Time to Shift to Digital Auction

Good news came for automotive hobbyists. Car purchase now can be done not only at dealers, but also at auction houses. As a matter of fact, auction through digital platform has gained interest from some of the public. 

Online business has great opportunities. Research by Tetra Pak Indonesia in 2018 showed the increasing growth of online market. Tetra Pak Indonesia Communications Manager Gabrielle Agriani said that in Jakarta alone, for example, around 1.2% consumers had bought groceries online in 2016. "It is expected to grow to 5.4% in 2030," Gabrielle said, Suara.com, Thursday (August 9).

Statistically, the number of online buyers in Indonesia increases every year. In 2015, the total number of online buyers reached 18 million people (JPNN.com, July 6). In fact, Statista.com recorded that this figure rose by 10 million in 2017 to 28.1 million, and it was expected to reach 31.6 million in 2018.

Regarding car purchase, consumers tend to browse the internet first about car types before heading to the car dealers. Nevertheless, Google Indonesia Industry Head Amalia Fahmi explained that around 49% of 508 respondents surveyed wanted to buy cars online.

"This is an interesting fact. And, there are already e-commerce companies that provide the service," Amalia told Kompas.com, (April 11, 2017). Of course, consumers from this segment are the ones who will take advantage of online car purchase in the future.

The same thing also applies to car purchase through auction. Auction houses that sell cars must provide digital services. One of the auction houses that slowly but surely provide online auction service in Indonesia is IBID-Balai Lelang Serasi. IBID that deals in car auction business is a business line of PT Serasi Autoraya (SERA) under Astra Group. 

According to IBID-Balai Lelang Serasi President Director Daddy Doxa Manurung, the initiative to launch online auction was to follow the government's mandate. Previously, Finance Ministry State Asset Directorate General (DJKN) suggested auction houses tap into the digital world.

"DJKN already encouraged all auction houses to enter online, digital business. We cannot refuse," Doxa said, giving example of Japan as a country that has successfully implemented digital auction system. 

Therefore, IBID developed an inspection system for used cars. "Through the system we developed, the application can determine the grade of used cars: whether the score is A, B, C, and so on," he said.

According to Doxa, the system becomes key for the auction house to enter the digital world. "So those from Papua, for example, do not need to send engineers from there to Jakarta to inspect the cars. They just need to see the scores," he said.

Currently, IBID's online auction service is still web-based, but later on, it can be done on Android-and iOS-based apps. For further information about IBID, you can read it on this page or access IBID's social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.