Beijing**Client|Reporter Zhao Yuhan.
TikTok has attracted attention this year due to the ban on the Indonesian market due to new regulations. Now, by holding the local e-commerce platform Tokopedia, TikTok e-commerce has returned to the Indonesian market in time for the "Double 12".
On December 11, TikTok officially announced that it had reached an e-commerce strategic cooperation with Indonesian Goto Group. TikTok's Indonesian e-commerce business will be merged with Tokopedia, an e-commerce platform under the Goto Group, and the combined Tokopedia will be controlled by TikTok. The two parties will work together to promote the development of Indonesia's digital economy and support small and medium-sized enterprises, and the previously banned TikTok e-commerce will also be relaunched on December 12, Indonesia's National Online Shopping Day. TikTok has also pledged to invest $1.5 billion in the coming years to fund future business development.
According to public reports, Goto is Indonesia's largest Internet technology company, which owns Indonesia's local e-commerce platform Tokopedia and mobile service platform Gojek. Tokopedia is Indonesia's largest homegrown e-commerce company with a market share of 35%. Tokopedia has been in the spotlight since its inception in 2009, becoming the first technology company in Southeast Asia to raise more than US$100 million in 2014. Its total financing amount has exceeded $2.3 billion.
On September 27, the Ministry of Indonesia issued new regulations requiring TikTok to separate its e-commerce business from social **, which essentially banned TikTok's e-commerce business. Although Indonesia said that its original intention was to "protect Indonesian small and medium-sized enterprises", the decision to ban was dissatisfied by local businesses and some **. Fithra Faisal Hastiadi, an economist and former spokesperson for Indonesia's ** ministry, believes that banning TikTok e-commerce is a mistake.
Part** disclosed that officials are worried that Chinese products on TikTok pose a threat to the local economy, or the real reason why Indonesia has banned TikTok e-commerce. Indonesia's No. 1 news ** Didi.com once reported that as early as July this year, Indonesian think tank Indef criticized the "proliferation of Chinese products on TikTok" at a cabinet meeting, posing a threat to local companies; Indonesia's SME minister, Teten Masduki, has repeatedly accused Chinese companies of being too cheap to compete.
The return of TikTok e-commerce has been supported by the local **. The Jakarta Globe reported that Indonesia's first minister, Zulkifli Hasan, has recently "given the green light" to cooperation between the two sides. "Our arrangement is for social e-commerce to support Indonesia's economic growth," he added, adding that TikTok e-commerce can be a supporter of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. Since the end of November, a number of ** have changed their tunes and expressed their support for TikTok to cooperate with local enterprises. For his part, Edy Misero, secretary general of the Indonesian Association of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, said that the addition of TikTok and Tokopedia will definitely have a positive impact on businesses, especially the MSME sector.
TikTok said in a statement that it will work with the GOTO Group to provide a series of support in marketing, branding and internationalization to help local small and medium-sized businesses develop. On the day of the resumption of the launch, TikTok and Tokopedia will also jointly launch the "Buy Local Products" (Beli Lokal) campaign to help the development of local businesses in Indonesia.