The B2B2B Segment is Proof of Bhinneka as the Leading B2B E-commerce Pioneer

More than two decades Bhinneka has been able to solidify its position as top of mind for e-commerce brands B2B, especially in the 3C category (Computer, Communications, Consumer Electronics). This is reflected in the survey DSInnovate for “B2B Commerce Services in Indonesia 2018”, as many as 32,7% of respondents chose Bhinneka as the most popular platform. Then followed by Ralali, Bizzy (now a Warung Pintar Group), Mbiz, and others.

Maintaining this position is certainly not an easy thing. It takes continuous innovation to stay relevant to the market. In a joint interview DailySocial.id, Chief of Commercial & Omnichannel Bhinneka Vensia Tjhin explained, the company has a strong presence as a company e-commerce brands B2B because so far they have consistently worked on this market.

As a result, when expanding outside of its segment, such as B2C, it still pays attention to the main advantage, namely entering with the campaign as an affiliate malebrand.

"assortment we also slowly entered with products that are identical to the choice of the boys, which are the same as the needs of corporations. From here we enter everythingstore like marketplace in general."

Vensia continued, “As a B2B marketing leader, precisely strong and top of mind provide added value in providing peace of mind when shopping because of Bhinneka too marketplace trustworthy."

This industry, quoting from the report Frost and Sullivan in 2018, it is estimated that it will grow by $56,3 billion globally in 2022. In Indonesia alone, according to the Minister of Trade Muh. Lutfi, is estimated to reach IDR 1.900 trillion in 2030 or more than 34% of the Indonesian digital market. In more detail, the B2B segment is predicted to contribute IDR 763 trillion, including logistics and activities supply chain leaders.

In general, continued Vensia, industry E-commerce Indonesia has grown very rapidly, especially in the last 10 years, to answer various challenges and needs of society through technology. Because of that too e-commerce Indonesia is currently divided into various segments. From the beginning, it was only known in the retail (B2C) realm, expanding to corporations (B2B) and government (B2G).

"Once again, everything is possible because of technology, but the implementation characteristics differ between B2C, B2B and B2G."

According to him, the role E-commerce This is actually not just a downstream role, namely being a marketing channel for finished goods for onwards end-user. As a player E-commerce B2B, he sees that with digital transformation accelerated through the pandemic, the education process also needs appropriate, transparent and guaranteed support. Thus, in parallel the company will also experience high demand for raw materials.

Vensia admits that the huge potential of this segment has also made Bhinneka a pioneer E-commerce B2B, becomes a factory that produces many talented talents so they can work further into startups E-commerce other B2B models. The company continues to take this step by participating in the Independent Campus program.

"A number of project what people do internal campus is a product that targets the B2B market. This concrete step is to provide education about segment differences, as well as efforts to produce talents who are ready to use in the industry.

E-procurement marketplace, the best approach for B2B

Over time, the 3C category succeeded in establishing Bhinneka as the dominant player in the market since the Bhinneka.com site was first launched in 1999 until the end of 2018. Not stopping there, the company expanded into other categories, such as MRO (equipment), and also solutions Custom products according to the business needs of customers from various sectors.

On the journey of Bhinneka since 2019, the company is focusing on serving the B2B2B segment marketplace with six business lines. Namely IT and MRO products, digital printing solutions (DPS), offline store and service centre, business solutions, B2B2B platforms marketplaceand digital products.

In this regard, the company developed several products, among others e-procurement marketplace, nature open-platform and provided free of charge to all business actors processing the procurement of goods/services by beg certain things by using the site/application as an interface.

E-procurement marketplace present to help customers and sell doing business with a purchasing system (procurement) which comply and good governance, aimed at the corporate, SME and government agency segments. According to Vensia, with an approach like this, it is actually accepted as a solution for B2B consumers who are usually perceived as a sector that is resistant to adapting technology.

"We will divide this B2B segment first, for large-mid already have established business processesexposed with the system, it tends to be easier to adapt the purchasing process digitally, especially corporations that already use ERP. Adopt for e-procurement open market this was actually accepted as a solution. For the MSME market, this is very interesting, those who serve corporations are automatically in a system procurement. "

Currently there are around 9 thousand recorded merchant in a manner closed group who have joined in e-procurement marketplace offers more than 150 thousand SKUs. Outside the Bhinneka.com base, there are around 2 thousand merchant individuals who also join and are ready to serve B2B client requests through an initial verification process.

"Moment on-boarding di e-procurement they must have consistency in carrying out procurement, that's why we carry out verification. This is so customer journey increasingly satisfying and there are no problems in fulfilling requests."

The next initiative is to encourage an innovative business ecosystem through mini marketplace B2B by providing a platform marketplace Bhinneka to all parties in need. Whether it's a university, community, government, to build economic activities from an ecosystem.

According to Vensia, to date, Bhinneka has collaborated with a number of institutions, such as President University (Campus Marketplace), Bunda Mulia University (Biemers Shop), Mojokerto City Government (Mojokerto Marketplace), Ternate City Government (Ternate Owned), and Solo City Government, to making mini marketplace.

In pipeline, nearly 30 educational and community institutions are currently processing it mini marketplace through Bhinneka, two of which have officially launched. "The mature Bhinneka platform can be used easily, saving initial capital costs (costs of creating your own platform) for campus businesses, MSMEs, including City and Regional Governments."

Business contributions and future plans

Even though all of the company's products and services target all business scales, the largest percentage of Bhinneka's business comes from B2B/G clients at 80%, and the rest comes from B2C clients. The product category that contributes the largest revenue still comes from 3C which still makes the largest contribution, followed by MRO or tools.

"For procurement, when the pandemic started in 2020, business really had an impact and there was a decline in several sectors. However, this is accompanied by an increase in other sectors, such as the increasing number of medical devices included in the MRO category. Face mask, hand sanitizers, shooting thermometers, widely purchased until mid-2021.”

Vensia was reluctant to explain in more detail regarding the company's performance using numbers. He only explained that the company continues to carry out various leaning processes to be more agile and pay attention to productivity in various aspects. “With various activities operations excellence "We are optimistic that the company can continue to grow and make profits."

In the near future, the company will also announce several plans and strategies to firmly establish its position as a pioneer E-commerce in Indonesia. "We remain focused on achieving the things we had planned, but were postponed due to the pandemic. "We also have to make changes to several plans and strategies," he concluded.