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Trend of small businesses going online remains strong: Study
Researchers have found that the share of small businesses using the internet in Yogyakarta rose to 59.64 percent in 2021 from 43.13 percent in 2018 as the pandemic has strengthened the general trend.
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Workers prepare cowhide for further processing at a workshop in Depok, West Java, on Feb. 18. Home industries have suffered a hit in business as a result of the pandemic, although some are still managing to hang on. (JP/P.J.Leo)
M
ore and more micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are using the internet, especially social media, as a shift in business and consumer activities from brick-and-mortar stores to online shops continues unabated, research in Yogyakarta shows.
The share of MSMEs using the internet rose from 43.13 percent to 59.64 percent between surveys carried out by the SMERU Research Institute in 2018 and this year.
Each of the two surveys involved more than 500 respondents. Nearly two thirds of the MSMEs questioned in this year’s survey used the internet to place advertisements, marking a strong rise from 45.78 percent in 2018.
“The internet was used for many things, such as for business communication, browsing, buying and selling, placing ads, mobile banking, etc.,” SMERU Research Institute researcher Veto Tyas Indrio said in an online event on Tuesday.
Curbs introduced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have accelerated the move to the internet, prompting more businesses to sell their products online. The Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises Ministry estimates that the number of small businesses joining online platforms rose to 15 million this year from less than half that figure in 2020.
The government wants to encourage 30 million small businesses to go digital by 2024.
SMERU’s latest survey also found that nine of 10 MSMEs used social media. The share of those using online stores rose by 5.19 percentage points to 10.19 percent between the two survey periods.
