Written by: Jesslyn Naomi R. & Farrel Hamonangan M.
Designed by: Revalina Anjelita Zahra
Imagine buying a sofa online, only to realize it doesn’t fit your living room or match your decor when it arrives. This frustration is common for e-commerce shoppers globally. But what if a simple app feature could solve this and contribute to a more sustainable future? You could visualize a sofa perfectly fitting your living room or see how a TV would look on your wall—all before making a purchase. Less waste, less carbon, and more green. So, let’s enter Amazon’s AR View, a game-changer for virtual shopping and a potential blueprint for Indonesia’s booming e-commerce industry.
Indonesia stands as Southeast Asia’s largest digital economy (Ministry of Trade, 2024), with e-commerce platforms like Tokopedia, Shopee, and Blibli spearheading growth. This boom, while transformative, has also triggered significant environmental concerns. One of the key issues lies in the cycle of consumer dissatisfaction: frequent product returns caused by mismatched expectations in size, color, or usability (TechnoBusiness, 2017). These returns generate more packaging waste and increase the carbon footprint due to additional logistics. Meanwhile, Indonesia produces 28.8 million tons of waste annually, 18.5% of which is plastic (KLHK, 2022). Alarmingly, only 65% of this waste is managed, leaving 10.32 million tons unhandled. The unchecked burning of plastic waste alone contributes 13.7 million tons of carbon equivalent emissions each year. In light of these challenges, innovative solutions like Amazon’s AR View, which reduces returns by offering virtual previews, are critical to curbing waste and fostering sustainable growth.
Amazon holds the title of the world’s most valuable e-commerce company, with a market capitalization reaching $1.81 trillion (Companies Market Cap, 2024). The company’s value has been bolstered by innovations such as the launch of Amazon AR View—an augmented reality feature designed to revolutionize online shopping. By using this tool, consumers can project digital versions of products—like furniture, home decor, or electronics—into their real-world environment through their smartphone cameras. It allows users to check a product’s dimensions, color, and suitability for their space before committing to a purchase. The brilliance of AR View lies not only in its ability to improve the shopping experience but also in its potential to reduce environmental harm. With fewer mismatched purchases, return rates are significantly reduced. By minimizing common contaminants such as plastic bags, electronics, and clothing, cities can enhance the overall quality of recyclable materials. This means fewer trips by delivery trucks and less energy consumed in the returns process (Amazon, 2024). Additionally, accurate product selection helps manufacturers better predict demand, preventing overproduction—a common contributor to waste in e-commerce supply chains.
In Indonesia, augmented reality is already making inroads. Tokopedia launched an augmented reality program named “Virtual Try-On”. AR in Tokopedia presents a feature for their cosmetic sales. For example, people can also choose up to 4 variants of product colors simultaneously so that they can compare them more practically. This AR feature can be enjoyed by Android and iOS users with the latest version of the Tokopedia application (Tokopedia, 2023). Meanwhile, in other stores such as Blibli, augmented reality is only used when undergoing a temporary event. Even so, AR for other items is not yet available in Indonesia’s online stores.
The success presented by Amazon’s AR view should be a motivation for Indonesian e-commerce to adopt similar innovations. According to Agus Suyanto, a board member of YLKI, distrust remains an issue in online shopping due to fraud, often addressed through COD (cash-on-delivery) systems. AR View could play a crucial role in reducing distrust and enhancing consumer confidence in Indonesia’s e-commerce market. AR view has good potential to develop the online shopping system to promote a circular economy.
The integration of augmented reality (AR) technology, like Amazon’s AR View, has the potential to revolutionize Indonesia’s e-commerce sector, which is rapidly growing with platforms like Tokopedia, Shopee, and Blibli. AR can address the environmental concerns tied to product dissatisfaction and frequent returns by allowing consumers to virtually visualize products in their real-world spaces before purchasing, reducing mismatches and minimizing waste, packaging, and carbon emissions. To gain good development of e-commerce, local e-commerce companies, such as Tokopedia with its Augmented Review feature, have already started exploring AR for specific product categories. As the market matures, the adoption of AR tools could not only enhance consumer trust and satisfaction but also contribute to a more sustainable, eco-friendly online shopping experience, reducing logistics demands, preventing overproduction, and fostering a greener e-commerce ecosystem.
References:
Amazon. (2024). Investing in a circular economy. https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/sustainability/how-amazon-is-investing-in-a-circular-economy.
Companies Market Cap. (2024). Top 10 e-commerce companies globally. https://databoks.katadata.co.id/teknologi-telekomunikasi/statistik/fbe389ffaaf5781/deretan-10-e-commerce-paling-bernilai-di-dunia-amazon-juaranya.
Katadata. (2023, July 17). Daur ulang sampah plastik bisa pangkas 13 juta ton emisi Indonesia. Katadata.co.id. https://katadata.co.id/ekonomi-hijau/ekonomi-sirkular/64b50de513a7c/daur-ulang-sampah-plastik-bisa-pangkas-13-juta-ton-emisi-indonesia
Kompas. (2022). Challenges of COD payment systems in e-commerce. https://amp.kompas.com/tren/read/2022/06/23/160500865/mengapa-sistem-pembayaran-cod-sering-bermasalah.
Ministry of Trade. (2024). Indonesia’s largest digital economy potential by 2025. https://www.kemendag.go.id/berita/siaran-pers/terbesar-di-asia-tenggara-potensi-ekonomi-digital-indonesia-pada-2025-capai-usd-146-miliar.
TechnoBusiness. (2017). Consumer dissatisfaction in e-commerce. https://technobusiness.id/news/e-commerce/2017/09/05/kepuasan-konsumen-berbelanja online-menurun-mengapa/.
Tokopedia. (2023). Augmented reality in cosmetic sales. https://www.tokopedia.com.
