Get Online or Lose Out, Indonesian Government Warns Small Businesses

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Go digital or risk a potential collapse, the Indonesian government is warning small businesses in the country.

In fact, the government is confident of the positive trend boosting Indonesia’s digital economy which will grow further as the number of internet users in the country also increases.

According to the Indonesian Internet Service Provider Association (APJII), the internet penetration rate in Indonesia last year reached 196.71 million of the country’s entire population of 266.1 million people.

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The figure was an 8.9 percent growth from 2018, thus the country expects the internet penetration figures to grow even more in the coming years.

Taking this digital acceleration into context, Indonesian Minister for Cooperatives and SMEs Teten Masduki outlined the pros and cons of this promising trend.

On one hand, Indonesian SMEs and small businesses in Indonesia have the opportunity to take advantage of the technological advancement in their marketing strategy or production process.

On the other hand, Teten warns that Indonesian SMEs and small enterprises in the country could also collapse or be swallowed whole if business owners fail to keep up with the times.

Read also: Nearly Three in Every Four Indonesians are Internet Users

For that reason, the transition of getting the country’s small businesses to partake in Indonesia’s digital economy has become mandatory.