A survey by the Association of Indonesian Internet Service Providers, or APJII, shows that more than half of Indonesia's 256.2 million people use the internet regularly and many of them use it to make purchases, for everything from books to pets, from "olshop," the local abbreviation for online shops.

Online sellers in Indonesia can be found on official platforms such as Tokopedia, Bukalapak and Blibli or semi-unofficially on social media platforms Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Though sending money using a secure third-party payment system like PayPal is still cumbersome if not impossible in the country, more Indonesian banks have started to work closely with online stores to provide easy and more convenient payment methods for their customers.

The downside? The slow-but-sure death of brick-and-mortar stores. The old adage used to say, "why stand, when you can sit?" Now Indonesians are likely to say, "why bother getting out of the house when I can just get everything I need online?"

Several malls and shopping centers in Jakarta are already struggling because they cannot compete with the ease and convenience of online shopping, and can no longer rely on walk-in customers since fewer people are coming to the stores.

Grand Serpong Mall in South Tangerang, Banten, is almost completely deserted. It had a brief busy period in 2005 but since then, merchants have been steadily leaving their shop spaces in the mall to open online stores instead. Its plight became worse when newer, bigger, more flashy malls opened nearby.

The mall's management is now thinking of converting the building into an office block.

Blok M Mall, a once busy shopping strip located under the famous Blok M bus terminal that has stood since 1992, now also looks deserted.

Shutters have come down on the shops, and many that are still open offer their goods at cut-prices. The owner of a T-shirt store in Blok M, when asked by the Jakarta Globe about having to compete with online stores, said it is like suffering from a broken heart: bloody and painful but nobody can see the scars.

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