JD, Lazada face off in Indonesia, Asia's next e-commerce prize

Beijing

TO FORETELL where JD.com Inc is going to expand in Indonesia, follow the smartphone towers.

Wider mobile coverage means more consumers starting to shop online, so the Chinese e-commerce company tracks their construction to decide where to market its web store and set up delivery centres.

JD has four warehouses in the archipelago, with plans to build another three by the end of the year. Staffing has almost tripled to about 400 people in the past 12 months. Within five years, the Beijing-based company plans to have refrigerated trucks delivering fresh food and frozen goods to homes.

"E-commerce is a no-brainer and it's going to happen," said Zhang Li, head of JD's operations in Indonesia.

He's going up against Lazada, which is seeking to build its own web-shopping empire across South-east Asia and is controlled by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, JD's main rival in China. And all eyes are on Amazon.com Inc's regional ambitions, as it looks for new growth outside of Japan and India, its two main markets in the hemisphere.…