JAKARTA - Chairman of the Indonesian Shopping Center Management Association (APPBI), Alphonzus Widjaja, revealed that the phenomenon of visitors coming to shopping centers but minimally making purchases is nothing new.
According to him, these conditions often occur and are greatly influenced by people's purchasing power factors. He expressed this in response to the trend of sparse buying groups (Rojali).
"Visitors come to shopping centers but little or no shopping is not a new trend. This always happens all the time, but the number depends on various factors, as is the case today, namely people's purchasing power which has not yet recovered, especially the lower middle class," he said when contacted by VOI, Saturday, July 26.
However, Alphonzus said the level of visits to shopping centers had actually increased. "In the midst of declining purchasing power conditions, people still come to visit Shopping Centers. The average level of visits to shopping centers increased by about 10 percent compared to last year," he said.
"Because currently shopping centers are one of the public facilities that meet the needs of the community not only in terms of shopping but also other things such as entertainment, education and so on," continued Alphonzus.
He explained that the lower middle class who experienced a decrease in purchasing power tended to shift their expenditures to goods at a lower price.
Alphonzus is optimistic that this condition will not last forever. He estimates that the situation will improve again as people's purchasing power recovers.
Meanwhile, Deputy for Social Statistics of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), Ateng Hartono said, from the results of the 2025 National Socio-Economic Survey (Susenas), it showed an upper group tendency to restrain consumption, aka 'Rojali'.
Even so, he stressed that this phenomenon does not necessarily have a direct impact on the national poverty rate.
According to Ateng, although this term does not always describe poverty statistically, this kind of social phenomenon should be a serious concern in the formulation of public policy.
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