JAKARTA - The Ministry of Trade encourages business actors to go digital in order to increase sales and expand market. This was conveyed by Agus Suparmanto, Minister of Trade, in a press release on Friday (27/11).
He said that online shopping was society choice in the midst of COVID-19 pandemic. Online sales, he said, continued to record growth from year to year. Based on data from the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, sales of products on social media and commerce portals (e-commerce) in 2020 reached IDR 446.75 trillion, increased 400% compared to 2017 of IDR 124.9 trillion.
Apart from being required to go digital, he asked the businesses to provide product guarantees in order to build trust and develop marketing communications. "The large potential for online shopping is currently a momentum for businesses to initiate digital transformation," he said.
As of January - October 2020, the trade balance was recorded at US $ 17.07 billion, the highest in the last five years. Exports by October 2020 amounted to US $ 14.39 billion, while imports were recorded at US $ 10.78 billion. (LK/VA)