Ant Financial-backed e-commerce marketplace Bukalapak announced on Tuesday that it has a new partnership with Google My Business, an internet-based service for business owners operated by Google. The partnership aims to help kiosk owners who are part of Bukalapak’s Warung Mitra Bukalapak program, through which these small neighborhood shops can sell various digital services to their local customers.
The link up with Goole My Business means that the approximately 95,000 registered small kiosks in the Warung Mitra Bukalapak program will appear in Google search results including Google Maps. The collaboration is expected to improve the adoption of digital technology among micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Indonesia.
“The partnership does not only facilitate the internet users to find the nearest small shop location, but can also increase the volume of transactions at these shops. At the same time, the program could educate kiosk owners about the importance of digital technology that could scale up their skills to compete in a highly competitive market,” the co-founder and president of Bukalapak Fajrin Rasyid said in the press statement.
According a report by Indonesia’s IT Ministry also quoted in Bukalapak’s press release, only 16.33% or 9.61 million out of 58.9 million MSMEs in Indonesia have adopted digital technology in their business practices. According to the 2019 Google-Temasek-Bain&Co report, Indonesia’s digital economy is estimated to be the largest in Southeast Asia, and the region’s digital economy market value is expected to triple to USD 300 billion by 2025. Digitalizing MSMEs business processes and improving their productivity plays a key part in achieving the 2025 target.