Offline to Online Transformation Catapults MPPA’s Sales

Jakarta. Matahari Putra Prima, Indonesia’s largest hypermarket operator, saw double-digit growth in its revenue in the second quarter of 2021 compared to the same period last year, as the company's efforts to transform its business to online operations bear fruits. 

Matahari Putra Prima, also known as MPPA, boasted gross sales of over Rp 2 trillion from April to June, up by more than 16 percent from Rp 1.7 trillion a year ago. Online sales, in which the company caters to customers buying through various online e-commerce platforms from its vast network of stores, saw a 21 percent growth, the company said in a statement earlier this week. 

This was credited to the O2O (offline to online) business strategy, implemented way before the pandemic as early as 2015. The strategy seems to have paid off, as Matahari Putra Prima’s online sales to regular sales ratio have reached 5.8 percent, the highest it’s been since the company’s transformation.   

With 212 stores and a distribution network to 72 cities throughout Indonesia, Matahari said their market share within the ‘supermarket and hypermarket’ market had reached 24 percent, quoting data from research company NielsenIQ. 

“We are already on a good O2O transformation path, which has led to an increase in sales and gross profit. We believe that MPPA can become one of the largest online groceries in Indonesia that has successfully synergized with various Indonesian tech giants (GoMart, Tokopedia, GrabMart, Shopee, BliBli, and JD.ID),” Elliot Dickson, Matahari Putra Prima's chief executive officer, said in the statement. 

In recent months within the Covid-19 pandemic, the company has been working towards improving their Hypermart Online Chat and Shop e-commerce site and collaborating with other marketplace operators.

MPAA will continue to strengthen its online business offerings for 2021 and beyond. In the future, the company will add more stores within their online network and develop new collaborations with other marketplace operators in Indonesia, the company said.