What are the preferred ways for Indonesian consumers to pay for their purchases?

Indonesian consumers' payment preferences are diversifying, mainly influenced by the growth of digital payments and traditional habits. Below is an analysis of the current mainstream payment methods and their characteristics:

  1. Electronic purse (dominance)
  • Head platforms: GoPay (Gojek ecosystem), OVO (Grab partnership), DANA (Ant Group associate)
  • Usage Scenario: Over 75% of e-commerce transactions are completed through e-wallets, especially good at small amount and high frequency payment.
  • Strengths: Deep integration with super apps (e.g. Gojek provides one-stop service for taxi + payment + takeaway)

  1. bank transfer
  • Real Time Gross Settlement System: BI-FAST (replaces old RTGS) supports seconds to account
  • Mandiri, BCA and other big banks' internet banking account for 251 TP3T market share
  • The preferred method for corporate purchases and large transactions

  1. Convenience Store Cash Recharge
  • Collection services provided by chain shops such as Indomaret/Alfamart
  • Addressing the needs of the unbanked (about 66 million adults do not have an account)

  1. Credit cards and instalment payments

    • Low penetration but fast growth: Only about 5% of the population has a credit card, but it accounts for a significant share of high-end e-commerce and travel spending
    • BNPL (buy now pay later) outbreaks: Platforms such as Akulaku and Kredivo are attracting the younger demographic through interest-free instalments, with an annual growth rate of over 300%
    • Scene Adaptation: 40% usage rate in 3C products, major appliances category

  2. Cash payments (shrinking but still important)

    • The traditional offline market is still dominated by cash (35% of total retail sales)
    • O2O services to retain the "COD cash on delivery" option, accounting for about 15-20% (to prevent the risk of logistics fraud)

  3. Emerging trends and challenges

    • QRIS (QR code harmonisation standard): Central Bank-promoted interoperability system has integrated 20 million merchants to support cross-wallet code-sweeping payments
    • Cross-border payment barriers: Lack of foreign card acceptance (only 301 TP3T merchants support Visa/Mastercard) has spawned the landing of aggregation solutions such as Alipay+

  4. Key operational recommendations

     graph TD
    
 A[Entry into Indonesian market] --> B{Average monthly transaction value}
    
 B -->|<$100| C [main e-wallet + convenience store top-up]
    
 B -->|>$500| D [Enhanced Bank Transfer + BNPL Combo]
    
 C --> E [GoPay/OVO integration of at least 2 required]
    
 D --> F [access to BCA virtual account API]