- 13/01/2021
- Category: Commentaries
The side effects of the COVID-19 pandemic has well been established to encompass every sector of our society. One of the hardest-hit sectors is arguably the economic sector as financial instability has been widespread during these uncertain times. In the same sector, businesses have struggled to maintain their pre-pandemic financial situation, especially the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). In the wake of this unfortunate condition, there have been efforts to help stabilize MSMEs businesses and rehabilitate them back to normal. One of the solutions is by incorporating technology and digital economy to conventional MSMEs business. The lack of opportunity to sell their products offline due to social distancing has prompted businesses to turn online. One of them is through multi-service digital platforms like Gojek. Gojek’s digital ecosystem has been growing rapidly over the years and this pandemic has seen it grow more, as businesses utilize digital technology to alleviate the decline of their income. Gojek also tries to help small businesses in going digital by providing solutions through initiatives such as #MelajubersamaGojek and the application Selly. This article will try to explain more on Indonesian MSMEs’ condition during the pandemic and Gojek’s role and solution to navigate these tough times.
MSMEs condition during the pandemic
MSMEs have been one of Indonesia’s biggest contributors and have a significant role in the country’s economy. MSMEs accounted for half of the country’s GDP and have been especially struck by the pandemic’s economic impact. This is reflected in the decline in Indonesian economic growth compared to last year.[i] As economic uncertainty looms, MSMEs are disadvantaged due to falling demand on their products. According to a recent study by Lembaga Demografi Fakultas Ekonomi dan Bisnis Universitas Indonesia (LD FEB UI) in collaboration with Gojek, it reported that in the period of March – June 2020, 85% of MSMEs have seen their income dropped during the pandemic. These MSMEs also lost more than half of their income. Aside from falling demand, several factors affect MSMEs operations, namely the rising cost and unavailability of raw materials, delayed shipping, elongated period of production, and having their employees leave for their hometowns.[ii] Despite this, the report mentioned that 120,000 new merchants registered to Gojek in 4 months, with 94% being a micro-scale business and 43% owned by first-time business owners.[iii] With closures of public spaces and social distancing in Indonesia, one way of keeping business afloat is to go digital. This has been the ideal target for MSMEs to adapt to the situation, showed by the target of the Ministry of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises of 10 million digital MSMEs by the end of the year. As of June, there are 9.6 million MSMEs that have gone digital.[iv] As Indonesia has not been able to return to the pre-pandemic situation, the figure of MSMEs going digital should be expected to rise.
Gojek’s role and solution in helping MSMEs
One of the platforms that have helped business go digital is Gojek, which multi-service platform has exponentially grown Indonesia’s digital economy in recent years. The Gojek ecosystem contributed to a total of Rp 104,6 trillion in 2019, which equaled 1% of Indonesia’s GDP.[v] As aforementioned before, during this uncertain period, many MSMEs have turned to digitize their business to alleviate their loss. The report mentioned earlier by LD FEB UI with Gojek was to showcased the digital economy ecosystem’s role in helping MSMEs during the pandemic. The dire situation has also tested MSMEs’ way of adapting to the problem and their resiliency. Gojek itself has provided support for MSME to adapt to this situation by providing a vast digital economy ecosystem to be utilized by the business to digitize their business.[vi] The push for digitizing MSMEs in this period proved to be true, as many new merchants registered to Gojek right after the pandemic hits. The majority of MSMEs have also said that they are able to adapt their business during the pandemic due to Gojek’s ecosystem. The merchants have also mentioned that Gojek’s features, such as promotion setting and promotion period, have helped their business survive. The report also mentioned the new skills that first-time business owners have attained during a three-month period, such as online selling skills (77%), the utilization of social media in product advertisement (48%), and marketing creativity (45%). It was also reported that 90% of MSMEs are optimistic that their business can recover and grow within Gojek’s system.[vii] Gojek has also launched Komunitas Laris Manis with the application Selly, which aimed to be a training platform for MSMEs. This community intends to give basic entrepreneurial training and basic knowledge to build their businesses to incoming MSMEs.[viii] This report has shown Gojek’s role in building MSMEs economic resilience through their platform and other supplementary initiatives that they have rolled out. This also showed the importance of digital economy in helping MSMEs stay afloat in this situation.
#MelajuBersamaGojek & Selly: A Long Term Solution for Indonesian MSMEs?
The economic resiliency of Gojek’s digital ecosystem should be upheld in the long run. Gojek’s Co-CEO, Andre Soelistyo, mentioned that supporting Indonesian MSMEs is one of the company’s long-term commitments and that it will always try to provide a comprehensive and inclusive solution to help these MSMEs maintain and grow their businesses.[ix] To show more of their support in helping MSMEs go digital, Gojek launched the initiative #MelajuBersamaGojek on 11 August 2020. This initiative is Gojek’s effort in helping digitize MSMEs through the extensive services in their ecosystem. The initiative, which is launched with its website, provides comprehensive guidance and solutions to MSMEs in helping them go digital. The guidance includes every step of operating online business, such as marketing, payment, delivery, and many more.[x] The website is accessible to all MSMEs in Indonesia, whereby they can search for solutions from Gojek’s ecosystem that suit their business needs. Applications that are included in #MelajuBersamaGojek includes MidTrans Payment Link (for online payment), GoBiz (for business management), Moka (for online cashier), GoSend (for delivery), and GoPay (for e-wallet and online payment).[xi] Gojek proposed another solution is the application Selly, which is described as the most comprehensive keyboard and dashboard application to facilitate MSMEs in selling their products online.[xii] Inside the application itself, it is equipped with features that will ease merchants’ ability to conduct online selling. Selly’s main features are auto-text for customers, checking shipping costs, sending customers’ bills, online payment through GoPay, and checking customers’ orders and sales reports.[xiii] The solutions above have been some of Gojek’s efforts to help Indonesian MSMEs maintain their business in this unfortunate time. As helping the growth of Indonesian MSMEs has been embedded in Gojek’s DNA, it is hoped that the initiatives above can alleviate the losses that the business has experienced during the pandemic and push the growth of the businesses in the long run.
Author: Jasmine Noor
Editor: Amelinda Pandu Kusumaningtyas
Reference List
The Jakarta Post. 2020. New Gojek Website To Help MSMEs Go Digital. [online] Available at: <https://www.thejakartapost.com/paper/2020/08/13/new-gojek-website-to-help-msmes-go-digital.html> [Accessed 1 September 2020].
Walandouw, P., Primaldhi, A., Wisana, I. and Nugroho, A., 2020. Peran Ekosistem Gojek Di Ekonomi Indonesia Saat Dan Sebelum Pandemi COVID-19. [online] Depok: Lembaga Demografi Fakultas Ekonomi dan Bisnis Universitas Indonesia. Available at: <https://ldfebui.org/penelitian/ringkasan-penelitian/peran-ekosistem-gojek-di-ekonomi-indonesia-saat-dan-sebelum-pandemi-covid-19/> [Accessed 1 September 2020].
Lembaga Demografi Fakultas Ekonomi dan Bisnis Universitas Indonesia, 2020. Ekosistem Digital Gojek Mendukung Ketahanan Ekonomi Melalui Kontribusi Yang Berkelanjutan. [online] Available at: <https://ldfebui.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/LD-UI-Berita-Pers-Peran-Ekosistem-Gojek-di-Ekonomi-Indonesia-Saat-dan-Sebelum-Pandemi-COVID-19.pdf> [Accessed 1 September 2020].
Syarizka, D., 2019. Gojek Gandeng Selly Bangun Komunitas Laris Manis Upgrade UMKM. [online] Bisnis.com. Available at: <https://teknologi.bisnis.com/read/20190625/266/937648/gojek-gandeng-selly-bangun-komunitas-laris-manis-upgrade-umkm> [Accessed 1 September 2020].
Mifta, L., 2020. Gojek Hadirkan #Melajubersamagojek Untuk Bantu UMKM Go Digital. [online] Teknologi.id. Available at: <https://teknologi.id/business/gojek-hadirkan-melajubersamagojek-untuk-bantu-umkm-go-digital> [Accessed 1 September 2020].
Antara News. 2020. Aplikasi Selly Dari Gojek Fasilitasi UMKM Memproses Pesanan. [online] Available at: <https://www.antaranews.com/berita/1666038/aplikasi-selly-dari-gojek-fasilitasi-umkm-memproses-pesanan> [Accessed 1 September 2020].
Gojek.com. 2020. Jualan Online Jadi Praktis Bareng Gopay Dan Selly | Gopay. [online] Available at: <https://www.gojek.com/blog/gopay/jualan-online/> [Accessed 1 September 2020].
[i] The Jakarta Post. 2020. New Gojek Website To Help MSMEs Go Digital. [online] Available at: <https://www.thejakartapost.com/paper/2020/08/13/new-gojek-website-to-help-msmes-go-digital.html> [Accessed 1 September 2020].
[ii] Walandouw, P., Primaldhi, A., Wisana, I. and Nugroho, A., 2020. Peran Ekosistem Gojek Di Ekonomi Indonesia Saat Dan Sebelum Pandemi COVID-19. [online] Depok: Lembaga Demografi Fakultas Ekonomi dan Bisnis Universitas Indonesia. Available at: <https://ldfebui.org/penelitian/ringkasan-penelitian/peran-ekosistem-gojek-di-ekonomi-indonesia-saat-dan-sebelum-pandemi-covid-19/> [Accessed 1 September 2020].
[iii] Ibid.
[iv] The Jakarta Post. 2020.
[v] Walandouw, P., Primaldhi, A., Wisana, I. and Nugroho, A. 2020.
[vi] Lembaga Demografi Fakultas Ekonomi dan Bisnis Universitas Indonesia, 2020. Ekosistem Digital Gojek Mendukung Ketahanan Ekonomi Melalui Kontribusi Yang Berkelanjutan. [online] Available at: <https://ldfebui.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/LD-UI-Berita-Pers-Peran-Ekosistem-Gojek-di-Ekonomi-Indonesia-Saat-dan-Sebelum-Pandemi-COVID-19.pdf> [Accessed 1 September 2020].
[vii] Walandouw, P., Primaldhi, A., Wisana, I. and Nugroho, A. 2020.
[viii] Syarizka, D., 2019. Gojek Gandeng Selly Bangun Komunitas Laris Manis Upgrade UMKM. [online] Bisnis.com. Available at: <https://teknologi.bisnis.com/read/20190625/266/937648/gojek-gandeng-selly-bangun-komunitas-laris-manis-upgrade-umkm> [Accessed 1 September 2020].
[ix] Mifta, L., 2020. Gojek Hadirkan #Melajubersamagojek Untuk Bantu UMKM Go Digital. [online] Teknologi.id. Available at: <https://teknologi.id/business/gojek-hadirkan-melajubersamagojek-untuk-bantu-umkm-go-digital> [Accessed 1 September 2020].
[x] Ibid.
[xi] Ibid.
[xii] Antara News. 2020. Aplikasi Selly Dari Gojek Fasilitasi UMKM Memproses Pesanan. [online] Available at: <https://www.antaranews.com/berita/1666038/aplikasi-selly-dari-gojek-fasilitasi-umkm-memproses-pesanan> [Accessed 1 September 2020].
[xiii] Gojek.com. 2020. Jualan Online Jadi Praktis Bareng Gopay Dan Selly | Gopay. [online] Available at: <https://www.gojek.com/blog/gopay/jualan-online/> [Accessed 1 September 2020].
