Bridging Fragmented Customer Journeys of the Offline-Online Disconnect: Insights on Where Indonesia’s Marketing Landscape Is Headed by 2026

As Indonesia accelerates into a more digitized economy, one fundamental truth still shapes how people engage with brands: for a large share of consumers especially in the rural areas, the first touchpoint doesn’t happen on a screen. It happens in homes, shops, traditional markets, farming communities, and in the informal networks that guide everyday decisions. Even in major cities, inconsistent connectivity and long‑standing habits mean that discovery and trust often begin offline before they ever shift into a digital channel.

This isn’t a short-term transition stage or a “gap” that the market will naturally outgrow. It’s a structural characteristic of Indonesia’s consumer reality, one that marketers must understand deeply if we want to build relevance across a population that moves fluidly, and sometimes unpredictably, between offline and online spaces.

These themes will be at the heart of the upcoming panel by Campaign Connect, “The Offline–Online Disconnect: Bridging Fragmented Customer Journeys.” Leaders from consumer brands, mobility, and agrifood technology will unpack how they navigate these fractured paths, how they earn trust, maintain consistency, and show up meaningfully across touchpoints that don’t always follow the neat funnels we sketch on our strategy decks. It’s a conversation about being present where customers actually are, not where we assume they should be.

This reality now intersects with another critical shift: consumers are no longer just asking what they are buying, but where it comes from, who produced it, and whether it aligns with their values. Ethical sourcing, deforestation‑free supply chains, and fair labor practices are becoming central to brand choice, yet these impacts often occur deep within offline supply chains that consumers cannot easily see.

This creates a double disconnect. While trust and influence still begin offline, proof of sustainability and ethical practice must increasingly be accessed online, often at the point of purchase.

Bridging this offline–online in customer journeys and in sustainability visibility, will define Indonesia’s marketing landscape heading toward 2026.

These themes will take center stage at Campaign Connect’s upcoming panel, “The Offline–Online Disconnect: Bridging Fragmented Customer Journeys.” Leaders from consumer brands, mobility, and agrifood technology will explore how they earn trust, maintain consistency, and turn offline reality into meaningful digital proof across touchpoints that rarely follow neat, linear funnels.

What Will Define Indonesia’s Consumer Journey in 2026: The Seven Shifts Marketers Must Understand

1. The Offline Starting Point Will Remain Dominant, Even as Digital Grows

Despite Indonesia’s rapid rise in digital consumption, offline touchpoints will continue to shape first impressions and trust-building.

• Consumers still rely heavily on community interactions, word‑of‑mouth, and real‑world networks, even when digital channels are available. This is reinforced by research showing that buying decisions in Indonesia remain influenced by peer recommendations and social proof, both online and offline. 

• Indonesia’s digital economy is expanding, yet fragmentation persists, with consumers interacting across scattered platforms while still anchoring many decisions in physical environments. 

What this means for 2026:Brands cannot rely on digital-only funnels. Offline credibility remains the gateway to online adoption.

2. Fragmented Customer Journeys Will Become the Norm

Customer journeys in Indonesia Marketing Landscape 2026 will be even more nonlinear.

• Purchase decisions now happen across multiple disjointed touchpoints, from social media and live commerce to in‑person conversations. This fragmentation is expected to deepen as digital channels proliferate.

• Gen Z and the expanding middle class are driving multi‑platform behavior, shifting constantly between online discovery and offline validation.

What this means: Marketers must map journeys that reflect fluid movement between offline and online, not clean, linear funnels.

3. Connectivity Gaps and Uneven Digital Access Will Shape Strategy

Not all consumers experience digital channels equally.

• While mobile shopping is surging, 73% of e‑commerce transactions occur on mobile, uneven mobile data quality and device sharing remain barriers, reinforcing the need for offline-first design. [Marketresearchindonesia]

• Consumers outside major cities continue to rely on offline interactions, even as they adopt more digital services. Tier 2 and 3 cities are growing but still marked by hybrid behaviors. 

What this means: Marketing strategies must not assume ideal digital conditions, apps, ads, and services must work in low-bandwidth, shared-device environments.

4. Limited Visibility Into Supply Chains Creates a Trust Gap

Consumers increasingly care about deforestation‑free products, fair labor, and ethical sourcing. Yet these impacts occur far upstream, on farms, production sites, and logistics routes that are invisible to most buyers.

This lack of visibility creates risk. Despite good intentions, consumers may unintentionally support brands linked to environmental damage or unfair labor practices simply because they cannot verify claims.

What this means:

Sustainability without transparency erodes trust. Brands must close the visibility gap between offline supply chains and consumer‑facing channels.

5. Trust Will Be Built Offline, and Verified Digitally

As digital choices expand, trust becomes the central currency.

Consumers are more selective and skeptical, especially under economic pressure. Sustainability claims are no longer taken at face value; they must be backed by proof.

Trust grows when digital information is anchored in familiar offline realities—named farmers, known production regions, verified partners, or community‑based systems that signal authenticity.

What this means: Digital trust is strongest when it translates real-world, offline practices into verifiable online evidence.

6. Value-Conscious but Experience-Seeking Consumers Will Shape Messaging

Economic pressure remains high, impacting decisions.

• Indonesians are increasingly cautious, price-sensitive, and strategic, with 83% seeking additional income. [nielseniq.com]

• Yet consumers are also more experimental, willing to try new brands if the experience feels meaningful. [nielseniq.com]

What this means:Brands must balance value and aspiration, delivering products and experiences that feel practical and trustworthy.

7. By 2026, Success Requires a Unified Brand Experience Across Field Teams, Digital Channels, and Retail

The divide between offline and online is not closing on its own.

Research shows:

• Consumers expect integrated experiences even if their journeys begin offline. 

• Brands that harmonize product, marketing, and operations across physical and digital touchpoints will outperform competitors.

What this means:2026 winners will be the brands that can stitch together a seamless narrative from the field to the screen.

Panel Spotlight: Marketing Leaders Navigating Fragmented Journeys in Indonesia Marketing Landscape 2026

The 40‑minute panel brings together people who have spent years grappling with these everyday realities:

• Robert Sawatzky, Editorial Director, Campaign Asia

• Ananditha Mayasari, AVP, Head of Marketing, Kopi Kenangan

• Theresia Hutauruk, Head of Vertical Marketing, Bluebird Group

• Tika Sylvia, Chief Marketing Officer, Koltiva

The session will cover various sectors where trust is rarely built behind a screen, coffee shops, mobility services, agriculture, communities. Each brings stories of customers who don’t fit the neat patterns of digital funnels, and teams who’ve had to bridge the messy space where “offline” and “online” blur into each other.

Trust Begins Offline, Then Finds Its Way Into Digital

At Koltiva, some of the most important conversations may not appear in dashboards. They unfold in the quiet moments on a farmer’s plot when the team is invited to sit and talk; in small shops where MSME owners explain, with a mix of curiosity and hesitation, why tapping a button still feels daunting; and in the day‑to‑day interactions where field officers naturally become the first real ambassadors of technology.

These encounters are personal and slow, rooted in relationships rather than data points. And it is in these offline exchanges that trust takes hold — long before it ever translates into digital adoption.

In our world, trust doesn’t begin with a login screen. It begins when someone from our team shows up, again and again, answering questions, demonstrating tools, and proving that the system will help, not confuse. Only after that do digital features like traceability or compliance become meaningful.

Designing for these journeys forces a different mindset. A product must work even when the signal is weak. An app must make sense on a shared device. A process must feel familiar enough that people aren’t afraid of making mistakes. Technology, in this way, becomes an extension of relationships, not a replacement.

When trust is built offline, people approach digital tools with more confidence. They see them not as something foreign, but as a natural continuation of the support they already experience. This is how digital adoption grows, not through force, but through reassurance.

What Marketing Leaders Can Take Away

Heading into 2026, the brands that will stay relevant in Indonesia are the ones that:

• Accept that offline moments still shape most decisions

• Build products and campaigns that work even when conditions aren’t ideal

• Treat trust as something built through people, not platforms

• Bring marketing, product, and field teams into one continuous story

Digital maturity in markets like ours isn’t a straight line. It moves forward, sideways, and sometimes in circles. But for brands willing to follow the real customer journey, not the imagined version, the opportunities are far greater and more meaningful.

Event Session Details

• PANEL | The Offline–Online Disconnect: Bridging Fragmented Customer Journeys

• Time: 11:20 AM – 12:00 PM

• Format: 30‑minute panel + 10‑minute Q&A

• Join us for a conversation rooted in lived experience, how people actually discover, trust, and adopt brands in a country where offline and online are inseparable parts of the same journey.

• Event Agenda: Available Here