Tokopedia Focus Expanding Business to Villages
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20 August 2019 19:03 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Bandung - Tokopedia CEO William Tanuwijaya said the e-commerce company would expand its business to villages across Indonesia.
“[Our] future strategy is to expand [business] to villages, instead of abroad. It is more important for us to enter, for example, Sukanagara’s [market], rather than expanding the business to, let’s say Singapore,” he said after an MoU signing with West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil in Bandung, Tuesday, August 20.
William said his company was focusing investment to Indonesian villages and that the MoU signing with West Java Governor is one of the tools to realize the goal. He said the marketplace needs the government’s support due to infrastructure matter and to open access to villages.
He was glad that Ridwan Kamil supported the digitalization through the MoU signing of establishing an education platform dubbed Tokopedia Center.
Through the center in the villages, the people can learn about the opportunities of utilizing the internet; starting from creating an email, online store, until running an online business.
“We can’t just immediately educate the villagers about Tokopedia. We must first educate them on how to use the internet. This is a long-term investment,” William remarked.
According to William, his company had once established the education center in villages and cities simultaneously and the result showed the one in the villages are more developed. He claimed the online marketplace has now covered 97 percent of Indonesian regencies even though the transaction was still relatively low.
William was optimistic that the partnership with West Java administration would open opportunities for people living in villages to open e-commerce businesses. Therefore, they don’t have to move to big cities to sell their products across the country, he said.
West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil said the collaboration was aimed at developing village digital center. “This is part of the digital village master plan. The village digital center is managed by Tokopedia Center.”
Ahmad Fikri (Contributor)
