Surakarta, Indonesia – Superapp Grab in Indonesia and the Indonesian Market Management Association (Asparindo) have confirmed a strategic partnership, in an aim to digitise traditional markets through the Pasar programme, an extension of GrabMart that brings local markets’ freshest produce, poultry, meat, and seafood to households.
Aside from Surakarta, the digitalisation program will also continue to traditional markets in and other cities such as Jakarta, Surabaya, Bogor, Bali, Palembang and Medan, targeting around 4,600 traditional market MSME players by the end of 2022.
The collaboration includes a number of initiatives like the ‘Digital Market Activation’, where MSME partners under Asparindo have the opportunity to join the Grab digital ecosystem as Grab merchants and take advantage of digital payment methods using OVO. It also includes ‘Training for MSMEs’, where Grab will be providing digital training programmes, webinars, and education for MSME players in order to improve digital market literacy and help empower digital businesses to increase the value of market competitiveness.
Additionally, another initiative is ‘Event participation’, where Grab and Asparindo will be presenting various kinds of events held both offline and online.
Gibran Rakabuming Raka, mayor of Surakarta, said, “This collaboration is certainly in line with the mission that is being carried out by the Surakarta City Government in realizing the smart city program. I hope this program can provide education to business people that digitalization in every market is currently very necessary in order to encourage regional economic growth and create skilled and highly competitive resources.”
Meanwhile, Neneng Goenadi, country managing director of Grab Indonesia, conveyed the platform’s commitment to supporting the digitisation of market traders and MSME players in Indonesia.
“We believe in the potential and superior competitiveness of Indonesian MSMEs. Therefore, we are excited to present the GrabMart Pasar program to facilitate market traders and MSMEs in adopting technology and entering the digital economy ecosystem. We hope that Grab’s support can help Indonesian MSMEs contribute to sustainable regional and national economic growth,” said Goenadi.
Joko Setiyanto, chairman of the Indonesian Market Management Association (Asparindo), shared that the current pandemic has also encouraged a change in trends for people to shop and do business digitally, and the traditional market is one of the places of business for SMEs that must be maintained and its existence regulated.
“Therefore, digital adoption is needed for traditional markets in order to adapt and improve services to meet the needs of the community. Through this collaboration with Grab Indonesia, it is hoped that it will accelerate the pace of digitalisation of traditional markets so that they can continue to exist and develop into modern traditional markets that are solid and globally competitive,” said Setiyanto.
