Indonesia – Indonesian rural-focused social commerce startup, Dagangan, has introduced its new online merchandise shopping services, with the aim to fulfil primary needs for rural communities of shopping from home and have their groceries delivered within 24 hours without postage via its local stock centres.
According to Dagangan, amidst Indonesia being one of the largest economies in Southeast Asia, two to three out of five Indonesians live in rural areas. With this, the social commerce platform’s strategy is to focus its operations in rural Indonesia to give them a strong position in the supply value chain. Dagangan offers a profitable option to many, especially for people living in villages and other rural areas, where they have to travel up to two to three hours just to shop for what they need in the nearest town.
Understanding the lack of access to basic needs in rural areas, Dagangan has implemented a hubs-and-spoke model that allows them to establish a synergy with community leaders, local SMEs, and entrepreneurs, which play key roles in interacting within the communities.
Moreover, the new business model enables communities to benefit from their participation as distributors, resellers, or agents of various primary goods, and even as shop owners or retail buyers. Dagangan also supports community empowerment in entrepreneurship by facilitating high-quality local products to access a wider market.
Ryan Manafe, Dagangan’s CEO and co-founder, shared that Dagangan is expected to accelerate economic equality by paving ways for rural communities to access their basic needs in an efficient manner.
“They now have the same opportunity as urban communities, completely meeting their daily needs affordably, without incurring additional shipping costs,” said Manafe.
Meanwhile, Maha Willy Chandra, Dagangan’s COO and co-founder, said the hubs-and-spoke operating model helps large producers, both national and international, reach areas that were previously difficult to enter due to logistical limitations.
“Currently, we have more than 40 hubs (stock centres) spread over several points in rural areas so that the delivery to customers will be faster and cheaper,” added Chandra.
Dagangan said that it will continue to expand its operations, both in Java and outside of the island, so that more rural communities in the country can benefit from its services.