users, with downloads quickly soaring to over 80 million.

It is worth mentioning that when the ban was issued, Roposo had only 200 employees, but now the app plans to hire 10,000 employees in the next two years and launch a global expansion plan.

In addition to short video content sharing, Roposo has also explored the e-commerce sector. The platform has launched e-commerce shopping features, generating over 100,000 orders per day, with more than 80 million active users.

Roposo also plans to cooperate with Shopify, allowing platform users to place Shopify product links in videos for promotion and traffic generation. This move shows that Roposo is further expanding its market share through e-commerce and providing users with a more diversified shopping experience.

It can be seen that Roposo has huge potential for future development.

Now, due to Indonesia’s social e-commerce ban, Tuke has once again been affected. Roposo has entered Indonesia at just this time, attempting to replicate its success in the Indian market.

This is undoubtedly a huge challenge for Tuke. Where should it go from here?

The picture shows Zhou Shouzi

Perhaps, only opening “local stores” is the tacit understanding among platforms in Indonesia

It is reported that Tuke CEO Zhou Shouzi recently met with Indonesian President Joko Widodo to discuss new e-commerce business. Indonesia’s Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs, Teten Masduki, revealed that Tuke e-commerce may return to the Indonesian market in two different forms in the future.

The first form is to “change its appearance,” first registering with the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), then obtaining a permit from the Ministry of Trade (Permendag), and opening a new e-commerce platform in Indonesia.

The second form is to cooperate with other local Indonesian e-commerce companies and operate in the Indonesian market as an affiliated platform.

But in either case, it is a fact that Tuke and Indonesia will not easily “break up.”

Because Tuke Shop previously generated high monthly profits in Indonesia, including the livelihoods and survival of 6 million local small and medium-sized businesses. With such interests tied together, neither side is likely to let go.

So after the turbulence caused by Indonesia’s new e-commerce policy, what form Tuke Shop will take when it reappears remains to be seen.