Indonesian e-commerce giant Tokopedia launches new Islamic marketplace to meet increasing halal demand

JAKARTA - Indonesian tech unicorn Tokopedia launched its Islamic marketplace in early November in response to demand from users, Head of Tokopedia Salam Garri Juanda told Salaam Gateway.

The company that started in 2009 handled 73 trillion rupiah ($5.18 billion) in transactions last year. In a study conducted by a division of Universitas Indonesia, the tech company's gross merchandise value (GMV) is estimated to triple this year to 222 trillion rupiah.

Internal research found that more than 80% of Tokopedia users have the need to buy food labelled halal, and more than 85% shop in the Muslim fashion category.

"At this moment, we are focusing on helping Indonesians fulfil their various daily necessities from a wide and comprehensive selection of trusted Muslim-friendly products and services through Tokopedia Salam,” said Garri.

Tokopedia said it's too soon to give details of how much the Islamic business segment is worth, or give comparison to other players in the industry.

Its Islamic marketplace currently sells more than 21 million Muslim-friendly products from more than 700,000 sellers across all categories including food, beverages, fashion, beauty, and umrah packages.

The e-commerce giant is also collaborating with a number of social institutions, including NU Care-LAZISNU, Rumah Yatim, Dompet Dhuafa, and the National Zakat Board (BAZNAS) to enable users to donate digitally and use the platform for other Islamic social finance and charitable purposes.

Tokopedia Salam provides Shariah-compliant payment methods, including from banks BRI Syariah, Bank Muamalat and Mandiri Syariah.

Shariah-sensitive investors can also access options such as Tokopedia Emas and Tokopedia Reksa Dana Syariah.

“We hope the launch of Tokopedia Salam will assist anyone from all walks of life in finding a variety of trusted Muslim-friendly choices and simultaneously supporting the democratisation of the Shariah economy in Indonesia through technology,” said Garri.

Tokopedia most recently won Series G funding in 2018 from SoftBank Vision Fund and Alibaba Group. The company is widely estimated to be valued at $7 billion.

($1 = 14,079.20 Indonesian rupiah)

(Reporting by Yosi Winosa; Editing by Emmy Abdul Alim emmy.abdulalim@salaamgateway.com)

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*This story was corrected throughout on Nov 19 as Tokopedia did not give any market sizing and growth projections for its Tokopedia Salam