Gojek Eyeing Intercity Shipping Business as Next Big Target

Under the sky of Indonesia, there are probably very few people who don't know Gojek. Popular as a two-wheeled transport option, Gojek already present in 75 cities and will likely continue to expand. Service ride hailing of course still be the prima donna of their many services. But one thing that is no less promising is logistics. Gojek at least have two businesses to work on logistics, namely GoSend and GoBox.

Logistics is generally directly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. But not all segments hit by him, some others are actually encouraged positive. Lucky for Gojek, the logistics business they are in is on the last leg of the supply chain.

"Gojek lucky with the ecosystem that we form, we really play in last mile this and we see a surge in demand home delivery," said Junaidi.

Junaidi is Head of Logistics Gojek. He also heads JX, a fruit logistics company j Gojek with JD.ID. To DailySocial, Junaidi shared his views on the industrial situation during the pandemic, challenges, and strategies to deal with it.

Significant increase

Basically a logistics business Gojek relying on GoSend and GoBox. Unlike passenger shuttle services, GoSend is present in all cities Gojek is at. There are three delivery options based on delivery duration and distance. Meanwhile, GoBox has a wider range of services. It can be found in cities from Sumatra to Sulawesi.

According to Junaidi, there are so many challenges in the logistics industry. The problems that exist in this industry cause logistics costs which are quite expensive even for regional areas. President Joko Widodo said domestic logistics costs reached 24% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or equivalent to IDR 3.500 trillion.

Junaidi said his party focused on the interests of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). In addition to such a large number, according to Junaidi, MSMEs have relatively smaller resources than corporations to outsmart the expensive logistics.

During the pandemic, Junaidi noted that there was a significant shift in the logistics business. Those who play in B2B such as export-import to delivery from warehouses to shopping centers have experienced a decline. However, deliveries that serve daily household needs continue to increase.

Junaidi was reluctant to mention the growth figures for his logistics business. However Gojek previously announced that during the outbreak, they had received around 120 thousand MSMEs. So it's no wonder for Junaidi during this pandemic it's been like a grade exam.

"We see this as an opportunity to ensure comfort, reliability, trust, as well as an opportunity to accelerate innovation," he added.

Connecting between cities

One of the challenges that continues to be faced by Gojek is intercity delivery. Indeed Gojek already pioneered the solution with the GoSend Intercity feature. In this feature, Gojek partnered with Paxel to deliver goods from Jadetabek to Bandung and vice versa.

However, Junaidi added that this feature has also expanded the delivery range to other cities such as Solo, Yogyakarta and Semarang. Intercity delivery ambitions Gojek this also began to be directed to outside the island of Java.

"So to put it simply, for example, if someone goes back and forth from Bandung to Jakarta, why not just collaborate," said Junaidi.

Junaidi confessed, Gojek will not be able to pursue these ambitions alone. That's why they created a special platform that allows middle mile players to form a connected network. That's why there is Paxel in this feature.

With this system, delivery within Java can occur in just a day. Gojek is also working on whether delivery outside Java can take a day.

"Think of it as going to Manado or Sorong, is it possible until the next day. We are still developing to be able to do that," he concluded.

Junaidi emphasized that intercity delivery is one of the focuses of his division until the end of this year. If the issue of delivery between cities, especially outside Java and vice versa, can be realized, then Gojek can return to game changer.