Indonesia's online merchants fight to attract shoppers

Jakarta

INDONESIA'S S$14.5 billion e-commerce space may be ground zero for a discounting race to woo the country's legions of increasingly penny-pinching shoppers - but at least one player has said that it will not play along.

Online platform Elevenia, where independent vendors hawk items from electronics to pet food, was ranked number three as recently as June. But by last month it had slumped to ninth place after its new owner, conglomerate Salim Group, stripped out perks such as free commission for the sellers that use the platform and discounts.