Implementation of the Innovation Strategy of Food SMEs to Increase Product Sales During The Covid-19 Pandemic

Purpose- This research aims to analyze the durability and development of MSME products by using innovative strategies to survive and increase sales of their products during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research focuses on one of the players in the Processed Food Industry, potato derivative products with the brand “Ibu Emi”, located in Ciamis Regency, West Java.Design/ methodology/approach- The method used in the research is a qualitative method on the basis of a single instrumental case study at SMEs named “Ibu Emi”. Semi-structured interview is a method used by researchers to obtain primary data, using interview guidelines that have been prepared previously, which the questions will develop during the interview process to obtain information about the implementation of the innovations that have been made. At the same time, The collecting data process to increase its data validity, researcher used the triangulation method. In the data reduction process of data collection, researcher used primary and secondary data sources. In presenting the data, the researcher used Microsoft word to transcribe the required information and analyze the collected data. In the writing stage, the researcher divided the interview transcript into several pieces of information. At the interpretation stage, from the data that has been compiled, the researcher makes a new narrative that can explain the data and information that has been previously collected. To strengthen the credibility of the research, the researcher also analyzes the e-commerce platform used for sales and documents of the internal data of MSMEs according to the research requirement.Result- The results showed that product innovation was the main factor in surviving and increasing product sales. Another supporting factor found during the study was innovation in product marketing strategies through e-commerce and reseller networks. Keywords Innovation, Product and sales strategy, Small to medium-sized enterprises