{"id":449887,"date":"2025-09-25T07:46:19","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T07:46:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/449887\/"},"modified":"2025-09-25T07:46:19","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T07:46:19","slug":"indonesias-thrifty-window-shoppers-cast-doubt-on-economic-success-story-business-and-economy-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/449887\/","title":{"rendered":"Indonesia\u2019s thrifty window shoppers cast doubt on economic success story | Business and Economy News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Medan, Indonesia \u2013<\/strong> Delima, a sales representative in Indonesia\u2019s fourth-largest city, used to collapse the moment she got home after spending the whole day on her feet serving customers.<\/p>\n

But\u00a0recently,\u00a0Delima,\u00a0who works at a cosmetics store in\u00a0one of Medan\u2019s\u00a0upscale malls,\u00a0has felt like she\u00a0has\u00a0\u201cnothing to do\u201d.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mall is so quiet now, and when customers do come into the store, they have no intention of buying anything. They just use all the free testers, especially perfume, and then leave,\u201d she told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

Delima\u2019s\u00a0experience reflects \u201cRohana\u201d\u00a0and \u201cRojali\u201d,\u00a0the latest buzzwords\u00a0to\u00a0sweep\u00a0Indonesian\u00a0social media, in action.<\/p>\n

\u201cRohana\u201d and \u201cRojali\u201d, portmanteaus of the Indonesian for \u201cgroups who just ask\u201d and \u201cgroups who rarely buy\u201d, have emerged as popular internet slang terms to describe the phenomenon of people who visit malls purely to engage in window shopping.<\/p>\n

While\u00a0it is\u00a0difficult to put a precise figure on\u00a0Indonesia\u2019s\u00a0window shoppers,\u00a0there are signs that\u00a0many\u00a0Indonesians are\u00a0tightening their belts\u00a0as they\u00a0find their\u00a0rupiah\u00a0going less\u00a0far\u00a0than\u00a0in\u00a0the past.<\/p>\n

PT Unilever Indonesia, which produces everyday products ranging from ice cream to shampoo and toothpaste, saw its sales decline nearly 4.5 percent in the first half of 2025.<\/p>\n

PT Matahari Department Store, which operates a chain of stores selling clothes, household appliances and beauty products, saw a steeper drop of more than 9 percent.<\/p>\n

\"shoppers\"People walk through a connecting bridge to shopping malls in Jakarta, Indonesia, on October 10, 2021 [Adek Berry\/AFP]<\/p>\n

Tulus\u00a0Abadi, the\u00a0chairman\u00a0of the\u00a0Indonesian Consumers Foundation,\u00a0said\u00a0discussions of\u00a0\u201cRohana\u201d and \u201cRojali\u201d\u00a0reflect\u00a0real\u00a0shifts in people\u2019s material circumstances.<\/p>\n

\u201cTransactions at shopping\u00a0centres\u00a0are dropping significantly. Sales of private cars and motorcycles are also declining,\u201d he told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis\u00a0indicates\u00a0that middle-class consumers are experiencing a decline in\u00a0purchasing\u00a0power. Yet, it is the middle class that is the driving force of the economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

On paper, Southeast Asia\u2019s largest economy has been in good shape of late. Gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 5.12 percent year-on-year in the April-June period, according to the Indonesian Bureau of Statistics, the fastest pace in two years and ahead of economists\u2019 forecasts.<\/p>\n

Still, economic discontent among Indonesians is not hard to find, erupting most visibly in deadly protests that swept the archipelago in late August.<\/p>\n

Thousands of Indonesians took to the streets in cities across the country to protest against budget cuts to education, public works and healthcare, as well as the introduction of a monthly housing allowance for lawmakers worth about $3,000 \u2013 almost 10 times Indonesia\u2019s monthly minimum wage.<\/p>\n

In a survey published by the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore in January, young Indonesians expressed markedly more pessimistic attitudes about the economy and the government than their peers in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and Vietnam.<\/p>\n

Whereas\u00a0an average of 75 percent of\u00a0respondents\u00a0expressed\u00a0optimism\u00a0about the government\u2019s economic plans across the six countries, only about 58 percent of Indonesian youth\u00a0felt the same, according to the\u00a0poll.<\/p>\n

About 16 percent of the more than 44 million Indonesians aged 15-24 are out of work<\/a>, according to government statistics \u2013 more than double the rate of neighbouring Thailand and Vietnam.<\/p>\n

Government officials have downplayed suggestions that Rohana and Rojali reflect real-life conditions.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a news conference in Jakarta last month, Chief Economic Affairs Minister Airlangga Hartarto said spending habits were simply moving online, pointing to rising household consumption among other positive data.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe narrative around Rojali and Rohana is being blown out of proportion,\u201d Airlangga said.<\/p>\n

\"AirlanggaAirlangga Hartarto, Indonesia\u2019s chief economic affairs minister, speaks during an interview at his office in Jakarta, Indonesia, on August 26, 2025 [Willy Kurniawan\/Reuters]<\/p>\n

Teguh Yudo Wicaksono, an economics lecturer at Universitas Islam Indonesia, said official economic data painted a complex picture.<\/p>\n

While household consumption grew nearly 5 percent in the second quarter, retail sales weakened slightly, though remaining higher than the same period last year, Wicaksono said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, what can we conclude from this indicator? I think there may indeed be a weakening of\u00a0purchasing\u00a0power, but this may be occurring in certain segments,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Wicaksono said while weakened purchasing power could be at play, consumers also appeared to be shifting their spending patterns.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are starting to increase spending related to sports, hobbies, and entertainment. Some are spending on services,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe proportion of this increase in spending has almost doubled, and this is happening primarily in the lower-middle-class segment. As a result, the portion of spending in other groups has decreased, especially for certain types of goods. This is what we perceive as the Rohana and Rojali phenomenon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abadi of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation said the growing popularity of internet shopping had contributed to the Rohana-Rojali trend.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe digital economy has rendered malls merely a means of window shopping,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In an online survey conducted earlier this year by Snapcart, a platform for analysing consumer behaviour based on customer receipts, half of the Indonesian respondents said they viewed online shopping as more practical than visiting brick-and-mortar shopping centres.<\/p>\n

Shopee was the most popular platform, used by 90 percent of online shoppers, followed by Tokopedia, Lazada and Alfa Gift, according to the survey.<\/p>\n

\"mall\"Indonesian shoppers roam around a mall in Jakarta, Indonesia, on March 14, 2008 [Jewel Samad\/AFP]<\/p>\n

Dewi Fauna, an admin assistant for an overseas client, said she had begun to embody the Rohana and Rojali phenomenon due to budget concerns and the convenience of e-commerce.<\/p>\n

\u201cI only go to the mall to eat in the restaurants and I rarely buy anything, mostly because of the price, and there are not as many options,\u201d she told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u00a0don\u2019t like to look around from one store to another just to find one item. With the same quality, you can get cheaper if you shop online.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fauna said she enjoys frequenting malls for the social aspect that they can provide.<\/p>\n

\u201cI go with friends or with my husband. I never go alone to the mall because the purpose of going to the mall, for me, is having fun with friends, and chatting while eating,\u201d\u00a0Fauna\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe only eat out once a week and, because I like to explore different foods at the restaurants, I don\u2019t mind spending the money on that to make myself happy,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Medan, Indonesia \u2013 Delima, a sales representative in Indonesia\u2019s fourth-largest city, used to collapse the moment she got…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":449888,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3090],"tags":[11410,51,12633,1700,8262,12,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-449887","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-asia-pacific","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-business-and-economy","11":"tag-economy","12":"tag-indonesia","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115263832273579346","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}