Indonesia roundup: Multiply Commerce launched; property website acquired

Social networking service Multiply officially launched a new platform, Multiply Commerce, at  Transforce, Grand Indonesia, Jakarta on May 17.  Through the new e-commerce platform, buyers and sellers on Multiply can now enjoy a better online shopping experience with features such as Shopping Cart, a Stock Room to organise product listings, an inventory manager, integrated payment systems, and Buyer Protection.

Online commerce was not a big focus when the US-based Multiply started in August 2004. Back then, it was created as a social networking site in competition with Friendster, and since then has been a hit in Indonesia, where it evolved to include an online marketplace that now boasts 35,000 merchants who cater to over 2 million active users in Indonesia. According to the Jakarta Globe, the site as of May attracted 20 million unique visitors each month, of which about 7 million are from Indonesia.

Multiply’s office in Indonesia is their second largest after their headquarters in United States. Peter Pezaris, co-founder and chief executive of Multiply, said in February that it was committed to make Indonesia its anchor market.  “By next year, Indonesia will be our biggest office, even bigger than the one in the US,” Pezaris said.

Multiply’s office in Jakarta is its third after the US and the Philippines.

Indonesia’s largest property website, Rumah123.com was acquired by IPGA Ltd on May 28 from PT. Web Marketing Indonesia — which counts Indonesian barons, Edwin Soeryadjaya and Sandiaga Uno as the shareholders. The website, which had more than 50,000 listings and 160,000 unique visitors per month, was acquired for a combination of AUD 1 million in cash and 7 million IPGA’s shares upon completion, which is targeted for June 30, 2011.

IPGA Ltd is the owner of iProperty, Asia’s No 1 network of property portal sites, and they have identified Indonesia as a natural growth market for property and real estate business.

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