Amid The Raid On Imported Goods, Minister Teten Invites Influencers To Promote Local Products

Coordinating Minister for SMEs Teten Masduki (Photo: Doc. Kemenkop UKM)

JAKARTA - Minister of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (Menkop UKM) Teten Masduki invites domestic influencers to participate in promoting local products to be able to fight the dominance of foreign products sold on e-commerce platforms.

Minister Teten said, amid the change in offline shopping patterns to online and the invasion of foreign products, the role of influencers is increasingly significant to participate in promoting local products.

"About 56 percent of our total e-commerce market revenue is controlled by foreigners. Therefore, we need the role of many parties, including influencers in promoting local products," said Teten in a written statement, Wednesday, September 20.

Teten said that currently the quality of domestically made products can compete with foreign products. Therefore, Indonesia needs a shared spirit to love domestic products.

He assessed that the spirit to love domestic products can help MSMEs to develop and grow sustainably.

In addition, Teten wants Indonesians to be able to imitate Japanese people who have philosophy, buying domestic products is a way to help their country become a great nation.

Even so, based on research from the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF), almost 90 percent of the 400 e-commerce companies in Indonesia are controlled by imported products. In fact, the circulation of money circulating in the Indonesian e-commerce market can reach IDR 300 trillion.

Furthermore, Teten said, if people are encouraged to consume local goods, the benefits that can be achieved by MSMEs will be even greater. Not only that, but the online trading ecosystem can be formed very well.

"If our MSMEs can take advantage of only half of it through local products, we can get a high economic value, around Rp150 trillion," he added.