Business confidence in Indonesia's B2B sector
We asked 65 of our B2B clients in six Indonesian cities how their sales, hiring plans and risks look right now, and whether AI assistants such as ChatGPT and Gemini are changing how buyers find them.
What the results say
Our clients are busier online and mostly on plan. 69% have seen a strong rise in online enquiries, 77% are tracking in line with their sales projections, and optimists outnumber pessimists more than four to one.
Confidence in their own business sits alongside caution about the country. Politics is the top external worry for 54% of firms, well ahead of the rupiah, and 38% are still undecided about new investment and hiring. AI search is already on the agenda: 58% are investing in SEO and GEO so that they appear in answers from Google, ChatGPT and Gemini.
Below, each question shows the answers, one line on the result, and what recent news tells us about it.
How have your online enquiries changed recently?
View as table
| Answer | Firms | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Strong increase | 45 | 69.2% |
| No change | 12 | 18.5% |
| Fewer enquiries | 8 | 12.3% |
More than two in three firms (45 of 65) report a strong rise in online enquiries, while only 8 are receiving fewer.
Indonesia now has 235.2 million internet users, 81.7% of the population, according to APJII's 2026 Internet Profile survey. That is about 6 million more than a year earlier, but growth is slowing. Because most buyers are already online, the rise our clients report points to buyers doing more of their research and first contact online, not to new people coming online.
Sources: ANTARA, 21 May 2026 (APJII survey)
Have ChatGPT or Gemini changed your sales channels, and are you investing in it?
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| Answer | Firms | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Investing in SEO/GEO for 12+ months and already receiving leads | 8 | 12.3% |
| Now investing in SEO/GEO to prepare for future change | 30 | 46.2% |
| No change to sales channels and not investing | 27 | 41.5% |
38 of 65 firms (58.5%) are now putting budget into SEO and GEO for AI search, and the 8 that started over a year ago already receive leads from it.
Google has offered AI Mode in Bahasa Indonesia since September 2025, so buyers can ask Google a full question and get one written answer instead of ten links. In the American Customer Satisfaction Index's first study of AI platforms, reported by Kompas on 25 September 2026, Gemini scored highest of six assistants (76), and 61% of AI users said they use AI several times a day. For B2B sellers, being the source that these answers quote is becoming a channel of its own.
Sources: Google Indonesia blog, Sept 2025 · Kompas Tekno, 25 Sept 2026
How we approach AI search: SEO and GEO at Core Freelancers.
How do you feel about future sales?
View as table
| Answer | Firms | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Optimistic | 38 | 58.5% |
| No change expected soon | 18 | 27.7% |
| Expect sales to become more difficult | 9 | 13.8% |
Optimists outnumber pessimists by more than four to one: 38 firms against 9.
Our clients read their own order books more positively than the banks read the economy. OJK's Q3-2026 Banking Survey showed its Macroeconomic Conditions Expectation Index falling from 37 to 28, into pessimistic territory. Households are steadier: Bank Indonesia's Consumer Confidence Index rose to 118.5 in August from 116.8 in July.
Sources: Kontan, 13 Sept 2026 · The Jakarta Post, 10 Sept 2026
Will your company invest and hire in the coming months?
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| Answer | Firms | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | 34 | 52.3% |
| Undecided | 25 | 38.5% |
| No | 6 | 9.2% |
Just over half of firms (34) plan to invest and hire and only 6 rule it out, which makes the 25 undecided firms the group to watch.
The wider labour market is cautious. The Manpower Ministry recorded 53,490 reported layoffs from January to August 2026, and S&P Global's manufacturing PMI slipped to 49.8 in August as output and employment eased. On 23 September Bank Indonesia held its policy rate at 5.75%, saying it wants to protect growth momentum, which gives undecided firms a steadier cost of credit to plan around.
Sources: Detik Finance, 25 Sept 2026 · IndexBox (S&P Global PMI), Sept 2026 · Kontan / Reuters, 23 Sept 2026
Are your current sales and revenue tracking above, at, or below your original projections?
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| Answer | Firms | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Above projections | 12 | 18.5% |
| As planned | 50 | 76.9% |
| Below projections | 3 | 4.6% |
Three in four firms (50) are on plan, and those ahead of projections outnumber those behind by four to one (12 against 3).
This matches the official figures. Indonesia's GDP grew 5.29% year on year in Q2 2026, ahead of the roughly 5.1% market consensus, and 5.45% over the first half of the year. Bank Indonesia has kept its 2026 growth forecast at 4.9% to 5.7%.
Sources: BPS, 5 Aug 2026 · Samuel Sekuritas, 5 Aug 2026
What external market risk or competitive pressure worries you the most right now?
View as table
| Answer | Firms | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Politics | 35 | 53.8% |
| Currency | 12 | 18.5% |
| Regulation | 8 | 12.3% |
| Competition | 7 | 10.8% |
| Cyber security | 2 | 3.1% |
| Environment / natural disaster | 1 | 1.5% |
Politics is the main worry for more than half of respondents (35), well ahead of the rupiah (12), and only 7 name competitors as their biggest pressure.
Our fieldwork ran through a turbulent political week. On 14 September President Prabowo Subianto replaced Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa with his deputy, Suahasil Nazara, the second surprise change at the ministry in about a year. It followed the resignation of Bank Indonesia governor Perry Warjiyo in late July; Destry Damayanti has since become the first woman to lead the central bank. On currency, BI raised rates by 100 basis points in May and June to defend a rupiah at record lows, and the rupiah has weakened again in recent weeks on fiscal worries.
Sources: Bloomberg, 14 Sept 2026 · Kontan / Reuters, 23 Sept 2026
What this means for B2B marketing
Demand is holding up and moving online, while the political and currency picture pushes firms to spend carefully. That favours channels that keep working after the budget is spent: a website that turns visits into enquiries, and search visibility that now covers both Google results and AI answers.
If you want to see where your company stands, our team can review your site and search presence. Read about our SEO and GEO services or our website development work.
Method
A questionnaire was sent to B2B clients of DMS Group and completed by 65 companies between 5 and 18 September 2026: 32 in Jakarta, 15 in Surabaya, 10 in Bali, 3 in Malang, 3 in Yogyakarta and 2 in Makassar. Each question allowed one answer.
- Respondents are existing clients, most of whom already invest in digital marketing. The results describe this group and are not a statistically representative sample of Indonesian businesses.
- Percentages are shares of all 65 respondents, rounded to one decimal place.
- News commentary reflects public reporting available on the publication date.
Survey team
Published by DMS Group (PT DMS Indo Group) through Core Freelancers, an international business group with offices in Surabaya, Bali, Sydney and Paris.
Sources
- ANTARA, 21 May 2026 (APJII survey)
- Google Indonesia blog, Sept 2025
- Kompas Tekno, 25 Sept 2026
- Kontan, 13 Sept 2026
- The Jakarta Post, 10 Sept 2026
- Detik Finance, 25 Sept 2026
- IndexBox (S&P Global PMI), Sept 2026
- Kontan / Reuters, 23 Sept 2026
- BPS, 5 Aug 2026
- Samuel Sekuritas, 5 Aug 2026
- Bloomberg, 14 Sept 2026