JAKARTA - The Association of Indonesian Shopping Center Retailers and Tenants (Hippindo) revealed the cause of the recent collapse of shopping centers. It is known, several retailers have closed a number of outlets, such as Matahari, Giant to the latest GS Supermarket.
Chairman of Hippindo Budihardjo Iduansjah assessed that this could not be separated from changes in the behavior of the Indonesian people in shopping. According to him, currently the most popular trend is frequent online shopping.
"Maybe bored, so a lot of (shopping) online. So people change whether they want to be online. But, right, some can't be thrown away offline. The point is that offline players also sell online, really, now," said Budihardjo when met by media crews at the Smesco Building, Jakarta, Tuesday, May 6.
In addition, the impact of trade wars triggered by the United States (US) is also the cause. According to Budihardjo, the impact of the trade war has made the retail industry sluggish today.
Therefore, Budihardjo asked the government to facilitate business permits, taxes to provide stimulus to the community. Moreover, currently Indonesia's economic growth has slowed to 4.87 percent in the first quarter of 2025.
"The effect of the trade war, it must be sluggish all over the world. We just ask the government to facilitate business permits, make taxes easier, give BLT, it will save," he said.
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He also estimates that the retail industry is still facing challenges this year. Moreover, the momentum of religious holidays has passed.
Budihardjo also admitted that he was worried about the growth of the retail industry until the first semester of 2025. He estimates that retail growth in the minimarket segment will only be able to grow in the range of 8-9 percent, aka not being able to double digits.
Bearing in mind, people's purchasing power is decreasing due to the wave of Termination of Work Relations (PHK) that continues to this day.
"Yes, that must be the challenge. And it goes down every year, yes. Surely if after Eid, from the previous years (previously) it was natural to go down, but maybe we hope to open the government's shopping tap, maybe it should be opened or (giving) BLT (direct cash assistance). We ask for a BLT stimulus to increase (people's purchasing power)," he concluded.
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