Was Affected by the Pandemic, ReCharge Prepared Several Plans for Business Acceleration

Launched in 2018, leasing startup power bankReCharge had experienced growth positive until 2019. But when the pandemic came in early 2020, it caused their business to be hampered. Fortunately, now that conditions are gradually recovering, ReCharge's business is starting to show growth although it has not yet fully returned to normal.

To DailySocial.id, ReCharge Co-Founder & CEO Dick Listijono said that internally the company was still running healthy, but external activities such as market education and marketing campaigns had to be stopped in order to focus more on development. power bank vending machine.

"Before our pandemic grew rapidly, user adaptation also good. We have also started experimenting with vending machine others on a small scale. Then when the pandemic came we saw what ReCharge could do in the next 5 years (post-pandemic). And we see ReCharge still has a chance," said Dick.

The rapid digital acceleration due to the pandemic is also felt as a blessing for ReCharge to restore business performance. If previously they focused on expanding areas in public areas such as KRL and malls, now the company sees a new location which is interesting to explore.

Currently, the company has installed more than 1.000 ReCharge Stations in Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi areas and has expanded to other cities, such as Bandung and Yogyakarta. Additional areas will still be intensified in the future.

They also officially launched the #ReChargeHarimu campaign along with the installation of ReCharge Stations (machines for renting power banks) in public transportation areas, namely at 35 TransJakarta Bus Stops, 23 Jakarta Kota - Bogor KRL Line Stations, and 13 Jakarta MRT Stations.

"Not only smartphone Of course, at this time various electronic goods have taken advantage of power bank to recharge them. Including vape and gaming consoles, said Dick.

Collaboration with super app

Even though they already have their own application that functions as ordering and payment, to expand their services in the near future they will inaugurate a strategic collaboration with one of the platform super app. Reluctant to say who the company is, Dick emphasized that through this collaboration, ReCharge will be able to utilize their services on a platform that is bigger and has a wider market reach.

Since its inception, the ReCharge application has been downloaded by more than 1 million users. Most of ReCharge's customers are drivers online motorcycle taxi, office employees, as well as young people who often create content using smartphone. Apart from commuters and young people, ReCharge also targets k-popers, gamers, and highly mobile workers.

The company is still developing itself power bank they. Reluctant to offer power bank from brand different, so that quality and safety can be maintained. In addition to being thinner in weight, power bank ReCharge's has also been equipped with special cables and chips that can be used by them to see their quality and durability using IoT technology.

To be able to place vending machine power banks in the right location, the company implements several requirements. One of them is seeing from the busy traffic of the people in that location, the time that is spent more to the crowd.

"We are still developing 100% of the machines ourselves. We are reluctant to use other products, judging from the safety and convenience of the services we provide to users. Power bank we are not cheap in price, different from the quality of power bank in general," said Dick.

In order to maintain the existing quality and service, the company also claims not to specifically increase the rental price. However, there are several price adjustment policies that are deliberately carried out by the company, to see user habits and determine rental prices for them in the future.

In terms of cost, ReCharge provides convenience for users with affordable rental prices, which are 1-2 hours at IDR 2.000/hour, 3-4 hours at IDR 4.000/hour, and 24 hours at IDR 30.000.

Fundraising plan

This year ReCharge has plans to close its advanced round of fundraising. In 2019, the company has received fresh funds series A provided by Alto Partners Multi-Family Office. If the fresh funds have been obtained, the plan will be used to be able to develop machines and carry out marketing activities.

Apart from raising funds, ReCharge also has targets to achieve. Among them is to increase the number of machines massively. Currently, ReCharge already has almost 90% service in the Greater Jakarta area. Starting from shopping places, public transportation, schools, hospitals and others.

The company has also launched loyalty programme to users in the form of voucher. By collecting points from each rental power bank what is done, the user will be able to do redeem points those in ReCharge partners. Currently, the Hokben restaurant has established a partnership with them, the company plans to add more partners.

In the future, ReCharge also wants to target F&B outlets. By placing a smaller machine, capital expenditures (CapEx) which is smaller and certainly faster and easier to install.deploy, is expected to increase the number of ReCharge users.

"We are targeting user acquisition especially for device users mobile devices the first to do download and rental power bank first time via ReCharge. In addition, we also want to increase the demand from business partners for the installation of ReCharge Station machines, especially for retail and F&B areas in our current coverage areas, namely Jabodetabek, Bandung, and Yogyakarta," concluded Dick.