TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
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.
Change Size
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.
Some 95.48 percent of the MSMEs reported using Facebook-owned instant messaging service WhatsApp, marking a rise from 84.68 percent in 2018. That was followed by use of Facebook proper and Facebook-owned photo and video sharing app Instagram.
With the three most popular online services belonging to Facebook, Indonesian businesses have a heavy reliance on the American tech giant. The next most used service was microblogging platform Twitter.
“There are other social media platforms used by the MSMEs, but not that many. One of them is TikTok, which began to be used for marketing purposes in 2021,” said Veto.
The survey found that MSMEs serving other businesses rather than consumers were more resilient during the pandemic.
With the increasing use of online sales channels, more and more MSMEs will need to pick up digital skills and improve their digital literacy, the SMERU Research Institute notes. The government will also need to improve the country’s internet infrastructure so that more MSMEs have access to online platforms.
Read also: Cyberattacks cost Indonesian SMEs dearly in terms of revenue, reputation
Cyberattacks have been one downside of shifting from brick and mortar to online shops. Around one third of small and medium businesses reported cyberattacks over the past 12 months. Of those, 43 percent reported damage of at least US$500,000 in lost revenue and additional spending to recover from the attacks, which were mostly aimed at accessing customer, employee or financial information.
