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Update 14th Jan 2020: Indonesia will be revising its de minimis value down to US$3 from an earlier US$ 75 on the 30th January 2020 as confirmed by Indonesia's Directorate General of Customs and Excise, Ministry of Finance1. You can find more details about how this could affect your shipments, at our latest announcement.
Liana is enjoying a latte at a nearby cafe on a Sunday afternoon. She is browsing through Zilingo2, an online marketplace her fashion-forward friends recommended, and chanced upon an item she liked: a printed long-sleeved maxi dress that matched well with her plain silk hijab.
She makes her purchase and opts to pay via cash on delivery. The checkout page said that the item is expected to arrive in one to two weeks. On her way home the next Friday, she receives a text from the courier saying that the shipment is making its way towards her doorstep and she grows excited.
By the time she reaches her home, the doorbell rings to signal the arrival of a delivery man holding onto her parcel. She hands her payment to the courier and runs to her room to try on her new dress with a hijab to match.
They look good on her, and she loves it.
People like Liana are part of the majority-Muslim demographic found in Indonesia and Malaysia. In Indonesia alone, they have collectively spent US$ 218.8 billion across the Islamic economy in 20173., and the Indonesian government launched a Halal Economy Masterplan that is looking to invest $18 million in a Halal Lifestyle District 4. This market segment may be worth catering to if you are thinking about expanding your eCommerce business into Indonesia, but first, it helps to know who they are and what they are looking for.
Muslim millennials like Liana are career-driven working professionals, like 52% of her Indonesian Muslim peers5. Nowadays, it’s not uncommon to see Muslim women wearing their religious identity proudly by donning headscarves and wearing modest fashion pieces.
What surprises market analysts is the fact that, according to Varkey’s study in 2017, 93% of young Indonesians6 believe that religion is important to happiness, far outreaching the global average of 45.3%. With the Muslim clothing market in Indonesia estimated to be worth $13.5 billion7, the Islamic lifestyle is one that is increasingly celebrated in the country.
Even though their religion forms a large part of their identity, the Muslim youths are still finding ingenious ways to embrace their conservative values while making way for trends in globalisation too. One such notable trend is the Hijabers community8, who emphasise that Muslims could be virtuous while having fun.
Where previously modest fashion received few options beyond loose over-garments and plain headscarves, Muslim millennials are now able to choose flattering and stylish clothes that gives them the ability to embrace fashion-forwardness. Meanwhile, Muslim women could still use hijabs and other coverings to assert their connection to Islam and its teaching to be modest. This trend isn’t without its criticisms though, where more religious members would put down the Hijabers for not being religious enough9.
Thankfully, the modern Muslim trend doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon, with more women like Diajeng Lestari7 pioneering their own fashion brands and defining Hijaber fashion in their own terms.
This movement empowers digitally savvy Muslim youths to make their own choices, which means there will be more sellers and influencers going into the eCommerce space to buy, sell and deliver eCommerce products that speak to their fashion-forwardness.
In our example, Liana came across the printed maxi dress from a merchant who sells Japanese brands online. Since the dress cannot be easily found in malls in Indonesia, it made sense for Liana to shop for the dress online rather than make her way through the Jakarta traffic jam where there’s a chance she won’t find what she’s looking for.
Liana’s behaviour is part of a larger trend. In a country where 45.3% of its population have smartphones in 201810, the young Muslim population flocks to eCommerce sites to do their shopping. Reasons like convenience and product availability drive Muslim millennials to shop online.
On one hand, a survey by Deloitte11 revealed that 31% of Indonesians chose to shop online for the convenience and practicality it provides. If the Indonesian customer was living in a big city like Jakarta, they are more likely to cite convenience as a major reason to shop online too.
On the other hand, there has been a strong preference for foreign brands such as Japanese ones among Indonesian Muslims, and eCommerce platforms are giving way for these brands to be bought and sold to Indonesians easily. J Walter Thompson reports that 48% of Indonesian millennial women describe Japanese brands as excellent12 with 29% preferring European brands, followed by 26% preferring Korean brands.
If you’d like to find out more, you can see our article about what’s driving Indonesian buyers to shop online.
In light of this, various international retailers have picked up on the trend and entered the market by localising their products. For example, Uniqlo introduced a modest fashion line by UK-born designer Hana Tajima, and Fukusa launched a line of hijab using silk kimono fabric for the Indonesian market in 2016.
Interestingly, this also bodes well for Indonesian merchants looking to conduct cross-border eCommerce. There is vast potential for Indonesian players13 to enter an overseas market like Japan. Because there is an overlap between Japan’s traditional culture to cover the skin and the Muslim’s preference for modest fashion, there is a good reason for the optimism of Indonesian Muslim fashion exporters’ success in Japan. As evidenced in 2017, the Tokyo Modest Fashion Show was held concurrently alongside the third Halal Expo Japan to a resounding success.
As an eCommerce merchant, you could take your cue from these businesses and try catering to customers from this group too.
With that in mind, you might think that your business has to cater to the Muslim millennials by following their religious values, practices, and sharia law regulations, but as the JWT study12 shows, it’s not necessarily the case.
For instance, if you sell apparel that covers up the knees, wrists, navels, and necklines, it fulfils the requirements to dress modestly whilst also providing a trendy look for Muslim youths. If you are selling perishable goods like food, health, and beauty products, however, you will need to cater to this market by getting a halal certification14 from The Indonesian Council of Ulama15.
Since Muslim millennials are also conscious consumers, they will relate to values that tie closely to the Islamic ethos along with other concerns3 like environmentalism and where the products come from. If your eCommerce brand can convey that either through your content and through your supply chain source and process, you can win over these consumers and benefit from their loyalty to brands.
With that said, it helps to err on the side of caution when branding your products for Muslim youths. In a study by Ogilvy and Mather16, Nike’s unintentional use of Arabic calligraphy that spelled “Allah” has sparked a reaction that it is still felt by consumers 15 years later. Thus, it is best to have a more neutral brand image to cater to a wider target audience as well.
The Muslim millennials are a growing segment in Indonesia’s eCommerce market which you could consider targeting for your next eCommerce store expansion. By catering to people like Liana and ensuring a smooth cross-border experience, your brand will stand out from its ability to localise and be inclusive.
In today’s climate, it is more important than ever to establish trust with your consumers to truly differentiate yourself from competitors.
Want to enter the eCommerce market in Indonesia? Download our Guide to Indonesian eCommerce.
Looking to ship throughout Southeast Asia and beyond? Contact us to find out how.
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