AstraPay Launches, Rely on Astra Group's Wide User Base

Astra Group launches the application e-money AstraPay after doing soft launch in July 2020. AstraPay is optimistic that it can compete with the organizers e-money others because it has more than 50 million Astra Group customers who can be the focus in increasing market penetration in the future.

In his inauguration yesterday (15/9), AstraPay President Commissioner Margono Tanuwijaya explained, based on a market survey, the potential for using electronic money as a means of payment is very large. Even though there are already five major players, the potential is still huge. "Because the potential is great, it remains an attraction for us," he said.

Another point that contributed to Astra's decision and became the main differentiation compared to other players is the Astra ecosystem which is already quite large. When combined, Astra has more than 50 million customers who can be AstraPay's focus in market penetration. After all, in the survey obtained, it proves that one person can have more than one application e-money.

“By plunging into AstraPay, we also want to get data behavior consumer. We want tofollow up what are the needs of our consumers.”

AstraPay is a subsidiary of Astra Financial, the financial services division of Astra International. Astra Financial oversees 12 business entities, including ACC, FIF Group, TAF, Komatsu Astra Finance, SNAF, Asuransi Astra, Astra Life, Astra Ventura, Maucashand Moxa.

AstraPay CEO Meliza Musa Rusli added that the platform will be technology enablers of digital products developed within the Astra Group, by providing data analytics and loyalty program. Armed with a broad consumer base, AstraPay emphasizes its features and services based on four pillars.

The four pillars are to be a digital payment solution for mobility purposes, to provide smart services to control personal finances, a financial partner that brings peace of mind to consumers, and the pride of Astra that can add value.

“The uniqueness of AstraPay is that we have a broad ecosystem supported by the Astra Group with a good reputation. Looking back, Astra is very strong in the automotive and financial businesses. This is our strength, so AstraPay has a mission to develop value customer proposition both sides," he added.

At this early stage, AstraPay can already be used within the Astra Group ecosystem. Starting from the FIF Group network, Astra Credit Companies (ACC), Toyota Astra Finance (TAF), and Maucash, for features direct payments installment payments.

To support mobility, AstraPay has been integrated with payment systems for public transportation modes, such as MRT Jakarta and Transjakarta. Other features include fund transfers between users, PPOB payments, cable TV, taxes, insurance, and buying credit or data packages.

Also, it is connected with the QRIS feature to make vehicle service payments at Toyota Sales Operation (TSO), Shop&Drive, Isuzu Sales Operation (ISO), Daihatsu Sales Operation (DSO), and AHASS. Outside the Astra ecosystem, users can make various transactions at 9 million QRIS merchants.

Meliza said that the AstraPoints loyalty program will be the main attraction that the company will offer. “AstraPoints will give a lot of loyalty to engagement with Astra consumers. They can exchange points for the various offers we provide.”

Currently, AstraPay is connected to the features paylater provided by Maucash. AstraPay COO Ricky Gunawann explained, the advantages paylater In AstraPay, the limit can be used directly for payments with QR transactions.

On launch soft launch in July 2020 until now, it is claimed that AstraPay has 2,3 million registered users. The majority of the usage is for installment payments of 60%, the rest for PPOB and QRIS & Paylater each are 20%. The company targets that in the next three years it can attract up to 15 million users.

To achieve this target, AstraPay will collaborate with more parties so that AstraPay's balance utility can increase, including reaching the MSME segment which has high potential. It is not yet known when AstraPay can be used on the platform Gojek, considering that Astra is one of the shareholders there.

In supporting account security, AstraPay has been equipped with a mechanism single device authentication. This system only allows users to login account on one device only to ensure transaction security.

High competition

As is known, the competition for electronic money players is currently quite bloody because everyone uses strategy "burn money”, whether in the form of a discount or cash back. This strategy is deemed necessary for new companies because it includes an investment method to acquire users in a fast time.

Responding to that, Margono said, customer needs regarding service e-money it's not just a matter of promotion. Although the company will continue to do so, the real thing that is more important is the ease of using AstraPay and data security. "This is very important because consumers trust their money as balance in this application."

Quoting from Bank Indonesia, the value of electronic money transactions reached Rp201 trillion last year, growing 38,62% from the previous year. According to Ipsos, last year, the most popular applications in Indonesia were ShopeePay (34%), OVO (28%), DANA (14%), and LinkAja (7%).

Quoting from other research from Neurosensum in March 2021, reported that ShopeePay had the highest market penetration (68%), followed by OVO (62%), DANA (54%), GoPay (53%), and LinkAja (23%). According to respondents, ShopeePay is also the player with the most promotions and the fastest growing player in the last three months.