Spire Consultant, Happy Laili shares market update on Jakarta and Manila at a recent webinar organised by MFA.

On 27 July 2022, the Malaysia Franchise Association, MFA, organized a webinar to discuss trends in the retail, food and beverage (F&B), and childhood education sectors in Jakarta and Manila.

The Covid-19 pandemic brought Indonesia into a recession in 2020. However, the global economic recovery in 2021 boosted Indonesia’s growth and its economy is expected to recover by 2023. On F&B, Indonesia’s consumption of instant noodles reached 12.6 billion servings in 2020, while its instant coffee consumption increased by 4.3 billion bags between 2018 and 2019.

Sharing insights on the education sector, Laili said that with a large Muslim population in Indonesia, the early childhood education market considers TPA (Al-Quran Education center) as the popular choice. It is regarded as the most fundamental education for children. Kindergardens and Daycare centres are also widely available across the country.

On the food retail landscape in Manila, Laili revealed that there was shift towards digitalization. This shift was noted pre-pandemic across retail outlets. Multiple payment methods and increased online presence drove consumers’ preference for shopping at e-commerce platforms. The Philippines’ F&B retail e-commerce was valued at US$4 billion in 2020 and forecasted to hit US$15 billion by 2025. The F&B market in Manila contracted by 3.5 % in 2021 as compared to the previous year as a result of the pandemic. The market saw a trend toward the increased popularity of gut health products.

Early childhood education in Manila is based on the ECCD (Early Childhood Care and Development) which refers to health, nutrition, early education and social services programs that provide the basic needs of young children from birth to age six, for their growth and development.