Shopping in the window of Indonesia thwarted doubts about the economic success story Business and Economics News

Midan, Indonesia – Delima, sales actress in the fourth largest city in Indonesia, used to collapse the moment when she returned home after spending the entire day on her feet in customer service.

But recently, Delima, who works in a cosmetic store in a high -end shopping center in Maidan, felt that she “has nothing to do.”

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“The commercial center is very calm now, and when customers come to the store, they have no intention to buy anything. They only use all free laboratories, especially perfumes, and then leave.”

The Delima “Rohana” and “Rojali” experience reflects the latest in -avoided Indonesian social media at work.

“Rohanna” and “Rogali”, Portantos from the Indonesians about “groups that are asked only” and “groups that rarely buy”, have emerged as famous colloquial terms on the Internet to describe the phenomenon of people who visit purely shopping centers in windows.

Although it is difficult to put an accurate personality on shoppers in Indonesia, there are signs that many Indonesians tighten their belts because they find that their rupees are going less than they were in the past.

PT Unilever Indonesia, which produces daily products ranging from ice cream to shampoo and toothpaste, witnessed a decrease in its sales of about 4.5 percent in the first half of 2025.

The PT Matahari Department store, which runs a series of stores that sell clothes, home appliances and cosmetics, has witnessed a more slope decrease of more than 9 percent.

Toulos Abadi, President of the Indonesian Consumers Corporation, said that the “Rohanna” and “Rogali” discussions reflect real transformations in the material conditions of people.

“The transactions in the shopping centers are dramatically. Special car sales and motorcycles are also decreased,” he told Al -Jazeera Island.

“This indicates that middle -class consumers suffer from a decrease in purchasing power. However, the middle layer is the driving force of the economy.”

On paper, it was the largest economy in Southeast Asia in good condition in recent times. GDP (GDP) expanded by 5.12 percent on an annual basis in the April to June period, according to the Indonesian Statistics Office, which is the fastest pace in two years and before the expectations of economists.

However, it is not difficult to find economic discontent among the Indonesians, as it clearly erupted in the fatal protests that swept the archipelago in late August.

Thousands of Indonesians moved to the streets in cities throughout the country to protest the budget cuts to education, public works and health care, as well as entering a monthly housing allowance for legislators of about 3000 dollars – approximately 10 times the minimum monthly in Indonesia.

In a survey published by the ISEASOF ISHAK Institute in Singapore in January, Indonesian youth expressed more pessimistic positions on the economy and the government more than their peers in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Vietnam.

While 75 percent of the respondents expressed their optimism about the government’s economic plans in the six countries, only about 58 percent of Indonesian youth felt the same, according to the survey.

About 16 percent of more than 44 million Indonesian are between the ages of 15 and 24 Out of workAccording to government statistics – more than twice the adjacent Thailand and Vietnam.

Government officials have reduced suggestions that Rohanna and Rogali reflect the circumstances of real life.

Speaking at a press conference in Jakarta last month, the Chief Air Economic Air Affairs Minister, Hartarto, said that spending habits are simply moving via the Internet, noting that family consumption has increased from other positive data.

“The narration is about Rojali and Rohanna is bombed,” said Airlangga.

Tigua Youndo Wikxono, the economy lecturer at the Indonesian Islamic University, said the official economic data drew a complex image.

Wicaksono said that while the family’s consumption has grown approximately 5 percent in the second quarter, retail sales were slightly weakened, although they remained higher than the same period last year.

“So, what can we conclude from this indicator? I think there may be a weakness in purchasing power, but this may happen in certain slices,” he said.

Wicaksono said that while the weak purchase power can be in play, consumers seem to change their spending patterns, “said Wicaksono.

He said: “People began to increase spending related to sports, hobbies and entertainment. Some of them spend on services.”

“The percentage of this increase in spending has multiplied almost, and this happens primarily in the lower middle class sector. As a result, the spending part has decreased in other groups, especially for certain types of goods. This is what we consider to be the phenomenon of Rohanna and Rogali.”

Abadi of the Indonesian Consumer Foundation said that the growing popularity of shopping on the Internet contributed to the direction of Rohanna Rogali.

He said: “The digital economy has made shopping centers just a way to shop in windows.”

In an online survey conducted earlier this year by Snapcart, a platform for consumer behavior analysis based on customer receipts, half of the Indonesian respondents said they saw online shopping more practical than brick and mortar shopping centers.

Shopee was the most popular platform, used by 90 percent of online shoppers, followed by a gift to Tokopedia, Lazada and Alfa, according to the survey.

Dewey Fona, an official of a client abroad, said she began to embody the phenomenon of Rohanna and Rogali due to budget fears and e -commerce comfort.

“I just go to the commercial center for food in restaurants and I rarely buy anything, mostly because of the price, and there are not many options,” she said to the island of the island.

“I don’t like to look around you from one store to another just to find one element. With the same quality, you can become cheaper if you shop online.”

Fona said it has the frequent commercial centers of the social aspect they can offer.

“I go with friends or with my husband. I don’t go alone to the mall because the purpose of going to the mall, for me, enjoys friends and chatting while eating,” Fona said.

“We are eating only once a week, and because I love exploring different foods in restaurants, there is no objection to spending money on that to make myself happy.”