Encouraging in Increasing Competitiveness, the Ministry of Trade Supports Modern Wholesale Partnerships with Traditional Stalls

Minister of Trade, Zulkifli Hasan. (Doc. Public Relations of the Ministry of Trade)

JAKARTA - The Minister of Trade Zulkifli Hasan said the Ministry of Trade continues to push for increased competitiveness of traditional stalls. One way is through partnerships with modern wholesalers.

Because of this, the Ministry of Trade appreciates and supports Indogrosir's steps in establishing partnerships with micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), namely traditional shops or stalls.

The man who is familiarly called Zulhas said that this partnership could certainly move and advance Indonesian MSMEs.

"Currently the Ministry of Trade is trying to boost the competitiveness of traditional shops or stalls. One way is through partnerships between modern wholesalers and traditional shops or stalls. For this reason, the Ministry of Trade appreciates the efforts Indogrosir has made," he said in a statement, written Sunday, July 9.

The partnership that has been carried out by Indogrosir so far is through the supply of merchandise to shops or traditional stalls that are Indogrosir customers (red member stalls).

In addition, there is a package program for modern start-up stalls in the form of Toko Mandiri Indogrosir (TMI), which is an example of a partnership between a modern wholesaler and a traditional shop/warung.

Zulhas hopes that the partnership between Indogrosir and UMKM can continue to be established and grow more and be more successful in developing their business.

"We hope that Indogrosir can expand the scope of partnership to red member stalls not only in terms of supplying goods, but in the form of training related to good retail management for MSME stalls that are partners," he concluded.

On the other hand, Zulhas said that by partnering with modern wholesalers, stalls will get many benefits, including guaranteed supply of goods at competitive prices; business assistance; modern retail management support; and digitalization of payments through QRIS.

"As well as sales of digital products such as credit, electricity tokens, and paying bills," he explained.

Moreover, said Zulhas, traditional shops or stalls as a form of MSMEs are still the most real people's economic power and have the potential to have a significant impact on people's welfare and national economic progress.

Based on data from Eruromonitor for 2021, out of 3.61 million retailers in Indonesia, 3.57 million of them are in the form of traditional shops or stalls.

Meanwhile, MSMEs have a major contribution to Indonesia's economic growth. As many as 65.46 million Indonesian MSMEs have contributed 60 percent to the gross domestic product (GDP). MSMEs are able to absorb 117 million workers or 97 percent of the total existing workforce.

"Efforts to empower the Ministry of Trade to increase competitiveness include providing supplies of goods, business assistance, digitizing stalls, and capital assistance through partnerships," he said.