Digital cash money is still considered new in Indonesia, however the user’s amount may not be as insignificant. Detikinet reveals that in 2012, the number of e-money users in Indonesia will reach 12 million, in assumption of 30% -40% active users.

In Indonesia, e-money usage is driven by the bank and only 10% contributed by the telco/carrier company such as Telkomsel T-Cash, Flexi Cash and Cash XL. Bank Indonesia also recorded digital money users increased from 7.9 million to 9.4 million or by 18% compared to last year. BI also recorded the number of digital transactions has reached 8.3 million transactions with Rp. 176.56 billion value.

With this growth, the industry should be able to boost e-commerce and m-commerce in Indonesia. However it seems that the e-commerce service isn’t really “take-off” in Indonesia. I also asked some great e-commerce players in Indonesia and they all are agree that online shopping behaviour (e-commerce) in Indonesia isn’t as high as they expected.

It’s true that the digital money usage is driven by the bank through their products such as BCA Flazz and Bank DKI JakCard but they didn’t necessarily drive their clients to the e-commerce. This is where e-commerce players can go in and educate the market which is already using digital money to get into the world of online shopping.

It is undeniable that the big players have invested a big amount of money to promote their services and educate the users. We only can see what kind of education that could be accepted by Indonesian people in order to encourage online shopping behaviour and the use of e-commerce. Time will tell.