Year
2025
Abstract
This qualitative study examines the potential of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) to strengthen digital marketing strategies for urban cooperatives, focusing on Koperasi Merah Putih Urban in Medan, Indonesia. Despite cooperatives playing a crucial role in promoting inclusive economic growth, many remain dependent on offline promotion, facing challenges of visibility, uneven member engagement, and lack of sustainable governance structures. Using a juridical-empirical case study approach, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with cooperative officials and MSME actors, observation of cooperative communities, and analysis of legal and policy documents. Thematic analysis revealed three key issues: limited visibility due to inconsistent branding, unequal member engagement driven by digital literacy gaps, and absence of governance structures for ethical digital marketing. Findings show that GenAI could address these challenges through automated content generation, personalized engagement tools such as chatbots, and policy frameworks ensuring transparency and data protection. Based on these results, the study proposes a GenAI-Enabled Cooperative Digital Marketing Model that integrates visibility, engagement, and governance. This model provides both theoretical contribution to literature on AI in cooperative marketing and practical guidance for policymakers and practitioners in Indonesia’s cooperative sector.
Keywords:
Digital marketing, generative AI, cooperatives.
Recommended Citation
Alfonsius, Alfonsius; Augustinus, Daniel Cassa; and Banke, Ricky, "Designing Digital Marketing through Generative AI for Koperasi Merah Putih Urban" (2026). International Conference on Business and Management Research (ICBMR). 20.
https://scholarhub.ui.ac.id/icbmr/2025/1/20
Included in
Designing Digital Marketing through Generative AI for Koperasi Merah Putih Urban
This qualitative study examines the potential of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) to strengthen digital marketing strategies for urban cooperatives, focusing on Koperasi Merah Putih Urban in Medan, Indonesia. Despite cooperatives playing a crucial role in promoting inclusive economic growth, many remain dependent on offline promotion, facing challenges of visibility, uneven member engagement, and lack of sustainable governance structures. Using a juridical-empirical case study approach, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with cooperative officials and MSME actors, observation of cooperative communities, and analysis of legal and policy documents. Thematic analysis revealed three key issues: limited visibility due to inconsistent branding, unequal member engagement driven by digital literacy gaps, and absence of governance structures for ethical digital marketing. Findings show that GenAI could address these challenges through automated content generation, personalized engagement tools such as chatbots, and policy frameworks ensuring transparency and data protection. Based on these results, the study proposes a GenAI-Enabled Cooperative Digital Marketing Model that integrates visibility, engagement, and governance. This model provides both theoretical contribution to literature on AI in cooperative marketing and practical guidance for policymakers and practitioners in Indonesia’s cooperative sector.