E-commerce is one the fastest growing industry in the world.  In Indonesia however, the growth of e-commerce relatively slower compared to other countries. There are approximately more than 50 e-commerce sites in Indonesia.  They offer a range of products such as electronic goods, handicrafts, books and other products.  Most of these sites however still require an off-line payment method.  Those that do offer on-line payment do not guarantee the security of electronic transactions. 

There are several factors that cause the slow growth of e-commerce in Indonesia:

1.) Certificate Agency infrastructure: The CA infrastructure is still non existent in Indonesia.  There are many sites that are not equipped with a method of securing electronic payments.  A Certificate Agency will enable the site to confirm that the customer making the electronic transaction is in fact the owner of the credit card.

2.) Bank Agencies: There are still no bank agencies that will guarantee electronic transactions over the Internet.

3.) Delivery System Infrastructure: The geographic condition of Indonesia makes delivery of a product very expensive.  The fact that not all of the cities in Indonesia have an airport makes it more difficult to deliver goods in a timely manner.  In the end, it is up to the consumer to decide if the ordered product is worth the expensive delivery cost.

Several e-commerce sites in Indonesia:

Expo.co.id  http://www.expo.co.id
IndoExport http://www.web.co.id/export/index.html
Indomall.com http://www.indomall.com
Toserba http://toserba.cjb.net 
Kakilima.com http://www.kakilima.com
Bika Ambon Online http://www.indomall.com/bikaambonmedan.
Giftnet http://www.agift4u.com/
Indogift http://www.indogift.com/
Mitra Belanja http://www.dnet.net.id/mitra/
Melsa Online Shopping  http://shopping.melsa.net.id
Warung  http://warung.co.id
Data Kencana Komputer http://dkk.indoglobal.com
Hassana Galleria http://www.hasana.pair.com/Web_store/
Rumah Kreatif http://ihbi.com/RumahKreatif/index.htm
Matahari Dept.Store http://www.matahari.co.id

Source : http://www.bisnis.com/bisnis/owa/artikel.preview?cookie=2&inw_id=81018
 

The speaker at a WTO conference on e-commerce mentioned that a recent study involving respondents from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and thePhilippines showed that the Philippines had the highest Internet user-based growth, increasing by 44% from May 1997 to May 1998.  The speaker showed statistics on Internet infrastructure growth, that indicated that Asia Pacific had 2.9% of the e-commerce market world wide.  Many of the developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including Indonesia had weak e-commerce because of a reflection of the relative development of telecom infrastructure.  In the long run, competition  in the telecom industry will likely improve telecom infrastructure in these developing countries, thus making a positive impact on e-commerce.  The obstacles to e-commerce were  different for developed and developing countries.  For Indonesia, the obstacle lies in the speed, prices, and local content.  The following steps are recommendations for improved Internet growth:

1) Encourage favorable local tariffs for Internet
2) Support Internet development at the highest level of government
3) Improve public network infrastructure through liberalization
4) Open and promote access points services
5) Create a competitive market for Internet service provision
6) Promote the adoption of cost based tariffs in leased lines
7) Set up an effective and independent regulator

Source: http://www.wto.org/wto/econ/e_news.htm