TikTok Wants To Create Partnerships With Indonesian E-commerce Companies

Minister of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Teten Masduki (photo: dock. voi)

JAKARTA - TikTok is in talks with Indonesian e-commerce companies for possible partnerships. This is the Minister of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Teten Masduki, Monday, November 13, a month after the government banned online shopping on social media platforms.

According to Teten, TikTok has spoken to five companies including GoTo e-commerce unit, Tokopedia, Bukalapak.com.

"Several e-commerce companies in Indonesia have spoken with TikTok," he said in an interview, referring to what the company's executives revealed to him.

The Ministry of Trade has implemented TikTok for online sales last month, with the aim of protecting smaller conventional traders and ensuring user data protection.

This is a special blow to TikTok, which was forced to close its e-commerce service, TikTok Shop. TikTok has 125 million users in Indonesia.

Spokesperson for TikTok Indonesia was unable to comment.

Tokopedia declined to comment. A Bukalapak representative said the company was not aware of the conversation. Blibli did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

TikTok and YouTube are considering joining Meta to apply for an e-commerce license in Indonesia after the online shopping ban on social media platforms, said the person familiar with the discussion.

The app, which is owned by Chinese tech giant Bytedance, is also in talks with local e-commerce players, they added.

Teten, one of TikTok Shop's loudest critics before the ban, said President Joko Widodo had assigned him the task of formulating rules on e-commerce.

He plans to meet TikTok's Chief Executive, Shou Zichew, last month.

"I want them to be committed to having a sustainable business and not harming domestic MSME products," said Teten.

Teten also said that he had proposed further regulation for the flow of imported goods to the country, but gave no details.

Before stopping operating, TikTok Shop delivered around 3 million packages a day in Indonesia. Indonesia's e-commerce market is expected to grow to around 160 billion US dollars (Rp2,509 trillion) by 2030 from 62 billion US dollars (Rp972.3 trillion) this year, according to reports on the Southeast Asian internet economy by Google, Temasek Holdings, and Bain & Co. Other major E-commerce in Indonesia including Shopee and Lazada.