Indonesia’s first digital bank, Bank Rakyat Indonesia announced on Monday that it has earmarked $1 million for Indonesia Mall, an early-stage assisted e-commerce program that aims to help small enterprises open new revenue channels by participating in the online retail market. 

To serve the growing numbers of micro and small-medium enterprises (MSMEs) populated by the region's e-commerce boom, Bank Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) rolled out Indonesia Mall in October 2018 with the goal to bring MSMEs online and give them easy access to a larger local and overseas markets.  

Indonesia Mall, an in-house program of the bank, helps small companies post their listings on Bank BRI’s Indonesia Mall e-stores, plus help them package and photograph products. It also provides logistics, shipping, and inventory, and even facilitates overseas exports.  So far, Indonesia Mall has signed up more than 10,000 MSMEs and those that have joined the program have reportedly seen revenues rise by 40 percent on average, the bank said in a statement on Monday.

Limited Access

Many MSMEs in Indonesia continue to have limited access to the formal financial sector, with large swaths of the population still remaining unbanked.  By not having bank accounts, these enterprises would have difficulties collecting payments online. 

MSMEs employ 116.7 million people – more than 97% of the total national workforce, according to data from Indonesia’s Central Statistics Agency. However, less than 15 percent of MSMEs have proper access to financing. Recent reports indicate that only around 40 percent of consumer goods from Indonesia actually make it into the e-commerce market. 

Boom of E-commerce

Indonesian e-commerce is growing at an average of 16.3 percent annually and is now worth 238 trillion Rupiah (US$16.6 billion), according to Global Data. This growth is expected to spike further by 2023, with the industry value predicted to reach 436 trillion Indonesian Rupiah (US$30.3 billion), reflecting growth of nearly 85 percent. 

Bank BRI-assisted MSME partners range from individual craft artisans to small snack-makers, tailors, and more. Their products can be directly purchased via major e-commerce platforms such as Tokopedia, Shopee, Bukalapak, Blanja.com, Blibli.com, Qoo10 in Singapore, and others.

Promoting Products of MSMEs

Indonesia Mall aims to offer MSMEs infrastructure, ecosystem, and capacity for business and resources developed with the goal of helping its partners sell within Indonesia, as well as overseas.  

To this end, Bank BRI cross-sells products on Indonesia Mall with its credit cards, debit cards, and other programs. Besides selecting and curating a top product list, Indonesia Mall also runs marketing campaigns on most major e-commerce platforms so as to keep its sellers’ products visible on an ongoing basis.  

Bank BRI is the largest microfinance institution and is one of Indonesia’s leading commercial banks and the country’s largest lender by assets.