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Indonesia E-Commerce Blibli.com Opens Amazon Go-like Cashless, Cashier-less Physical Store

Indonesia E-Commerce Blibli.com Opens Amazon Go-like Cashless, Cashier-less Physical Store
Tagar.id | Blibli Mart

Indonesian e-commerce firm Blibli launched its first offline store, called BlibliMart, in central Jakarta on Tuesday, KrAsia reported.

The shop practices cashless and cashier-less concepts. It lets customers pick up and check out items on their own by scanning product barcodes using the Blibli app, then pay via Bliblipay or GoPay.

Even so, given that unmanned stores are still a new phenomenon in Indonesia, Blibli still employs shopkeepers to assist people with transactions. The shopkeepers also assist customers with their purchases as they still need to adjust to a cashier-less shopping system.

BlibliMart store from Blibli.com uses a cashless and cashier-less shopping system, with shopkeepers ready to assist customers and check their purchases after the payment is made. Image: JP/Moch. Fiqih Prawira
BlibliMart store from Blibli.com uses a cashless and cashier-less shopping system, with shopkeepers ready to assist customers and check their purchases after the payment is made. Image: JP/Moch. Fiqih Prawira

 

“There are still a lot of questions from the customers, and there are a lot of connection problems too, so we provide free Wi-Fi for the customers," 

Fransisca Krisantia Nugraha, Blibli’s senior vice president of trade partnership, told The Jakarta Post during the store’s debut.

“Sixty-six percent of shoppers are omnichannel shoppers, shoppers that use both online and offline platforms for their shopping needs. That’s why the retail store will hopefully bring us to these omnichannel [consumers],” Fransisca added to Tech in Asia.

With the addition of retail stores, Blibli aims to triple the 313% order growth and double the 227% gross merchandise value that its grocery business posted last year, the exec said. The startup also looks to achieve 600% product growth this year, as well as an 82% merchant increase per year.

Interior BlibliMart. Foto: KOMPAS.com/ KEVIN RIZKY PRATAMA
Interior of BlibliMart. Image: KOMPAS.com/ KEVIN RIZKY PRATAMA

 

The store’s concept is similar to Amazon Go, which also offers a cashless and cashier-less experience for consumers. Unlike its US-based counterpart, however, the BlibliMart retail store still requires its customers to check out their purchases with a shopkeeper to prevent theft. The store also has on-site Blibli staff to help shoppers adjust to a cashier-less shopping system.

According to KrAsia, JD.com’s Indonesian subsidiary JD.id was the first company to establish an unmanned store in Indonesia, called JD.ID X, in 2018. Another company that is also building an omni-channel presence is beauty e-commerce platform Sociolla, which opened its first physical store in 2019.

 

Indah Gilang Pusparani

Indah is a researcher at Badan Perencanaan Pembangunan Penelitian dan Pengembangan Daerah Kota Cirebon (Regional Development Planning and Research Agency of Cirebon Municipality). She covers More international relations, tourism, and startups in Southeast Asia region and beyond. Indah graduated from MSc Development Administration and Planning from University College London, United Kingdom in 2015. She finished bachelor degree from International Relations from University of Indonesia in 2014, with two exchange programs in Political Science at National University of Singapore and New Media in Journalism at Ball State University, USA. She was awarded Diplomacy Award at Harvard World Model United Nations and named as Indonesian Gifted Researcher by Australian National University. She is Researcher at Regional Planning Board in Cirebon, West Java. She previously worked as Editor in Bening Communication, the Commonwealth Parliament Association UK, and diplomacy consulting firm Best Delegate LLC in USA. Less
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