Compete with Bukalapak to Ula, Warung Pintar Claims Top 3 Position

The startup provider of business solutions, Warung Pintar, claims to be in the top three positions in this field. The startup competes with Bukalapak to Ula, which is backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

The CEO of Warung Pintar Group Agung Bezharie Hadinegoro said the company occupies the top three positions as the platform most widely used by MSME actors.

In Indonesia, there are more than 25 application-based business solution provider platforms for MSMEs. According to the ‘New Retail Landscape’ report, Warung Pintar excels in almost all categories including procurement solutions, access to funding and loans, access to additional income, business financial records, and the warung community.

“After four years of studying the warung ecosystem, we understand very well the importance of continuing to evaluate the market condition on a regular basis in order to deliver the right innovations,” said Agung in an official statement, Monday (20/12).

The number of stalls joining the Warung Pintar Group has grown 100 times this year. In total, this startup has attracted 500 thousand stalls.

The startup also collaborates with more than 1,000 Smart Wholesale partners, 450 suppliers, as well as 500 brands and distributors. While the number of active users reached 160 thousand. Warung Pintar has more than 50 warehouses and depots in more than 200 cities and regencies in Indonesia.

Survey Regarding the Use of the Warung Pintar Platform

The startup company also conducted a survey of 1,000 shop owners in 18 regencies/cities in October regarding the reasons for using the platform. The results are as follows:

1. Procurement of goods (100%)

2. Earn additional income, incentives and services (37.7%)

3. Selling digital products such as mobile phone top-up credit (19.8%)

4. Engagement in app-based communities (18.7%)

5. Improve business literacy

6. Doing financial records

7. Gaining access to funding or loans

However, the survey also shows that 70% of warungs still procure offline from grocery stores/agents. In fact, there are more than 20 platforms whose usage percentage is below 10%.

Warung Pintar sees this as an opportunity. “We continue to strive to provide a user-friendly platform and provide a special team to ensure that from shop owners to brands/principals get the best experience while using all services,” he said.

Solutions Provided by Warung Pintar

Therefore, Warung Pintar provides several solutions as follows:

1. Warung Pintar Distribution as a warehousing and inventory system solution.

2. Smart Wholesaler, which collaborates with more than 1,000 wholesale business partners, each serving around 200 – 300 shop owners. This application is used by grocery stores to connect directly with hundreds of shop owners within five to 10 kilometers.

3. Smart Ads feature for placing brand advertisements for additional income for the stalls.

4. Smart Bonus feature for access to business capital/choice of payment method Buy Now Pay Later supported by Cicil.

Meanwhile, its competitor, Bukalapak, has attracted 8.7 million stalls and agents. Then Ula offered more than 6,000 products and attracted more than 70,000 stalls as of early October.

Other than Warung Pintar, Ula, a similar startup also just raised US$ 87 million of series B funding, led by Tencent, Prosus Ventures, and B-Capital. Bezos Expeditions also participate in this round.

In addition, there are several investors in Southeast Asia who are participating, namely Gojek, Northstar Group, AC Ventures, and Citius investors. Past investors such as Lightspeed India, Sequoia Capital India, Quona Capital and Alter Global also participated.

The Warung Pintar application was developed by Warung Pintar Group, a micro-retail startupthat utilizes technology to increase efficiency and optimize traditional warung businesses in Indonesia.

Through the Warung Pintar application, stall business owners can also monitor the performance of the stall business such as the amount of profit, expenses, and stock of goods.