Aerial view of Jakarta’s Central Business District at dusk. By Hani Santosa @ Shutterstock.com

While Amazon has rapidly dominated the e-commerce market in the United States, America isn’t the only place e-commerce is revolutionizing the way people shop. Cheap, internet connected electronic devices have opened the entire world to e-commerce, and consumers everywhere are taking advantage of the efficiency of shopping online. Indonesia’s Jakarta Post explains the surge in online shopping there, writing:

Global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company has forecast fast growth for e-commerceย in Indonesia, predicting sales to reach US$65 billion annually by 2022, eight times the $8 billion recorded in 2017.

โ€œOur research suggests some 30 percent of online commerce โ€“ sales worth US$2.5 billion in 2017 โ€“ is additional spending that would not have existed if not for online commerce,โ€ said Simon Wintels, a partner of McKinsey, in a statement received on Monday.

McKinsey noted that the buzz around year-end online shopping festivals โ€“ notably Singleโ€™s Day, or November 11 (11.11), and December 12 (12.12) โ€“ reflected the potential of online commerce in Indonesia.

McKinsey estimated that e-commerce could facilitate up to $26 billion in new exports, or equal to 40 percent of manufacturing exports today. It also identified that jewelry exports in particular had benefited from online commerce.

โ€œThe interest of major, global consumers reflects the growing demand for Indonesian products from international markets,โ€ said Phillia Wibowo, McKinsey Indonesiaโ€™s managing partner.

โ€œMore sectors need to take notes from the jewelry sector because overall Indonesian exports through online commerce remain low, with many local merchants yet to tap into international markets.โ€

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