The Undying Spirit: a Story about Bukalapak’s Mitra Apps Development

Meet Sarah Shanaz, Associate Product Manager for Mitra at Bukalapak — but, well, let’s call her the one who’s always up for a challenge.

At Bukalapak, she is responsible for collecting quantitative product data and metrics, synthesizing customer research, gathering requirements, and coordinating with stakeholders. Her role might sound similar to Product Managers who manage Bukalapak’s apps. However, there are a few significant differences between the two.

Product Managers for Bukalapak apps focus on delivering products to their end-users — who mostly are 25 to 40-year-old tech-savvy users. Meanwhile, there are also Product Managers who serve Mitra, like Sarah. Mitra is a small family-owned shop which also known as warung in Indonesia. Bukalapak’s Mitra is usually around 35 to 60 years old and only a few are familiar with feature usage.

It all started in January 2018…

It was the day when Sarah joined the team. Along with her colleague at O2O wholesale squad, they developed a grocery platform. They set up a warehouse at a rented house in Bumi Serpong Damai (BSD) area. The warehouse could store only 40–50 goods which then lead to frustration amongst Mitra. To overcome this, they teamed up with one of the biggest distribution companies in Indonesia to share some of their space. Bukalapak was able to store more goods at this shared-warehouse.

For a moment, everyone heaved a sigh of relief. However, the challenge didn’t stop there. As the system was still under development, they had to provide manual transaction to their Mitra.

Sarah had to convert all the transaction data, including the refund, to their partner’s system for further process every day. “It was a pain in the neck,” Sarah said sadly.

But, to her, there’s no challenge that is too hard to handle. Teaming up with her great colleagues, Sarah managed to develop all the API integration with partners, aiming to complete the project in less than 6 months — and they did it!

Gone are the days of Bukalapak’s manual transaction. The system improved significantly and they’re more than ready to have more areas opened for grocery. Today Bukalapak serves more than 70 cities in Indonesia and runs more than 10 warehouses to ensure all goods are well-stocked. The number of team member also multiplies significantly.

Sarah’s joy doubles knowing that their hard work benefits Mitra. “I had Mitra told me that Mitra Apps really helps them to run the business more efficiently. I was touched by hearing such a story! All of our hard work, stress, and exhaustion are paid off. It means the world to me that my job could support small business owners,” Sarah expressed her gratitude, smiling from ear to ear.

In addition, Bukalapak also provides loan system and Cash on Delivery (COD) to help Mitra purchase their stocks. In addition, Mitra could also earn more income by participating in Sarana Mitra. The requirement is simple: they only need to display certain goods in their shop.

Never give up

After a year working at Bukalapak, she had two big challenges she’d never forget.

“The biggest challenge was when we developed microservice for grocery. It took us a couple of months until the service was ready to use. It was really hard for me to keep my colleagues motivated. We were all under pressure. The process took us longer than we expected,” she recalled.

Another challenge was gaining trust from Mitra as they’re not quite familiar with online shopping. “We surely educate them on how efficient it is purchasing goods from our App.”

Although she dealt with a couple of challenges, Sarah never seems to give up. She considers them as an opportunity to learn deeper about users, including their needs, behavior, and knowledge on technology.

“One of the fastest ways to gain those insights is by directly talking to our users,” she said. During regular meet-up with Mitra, she asks questions regarding users’ experience. “Usually this will encourage them to voice out their pain points.”

The interview makes her more empathetic towards her users. With the help of researchers and operational team, she’s able to quickly identify the problem and come up with ideas to solve the issue.

In addition, her never-ending spirit was because of her delight in what she’s doing. “I love the team, culture, and every bit of challenge at Bukalapak. I love the fact that we empower our Mitra while growing ourselves.”

Though she has conquered many challenges, Sarah would love to have more. She wants to learn more about user needs and behaviour. She believes such knowledge would help her to develop the right feature to solve user’s pain points.

“My mission is to learn more about Bukalapak’s business from bigger perspective. Thus we can develop the right product strategy to meet the company’s business goals. I think that’d be really great!”

Are you always up for a new challenge like Sarah? Join our team today!