Gembrong Market Traders Who Have To Fight Violent E-Commerce

Gembrong Market (Wardhany Tsa Tsia / VOI)

JAKARTA - Sri was sitting behind the checkout counter when we visited her toy shop at Gembrong Cipinang Market, East Jakarta. That afternoon, no visitors had come and bought merchandise at his small shop.

This condition, said Sri, had been happening for some time recently. The reason is not only because the toy market will be dismantled, like the news that is often heard lately, but also because of the rise of e-commerce in Indonesia.

"Now it's quiet. In my opinion, the first is because there are online sales. Moreover, the same online selling price, like me, is different, the online ones are usually cheaper because the distributors sometimes have online stalls," said Sri, who we met at his stall, Sunday, February 23.

Sri, who has been selling since 2009 at Pasar Gembrong, said that the rampant sales of toys online have made their merchandise prices often compared.

"Sometimes someone asks my subordinates, how come online the price is Rp. 300 thousand sold here Rp. 500 thousand for remote control toys. Yes, if it's like this, at most we just say, just buy online," he said.

Toy trader at Gembrong Market, Sri (Wardhany Tsa Tsia / VOI)

As a result of the rampant sales of toys online, Sri did not deny that the turnover she received had decreased. "For weekdays, my income is at most Rp1 million to Rp. 1.5 million. On weekdays, Rp. 2 million to Rp. 5 million. In the past, normal days were Rp. 3 million-5 million. For holidays, red dates could be Rp. 10-15 million," he explained he.

Even so, Sri did not take advantage of e-commerce to sell her toy merchandise. Because, he doesn't really understand about selling online.

Likewise Ipung, a toy trader who also has a stall at the Gembrong Market. Now, the merchandise is a lot compared to items in e-commerce. If you have this, he usually chooses to surrender if a potential customer cancels the goods he sells.

Or, as a final step, he usually wants to reduce the price of his merchandise. "Sometimes there are also those who say, this is the same as online, the price is like that. Yes, we sometimes give that price too, but if you really lose, we can't reduce the price any more," he said.

Gembrong Market (Wardhany Tsa Tsia / VOI)

This phenomenon is actually not only felt by traders in Cipinang Gembrong Market. In the world of large and international retail, some time ago there were a number of companies that had to go out of business due to e-commerce attacks.

One of them is Forever21 which is a retail company in the fashion sector. This retailer, which is headquartered in Los Angeles, California, United States, has to experience failure in 2019 after failing to compete with e-commerce.

Related to this, Executive Director of the Center for Indonesia Taxation Analysis (CITA) Yustinus Prastowo said that currently there is a shift in people's interest in spending from conventional to directly visiting traders to using e-commerce facilities that are currently widely available. It's just that, not all Indonesian people are affected by this pattern.

"There are several factors that actually affect it, although not yet big, the trend is there. First, because the convenience offered makes people prefer e-commerce, especially for efficiency and effectiveness," said Yustinus when contacted by VOI via text message, Sunday, February 23.

Second, people prefer e-commerce as a means of shopping because there is a further price difference. "Prices are mostly cheaper, apart from efficiency as well as taxes and subsidies," he said.

Ilustras (Pixabay)

So, to prevent the collapse of these conventional traders, Yustinus considered that the government needed to think of other ways. This includes facilitating the migration from offline to online sales by providing convenience and incentives. This is because conventional traders are required to be able to keep up with the times so that their business can continue to run.

"The government must provide ease of migration, for example, provide digital literacy, access to technology, and its applications. In addition, taxes also need to be considered. Digital platforms can be subject to lower taxes like in China," he concluded.