Why Online Businesses Are Being Recorded in the Economic Census

The way people run businesses continues to change. If in the past a business was synonymous with a shop or stall in the market, today many business operators run their enterprises through marketplaces, especially in the post-pandemic era. Products are marketed online, transactions are conducted via applications, and buyers can come from various regions without having to visit the business location in person. Those living in Aceh can purchase goods from Jakarta, Makassar, or Papua. This shift brings many opportunities. Regional boundaries are becoming increasingly blurred, and market access is widening. Now, more people can start a business with more affordable capital. In recent years, marketplaces have grown into ‘shops’ for millions of MSME operators in Indonesia. Behind this development, an important question arises: has this rapidly growing digital economic activity been properly captured in official statistical data? This question is one of the reasons why online business activities utilising marketplaces need to be covered in the 2026 Economic Census. Fundamentally, the economic census aims to understand how the Indonesian economy is developing. It seeks to determine how many businesses currently exist, which sectors are growing, the characteristics of business operators, and the challenges they face. Most importantly, it compares the current conditions with those of ten years ago to identify changes. This information is crucial so that the government has a strong foundation of data and statistics for formulating various economic policies. Marketplaces are important because a significant portion of the community’s economic activity now takes place there. If the national statistics office only records physically visible businesses while the actual growth of digital economic activity is larger, the resulting picture will not reflect the true situation. The inclusion of online or marketplace businesses in the economic census is not to find out who is the most successful or how wealthy a person or entrepreneur is. What the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) wants to understand is the economic activity itself. Whether the business operates in the trade, services, industry, food and beverage, or other sectors. How many workers are involved. How the business is developing. It is this type of information that is needed to produce complete and high-quality economic statistics. Complete and accurate information is required to design various programmes, ranging from strengthening MSMEs and developing the digital economy to creating jobs and building infrastructure or supporting tools for economic activity. Like a medical prescription, if the exact illness is unknown, the prescribed remedy is likely to fail. Therefore, the 2026 Economic Census does not only record businesses located in trade centres, industrial estates, or traditional markets. The census also seeks to capture various new economic activities that have grown alongside technological developments and changes in public behaviour. Ultimately, the reason why online or marketplace business operators need to be recorded is simple. The Indonesian economy continues to evolve, and statistics must be able to capture that evolution. The BPS guarantees that all information provided by respondents is kept confidential in accordance with the law. At least two laws protect the public’s responses: Law Number 17 of 1997 on Statistics and Law Number 27 of 2022 on Personal Data Protection.