Strengthening the Financial Product Ecosystem, Koinworks Soon to Release "Super App" For Online Merchants

Koinworks is preparing great app specifically for online merchants to expand financial products that suit the needs of each business. The plan is that the application will be released in the second quarter of this year.

Previously, company release app great app for lenderscontains various features to support them in developing assets by investing, not only p2p loans (KoinP2P), there is KoinGold, also KoinGaji, and KoinBisnis to apply for a loan.

"In 2020, we focused a lot on super financial app to search personal user, but in operation We help SMEs a lot so they can still have access to funding. This year, I want to add focus to SMEs so that they can not only lending only, they can enjoy other features through the ecosystem that they need," said KoinWorks CMO Jonathan Bryan in an online discussion event, Wednesday (20/1).

He admits that he is optimistic about the presence of great app specifically for SMEs can strengthen the company's position as a pioneers targeting the online merchant sector. Armed with historical wealth collected by the company, it becomes an important provision in developing the application.

Since the pandemic, the shift in transactions from offline to online, has made this sector a prima donna which has finally changed the business landscape of lending startup players. Some of them initially only played in the productive sector, or offline businesses, are now starting to look at online traders.

"Digital SMEs it's a hot market this year because this online business is changing everything. We become fintech pioneers who specifically play in this sector, a lot of data that we have collected is a good provision to strengthen our presence.”

Over the past year, KoinWorks recorded an increase in borrowers and lenders by 61% on an annual basis or by 549 thousand. Meanwhile, loans disbursed reached more than IDR 2,5 trillion. The average loan submitted by borrowers ranges from Rp. 200 billion to Rp. 300 billion per month.

Digital SME confidence index release

At the same time, the company conducted a study entitled "Digital SMEs Confidence Index Q4 2020" to obtain the views of SME owners on how they will face the business environment during 2020, the factors that influence their actions, and the outlook on business after the pandemic.

This research was conducted on 1.188 digital SMEs as respondents using qualitative and quantitative research methods, taking place during October-November 2020. Most of them are engaged in the F&B business (42,7%), fashion and accessories (28,9%), professional services ( 11,5%), and household equipment (5,6%).

The results found, the pandemic changed the behavior of customers and SME businesses also received its influence. As many as 89,2% of respondents agreed that the pandemic had a very positive and negative impact on their business. In addition, 33,2% of respondents experienced a decline in sales ranging from 31%-75%.

Furthermore, the pandemic has forced digital SME business players to survive, one of which is through digitization. Respondents who use channel sales in various sales channels (five channel sales) had a much higher business confidence index, around 2,7 out of 5 receiving a lower sales decline of 34,95%. Meanwhile, who only utilizes one channel received 38,96% higher sales.

“The Business Confidence Index itself measures employers' expectations regarding current business income, production capacity, average working hours, etc. From these results, it can be interpreted that digitalization can open many gates for SMEs in order to maintain their business. In addition, one of the interesting findings is related to financing which is considered the most needed factor to develop a business during the pandemic or after the pandemic ends.”