Waiting for the New Normal for B2B E-Commerce Services

The pandemic has affected all lines of business. Not only retail, b2b businesses and even government spending are also affected. The b2b e-commerce business, in particular, was not spared this weakness. Even though business was down, there is hope for rebound prepare for the new normal.

A number b2b e-commerce player that DailySocial Contact Compact Answer Business has dropped over the past two months. However, they believe this is temporary, because since June, when the government announced the new normal, business has resumed.

On the other hand, the pandemic has succeeded in changing the corporate perspective that the procurement process can be done digitally. Not only transparent, they can get a more economical price with a faster process.

“With Covid-19, business partners are increasingly encouraged to use b2b services to meet their IT and operational needs. "This is because during a crisis, business partners need fast and precise solutions, at economical prices," said EVP Corporate B2B Corporate Solutions Blibli Heriyadi Janwar.

Agrees with Heriyadi, Co-Founder and CEO of Mbiz Rizal Paramartha said that the pandemic had succeeded in showing the fundamentals of the b2b e-commerce business itself. That they are able to survive because they have a core business in the field of procuring digitalized goods and services. The aim is to streamline the process and be more transparent than manual methods.

Business influence

Rizal explained that in the second quarter of this year, the decline reached one third to half of the total monthly target. It is described that in a year, at least the transaction volume at Mbiz reaches IDR 1 trillion.

“We see an impact short term, in April before Eid there was a decline in corporate spending, especially non-essential ones. Overall capex spending corporate dropped, but there was a drastic increase in the health category of up to 2000%."

He said this condition was only temporary, because in June recovery began to occur, along with the start of new normal activities. "We are preparing a new category in the health sector and the increase from there is compensation for yesterday's decrease."

Chief of Commercial & Omni Channel Bhinneka Vensia Tjhin added that the company had an impact since the implementation of the PSBB until towards the end of the first half of this year. However, it is claimed that the company recorded an increase of up to 30%.

This happens because companies continue to maneuver to expand their products and services, so that there is a shift in product categories that offset categories that were previously popular before the pandemic.

"Bhinneka with the existence of products provided via the platform, now apart from IT, growth The highest contribution was from MRO/tools and medical devices. Meanwhile, in marketplace we noted a spike in food products and daily necessities. So we saw there balancing process of the two segments.”

Heriyadi did not specify what kind of decline occurred at Blibli. According to him, Covid-19 has triggered the adoption of technology by business people, including b2b partners who need efficient solutions at affordable prices so they can maintain the continuity of their business.

He only stated that the number of b2b transactions this month had equaled the total transactions recorded throughout 2019. "This is a positive signal for b2b growth for this year."

Support new categories

In encouraging business performance, as well as supporting new normal activities, health support product opportunities are most sought after by all consumers, including corporate clients. E-commerce players are also competing to increase their number of partners selling medical devices to serve their consumers.

director OpenProcurement Bukalapak Hita Supranjaya explained that they were increasing the number of principals or MSMEs to offer new normal preparations, such as rapid testing, programs bundle PPE, customize PPE (mask and hazmat), face recognition terminalsand customized hand wash station.

"We have prepared a strategy to continue to monitor developments and adapt to demand through innovation and collaboration that helps users meet their needs," explained Hita.

Currently BukaPemadaan has connected with almost six million sellers who have more than 80 million products. Some categories are claimed to show an increase of more than twofold month to month since the start of this pandemic.

Before the pandemic, BukaPemadaan claimed to have recorded a profit of 500% year-on-year along with the growth in the number of b2b consumers and sales. The most popular categories at that time were gadgets and goods procurement, like spare parts machines and factories.

Since the pandemic, Bhinneka has increasingly added variations to the health and care category. Since the beginning of the year, this category has grown by more than 100% based on its variety.

In response to new normal conditions, the company developed other health products together with vendors. For example, increasing health service partners, such as Covid-19 tests for companies, offering ThermoNex products to detect body temperature automatically, connected to cloud, and equipped with features face recognition as data and connected to the attendance panel.

Bhinneka partners with partners healthtech such as Triasse and Prixa to provide health services, create Digital Classroom products for schools that want to maximize distance learning (PJJ) without their own IT team, and Crinoid products namely multi-channel management to help organize sales in several marketplace at a time.

“Speed ​​and agility be the key in facing the full time uncertainty Currently, we are carrying out various activities and changes by capturing opportunities that can be implemented immediately."

Since the company declared the transformation as business superecosystem At the end of last year, the largest contribution came from corporate consumers and government spending which reached up to 90%, up from 80% the previous year.

Bhinneka's total customers have now reached 1,5 million from MSME, corporate and government levels. There are more than 10 thousand merchants, vendors/principals who offer more than 1 million SKUs on their platform.

Blibli itself predicts that demand for b2b services will increase. The company has prepared various strategies to optimize services to business partners. The company makes virtual gatherings with business partners, industry associations and professional communities to measure and understand more about their needs in continuing business in the new normal.

“We use this understanding to further improve the services we provide, for example by providing special promotions.”

Heriyadi said the company was designing plans until the end of the year to improve strategic business value from b2b, including collaboration with business partners on offline and online transactions, such as building microsites, expanding product variants, providing products with original warranties. expanding national shipping coverage, and offering logistics insurance.

Blibli serves 19 b2b business partners operating in seven sectors, such as financial services, hospitality, distribution & manufacturing, technology, technology and IT.

The products and solutions provided to business partners are divided into two categories, namely IT & maintenance, and repair & operations. Among these products and solutions include client tools such as tablets, notebooks, network servers such as UPS, office equipment, and software.

For the operational category, Blibli offers materialhandling, laboratory & chemical, security, cleaning equipment, measuring and etching equipment, and heavy equipment.

Enter the government

On the other hand, Mbiz is taking advantage of the pandemic by aggressively attracting consumers from government circles because there is still a need for transparent procurement solutions. The presence of e-procurement players is an encouragement for the government to go digital.

Presidential Decree Number 16 of 2018 concerning Government Procurement of Goods/Services stipulates that procurement of government goods/services is carried out electronically by utilizing an e-marketplace which provides technical infrastructure and transaction support services in the form of electronic catalogues, online shops and provider selection.

“This presidential regulation benefits players e-procurement. So far there have been problems with procurement. For example, it is not transparent and you have to use cash. "What we are doing is digitalization, all transactions must be digital, so they are transparent."

Mbiz's debut to look at the prospects in this sector actually started at the beginning of this year. The company was selected as the procurement provider for the West Java Provincial Government. The journey continued with the Bali Provincial Government recently.

"We are in the process again for two other provincial governments in Java. If this is successful, we can be more confident in entering other provincial governments in Indonesia."

This benefit is actually not only felt by Mbiz, but also by merchants or MSME scale vendors to expand their sales coverage to all Mbiz consumer segments in Indonesia. Before entering the platform, generally the vendor's sales only cover the immediate area.

These vendors can also access financial service facilities to help their business through Mbiz. The company is supported by the Investree financing platform after pocketing funding at the end of last year.