Street Vending in the Digital Age: Trends, Opportunities, and Challenges in Indonesia

Rapid technological advancement and digital transformation have revolutionised almost every aspect of modern urban life, including street vending. Traditionally, street vendors often operate in strategic places and appropriate public spaces for their business premises, a practice that often leads to a tense and complicated relationship between them and city authorities. With the growing adoption of digital technologies, this traditional practice faces both unprecedented opportunities and profound challenges. Despite opening up new opportunities for business to enhance profit and operational efficiency, the use of digital tools also poses significant challenges to street vendors. This paper explores those trends, opportunities and challenges, examining the intersection of traditional practices with emerging technologies, based on qualitative interviews conducted to 131 street vendors operating in Yogyakarta urban area, Indonesia. The study found that in addition to expanding their market outreach, the use of online platforms also serves as an exit strategy to improve resilience of street vendors in the time of uncertainty and unfavourable conditions, such as during COVID-19 Pandemic crises and rainy season. However, policies from the platform companies often become challenges for street vendors, and their reliance on strategic physical locations remains strong. Such observations can be helpful in implementing planning and management policies for street vendors to harness the potential of digital technologies to empower them.