There Is A Survey Which States That The Contribution Of Grocery Stores To GDP Reaches IDR 69.3 Trillion

Sampoerna Retail Community (SRC) press conference, in Jakarta, Thursday 20 February. (Photo: By courtesy)

JAKARTA - A survey result shows that the turnover of the grocery store owner community called the Sampoerna Retail Community (SRC) contributes IDR 69.3 trillion per year to the national retail Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

SRC is the largest current grocery store chain in Indonesia, which is part of the mentoring and mentoring program of PT HM Sampoerna Tbk.

Head of Commercial Affairs and Business Development Sampoerna Henny Susanto said the results of the survey in collaboration with a research team from one of the national media were the benchmark for SRC in contributing to the economy.

"We hope that the results of this survey can inspire other SMEs to grow stronger and have higher competitiveness. In the future, we will continue to strive to make the best contribution to the advancement of SMEs in Indonesia. We are open to working with all parties, including the government, because efforts require good cooperation from all parties, "said Henny in Jakarta, Thursday, February 20.

The survey itself was conducted on 452 grocery store owners in eight cities, namely Medan, Palembang, Tangerang, Bogor, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Surabaya and Makassar.

The survey results show the positive changes felt by SRC store owners towards an increase in sales transactions of up to 58 percent and turnover which increased by 54 percent after joining SRC. In fact, as many as 84 percent of SRC shop owners get their main source of income from SRC.

Another fact obtained from the survey results is that the SRC has a strategic role in empowering women. It is recorded that 57 percent of SRC owners are women, and 52 percent of them act as the backbone of the family.

Henny also explained that the presence of the SRC also had a positive impact on the surrounding SMEs. This impact was felt by the presence of the Local Corner, which is a special area in the SRC shop dedicated to selling SME products or community products from the neighborhood around the shop.

Through the Local Corner, the turnover of SME products is recorded at IDR 5.7 trillion per year. On average, SMEs who sell their goods at the Local Corner experience an increase in turnover by 28 percent.

"Besides contributing to the development of SMEs in the surrounding environment, the presence of the SRC has also succeeded in creating jobs for the community. It is recorded that 20 percent of SRC owners can empower the surrounding community to help manage the shop," said Henny.

It doesn't stop there, SRC's efforts in increasing the competitiveness of grocery stores through the development of a digital ecosystem are slowly starting to bear fruit.

Launched in July 2019, Pojok Bayar, which is a platform for conducting digital product transactions such as credit, internet packages, accounts for 4 percent of the total revenue of SRC grocery stores.

In addition, the SRC digital ecosystem is also supported by the AYO SRC application which was introduced in May 2019. Referring to the survey results, the application to connect buyers, shop owners and SRC suppliers is actively used by 64 percent of SRC owners to support the smooth running of their business.

With various SRC shop development and coaching programs, Henny said 93 percent of SRC owners wanted to remain in the SRC mentoring program.

According to him, most of the SRC owners recommend other grocery stores to take part in this sustainable coaching.

Assistant Deputy for Creative Economy Coordination, Entrepreneurship and Competitiveness of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises Chairul Saleh expressed his appreciation for the SME development program carried out by Sampoerna through the SRC. He said that the SRC was in line with the government's big agenda for the empowerment of SMEs.

"We consider this to be a very impactful breakthrough, meaning that there is indeed a synergy for empowerment, not only for SRC owners, but also for SME products," said Chairul.