How Tokopedia is bringing delivery speed and efficiency to e-commerce in Indonesia

The recently launched Dilayani Tokopedia aims to benefit both buyers and sellers on the platform with ‘smart warehouses’ that ensure quick delivery and an optimised supply chain

Through the history of ecommerce in emerging economies, the quality of customer experience has traditionally declined the further away you moved from urban centres. Non-urban customers have contended with no service to the areas that they lived in, or experienced inordinately long waiting periods before a delivery.

To address these challenges, Indonesia-based technology company Tokopedia has recently launched the Dilayani Tokopedia (Fulfilled by Tokopedia) service. It allows sellers to store products in ‘smart warehouses’ in high-demand areas, allowing for easy fulfillment. Dilayani Tokopedia sits at the cusp of two of Southeast Asia’s biggest investable opportunities when it comes to private capital — logistics and e-commerce. The two combined cornered $8.2 billion in investments across Southeast Asia through 2021 alone.

Speaking about the vision for Dilayani Tokopedia, Erwin Dwi Saputra, AVP – fulfillment at Tokopedia said, “Dilayani Tokopedia fully assists sellers in their everyday business operations, from receiving, packing, and shipping orders, to handling transaction issues. We are committed to increasing our focus on building the best-in-class technology and an infrastructure network to enable everyone across Indonesia to get the same delightful experience when buying from Tokopedia, despite the logistical challenges inherent to being an archipelago of 17,500 islands.”

Dilayani Tokopedia aims to provide reliable, fast, and free shipping nationwide. Its assortment includes a wide range of products — from consumer goods to organic fertilisers. The service is built around a network of ‘smart warehouses’ that optimise demand and supply, enabling faster shipment at lower costs.

For buyers, the advantage is unprecedented reliability and convenient shipping options. Erwin said, “We continue to improve our shipment promise. For select fast moving essential items, we can deliver as fast as two hours through our Tokopedia NOW! service. A wider range of selections are available to be delivered within four hours to 48 hours for most customers, nationwide.”

Sellers fulfilling through Dilayani Tokopedia can accelerate the growth of their business by gaining access to a larger opportunity through a nationwide infrastructure network. The service allows sellers based in any location to offer same day shipment to customers in many regions across Indonesia. Highlighting the importance of inputs from sellers as a key component of the initiative, Erwin said, “Customer feedback has been instrumental in how we improve our technology and operations.  For example, we have built an easy-to-use interface to help sellers manage their stock in Dilayani Tokopedia, and optimise the supply to meet demand for their products.

On average, sellers experience twice the rate of growth compared to before joining Dilayani Tokopedia. They achieve these numbers without having to individually scale up and invest in physical infrastructure. Instead, Tokopedia puts the building blocks in place to meet new requirements when it comes to delivery speed, and logistics cost efficiency.

Locations are determined by examining the extent to which the consumer experience can be improved by launching a fulfillment centre, as well as the area’s overall growth potential. The first few warehouses have been located in Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya, Makassar, Medan, and Palembang, with expansion to other cities on the anvil. Erwin said, “In 2021, Jabodetabek, Surabaya, Bandung, Medan, Semarang and Yogyakarta were the destinations that we shipped to the most from our fulfillment centres.”

Tokopedia cites the example of organic fertiliser firm Pupuk Dinosaurus which has been using its fulfillment service since December 2020. While initially restricted to serving farmers in East Nusa Tenggara, the distribution for Pupuk Dinosaurus now extends to Sumatera, Bogor, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, South Sulawesi, West Kalimantan, and Maluku. The company has experienced a significant growth in revenue. It uses Dilayani Tokopedia at Surabaya, Makassar, Medan and Bandung.

Tokopedia’s fulfillment service transactions increased almost four times compared to the previous year. Erwin said, “Tokopedia will continue to strive to serve our sellers and buyers better. For buyers, we provide a fast, reliable shopping experience. To our sellers, we commit to accelerate their business growth and enhance their competitiveness through Dilayani Tokopedia.”

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The above article was created in collaboration with Tokopedia. For more information on Dilayani Tokopedia, please visit the official site