Jakarta. Jakarta —Indonesia’s capital city that celebrated its 495th anniversary on June 22— is home to many online shoppers. Be it groceries or personal care, many Jakartans are doing their shopping from the comfort of their home. 

Online marketplace Tokopedia recently unveiled Jakartans’ online shopping trends throughout the first quarter of 2022. Data showed that food and beverages were among the best-selling categories for Jakarta-based Tokopedia users.

“Tokopedia notes that Food and Beverage [F&B], Personal Care, Beauty, Mom, Baby and Kids Fashion, and Fashion were among the best-selling categories in Jakarta in the first quarter of 2022, compared to the same period last year," Ekhel Chandra Wijaya, the External Communications Head at Tokopedia said in a recent press statement.

Fruit and cookie hampers and parcels, as well as grocery packages were the top-selling products in the F&B category. As for the Personal Care category, many of Jakarta’s online shoppers are seemingly into manicures and pedicures. Hand and foot masks, as well as nail cuticle oil became favorites in that  category, as reported by Tokopedia.

In the beauty category, makeup remover, eyelash and eyebrow serum were some of the most sought-after products. It should also be no surprise that facial sunblocks were popular among Jakarta’s shoppers, given the scorching-hot weather.

Baby outdoor toys, baby oil, and pregnancy milk ranked as the most purchased items in the Mom and Baby subcategory. With classes now being back in person, school socks, uniforms, and belts became the chart-topping items in the Kid’s Fashion subcategory.

As for the Women's Fashion category, a great deal of Jakarta’s online shoppers purchased bridesmaids’ dresses, crop tops, and batik outerwear on Tokopedia. Shoe inserts, cardigans, and bag accessories became popular men’s fashion items among Tokopedia users in Jakarta.

Technology to Fuel Growth

Tokopedia reported that its various initiatives had contributed to the overall growth of the online shopping trend. For instance, the Hyperlocal initiative, which employs a geo-tagging technology that has given merchants greater access to buyers in their vicinity, and vice versa. 

TopAds, an automatic advertising feature to help sellers’ products appear at the top of the Tokopedia page, enables sellers to reach more buyers and maximize sales. Tokopedia also attributed its growth to advances in artificial intelligence which provided buyers and sellers with personalized experiences tailored to the needs of each user. An example of this is the Statistik Toko feature for sellers. 

Sellers are also able to use the Tokopedia Play video streaming channel to promote their products directly to potential buyers.

“By becoming part of the GoTo Group, Indonesia's largest digital ecosystem consisting of Gojek, Tokopedia, and GoTo Financial, Tokopedia continues to leverage the existing technological synergies to simplify people's lives and enable MSMEs to achieve more," Ekhel said.

Tokopedia saw a 7 million hike in its registered merchants between 2019 and 2022. The e-commerce platform now has at least 12 million registered merchants.