Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Campaign attribute traders in Block III Pasar Monday, Central Jakarta, Mardiati, were forced to reduce the prices of their merchandise ahead of the 2024 election. The reason: up to 1 month before the Presidential Election campaign began, the merchandise was not as popular as the 2019 Election.

Mardiati gave an example of the price of an attribute that he reduced the price of, namely campaign t-shirts. “I’ve lowered it, previously the price was only IDR 35 thousand, I could sell it for IDR 20 thousand to IDR 22 thousand,” said Mardiati when met at her kiosk, Monday, (30/10/2023).

T-shirts are not the only campaign product whose prices have been slashed by the 49-year-old woman. He said he was also forced to reduce prices for party flags. He said that currently he has set the price for a 2×3 meter party flag at IDR 175 thousand. “Even this, the cost of IDR 175 thousand is still considered expensive,” he said.

Mardiati said that even though he cut prices, he still got a profit margin from the sales. However, it is not uncommon for him to have to pay shipping costs due to incorrect estimates of the weight of the cargo. “Yesterday I weighed 8 kilograms,” he said.

Mardiati admitted that the number of orders received by her shop has currently decreased drastically compared to the 2019 election. According to her, usually one order will buy around tens of thousands of t-shirts and other campaign attributes.

Ahead of the 2024 election, he said, one person will only order thousands or hundreds of campaign attributes. Mardiati even admitted that she had not received a single order for the purposes of the presidential and vice presidential candidates’ campaigns.

“People who order just 1,000 t-shirts often ask whether they can order 100 t-shirts or not 200, even though usually the minimum if they use photos is 1,000 orders, now I’m just selling 100,” he said. Mardiati is reluctant to accept orders in small quantities, because it takes into account production costs.

He said that there was one customer who often ordered campaign attributes in large quantities during the previous elections. However, currently, the customers he said are members of the DPR are ordering less. “Business cards are very different. Previously, when I sold them, they were still expensive, ordering hundreds of boxes, now only 200,” he said.

The sluggish orders ahead of the campaign were also felt by Sawitri, owner of the Win Jaya Shop. Even though he did not reduce prices, Sawitri admitted that the number of orders this time was still 70% below orders in the 2019 election. He kept the decline in turnover he experienced a secret. “In the past, people ordered a minimum of 5,000 t-shirts, now those who order 1,000 can be counted,” he said.

He said orders for campaign attributes this year also seemed to arrive late. He said the party’s campaign team only started asking around at his shop in September this year. In fact, he said, the campaign period will start in November. He complained about the tight ordering time. “This is really tight,” he said.

As is known, the General Election Commission has scheduled a schedule for the 2024 Presidential Election and Legislative Election. The registration process for presidential and vice presidential candidates closed on October 25. The process will continue with the 2024 Election campaign period on November 28 2023 and end on February 10 2024. After that, the 2024 Election quiet period will last for three days. Voting and counting day begins February 14, 2024.

[Gambas:Video CNBC]

(mij/mij)