GoToko Utilizes the GoTo Ecosystem to Work on the Grocery Shop Business

GoToko, a joint venture business unit Gojek with Unilever Group, continuing to expand to Greater Jakarta after one year of official operation. By leveraging each other's network strengths, GoToko is confident that it can compete with other technology companies that are both targeting the warung market.

GoToko first time launch in August 2020. Initially, the company penetrated thousands of stalls in Tangerang and South Tangerang to be digitized.

"The company and its shareholders decided to expand its operational reach based on the positive feedback and high interest received from users," said GoToko CEO & President Director Gurnoor Dhillon in an official statement, yesterday (3/2).

The GoToko platform allows shop owners to access and order hundreds of daily products from various categories of merchandise with a willingness status real-time and delivery on time. So far, grocery stores have faced various challenges, such as the difficulty of getting products at competitive prices, the limited number of products offered, and the lack of reliable and cost-effective delivery services.

GoToko wants to be present as a solution that connects well-known packaged goods manufacturers with grocery stall businesses to meet the supply needs of their merchandise by creating an increasingly efficient distribution process. Currently, GoToko offers a wide range of product supply services, ranging from the categories of food, beverages, household needs, toiletries, beauty and health, and baby needs.

As a platform, GoToko also complements the reach of well-known packaged goods manufacturers by targeting grocery stalls that have been less affordable in sales distribution. Well-known packaging goods manufacturers such as Unilever Indonesia, Danone, Coca Cola Europacific Partners Indonesia, Nestle, Mayora, Wings are a number of brand partners in GoToko.

"We want to ensure that all GoToko services run well from upstream to downstream, so as to create a smooth and unimpeded supply chain that makes it easier for grocery shop entrepreneurs to get price certainty, delivery certainty, and goods certainty. Since GoToko is built on a foundation of trust and reliability, we will ensure that it has the necessary infrastructure and can serve the needs of users," said Gurnoor.

Deliberately targeting the grocery store

When contacted separately by DailySocial.id, Gurnoor emphasized that the target of GoToko users is to target grocery stalls which have been less affordable in sales distribution (underserved), in the sense that it has not been visited by a sales representative from brand principal.

“Reputed manufacturer of packaged goods (brand principal) wants to reach 2,5 million markets and GoToko will help them to expand their reach within the grocery market segment underserved, by ensuring the existence of products brand principal relevant for warungs, thus widening the coverage area.”

For these grocery stalls, he continued, it's not only easy to manage stock, they can also improve the efficiency of the grocery shop's operational process because grocery shop owners can order stock of merchandise from home without having to leave the shop. However, he did not elaborate further how far the efficiency that can be obtained by the shop owner in certain benchmarks.

“We believe GoToko is the platform of choice for grocery shop owners. Our main focus is to build an upstream to downstream e-B2B platform for underserved stalls in order to support business growth and the welfare of the shop owners,” he concluded.

The potential for digitizing stalls

The grocery store is part of SMEs which is one of the drivers of the national economy. KemenkopUKM noted that currently there are around 3,6 million grocery stalls which contribute up to 80% of retail sales in Indonesia. According to the records of the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy, MSMEs also contributed up to 61,07% or more than IDR 8.573 trillion to GDP.

Despite having a major contribution to the national economy, there are still around 2,5 million grocery stalls that are currently not well served (underserved retailers) due to the complexity of the distribution of goods in Indonesia, and difficult to reach well-known packaged goods manufacturers (brand principals).

Competitors Gojek, Grab already entered this sector after acquiring Kudo by pioneering GrabStall. claimed Grab has more than two million partners GrabKiosks and available in 500 cities in Indonesia. Meanwhile, Bukalapak has made Mitra Bukalapak its main business after listing its initial shares to the public in August last year.

This business line is claimed to have contributed as much as 34% to Bukalapak's overall revenue in the first semester of 2021. Mitra Bukalapak also recorded a 350% increase in revenue on an annual basis in the same period.

In addition, a number of startups are also targeting the fulfillment of stall needs. One of the biggest [in terms of valuation] there is Ula, they made their debut by accommodating the needs of shop owners in the East Java area.

Based on a Nielsen survey of 3 stalls in 14 cities in June 2021, it was stated that Bukalapak controlled the market share with a percentage of 42%. Tech companies and other startups are eyeing the digitization of warungs because of the huge potential. The results of Euromonitor International 2018 research show that the majority of Indonesians, Indians and Filipinos prefer to shop at grocery stores.

Securities firm CLSA noted, consumer acquisition costs aka customer acquisition costs (CACs) through warung partners around 10% -20%, which is $2 per customer or less than IDR 30 thousand. This cost is cheaper than the general method.