Tokopedia Inaugurates “PLUS by GoTo”, Postage Subscription Packages

Tokopedia introduces the "PLUS by GoTo" subscription package, offering free shipping shipping unlimited, faster processing, priority service and other exclusive benefits of GoTo group strategic partners, such as Halodoc and Vidio. This subscription package is still available on a limited basis for Tokopedia consumers located on the island of Java.

In an official statement, GoTo Group's Head of Marketplace Anthony Wijaya explained, PLUS by GoTo is an example of synergy between ecosystems within the group that offers added value to users. He is confident, Tokopedia is the only perpetrator E-commerce powered by on-demand platform, can provide better service and improve user experience.

"We believe all of this will be able to encourage customer loyalty for the long term," he said, Tuesday (23/8).

Head of Product Tokopedia Gabriella Kawilarang added, the pandemic made shopping online increasingly becoming the choice of society. On the other hand, considering that Indonesia is an archipelagic country, people face various logistical challenges, one of which is shipping costs.

“Cheap shipping costs, even free without a quota, are increasingly needed by many people. PLUS by GoTo is here as a solution that can make it easier for users to shop at Tokopedia without having to think about shipping costs," he said.

Tokopedia consumers can use this subscription package to get free shipping shipping without quota, including delivery same-day with faster order processing times, which previously had not been applicable for free benefits shipping now.

In addition, there are a series of exclusive promotions, in the form of discounts and others that can be used for everyday life. Among other things, discounts for buying medicines and doctor consultations through Halodoc and discounts of up to 99% for streaming FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 via Vidio. Next, Tokopedia's exclusive coupon NOW! (solution quick commerce owned by Tokopedia), Tokopedia Care priority customer service, and others.

Tokopedia will continue to expand strategic partnerships with the GoTo group to provide more added value in all aspects of consumers' lives. All these facilities can be enjoyed with subscription fees starting from Rp. 150 thousand per six months during the promo period, aka Rp. 25 thousand per month.

“PLUS by GoTo will be available to more Indonesians in various regions and expanded to include other members of the GoTo group ecosystem. The presence of PLUS by GoTo is expected to break down barriers in transactions online while encouraging more people to contribute to the recovery of the national economy through digital channels," concluded Gabriella.

Amazon Prime Success

In the same vertical at the global level, Amazon has provided similar solutions before, through Amazon Prime since the first time released in 2005.

Today, a Prime membership is more than just free two-day shipping. Amazon uses bundling services as the main strategy, by adding more services and more content to Prime. In addition to delivery, members get access to music, movies, storage cloud, and many more as part of their subscription. This subscription service is considered very successful because it has attracted more than 200 million subscribers worldwide.

Prime has been a central element in Amazon's strategy to transform the retail industry and E-commerce fully. The main purpose of Prime membership is to create loyalty. When a member has paid an annual fee of $99 or $10,99 per month, he or she will try to maximize the utility of their paid membership as much as possible.

In the subscription world, this is called "The Golden Subscription Handcuffs" and as a result, Prime members spend three times as much money as non-members on Amazon -- this is on top of the membership price. Some researchers say that Amazon uses algorithms to offer customers cheaper products when searching online online while making it more expensive for non-members – just to get non-members to sign up for a subscription.

Prime makes it easy for customers to shop online and eliminates one of e-commerce's biggest problems: Shipping costs. This lowers the buying barrier for customers who value Amazon by making most of their purchases with them. This may also explain why 60% of America's and 43% of the UK's online shopping is done on Amazon.

Strategy to increase loyalty

Creating a subscription package is one way to maintain user loyalty, including retention. Because this aspect is important for business sustainability, various companies have taken similar steps, there is even a special startup that works on consumer loyalty.

However, in writing DailySocial.id Previously, the presence of a loyalty program should be the answer to loyalty. However, the situation is the opposite, the user considers the "bonus" of every transaction made. In effect, companies must continue to offer something attractive to keep consumers loyal. As a result, it becomes a misunderstanding for the implementation of the loyalty program because it creates an unavoidable dependence to be able to get users.

Member.id Co-founder & CEO Marianne Rumantir assesses that getting loyal customers is not obtained from the user loyalty program, but from the company's products and services. Explained further, currently there is such a thing transactional loyalty and emotional loyalty.

Transactional loyalty usually available when the brand is having a discount or cheap, while emotional loyalty is a condition in which the customer remains loyal to brand even if the price goes up. The reason is because customers already believe in brand that, in terms of products and services.

"For discount programs and cashback for example, it should be considered an acquisition program rather than a retention program. Discounts and cashback normal [and should] be offered to get as many members/users at the beginning, but after that there are customer journey furthermore where should the loyalty program be able to provide other benefits to appreciate its consumers beyond discounts/cashback. Here loyalty programme used as retention program," explained Marianne.

User loyalty program is a long-term investment program related to the relationship between a service or a brand with users. In the system, besides being able to grow users, this program can be used to capture feedback, view demographics, and track user interests. This program should play an important role in the journey of business growth.

Marianne argues, there are several challenges related to the current user loyalty program in Indonesia. Two of them are the socialization about the program that is not comprehensive and the number of user loyalty programs that do not have a program customer journey clear.

"The best loyalty program is the one that has a well-designed customer journey. customer journey this if I describe there are 4 phase: Aspiration. Earnings, Benefits, Rewards. In each phase there are elements that must be well designed and executed depending on the brand from their respective industries," said Marianne.

In essence, according to Marianne, to work well a user loyalty program must be followed by the product needed, the price that fits the market, and the level of service.