Differences In Response To Discourse On The Elimination Of TikTok Shop

Clothing traders at Tanah Abang Market, Jakarta offer their merchandise online via live broadcast using a cellphone, Tuesday, June 13, 2023. (Between/Aprilio Akbar)

JAKARTA - TikTok Shop is becoming a byword. The social e-commerce platform is accused of being the culprit for the decline in buyers in the conventional market until traders complain.

It is undeniable that the 'live' phenomenon on TikTok Shop has become increasingly popular lately. It may even be a moment that consumers are waiting for. Why? It happens because shopping on the platform is claimed to have lucrative prices.

But unfortunately, the increasing spending activity on TikTok Shop has also been complained of by many parties, especially from conventional traders. Along with the many complaints about the lack of conventional markets, the government has issued a discourse that it will prohibit TikTok as a means of selling.

How did TikTok users respond to the discourse and how did online media raise the issue of buying and selling on this platform?

Online Media And TikTok Monitoring

Based on Netray's monitoring in the news media with the keywords of the government && tiktok, the project s tiktok && umkm, and tiktok shop, 239 articles were found related to keywords. These articles were uploaded by 71 Indonesian online news media during the monitoring period 12-18 September 2023.

Although the TikTok Shop phenomenon is widely referred to as the MSME MURDER', the news related to the keywords above is dominated by positive news with a total of 131 articles and only 26 articles have negative sentiment.

The discourse on removing TikTok Shop is also in the spotlight of TikTok users. With the keywords of the government && tiktok, prohibition &&sell, prohibition && tiktok, tiktok && umkm, and #tiktok are prohibited from selling, Netray found 169 content in the same monitoring period as news channels.

The content containing the topic has succeeded in becoming the talk of netizens. A short video containing this issue has been played 4.7 million times with a total impression of 216.7 thousand reactions.

Response To TikTok Shop Terkesah

We cannot deny that people's spending activities are shifting along with the development of technology. If previously conventional markets were always crowded with visitors almost every day, it would be a rare sight in the past few years.

One example is Tanah Abang Market in Central Jakarta. The largest wholesale center in Southeast Asia is no longer the choice of the public for shopping. Whereas in the past, Tanah Abang Market was never empty of visitors. Mainly during holidays or before holidays.

The phenomenon of the quietness of Tanah Abang Market and other traditional markets is said to be due to the fever of online shopping. And, many people are busy pointing to the TikTok Shop's live phenomenon as the culprit for the drop in sales in Tanah Abang. However, this claim has stalled pros and cons.

Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs Teten Masduki also spoke about the phenomenon that is being discussed. He alluded to social media selling cheap imported products, or dumping. According to him, these activities threaten local producers or domestic MSMEs.

He also suspected that there was a predatory pricing practice carried out by social media. On that occasion, Teten asked Indonesia to learn from China about digital transformation. Despite the swift digital acceleration in China, the domestic market in the Bamboo Curtain Country is protected. This can happen because of the separation of social media and e-commerce functions.

"Digital platforms in China must not be monopolized, regulated. Social media is social media. Trade is trading, separated. Now TikTok itself in China is separated between TikTok and its TikTok Shop. In Indonesia it is allowed. Now who is stupid? Especially here is only the representative office," said Teten.

On another occasion, Center of Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS) researcher Muhammad Andri Perdana said offline traders had difficulty competing with TikTok Shop due to cross-border imports.

Cross border is the entry of imported goods into a country without going through the customs inspection process. The presence of platforms such as TikTok Shop allows imported cross-border goods to be sent directly to consumers from abroad at a lower price. The practice of cross-border trading is troubling MSME players, because one of the negative impacts is only benefiting foreign traders. This is because they sell products at very low prices.

According to him, the government does not need to immediately turn off the TikTok Shop because basically not a few MSMEs also want to follow technological developments and are helped by utilizing e-commerce.

"This is because of dumping politics, where exported goods are sold cheaper to control the market in the country. In fact, the goods sold may not be good goods, so they are added in Indonesia. With cross-border imports we cannot confirm whether the goods sold are good. TikTok also sells goods directly to retail, "said Andri when contacted by VOI.

Since the pandemic, the economic effects have been felt. In 2022 there will also be the highest inflation in the last eight years. People's purchasing power in Indonesia, even the world, has also decreased. So for the middle class people, they choose cheaper goods," Andri explained.

Agreeing with Andri, Digital Economy Observer Ignatius Untung Surapati emphasized that social commerce does not harm micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and can actually help boost sales.

"The social commerce does not harm MSMEs. Many MSMEs sell amazingly, yes, because of the social commerce. Social commerce has no negative impact on MSMEs," he said in a talk show'Impact of social commerce at MSMEs in Indonesia' in South Jakarta, Friday, September 15.