Chilibeli Startup Targeting Vegetables Vendors and Stalls

Staple delivery service startups such as Chilibeli launched Chilimart. Through this Business to Business (B2B) service, the company targets micro business actors such as vegetable vendors to shop owners.

B2B Commercial Manager Chilimart Novel Leonardo said the demand for staple goods from B2B consumers such as hotels, restaurants, and cafes decreased during the corona pandemic. For this reason, Chilibeli targets individual consumers such as housewives. Sales of staples to individual customers have also increased during the coronavirus pandemic.

However, Chilibeli did not specify the increase. Now, Chilibeli wants to explore the market potential of the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) segment. Therefore, the company launched Chilimart which focuses on targeting vegetable vendors to grocery store owners.

“Vegetarians must open during the Covid-19 pandemic because there is a demand here and there. The higher the demand, the more we invest. We provide more complete items to make business more sophisticated,” said Novel during a virtual press conference, Wednesday (25/8).

Demand Increases during Pandemic

The demand for basic commodities increases during this pandemic. On the Chilibeli platform, products that are of interest are kitchen herbs and spices, such as shallots, bird’s eye chilies, ginger, and ginger.

For fruits, many of Chilibeli’s partners and consumers buy an avocado, lemon, and durian. Meanwhile, chicken and eggs are more sought after by individual consumers.

On the one hand, the number of micro business actors in Indonesia is very large. The amount reaches 63 million or 98.68% of the total MSMEs in the country. Based on these data, the company launched Chilimart, which allows micro-entrepreneurs to order basic commodities at prices that are claimed to be cheap. Product quality is also guaranteed.

Micro entrepreneurs can expand the category of selling products. “Partners can explore new things, from just FMCG to a wider area,” said Novel. Currently, Chilibeli has hooked up 10 thousand partners. Overall, Chilibeli’s business is growing by an average of 150% every month.

This year, Chilibeli also obtained series A funding of US 10 million or around IDR 157 billion from investors from the United States (US) Lightspeed.

Launch Chilimart Digital Solutions

Chilibeli introduced the Chilimart business line with the main focus on providing more practical solutions for MSME business players in developing their business. Chilimart’s own targets for MSMEs are stall owners, warteg (food stalls), vegetable vendors, restaurants, caterers, and grocery store owners.

Before the pandemic, these small entrepreneurs faced many daily operational and logistical challenges. The main thing is the duration of work. UMKM entrepreneurs start the day very early because the distance to the market is far to get cheaper prices.

Novel Leonardo, B2B Commercial Manager, Chilimart, explained, “The presence of Chilimart in the Chilibeli ecosystem is a manifestation of Chilibeli’s long-term plan as a smart social commerce application for the Indonesian people. Supported by experts in Chilimart management, Partners can finally enjoy more time to improve the quality of life or move up the economy class by opening new businesses”.

Hoping that MSME Businessmen Have a Work-Life Balance

But not only that, the distribution tends to be long and passes through several distributors’ hands, so prices are not necessarily the best. These sacrifices resulted in MSME actors not having enough time and energy for their families and children.

Chilimart is a meaningful solution specially designed for small business owners such as vegetable vendors and wholesalers who have a small business as their main source of income. Chilimart partners generally order large quantities of products at high volumes, so prices must be cheap so that business owners can achieve higher margins.

With the presence of Chilimart, it is hoped that UMKM business people will have a work-life balance so that life is more meaningful. This is because Chilimart presents value solutions for Partners by answering all the challenges they face.