Adding value to the export promotion services of outdoor furniture from Indonesia

As many as 10 export ready companies on outdoor furniture have joined a collaborative coaching session organized by the Ministry of Trade, supported by SIPPO from 5-9 May 2025 in Jakarta. This coaching session is using a Training of Trainers mechanisms, as it is aiming to increase the capacity of Ministry of Trade – SIPPO’s Business Support Organization – in conducting an independent coaching session with their members to prepare the market penetration process in the future.

The 10 export ready companies have gone through a thorough assessment process in 2024, including pre-curation and company visit for validation process. It resulted that there are still three pillars of success that need to be strengthened by each company, including pricing, design, and quality – all of which will support how the companies will be able to promote themselves in the market.

The coaching materials were developed specifically for each 10 companies, tailored to their needs. The goals of this program are to support them winning new European customers by expanding their presence across European markets, developing tailored strategies according to market-specific approaches, and defining the share in the entire supply chain. These goals would be achieved through robust market research on supply chain analysis, customer identification strategies, design trends, market trends, European market needs, buyers’ requirements and importer regulations. These steps are crucial to understand where the gaps within the company are and furthermore to develop concrete action plan for the companies.

Throughout the training we received positive feedback from the suppliers, as well as from Ministry of Trade. Quoting from Mr. Alamsyah from Aksen Rattan, “This is very good session. We realize that we always focus only in one area. But after this training, we realize that we need to open our eyes and see different aspect. Thank you.” Mr. Adnan from Triconville also stated, “This session is quite uplifting and depressing at the same time, because we can sit together and we appreciate to have someone who can identify what we do differently than the other companies, which we are very thankful. The depressing thing is on the price from our competitor country which we will need to work further on how to reduce the costs” Adnan Altaf, Creative Director.

The Head of Wood Sector Team, Mr. Eka Sumarwanto, also appreciated SIPPO supports throughout this process, “I see the training conducted on this coaching session is very important milestone in SIPPO capacity building program, since we can learn how to prepare Indonesia's companies in meeting the customer's needs in the targeted market”.

“What I really like about this training is how Lars Erler (SIPPO Consultant) emphasized about the three pillars of success to win outdoor furniture market in Europe. As a BSO, we did assess the companies with certain criteria and we thought it was enough; however apparently in order to help the exporters successfully enter the market, there are whole other essential things to be done to match the needs of the market and potential buyers, such as quality, design, and price. That’s what makes the matchmaking is successful”, Shiraz Izzany, Trade Analyst of Ministry of Trade.

In overall, SIPPO observed how this training has improved the capacity of the BSO staff to slowly taking over the concept in such a short time, then to confidently take over some of the roles in the coaching session. It was a proud moment to see Shiraz being able to stand up and explain about how to do market research by using ITC Trade Map to the suppliers”, Andina Auria Dwiputri, SIPPO Export Promotion Manager.

In addition, SIPPO believes that this process will contribute to the development of Sector Export Promotion Strategy (SEPS) for the Ministry of Trade. This approach is aligned with the second pillar of SEPS, which is positioning and presenting companies to the international market, in order to ensure they will be ready for B2B matchmaking process with European buyers. It is expected that following this step, MoT will be ready to support the exporters to access the international market through matchmaking process such as trade fairs or commercial mission, under SIPPO’s support.