Evermos Startup Records Reseller Income Increases during the Pandemic

Sharia-based social commerce startup Evermos recorded an increase in the number of retailers or resellers on the platform by 20% per month during the corona pandemic.

The company claims that they earn an average of IDR 2.5 million per month. Based on a McKinsey report, social commerce is a platform that facilitates buying and selling of products through social media.

Meanwhile, e-commerce facilitates transactions, including payments and shipping. Evermos Co-Founder Ghufron Mustaqim assessed that the increase in the number of resellers during Covid-19 was because many wanted to earn additional income.

“Their income has decreased, they are unemployed, or have been laid off,” he said during a virtual press conference, Wednesday (16/6).

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) noted that there were 29.12 million workers affected by Covid-19 last year. A total of 2.56 million of them became unemployed. Then 760 thousand became non-labor force.

Then, 1.77 million people did not work temporarily or were laid off. Ghufron assesses that becoming a reseller is one solution so that people can earn income. “They can do business without capital,” he said.

Facilitates Users to Become Resellers

Evermos facilitates people who want to become resellers and sell online. Products sold on social media through the Evermos platform include hijab, Muslim clothing, books, and others.

“Internal data, the top 20% of resellers can earn IDR 2.5 million in commissions per month,” he said. Until now, Evermos has facilitated around 75 thousand resellers in Indonesia.

As many as 75% of them are in Java and 18% in Sumatra. Evermos targets one million resellers in the next five years.

To that end, the company adds various services and provides training. “There is a training team that provides assistance to become a professional reseller,” he said.

Vermos provides training to individuals, MSMEs, villages, and cooperatives to be financially independent. In the training provided, the platform targets tier 2 and tier 3 cities in Indonesia. 

“Evermos is determined to build a mutual cooperation economy in Indonesia by creating a platform that bridges between local MSMEs on the supply side and consumers on the demand side assisted by resellers,” said Evermos Co-founder, Ghufron Mustaqim. 

With this platform, his party plans to build a new economic system that is more equal and inclusive.

Built to Support Sharia Economy in Indonesia

Evermos was founded in 2018 in Bandung by Arip Tirta, Ghufron Mustaqim, Iqbal Muslimin, and Ilham Taufiq. According to him, Evermos is in a position to work on the halal economy and comply with sharia regulations. 

Regarding the opportunities and competition in the halal economic sector, Ghufron said Evermos did not pay much attention to competition because the potential of the halal economy market itself was very large.

“We consider other players not as competitors, but as partners. It takes a lot of collaboration to build a strong ecosystem so that the halal economy can be built better in the future,” he explained.

On the other hand, Nuruddin Al Fithroh, Chief of Reseller Experience Evermos said that another challenge faced by Evermos is how to expand the social impact of the platform to a wider scale.

The company also attracts 500 local brands, and is targeted at 10,000 in five years. Evermos claims they can increase their turnover by 10%-20% after joining.

Investment Associate Jungle Ventures Karissa Adelaide assesses, Evermos has great growth potential. “The majority of Indonesians are Muslim. That is also the reason why we invest in Evermos,” he said.

Jungle Ventures provided Series A funding of US$ 8.2 million or around IDR 115.1 billion to Evermos in 2019. Other investors involved were Shunwei Capital and existing investor Alpha JWC.

In a McKinsey report entitled ‘The Digital Archipelago: How Online Commerce is Driving Indonesia’s Economic Development’ in 2018, the potential sales in social commerce are forecast to reach US$ 25 billion.