Smart household buying: Let your fingers do the shooping

Smart household buying: Let your fingers do the shooping

By Yudha Kartohadiprodjo

JAKARTA (JP): Sembako is the acronym of the day. It loosely
means the nine basic commodities, which have appeared lately more
on the streets than in the stores. But now, with the introduction
of an alternative shopping method, sembako may be delivered to
your front door, at reasonable prices.

The service is offered by DialMart and Bebita, two new firms
offering the ease of shopping at your finger tips.

Both offer similar services: delivering groceries at warehouse
prices to members who place orders through an automated phone
line. Transactions are debited from members' bank account or
credit card. The companies provide monthly catalogs which contain
pictures of the groceries and order numbers.

Tini Hadad, chairwoman of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation
(YLKI) said shopping by phone is not new -- harried homemakers
often call up their local warung (corner store), whose owners
they are quite familiar with, and have the goods delivered to
their door. Television audiences have also been introduced to
mail-order shopping.

The above companies, however, claim that they are the first to
take orders for groceries by phone on a professional basis.

Ease of service and security are among the main selling
points, targeted to middle to upper-class families with a busy
lifestyle.

The trigger to set up the services was the crisis leading to
soaring prices of groceries, and the scarcity, or fear of
scarcity, following the riots, in which many large stores were
burned down or looted.

"I know how difficult it is to go back and forth to
supermarkets," said actress Lenny Marlina, DialMart's director.

Enny Hardjanto, founder of Bebita, said her target group is
"working women" like herself, who have even less time to shop.
"The crisis has provided (business) opportunities," said Enny,
who quit a top job at Citibank to work at Bank Papan, before
setting up Bebita, which stands for Belanja Bijak Rumahtangga,
(Smart Household Shopping).

Indeed, shoppers would clearly remember that after long hours
of queueing to try to buy expensive, hard to get groceries, there
was then the risk of being robbed.

DialMart's commercial director, Sahat Parulian Siagian, said:
"These items, such as rice and powdered milk, create a hassle for
housewives because they are heavy to transport, even during
normal times."

Automated and integrated database systems are optimized by the
company. "In the future, we will compile a database of customers'
preferences, so that they will not have to enter every single
item code each time they want to order," Sahat said.

Currently, DialMart claims to have more than 500 items
available in their catalog, supplied by 40 principals, who are
the main distributors of household goods.

Yet at any given time, the only things you might see in the
company's warehouse are items in transit. That is because the
company is using a "Just In Time" distribution system. After
DialMart's database receives orders from customers, the orders
are pooled accordingly and forwarded to the principals, who will
then deliver only the exact number of goods ordered for the day.

"Our main service is to become a channel for goods, straight
from the principals to consumers. Consumers will benefit from our
competitive pricing because of our low overheads," Sahat said,
adding that the company would never have to pay for inventories
and fees -- called fund costs -- charged to retailers.

The current unstable prices of commodities have partially been
blamed on a complicated system of distribution, which proved
vulnerable during the May riots. Typically, goods went through
seven warehouses before reaching a household, involving
distributors, subdistributors and others.

By cutting through this chain, Sahat said, the consumer could
purchase commodities at distributor prices, and save up to 15
percent. While consumers would be happy, Sahat admitted he has
received calls from some cooperatives asking him to stop the
business. "But there was also one cooperative who wanted to buy
from us," he said.

So, are we seeing a possible end to the weekly family trip to
supermarkets, which have become a form of indoor recreation here?

Sahat said, "our company is not trying to totally replace the
current shopping culture," only attempting to "modify" it.

The idea of shopping by phone is appealing to Pramudita, a
career woman and a mother.

"The service should simplify things for us. I would not
necessarily stop my habit of shopping at the supermarket every
week but the purpose of these trips could be limited to buying
fresh items. Worries about goods scarcity would be minimized
through this system."

Many, like Pramudita, still buy groceries from traditional
markets, a time-consuming exercise. Yet, many believe the above
services would not replace the traditional market.

H.A. Paweney, chairman of the Indonesian Supplier and
Distribution Association, agreed that the distribution service
offered by the companies would ease fears of commodity scarcity.
He said he supported every effort to overcome foodstuff supply
shortage, and said the association wasn't worried about
competition.

He said people would still need foodstuffs in small quantities
and so, would still go to traditional markets. "The service has a
different target group than traditional markets," he added.

Tini advised potential customers to compare prices before
deciding to change their buying habit to shop by phone.

"Not only can you choose the freshest items in traditional
markets, you can also combine the items you buy and haggle for
the price," said Tini. Potential buyers are also cautious.

"We pay for the goods way before the items will be delivered,
Unless we really trust the system, the service is a risky
proposition," said Pramudita.

Once the economy has regained its vitality and customers have
placed enough trust in them, both companies are planning to
expand their business to nongrocery items, such as books.

Meanwhile, the managements hope consumers will modify their
buying habit, to become more efficient and to become their
targeted market.