SIRCLO Acquires Warung Pintar

TheIndonesia.id - E-commerce enabler company, SIRCLO, acquired Warung Pintar, a technology-based retail company that provides digital products and services for the micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) ecosystem, particularly warungs. With this acquisition, Warung Pintar is incorporated into SIRCLO Group to jointly present a comprehensive omnichannel solution for principals or brands, distributors, business actors, to end-consumers—both online and offline.

"After more than eight years of working in the B2B (business-to-business) business model for enterprise-scale brands and entrepreneurs, we realize that the retail ecosystem cannot evade the role of warungs and grocery stores as an option to fulfill the daily needs of Indonesian people," said SIRCLO Group CEO Brian Marshal in an official statement received by Antara on Wednesday, January 26, 2022.

This acquisition is based on SIRCLO and Warung Pintar's similar mission to make it easier for all business actors in Indonesia to sell on various channels, from online to offline. With the combined technology infrastructure and retail distribution network, SIRCLO and Warung Pintar strengthen their position by balancing online and offline sales channels.

After the acquisition, SIRCLO Group now serves more than 150,000 brands, more than 500,000 warung or grocery store owners, reaches more than 25 million end-consumers and has more than 80 distribution points spread across Indonesia. Brian added this strategic step is a form of SIRCLO's commitment to expand enabler services and accommodate more business actors with a wider scale so that they can enter the online market.

In the future, SIRCLO Group works on three main solution pillars categorizations, namely solutions for enterprises, entrepreneurs, and SMEs as well as new retail business models such as stalls. In the new retail pillar, SIRCLO will focus on empowering warungs through a variety of digital products and services to increase transparency and efficiency in distribution channels, access to national principals or distributors, product availability, and capital loans.

Then, through the enterprise pillar, SIRCLO provides end-to-end technology services that can be customized for principals or big brands. Meanwhile, the Entrepreneur business pillar provides Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)-based services, including the provision of ready-to-use online stores for MSME-scale businesses.

Warung Pintar Co-founder and CEO Agung Bezharie said this strategic step would add strategic value to accelerate the development of Warung Pintar's products and services. According to Agung, this synergy can accommodate brands to increase their visibility into warungs as the largest distribution channel in Indonesia, so that principals or brands are able to reach more end-consumers.

The acquisition of Warung Pintar by SIRCLO Group will incorporate nearly 2,000 employees, of which Warung Pintar will continue to operate as an independent, integrated entity as a new retail service under the SIRCLO Group umbrella.