Jakarta, 18 January 2021 – PT Akulaku Silvrr Indonesia (Akulaku) recorded a significant increase in installment transactions for the purchase of a number of categories of goods throughout 2020. Electronic products, men’s fashion and furniture were a number of categories that experienced a very drastic increase in orders during the pandemic .
The increase in transaction volume in a number of categories even exceeded 100% when compared to the previous year.
Director of PT Akulaku Silvrr Indonesia, Herryson, revealed that electronic products still occupy the top position as the category of goods most sought after by Akulaku consumers. The relatively high price of electronic products encourages consumers to make transactions using Akulaku’s installment options.
However, furniture was the product category with the highest sales growth rate last year. The increase in order volume for various furniture products reached more than 650% in the November to December 2020 period.
“And what’s interesting is, the surge in demand in this category is not only dominated by big brands that are familiar to the public. The demand for various MSME products with competitive quality has also increased significantly,” said Herryson.
The increase in demand for this furniture category is an indication that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed people’s habits by spending more time at home. This condition then encourages people to increase their comfort at home by redecorating and adding furniture to their homes amidst social restrictions.
From the home and living goods category, there are at least five household appliances and furniture that Akulaku users are most looking for throughout 2020. These include storage shelves, sofas, spring beds, kitchen equipment, and foam mattresses.
New habits that completely limit physical interactions also encourage consumers to obtain various daily equipment at home through online platforms.
Throughout the fourth quarter of 2020, Akulaku recorded a 6-fold growth in the number of merchants in the men’s fashion category. Meanwhile, the number of merchants in the furniture category has doubled. Meanwhile, the availability of sellers of electronic products connected to Akulaku has grown by 100%.
Overall, the number of new business actors connected to Akulaku continued to experience significant growth throughout 2020. Currently there are an average of around 3,000 new MSMEs connected to the Akulaku platform every quarter.
Akulaku is committed to continuing to increase support for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) by providing assistance to merchant partners in optimizing opportunities during the pandemic.
This commitment is manifested not only by involving merchants in various promotional campaign initiatives that roll out periodically throughout the year, but also by curating items that will be in accordance with the promotional theme, providing trend recommendations for the best-selling item categories and pricing strategies in the the Akulaku platform.
Thus, merchant partners can take advantage of the surge in visitors to optimize their sales transactions without significant fees.
Akulaku sees changes in people’s habits playing a role in accelerating the adoption of various digital services, including financing services. The use of the Akulaku shopping installment feature, in collaboration with PT Akulaku Finance Indonesia, also helped support merchant sales during this pandemic.
“During this pandemic, we saw more and more MSMEs joining Akulaku and starting to maximize the e-commerce platform to sell online. Akulaku will continue to support MSME players to sell online and meet the needs of the community through various innovations and excellent service improvements,” concluded Herryson.