Advances in technology and information in this modern era, give many changes and influences in various aspects of life. People tend to prefer activities that are practical, easy, efficient, and fast. In today’s digital era, everyone can use their mobile phone to simplify their activities.
Through communication devices that are connected to the internet, people can do many things easily, such as shopping without having to go to a store, ordering cinema tickets with an application without having to queue, ordering food through an application without having to go out of the house, and many more benefits. advances in technology and information that can make it easier for people to fulfill their every need and desire.
The high use of the internet in Indonesia is in line with the proliferation of online business in Indonesia or commonly called e-commerce. E-Commerce is the activity of buying and selling goods/services or transmitting funds/data through electronic networks, especially the internet, you may like to buy internet by Spectrum Packages. With the development of information technology and software, this makes conventional transactions possible to be carried out electronically.
The growth of the e-commerce industry is inseparable from the behavior of Indonesian consumers who want speed in shopping and most Indonesian consumers already understand how to use the internet and smartphones. The behavior of people who are starting to love online shopping seems to bring benefits to several producers in the community, including selling products or services online without having to set up a shop as a place of business so that they can market their products or services to consumers anytime and anywhere.
In terms of marketing, they don’t need to spend money on promotions because by using the internet they can market their products or services widely to the public. For consumers themselves, it has the advantage of simplifying the buying process and transactions made online.
The development of the e-commerce business greatly affects economic growth in Indonesia. The growing number of e-commerce business players, in this case acting as producers, contributes to encouraging product offerings in online commerce. The more e-commerce producers, the more goods and services are traded online, so the greater the potential for transactions that will occur.
The effect of e-commerce on the economic growth of selling goods and services online and conventionally has similar implications for the increase in GDP (Gross Domestic Product) which is an indicator commonly used to determine economic growth from year to year.
One form of e-commerce in Indonesia is online shops such as Tokopedia, Buka, Lazada, Shopee, and others, which are the most popular online shopping applications by the public. Bank Indonesia even mentioned that in 2019, the number of e-commerce transactions per month reached Rp. 11 trillion – Rp. 13 trillion. The e-commerce industry has bright prospects and can become the backbone of Indonesia’s digital economy.
During the national shopping day on December 12, Shopee achieved IDR 1.3 trillion Gross Merchandise Value in just 24 hours and there were 80 million items sold. This achievement is clear evidence that Shopee has contributed to boosting consumer purchasing power and of course driving Indonesia’s economic growth.
Local e-commerce technology company SIRCLO issued a report on important information about the growth trends of the Indonesian e-commerce market. The contents of the report include comparisons between markets in Southeast Asia, the amount of government investment in e-commerce infrastructure, as well as market potential for global and local investors. The report notes that there has been a 200 percent increase in digital investment in Indonesia from year to year.
This happened thanks to the homeland e-commerce unicorns such as Tokopedia and Bukalapak which managed to attract the attention of various foreign and domestic investors. For example, Tokopedia which pocketed an investment of US$1.1 billion (Rp15.4 trillion) from Alibaba at the end of 2018 and Bukalapak which received an injection of funds from Mirae and Naver Corp worth US$50 million (Rp700 billion) in the first quarter of 2019 .
Investors are optimistic and dare to invest in the Indonesian e-commerce market because, according to data collected in the SIRCLO report, Indonesia’s e-commerce retail sales are estimated to reach 15 billion US dollars (Rp 210.8 trillion) in 2018 and will increase more than four times. in 2022, touching the figure of USD 65 billion (Rp 913.6 trillion).
The Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF) and the Persada Data Laboratory with the support of Google released a report entitled “Towards an Inclusive Digital Economy: Gender, Regional and Sectoral Perspectives”. In the report, Report some data, including the total contribution of the digital economy to Indonesia’s GDP in 2018 which reached IDR 814 trillion (56.4 billion US dollars) or 5.5% of GDP and added 5.7 million new jobs or 4.5% of the total workforce. While data for 2019 is not yet available.
The online shopping trend is expected to continue to increase. In the next three years, Indonesia will have 44 million buyers online or through e-commerce with a value of around 55-65 billion US dollars according to consulting firm McKinsey. Moreover, recently, the government has decided to revoke the regulation regarding the PMK 210/2018 e-commerce transaction tax provisions which were announced in January 2019.
Therefore, the reach of e-commerce should not only revolve in the Java area because the internet is currently adequate. E-commerce is expected to be able to reach all regions of Indonesia. Then the millennial generation can take advantage of existing platforms to channel their business spirit. So that millennials with their creative ideas can increase Indonesia’s economic growth.
Currently, there are still many Indonesian people who trade goods that have previously been imported from abroad, especially China. It is hoped that Indonesia will also be able to produce domestic products with good quality, so that local product trade is not inferior to foreign products and Indonesia can also export its products to other countries, so that Indonesian products are known in the eyes of the world.