Lesson from Tokopedia.com: E-commerce success factor analysis: A case study from Indonesian unicorn

The e-commerce marketplace is intensely and savagely competitive. The e-commerce market has raised the level of market dynamics such that firms face constant challenges, disequilibrium and change. Firms must adapt accordingly and shifting the rules of the game constantly. E-commerce is one of the few fast-growing sectors in Indonesia, the largest in South East Asia and hit $1.8bn-2.5bn in 2015 Retail e-commerce sales in Indonesia In 2021, set to surpass 14.47 billion U.S. dollars in revenues, up from 5.65 billion U.S. dollars in 2016. Tokopedia is currently rank number 1 on the marketplace e-commerce, On the 8th Tokopedia birthday 17th August 2017, Tokopedia received $1.1 billion investment from Alibaba, on the other hand big names like Rakuten from Japan and Cipika backed by Indosat Oreedo had seized operation, following names such as: Kleora, Beauty Treats, Alikolo, Paraplou which already stop operation since 2015. What is the key that leads to Tokopedia success? The paper examined the determinants of Tokopedia success and presents an argument on which factor best determines success. E-commerce success is derived from Trust & Loyalty forming from Usability Dimension and Security Dimension. In this regard, we found that Tokopedia strategy of Scalability and Security is proven and aligned with Previous E-commerce research. It acknowledged that trust plays huge roles in Tokopedia success. However trust alone may not guarantee business success to a large extent as Tokopedia had to evolve to support the needs of its customers (Scalability).