Indonesia has a new e-commerce service: iPaymu, an online payment provider that will enable users to make transactions over the Internet from 137 banks operating in the country, as well as through state postal service Pos Indonesia, which has more than 4,000 outlets throughout the country.
E-commerce is slowly growing in Indonesia, with data from Bank Indonesia, the central bank, revealing that from January to October this year, a total of 9.97 million electronic transactions were made, valued at Rp 1.48 trillion ($153.6 million).
The volume of transactions from January to October represented a 113.7 percent increase from the same period in 2011. According to data from the International Data Corporation, the value of commercial transactions via the Internet in Indonesia during 2011 reached $3.4 billion.
?This data shows that the presence of online payment gateways like iPaymu are needed. Not only for small- and medium-enterprises, [but also for] well established companies or individuals,? said Riyeke Ustadiyanto, the owner and co-founder of iPaymu, in a press briefing on Thursday.
The startup provides online payment services via credit cards and ATM cards as well as electronic purchases for mobile phone credit, electronic wallets and money transfers.
Anyone that has an account with a participating Indonesian bank can use iPaymu, which is run by Inti Prima Mandiri Utama.
iPaymu will also cooperate with global online payment provider PayPal. According to Ahmed Faraz, the general manager of PayPal, the cooperation will allow the iPaymu service to connect with more than 117 million active users of PayPal in more than 190 markets globally.
iPaymu was soft launched in July 2011 and has provided various online payment services, including reloading mobile phone credit and money transfers.
The service, which is available at https://ipaymu.com, has registered 6,300 users and merchants. Next year, it expects to grow that figure to 500,000 users.
The service has also been expanded on mobile apps for Android and iOS operating systems, so that users can make transactions via smartphone to iPaymu?s 137 banking partners.
Muhamad Al Azhari
