Gojek Get Out of the Cage and Become a Challenger

Gojek has become a phenomenon in Indonesia. Not only about successive technological innovations, but also about service on-demand This changes society, from transportation habits, to sending goods, to ordering food to making payments.

After succeeding in his homeland, Gojek began to expand into new markets in the Southeast Asian region. Since the second half of 2018, gradually the startup which is said to have the largest valuation in Indonesia has entered neighboring countries by cooperating with local partners, both in Vietnam, Singapore, and the last one yesterday inaugurated presence in Thailand.

His presence in the new country brought a clear strategy: local spirit and global technology. Since the beginning of its expansion plans were revealed to the public, Gojek have been open about their plans to form a local team or company to handle operations in new markets. This team is given the freedom to determine its own brand and identity.

Finally, Go-Viet was born in Vietnam and GET in Thailand. Specifically in Singapore, Gojek do not bring their flagship vehicle, ojek, because there is a rule that prohibits two-wheeled motorbikes from being a means of public transportation.

Get out of the cage

Gojek it is appropriate to leave the cage and become a challenger in other people's lands. What they achieved in Indonesia was enough capital to start competing in new markets.

In Vietnam and Thailand, Gojek not only challenging Grab which is their rival in the Indonesian market, but also challenges a number of similar existing applications, such as FastGo, Be, or Lineman.

Gojek started its work in Vietnam and Thailand with reliable services for two-wheeled transportation, goods delivery, and food ordering. Slightly different, for the Singapore market, Gojek direct step on the gas, including brave price wars. They also partner with big local companies, such as DBS and Carousell.

Not only transportation

One thing that must be highlighted in this expansion plan is what kind of services will be provided. In Indonesia, Gojek providing innovations that were not even thought of before, such as ordering house cleaning services, massage services, to delivering gallons and fuel when they run out on the road.

Currently Go-Jek carries the concept of "super app" to meet all the needs of its customers. One of the focuses is to build qualified financial technology services.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Co-Founder and CEO Gojek Nadiem Makarim explained that the company sees problems and opportunities in many sectors. In big cities, transportation issues are seen as a problem and Go-Jek already has a solution. Meanwhile in tier three cities, the issue of transportation is not a big problem, but financial services such as payments.

"To be honest, if we go to a tier 3 city in Indonesia, traffic is not a big problem, financial inclusion is a problem. That's where the payment strategy is aimed," said Nadiem.

Apart from Go-Pay, which in the future has the potential to become a leading regional player, Gojek has developed financing-based products for merchants, partners and consumers.

Stumbling on regulations

If you observe growth Gojek from the start, friction has always been about regulation. Aside from Indonesia, which has always been resolved so far, regulatory issues have also prevented Go-Jek from starting in the Philippines. Their local company, Velox Technology Philippines Inc, is constrained by permits to operate.

The Philippine authorities have issued a moratorium that prohibits the government from accepting new registrations for the operation of the Transport Network Vehicle Service (TNVS). The goal is that the Philippine government can monitor in more detail the application-based transportation services operating in its territory.

Currently Gojek started service in the Philippines with acquire Coins.ph digital payment platform while continuing strive for his presence in this neighboring country.

Keep looking for talent

As a super app, Gojek continue to launch innovations in various lines, including developing new business segments. They also actively open vacancies for several positions.

Example vacancy for the position of Head of Indonesia Marketplace. With the description of "leading the marketplace team in Indonesia", this position will play an important role in Go-Jek's next innovation. Will Go-Jek penetrate the marketplace business?

The next interesting vacancy is Business Development Location & Merchant for Go-Kitchen. There is also a vacancy for AdTech Product Incubation, as a project manager for adtech product experiments.

Innovation to problems in developing countries is in the DNA Gojek. Not only for the Indonesian market, but also for markets in other countries in the Southeast Asian region.