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Greater expectations of MSMEs to digitalize towards recovery
In Indonesia, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) make up 99 per cent of businesses and generate more than 60 per cent of the national GDP.
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(Courtesy of Tokopedia)
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n Indonesia, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) make up 99 per cent of businesses and generate more than 60 per cent of the national GDP. With the incoming digital era, efforts to digitalize MSMEs have long been on the national agenda, and further emphasized by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.
With industry being tasked with leading the rest of the country to economic recovery, an article published by the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada showed that while Indonesia surpassed its goal for the digitalization of its MSMEs to have more than 10 million small businesses using online business platforms by the end of 2020, this only covers 16 percent of all MSMEs.
Tokopedia, as part of the GoTo Group, Indonesia’s largest tech group, continues to collaborate to help local MSMEs create opportunities through the use of technology. The company has worked closely with the Cooperatives and SMEs Ministry, along with collaboration with the Micro Business Formal Transformation Guard (Transfumi) to provide socialization and facilitation for the issuance of Business Identification Numbers (NIB) for MSMEs at Tokopedia. It has also initiated programs such as Digitalization of Stalls and Digital Acceleration Classes.
"We express our appreciation to Tokopedia for always being the government's partner in accelerating the digital transformation of MSMEs in the country. For the past three years, we have struggled together to face the challenges of the pandemic, we understand the importance of MSMEs optimizing the digital ecosystem, not only to survive, but to recover and become stronger as one of the main pillars of the national economy," said Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs Teten Masduki.
In celebration of National MSME day that falls on Aug. 12, Tokopedia once again proved its commitment to help Indonesia, especially MSMEs toward digitalization to help promote economic recovery. In June, the ministry revealed that 19.5 million MSMEs, 30.4 percent, are present on the e-commerce platform.
Minister Teten also believes that the increase in the number of digitally transformed MSMEs will become the foundation for Indonesia to be able to optimize the potential of the digital economy, which is expected to amount to Rp 4.53 quadrillion by 2030.
Tokopedia with their Hyperlocal initiatives, a feature of geo-tagging technology in order to close the distance between sellers and buyers so that MSMEs throughout Indonesia have the same opportunity to grow. One of its manifestations is the local MSME product curation page Choice Shop Collection (KTP) based on the user's location.
“These initiatives have had a positive impact. During the first half of 2022 compared with the same period in 2021, Mempawah, West Lampung and North Lombok are some of the areas with the highest increase in the number of sellers," said Tokopedia VP of Marketplace, Yudhiaji Kusuma.
Customer trends in Tokopedia for the first quarter saw the highest increase in numbers of transactions in regions such as Humband Hasundutan in North Sumatra, as well as Pegunung Bintang and Jayawijaya in Papua. Moreover, the regions with the highest increase in the number of buyers were Asmat in Papua, Tual in Maluku and Jeneponto in South Sulawesi.
Other examples of innovations include content development at the Seller Education Center, Product Bundling and Store Banner features, and many more. These facilities are utilized by local MSMEs, such as UniNam, iniTempe and Heritage Brass.
“I always continue learning to use various features on Tokopedia because it makes selling online very easy. One that I continue to use is the Product Bundling feature, which helps manage product inventory so it doesn't pile up,” explained Merri Aisir, the owner of UniNam, who uses the new innovations on the platform. Merri’s rendang business empowers women and helps farmers and ranchers in Payakumbuh, West Sumatra.
The same could be said of Benny Santoso, the owner of IniTempe. During the pandemic, Benny turned to Tokopedia to buy soybean from local farmers in the Grobogan area in Central Java and Pulaki in Bali. He attested that through the online platform, his turnover amounted to tens of millions, which also helps soybean farmers to become more prosperous.
Another MSME owner, Mita Nurul Fajar Indah, spoke of the benefit of the online platform for local brass craftsmen. Her business, Semarang Heritage Brass, has been passed down through generations and collaborates with craftsmen from Juwana, Central Java, to manufacture home decoration accessories from recycled brass material.
“Thanks to the use of online platforms, I can continue my family's business that has been around for decades. Tokopedia contributes significantly to the sales of Heritage Brass. Our turnover has doubled compared with before joining Tokopedia," concluded Mita.
