Bukalapak and Tokopedia Record MSME Partner Transactions

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) penetrated the digital ecosystem during the corona pandemic to reach users. Bukalapak and Tokopedia claim partner income has increased by 1,400% or 15 times since joining.

“In 2020, we see the enthusiasm of MSMEs joining in increasing drastically,” said VP Marketplace Bukalapak Kurnia Rosyada in the event “Virtual Chat: New Strategies for Bukalapak to Help MSMEs in Pandemic Difficult Times”, Thursday (4/2).

However, he did not specify an increase in the number of partners over the past year. He only said that there were five million patrons on the marketplace platform. Kurnia conveyed that Super Seller transactions could increase 15 times since joining. Meanwhile, partners’ sales at BukaMall increased 3.1 to 5.5 times.

The e-commerce unicorn is targeting more MSME partners this year. Therefore, Bukalapak applies one tariff for Super Seller, namely 0.5%. The amount is claimed to be the cheapest. The company also plans to add various features to make it easier for MSMEs to sell.

“We add more (business) analysis features,” said Kurnia. With this new feature, MSMEs can get sales analysis such as trends and consumer interests. Sellers can also target consumers accurately. Bukalapak also plans to add features that make it easier for sellers to provide promotions, such as discounts and free shipping.

Tokopedia was also Flooded with Partners during the Pandemic

Its competitor, Tokopedia, was also flooded with sales partners during the Covid-19 pandemic. This green e-commerce also attracted 9.9 million traders per year. Almost all of them are UMKM. “There has been an increase of 2.5 million since early 2020,” said External Communications Senior Lead Tokopedia Ekhel Chandra Wijaya in a press release last month (14/1).

Ekhel said the company held various initiatives to attract sales partners last year, one of which was the #SatuDalamKopi campaign. Tokopedia collaborates with more than 1,000 coffee entrepreneurs, and claims merchants’ income has increased by more than 2.5 times.

In addition, creating a Tokopedia Nyam initiative for food vendors. The number of culinary merchants on the platform and their transactions is claimed to have tripled during the pandemic. There is also the Proud Made Indonesia (BBI) initiative by hooking up with the government. The Indonesian Unicorn is also collaborating with the local government (Pemda) to acquire more than 2,000 new sellers.

The increase in the number of merchant partners at Bukalapak and Tokopedia is in line with the government’s appeal for MSMEs to penetrate the digital ecosystem during the pandemic. The government noted that there were 3.7 million new online merchants since the launch of the Proud Made Indonesia program in May 2020. With this addition, there are 11.7 million out of a total of more than 64 million MSMEs that have penetrated the digital ecosystem.

BukaMall is Optimistic to Face 2021

Bukalapak’s official store, BukaMall, recorded a monthly growth in 2020 reaching 17 percent. This achievement made BukaMall optimistic in facing 2021. This growth was obtained because more and more new brands joined BukaMall.

This achievement also recorded an increase of 3.1 times to 5.5 times compared to last year. VP of Bukalapak Marketplace, Kurnia Rosyada, said that the features offered by Bukalapak were one of the factors of improvement. In addition, the Super Seller program launched will make partners more comfortable.

After being launched on January 11, 2021, this program charges only 0.5 percent of partners’ income. He admitted, the amount of this fee is the cheapest among other marketplaces. The Bukalapak Super Seller Program itself provides free shipping benefits of up to IDR 20,000 per transaction to an exclusive cashback voucher.

Then, a contest for partners invited many people to join as partners at Bukalapak. During 2021, more partners will join the partners contest. “The existence of this program has increased drastically, almost 10 times than before the program,” said Kurnia in Virtual Chat, Thursday (4/2/2021).