The landscape of Indonesian digital commerce is undergoing a significant structural transformation in early 2026, characterized by a marked shift in how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) manage their sales channels. While social media narratives have frequently characterized this movement as an "exodus" of sellers abandoning major e-commerce marketplaces due to mounting administrative and logistical costs, industry experts and payment gateway data suggest a more nuanced reality: a strategic rebalancing of business operations rather than a wholesale departure.
The Myth of the Marketplace Exodus
For months, the digital discourse in Indonesia has been dominated by reports of frustrated merchants shuttering their virtual storefronts on major platforms. These reports, often amplified by viral social media threads, pointed to a widespread discontent following a series of fee adjustments implemented by e-commerce giants. However, Pribadi Hasto Kusumo, Head of SME Business at DOKU, provides a professional perspective that challenges the popular narrative of a mass migration.
According to Hasto, the term "exodus" is a misnomer. "What we are observing is not an abandonment of the ecosystem, but a deliberate effort by brand owners to achieve channel diversification," Hasto stated in an interview. "Most SMEs are not closing their marketplace stores; they are simply recalibrating their business models to ensure they are no longer tethered to a single platform, effectively creating a ‘safety net’ for their operations."
This sentiment reflects a growing maturity within the Indonesian SME sector. After years of relying almost exclusively on the high traffic volumes of marketplaces, business owners are recognizing the risks associated with platform dependency, particularly when those platforms unilaterally alter their fee structures.
The Anatomy of Rising Operational Costs
The root cause of this strategic shift lies in the rapid escalation of costs throughout the 2026 fiscal year. Marketplace operators, seeking to improve their own margins and cover the rising costs of logistics and infrastructure, have enacted several rounds of fee hikes.
In some instances, service fees have climbed from a baseline of 1.5 percent to 2 percent. More aggressive adjustments have been observed in specific high-demand categories, such as fashion, where transaction fees have spiked from 5.5 percent to 7.5 percent. When these adjustments are compounded by additional administrative fees and the rising costs of fulfillment services, the cumulative impact on an SME’s bottom line becomes significant.
Hasto notes that the psychological threshold for many business owners was not necessarily the magnitude of a single increase, but the perceived lack of stability in the pricing model. "When an SME faces two or three cost increases in a single year, they naturally begin to calculate their future risks. It is the uncertainty of future hikes that drives them to build direct-to-consumer (DTC) channels, rather than the initial cost impact itself," he explained.
Chronology of Regulatory Intervention
The outcry from the SME sector did not go unnoticed by the Indonesian government, leading to a series of urgent policy discussions. The timeline of this regulatory pushback provides context to the current state of the market:
- Early 2026: Initial complaints regarding marketplace fee hikes begin to gain traction on social media platforms, with industry associations lobbying for more transparency.
- March 2026: The Ministry of SMEs reports a sharp increase in complaints from merchants, with Minister Maman Abdurrahman noting that messages regarding platform costs are arriving daily via official channels and social media.
- April 2026: The Ministry of Trade accelerates the review of Trade Minister Regulation (Permendag) No. 31 of 2023, aiming to mandate greater transparency in how marketplaces report cost structures to sellers.
- May 2026: By mid-month, Trade Minister Budi Santoso confirms that the revision of the regulation is in its final stages, signaling a shift toward more stringent oversight of platform fee policies.
The government’s intervention aims to level the playing field, ensuring that SMEs have full visibility into the cost components they are charged, thereby preventing opaque or sudden fee adjustments that could destabilize small businesses.
Data-Driven Analysis: The Rise of Direct-to-Consumer (DTC)
While DOKU does not track the internal performance of merchants within third-party marketplaces, its data on direct payment channels provides a clear indicator of the trend toward diversification. The payment gateway’s internal metrics reveal a striking increase in activity on merchant-owned websites and applications.
Comparing the period of January to July 2025 with the same period in 2026, the data shows that merchants who maintain active operations on both platforms and independent channels have seen their transaction volumes on independent channels grow by more than 100 percent. This is not a phenomenon isolated to large-scale enterprises; it is a widespread trend.
Key metrics from the DOKU dataset include:
- Transaction Volume Growth: Over one-third of active merchants successfully doubled their transaction volume on their proprietary channels during the first half of 2026 compared to the previous year.
- Revenue Stability: Approximately 50 percent of all active merchants registered a minimum 20 percent increase in the total value of transactions processed through their independent systems.
These figures underscore a fundamental shift in the digital commerce strategy of Indonesian SMEs. By investing in their own platforms, these businesses are building customer databases, controlling brand messaging, and, most importantly, insulating themselves from the volatility of marketplace-imposed fees.
Broader Implications for the Indonesian Digital Economy
The move toward omnichannel retailing is likely to have long-term consequences for the structure of Indonesia’s digital economy. As SMEs move to balance their sales between marketplaces and independent websites, the competitive dynamic between platforms and brands will evolve.
1. Platform Dependency vs. Brand Equity
Marketplaces will likely remain a critical source of customer acquisition and high-intent traffic. However, the reliance on these platforms as the sole point of transaction is diminishing. Successful SMEs are increasingly using marketplaces as a "top-of-funnel" marketing tool, while driving repeat customers to their own websites to maximize margins.
2. The Demand for Transparency
The regulatory pressure to disclose fee structures will likely result in more standardized, predictable pricing models across the industry. While this may not lower costs immediately, it will reduce the "uncertainty factor" that has driven the current wave of platform exits.
3. Technological Empowerment
The growth of the DTC sector is stimulating the local software-as-a-service (SaaS) market. Merchants are now seeking better website builders, integrated CRM systems, and independent logistics management tools to support their independent channels. This creates a secondary economic benefit for local tech developers and service providers.
4. The Role of Payment Gateways
For companies like DOKU, the shift represents a pivotal moment. As SMEs move away from platform-integrated payment systems, they require robust, independent payment infrastructure that can handle diverse transaction types, from digital wallets to virtual accounts and credit card installments.
Conclusion
The narrative of an SME "exodus" from Indonesian marketplaces is an oversimplification of a much more sophisticated economic transition. What is truly happening is a maturation of the digital SME sector. Indonesian entrepreneurs are demonstrating increased resilience and strategic foresight by diversifying their sales channels.
While the pressure of rising marketplace fees has been the catalyst, the long-term goal for these businesses is sustainability. By balancing their reliance on major marketplaces with the growth of proprietary direct-to-consumer channels, SMEs are not just protecting their margins—they are building the foundations for more stable and independent businesses. As the government moves to finalize new regulations on fee transparency, the focus for the remainder of 2026 will likely shift toward how these platforms and sellers can coexist in a more transparent and balanced commercial ecosystem. The "rebalancing" currently underway is not the end of the marketplace era, but rather the beginning of a more balanced, multi-channel approach to Indonesian digital commerce.
