Warung telah menjadi bagian yang tak terpisahkan dari lanskap wilayah, gaya hidup, dan aktivitas bisnis di Indonesia. Saat ini, terdapat lebih dari 64 juta pelaku usaha yang menyerap lebih dari 97% tenaga kerja di Indonesia. Sebagian besar masyarakat Indonesia memenuhi kebutuhan sehari-hari melalui warung, yang menjadi pemandangan umum di berbagai lingkungan permukiman. Jumlah warung sendiri kini mencapai lebih dari 3,57 juta unit. Setiap tahunnya, kanal general trade berkontribusi terhadap 65% penjualan FMCG. 

Di tengah pesatnya perkembangan bisnis dengan warung dan UMKM sebagai salah satu penggerak utamanya, ekosistem ini masih menghadapi berbagai tantangan. Karakteristik Indonesia yang luas dan sangat terfragmentasi membuat banyak pelaku usaha kecil menghadapi kesulitan untuk mempertahankan sekaligus mengembangkan bisnis di era yang semakin digital-first. 

Di sinilah startup seperti Warung Pintar mengambil peran dalam mentransformasi ekosistem warung melalui digitalisasi pelaku usaha di Indonesia. Warung Pintar yang berbasis di Jakarta melihat bahwa kolaborasi lintas sektor menjadi hal penting untuk memperkuat ekosistem bisnis nasional. Berbagai laporan dan studi juga menunjukkan bahwa kolaborasi akan menjadi salah satu faktor penting bagi perkembangan berbagai industri di era pascapandemi. Diluncurkan pada 2017, Warung Pintar telah melayani lebih dari 500.000 warung, dengan 110.000 pengguna aktif bertransaksi dan 1.000 pedagang grosir.

Artikel ini mengulas lebih jauh berbagai tantangan yang dihadapi warung di Indonesia, serta bagaimana pelaku lokal dan pemangku kepentingan utama dapat bersama-sama menjawab tantangan tersebut untuk membangun masa depan yang lebih baik dan tangguh.

Warung Pintar: Identifying the gaps and making a real impact

Despite the huge potential that MSMEs hold, they still have limited access to opportunities and Warung Pintar identifies low levels of education, low income, lack of entrepreneurship, poor health status, limited access to technology, low credit utilisation, and limited ability to adopt innovation as some of the main reasons behind it.

Furthermore, growth and efficiency are constrained by the general trade channels' extreme fragmentation and asymmetries. Up to five layers of intermediaries between brands and customers can be found in the FMCG supply chain in general trade retail, accounting for 20–25% of value, an internal study by the startup suggests. To address this, all the players within the General Trade ecosystem need digitalisation.

It is clear that for the entire warung ecosystem to thrive and contribute towards national economic growth, all the players within the General Trade ecosystem need digitalisation. This is where Warung Pintar can help by making digital transformation accessible for all, from warung owners to brands/manufacturers. As the brand completes five years in the industry, today, they are serving more than 500K warung networks across 200 cities in Indonesia with 15 distribution centres creating a real impact.

Warung Pintar's Impacts

From inventory management to delivery and logistics, local MSMEs face various challenges in Indonesia's fragmented market. Warung Pintar addresses these pain points with the Grosir Pintar mobile app created for wholesalers to list and sell their goods to the Warung Pintar ecosystem. This enables access for wholesalers to hundreds of warung owners between 5-10km. Another solution, Warung Pintar Middleware enables Supply Partners/Distributors to tap and manage demand from Warung Pintar App and other marketplaces. Whereas, the Warung Pintar distribution service helps set you up a massive upgrade in distribution chain transparencies and automation in areas across indonesia.

The platform also eliminates the  multiple layers of intermediaries between brands and their customers that normally capture 20-25% of value. Warung Pintar’s integrated platform allows brands to reach and engage with warung owners within their ecosystem. With the Warung Pintar App, sellers are able to list products and get access to 500,000 warungs and directly engage retailers with programs. The Sales Pintar program enables MSEMe to run offline engagement programs and seamlessly manage salesman daily tasks. Sales Pintar helps build deeper relationships with transparent and efficient offline engagement programs.

Furthermore, Warung Pintar can help boost brand exposure through their integrated platform which connects directly to millions of end consumers. One such brand leveraging Warung Pintar’s integrated digital solutions is Coca-Cola Europacific Partners Indonesia or CCEP; the brand uses Warung Pintar’s solutions to digitise the distribution system of traditional warungs without interfering with authorised distributors that have worked with CCEP Indonesia with the goal to collect more transparent information on the distribution of products, which will then serve as the foundation for the development of effective distribution and marketing plans.

Another great example of a brand leveraging Warung Pintar’s holistic digital solutions is Sasa Inti. The pioneer of Indonesia's seasoning, Sasa Inti collaborates with Warung Pintar in order to digitise the distribution system of traditional warungs aiming for higher sales on key products.