Things you need to know about Bukalapak
If we were to say Bukalapak is a “unicorn” you would wonder what we mean. Everyone knows that unicorns have a place in the hearts of all children, but we are not talking about the actual mythical creatures. In finance, a “unicorn” is a startup company that is privately held and valued at over $1billion. Bukalapak are one of the largest e-commerce companies in Indonesia. Although companies like Lazada and Shopee do have a lot more written about them in the international press and on brand safety blogs, they really are making important moves in the e-commerce space.
The history of Bukalapak
In 2010, three friends from the Bandung Institute of technology started Bukalapak. One of the main reasons they started it was to make the process of online selling accessible to everyone and not just people that had startup capital. They had huge success in the first year when fold up bicycles became popular and were very cheap to sell on the platform. This led to a significant increase in their users. Their financial growth has been something all startups can only dream about. They had an initial round of finance from an incubator in 2010, then more funding from similar venture capital supporters like GREE Ventures. They still reported losses in 2016 and in 2019 they laid off staff to maximize efficiency, but they are still managing to raise capital and raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund last year.
What do Bukalapak sell?
Bukalapak may have first found popularity with folding bicycles, but they have a lot more on offer now. Indonesians can get their hands on clothes, make-up, health, baby items, tickets to events, computers, cellphones, electronics (which are very popular in the SEA region) and bikes and motors. They even have things for sale like inflatable boats!
How do you use Bukalapak?
Like many other online shopping platforms in the SEA region, to a sign in you can either just sign up using your details and then sign in, or you can log in quickly with Facebook or Google. It isn’t an auction online marketplace like eBay, so what you see is the actual price of the item. Interestingly, like Lazada they also offer installment payments and their own wallet. Bank Mandri’s “clickpay” is also a payment option on the platform. Standard debit and credit cards are also a payment option for Bukapalak, but, interestingly, you cannot pay in cash like you can on Lazada.
What is in store in the future for Bukalapak?
In December 2019, one of the co-founders abruptly quit. The new CEO is an outsider of the company. The official statement said it aims to change the management of the company. They are still running at a loss and faced more than a few struggles in 2019. Still not able to break a profit, they had to slash their workforce by 10% in 2019. It looks like although they are not struggling for funding, they will be looking to at least break even in 2020.
What are the risks Bukalapak?
Like many other e-commerce platforms, Bukalapak is not shielded from counterfeit issues. As well as having an issue with counterfeits being sold on their site, Bukalapak also have the issue that people are promoting them on Facebook. In fact, Bukalapak are the third most promoted site on Facebook when it comes to online sales. Bukalapak is a social platform like many of the others than have sprung up in regions where smartphone usage is prevalent. If you products are being sold here, it would be worth paying close attention ito your social media monitoring.
Are you worried about any aspects of your brand on social platforms? Our digital brand protection service can help you.
For more information, go to www.globaleyez.net
globaleyez GmbH — protect. brand. distribution. globaleyez is an expert service provider in Brand Protection, Distribution Control and Retail Monitoring. With a broad variety of services, including market monitoring, store-checks, test purchases, product authentication, surveys and consulting, we help our clients to have an attentive eye on their legitimate supply chain, on illegal or non-authorized distribution. Our network of globaleyez specialists spans all major and the most critical markets — with focus on Europe, The Americas and East Asia.
