The implementation of Community Activity Restrictions (Pemberlakukan Pembatasan Kegiatan Masyarakat or PPKM) and restrictions on the operating hours of economic centers make digital platforms an option that can be utilized by the community to meet their needs. One of the e-commerce sites, Tokopedia, revealed that during the Emergency PPKM there was an increase in sales. In fact, for the health category, there was a sales spike up to two times from before the Emergency PPKM (cnnindonesia.com).
Besides health, other categories that also experienced the biggest increase were food and beverages, books, body care, and gaming. Meanwhile, by region, the provinces with the highest increase in transactions during the 10 days of Emergency PPKM were Papua, Banten, West Papua, West Java and East Java. (id.techinasia.com)
An increase in transactions for health products also occurred at Bukalapak. During the implementation of PPKM, Bukalapak noted that the demand for oxygen tube and portable oxygen had doubled. Increased transactions in e-commerce encourage an increase in the number of shipments of goods. Bukalapak claims that 60% of their users choose the BukaExpress service for delivery of goods.
Quoted from katadata.co.id, a number of logistics companies, such as J&T Ekspress and Paxel, increased in the number of shipments driven by e-commerce transactions. Same delivery service increased by more than 30% compared to before PPKM.
However, digital transactions through e-commerce cannot completely replace consumption activities nationally. Inequality of access to information and communication in Indonesia is still an obstacle to boosting the digital economy. For this reason, government consumption also needs to be intensified during this Emergency PPKM. Government spending on social assistance, Family Hope Program (Program Keluarga Harapan or PKH), and Direct Cash Assistance (Bantuan Langsung Tunai or BLT) for the next three months can be accelerated this July. The goal is for the lower class to have sufficient liquidity during Emergency PPKM. (Ruhmaya Nida Wathoni. Illustration: www.the-future-of-commerce.com)
