Ralali Targets Return on Investment in the Next One Year

The pandemic conditions forced the platform marketplace B2B Ralali chose a more conservative path. Founder and CEO of Ralali Joseph Aditya emphasized that for now there will be no crazy expansion or spending from the company in these uncertain times.

Worth remembering E-commerce B2B like Ralali is one of the most affected by the sluggish economy during the Covid-19 outbreak that hit the world. Weak people's purchasing power and damaged business supply chains forced Ralali to be more careful in making decisions. It's still fresh in my mind how a B2B marketplace startup Stoqo is out of business last April.

Prudence in dealing with potential crises is reflected in Aditya's words. In a virtual press conference this afternoon, Aditya emphasized that apart from not having big spending, their decision must be profit-oriented.

"The bottom line is that what we're doing is paying off revenue or return. It means all cost that changed like variable cost should be measurable to revenue. Meanwhile, for those that are operational, they must be optimized to survive, not increase drastically," said Aditya.

With such a frame of mind, Aditya dared to set Ralali's target of obtaining break even point before the company's next anniversary. "We want it not to be E-commerce who burn money, but become E-commerce that profitable," added Aditya.

The source of Aditya's confidence comes from ascension E-commerce B2B which has always been dominated by E-commerce B2C. According to him, long-term product and technology education from B2C players helped Ralali to be known more quickly by target users.

Future business strategy

Ralali who is only 7 years old now has a number of strategies to survive the intense economic shock caused by the pandemic. One of them is by designing hyperlocal business. This concept allows one point to supply business needs in a radius of 15-20 kilometers.

Another strategy prioritized by Ralali is SME funding. The difference is that the funding provided by Ralali is in the form of goods. According to Aditya, this type of funding is needed by SMEs that have difficulty operating again.

"We have a team on the pitch to Profiling which later we can provide financial assistance in the form of supply chain financing or in other words funding in kind. So they will be given the goods first, then when the products are sold, they can pay us," explained Aditya.

In order to get through these difficult times, Ralali also launched a campaign to support and cooperate with MSMEs to get back up. The campaign includes promos, discounts, free shipping, which buyers can enjoy on the Ralali platform.

During its 7 years of operation, Ralali has been used by more than 11.000 suppliers and 160.000 MSMEs. These numbers make Ralali one of the E-commerce The biggest B2B in Indonesia.