2023 Foreign trade emerging markets, what are the characteristics of Indonesian customers?

In the first half of 2023, China's import and export scale exceeded 20 trillion yuan, and the total import and export of goods reached 20.1 trillion yuan, a record high in the same period, of which exports increased by 3.7%.

In terms of export market: in the first half of the year, China's exports to ASEAN increased by 1.5%, exports to the EU fell by 6.6%, exports to the United States fell 17.9%, exports to Japan fell 4.7%; Exports to Russia surged 78.1 per cent year on year, while exports to Africa rose 15.4 per cent.

At present, foreign trade people can obviously feel that the traditional markets such as Europe and the United States lack of growth, so where are the new business opportunities?

Indonesia

Indonesia, the largest economy in ASEAN, has been growing at 5 percent for a long time and recorded its largest ever trade surplus in 2022, while investment increased 44 percent to a record $80 billion. It is considered one of the most important and dynamic markets in Southeast Asia.

Indonesia's main exports are petroleum, natural gas, textiles and garments, wood, rattan products, handicrafts, shoes, copper, coal, pulp and paper products, electrical appliances, palm oil, rubber and so on.

The main imported products are mechanical transportation equipment, chemical products, automobiles and spare parts, power generation equipment, steel, plastics and plastic products, cotton and so on.

Indonesian customer trading characteristics

(1) Indonesians love to be late, and their time is nicknamed "am Karet" (Indonesian for rubber band time), with an "incalculable" elasticity. Being 30 minutes to an hour late is normal.

(2) Indonesians will not refuse people face to face, if you visit Indonesian customers, the other party will generally be extremely friendly and say that they will discuss or consider it, and give you a reply when there is news, in fact, it is generally no news.

(3) Indonesians do not like to bargain. The Chinese purchasing model is generally: ask for a bargain, and then the two sides negotiate a middle price that everyone accepts. For Indonesian customers, this may not work.

Indonesian customers online shopping characteristics

(1) Love discount products "Indonesian consumers always like to buy promotional or low-priced products when they buy things. When a sale is over, they will jump to another store to find an alternative.

(2) Shopping on social media: Indonesians are heavy fans of social media, spending more than 3 hours a day on social media. According to the survey, more than 30 million Indonesians have conducted online transactions, with 60% of sales coming from e-commerce platforms

(3) Prefer bank transfer: Indonesian consumers have a total of three payment methods when purchasing goods, such as ATM transfer payment, convenience store payment and online bank transfer, but Indonesian consumers prefer to use bank transfer, about 94% of orders are transferred by bank transfer.

(4) Prefer to shop on weekdays: Indonesian consumers usually do not go online on Friday and Saturday, they will search for the product they want on Sunday and add it to their shopping cart, and then leave work on weekdays.