The emergence of e-commerce platforms is indeed a separate innovation that facilitates the lifestyle of modern society, especially in the midst of busy activities, being able to obtain all needs practically is clearly a supporting factor for their fast-paced lifestyle. It's no wonder that various e-commerce platform innovations always receive tremendous enthusiasm. However, in fact, this innovation is not only enjoyed by the public. MSMEs and brands also take advantage of it to boost their business sales. Apparently, there is one platform that is most widely used by MSMEs to promote their sales. What is it?

The answer can be found in the Research from the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF) titled "The Role of Digital Platforms in the Development of MSMEs in Indonesia" last week. The results mentioned that 34.25% of MSME actors choose digital applications such as e-commerce applications and social media as the main place for them to sell online.

Apart from the e-commerce application Shopee, social media applications such as Facebook Marketplace (33.46%), Instagram Shop (28.74%), and TikTok Shop (20.87%) respectively occupy the second to fourth positions as the most widely used online selling platforms by SMEs over the past year. These social media applications, Facebook and Instagram, allow their users to market their businesses through various features such as Feed, Story, and Marketplace/Shop.

Izzudin Farras, Researcher at the Center of Digital Economy and SMEs INDEF, revealed that despite this growth, digital skills remain a challenge for SMEs to enter digitalization. "One way that SME actors can face business competition is by participating in education or training programs for SMEs organized by various e-commerce platforms," he explained.

Based on the research, some of the main challenges are intense competition among business players in the digital platform (96.46 percent) and the lack of workforce skills in utilizing the digital platform (83.46 percent). Nevertheless, Izzudin mentioned that now there are more UMKM players who understand the importance of utilizing the digital platform and the positive impact of digitalization on their businesses. Therefore, UMKM players are expected to continue innovating in terms of products, services, and strategies to attract customers amidst the increasingly tight competition in online business.